Interesting story. The music was good.

Fun game and nice story. Too bad it's so short! Music adds nice mood to the story, I got into it.

Cheers!

@ryzy27 thank you for the encouraging words. It's funny that you say it is too short; most people give up on the game before reaching the end. Anyway, I'm glad you liked it.

The music was made by my buddy @bcav. I passed your compliment along to him.

Overall a cool little story game. I liked that I had to search the map for spirits. Maybe a voice over would be cool! had a hard time linking it to the theme, but still enjoyed playing your game.

@niels thank you for your comments. The hunt for the Wandering Spirit is the most difficult part of the game; if there's another incarnation I'll revise that part of the game. In any case, there are hints in the game description if you need them.

Cool and innovative game! The music has a really nice mood!

What a very creative and unique game! I really like the music and the way you navigate through the world. Great job! :slight_smile:

Nice Entry! It really has atmosphere, and the story keeps you engaged through it. My only critique would be to perhaps make the map a bit smaller, or add a few more houses, the search can feel like it drags on sometimes. All in all though, great job!

Very cool game. I really like to music and the mood of it. Im usually not a huge fan of this type of game, but I got to the end and I have to say I really enjoyed it. Good job!

Nice game, it was an interesting way of handling the scene interactions. I really did like how the people in your team would request to speak to you, definitely added an interesting element to it.

This was great game! Unbelievable atmosphere and the controls/ui was excellent. What a great music also. I do not tend to play these kind of games, but this one I played through from the first sitting.

This was interesting story, nice job! Graphics could be better and I found music disturbing. I was able to finish game before collecting headless body but I didnt realise that it was over and I continued to search for the virgin. I realised that I already fulfilled story once Stella told me what to do next after finding the body. Maybe some clearer message on ending? At least I played all of it :P

This was interesting story, nice job! Graphics could be better and I found music disturbing. I was able to finish game before collecting headless body but I didnt realise that it was over and I continued to search for the virgin. I realised that I already fulfilled story once Stella told me what to do next after finding the body. Maybe some clearer message on ending? At least I played all of it :P

Dear Ms. @kate90:

Thank you for your feedback. Yes, technically it is possible to complete the game without finding The Headless Virgin. Stella should turn to dust without the jar of flies that she holds, but this does not happen. This is one of many bugs which I didn't have time to fix. If there is another incarnation of this game, I plan to fix it.

Regards,

Gamebuilder

@kjscott thank you. I was attached to the idea of having a company of companions rather than an inventory of items, and fortunately I was able to pull it off. I guess this idea comes from "parties" in role-playing games.

@williamcarter thank you for your comment. It's funny, the map started off as 20x20, then I expanded it to 50x50, then to 100x100. I don't know why I did this; I guess I felt constricted by a small grid. I agree however that a smaller map has its own set of advantages. As for houses, I did want to add more, but I ran out of time.

Oh yessss, I love a good creepy story! One eyed maidens, eating bugs..what more could one ask for?

The world building and character design were very enticing, nice entry!

@etrohar thank you for your comment. "Creepy" I take as a compliment, it was my aim. I'm glad the game fits the bill!

was a great experience! not my kind of game really, but i enjoyed the brilliant mood, the concept is great and worth expanding on. audio is superb.

Really nice mood, and I enjoyed this style of game. Good stuff!

I did not encounter a single bug - but judging from the above comments, it looks like the bugs might involve alternate endings? I beat the game just by listening to Stella who gives straightforward directions so I didn't need the hint sheet. I was wondering if there were any cryptic hints/secrets - like maybe a building hidden behind the black-ink-plots in the lands of desolation? I love the other-worldly-gritty world and characters (especially coupled with the BGM) - and personally love finding a story game entry.

I thought this was a really solid entry, and I didn't follow the hint sheet, either. You just have to listen to Stella and actually read what she says. I did notice, however, that even after getting some victory text and messages, I was able to just keep wandering around for a while, so I agree that maybe the victory screen should be more "obvious" or possibly stop you from going further or something.

Awesome entry, I enjoyed the story, the atmosphere, the music. @gamebuilder please tell bcavv and genie they did awesome as well, since it won't let me @ them here :)

Innovative project with a strange mood and gameplay. I liked the minimalist aesthetic you did and music track. There is a way to play in fullscrenn ? Well done ++

@injured yes, that's the bug I had in mind. One doesn't even need The Headless Virgin to complete the game. There are other odd bugs in the game too (for example, pressing '1' while near the chapel brings you inside a building with a TV — this was never intended).

There are some buildings in the northwest which are just relics of old testing code which I forgot to delete. I was surprised to see some players discovering them randomly; I had forgotten they were even there. I like very much your idea of cryptic hints and hidden buildings in the Land of Sorrow and Desolation — perhaps in the next incarnation of the game. Thank you for the idea.

@rubixnoob13 thank you for the suggestion. I have noticed other players doing that as well. I will try to fix that in the post-LD version of the game.

Thank you for the positive feedback. I will pass on your compliments to @genie and @bcav.

@geckoo1337 thank you for your comments. Unfortunately fullscreen is not possible. The playing area has fixed dimensions of 960x540 so I can keep a 16:9 ratio. In the past resizing messed up my images. There is probably a way around this but I lack the know-how to make it happen.

@fishbrain good to see a VIC-20 veteran here! I thought I was the only one.

Augh, I LOVED the music. Twin Peaks vibes. The graphical style (mix of older pixel-y environments + hand-drawn assets) really appeals to me and contributes to the atmosphere.

It's a little funny that you "pick up" the lake at the same time as the ghost girl... intentional, or not quite? Haha.

Thanks for making + submitting!!

@jspacek yes the whole pond comes with Ghost Girl and that was completely unintentional. It is funny. It's one of many little bugs that crept in during the final sprint. I will pass on your compliment to the musician, @bcav. Thank you for playing.

I really liked the narrative despite being a little confused at first. Good work!

I confess I had to read the hints. I love how weirdly original this feels. I like the music, the vibe it conveys and the strangeness in it. Also I like how creepy the characters are and how simple the movement feels after you get it. Its a nice text adventure.


Btw not sure if this was on purpose but this image seems to be ever moving to me, it took me a while to notice it was not moving.


Just love this Stela char

Btw really digging this tune

@velvetlobster thank you for the compliments. It's odd that the image from the Land of Sorrow and Desolation seems to be moving. That wasn't intended; maybe the cloudy shape somehow indicates motion. You are the first to report that.

I'm glad you like the Stella character; the game wouldn't be half as much without her. If you're curious, I had the artist Dr. Chung use the following image as a reference:


From: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/221752530864-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

What a great game!! I loved the method of navigating and I liked that it was all keyboard-based so I could easily play it on my laptop. I actually feel quite inspired to play around with this format for my own games.

@kristinamay thank you for the kind words. I am most comfortable using just the keyboard, that's one reason why I came up with this interface. I'm glad to see that others feel the same.