The Aqua-Eyed Banana by LDJam user 259037

[raw]
made by LDJam user 259037 for Ludum Dare 54 (JAM)

This is a short story made in ren'py.

Thank you Ludum Dare for bringing me where I am today.


To reiterate, and I'm saddened I have to, yes. Yes, Visual Novels are not only allowed, but encouraged.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/rules

There's a section here in the rules "Non-Video Game Entries" that make it clear that Ludum Dare wishes to involve anything all the way to crafts. They just haven't implemented a button yet to let us mark our projects as crafts/comics/visualnovels/etc.

screenshot.png

theme announcement https://youtu.be/kmhFDSawiFU work session 1 https://youtu.be/ev6gfyRsE1U last work session https://youtu.be/UHSdUz_Q4Mc

Ratings

Overall 865th 3.212⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Fun 1085th 2.537⭐ 29🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 940th 2.85⭐ 32🧑‍⚖️
Theme 793th 3.29⭐ 33🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 666th 3.439⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Audio 433th 3.409⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Humor 563th 2.9⭐ 27🧑‍⚖️
Mood 267th 3.879⭐ 35🧑‍⚖️
Given 26🗳️ 43🗨️

Feedback

Chrishie
01. Oct 2023 · 17:03 UTC
Ngl I played before reading the description. My only feedback would be to change 'autobiography' to 'story' or something in the description to let the player figure out it's an autobiography on their own. That "oh snap!" moment when I read "The aqua-eyed banana joined Ludum Dare" was UNBEATABLE.
LDJam user 299757
02. Oct 2023 · 13:46 UTC
Beautiful story! I am very happy everything is going well in life! I love Ludum Dare!
Leo Lin
03. Oct 2023 · 02:01 UTC
Nice game! I would love to see more images in the game cuz there's a lot of blank pages right now, but still I love the story!
Seong
03. Oct 2023 · 02:08 UTC
I like the soft banana drawings!
TRSTHSTRS
03. Oct 2023 · 17:36 UTC
Usually i am not a visual novel player, so i have nothing to compare with this style of game, but my moral of the story is, i should try optimism more often too :) i liked the clean visuals a lot. at first with auto disabled, i waited for the blank page to show me the next drawing, that confused me a bit. however, the drawings - especially their faces, were lovely! (after finishing i got 4 "Warning: write error: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading "transaction")" messages. dont know what thats all about, but just in case i let you know.
fabula_rasa
03. Oct 2023 · 22:58 UTC
Quite heart-warming :heart: I really loved the music and the drawing style supported the theme of the story well. There is really not much of a game in the game :wink:, but it was still a pleasure to flow with the story. Thank you for this experience!
The theme interpretation is certainly unique and creative as well.
🎤 LDJam user 259037
04. Oct 2023 · 13:38 UTC
@fabula-rasa Your game is my favourite in LD54 so far. Well done man.

I didn't think it would be appropriate to transform an autobiography with heavy topics into a game rather than a visual novel. I see your point, the community expects games, but I think Ludum Dare especially makes it clear that they want to encourage creativity - not solely games.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/rules

There's a section here in the rules "Non-Video Game Entries" that make it clear that Ludum Dare wishes to involve anything all the way to crafts. They just haven't implemented a button yet to let us mark our projects as crafts/comics/visualnovels/etc.
jotson
04. Oct 2023 · 15:17 UTC
Lovely, read it in an accent because I felt like that is what the banana sounded like in my head and I enjoyed the story. Is it a game? Not totally sure, but thanks for making it!
🎤 LDJam user 259037
04. Oct 2023 · 16:01 UTC
@jotson

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/rules
Neandi
04. Oct 2023 · 16:25 UTC
Thank you for sharing :)
jotson
04. Oct 2023 · 16:39 UTC
@jerem-watts i understand what you're saying and i didn't mean to imply that this shouldn't be here. i think it's great that it's here and i'm glad you made it and i'm glad i experienced it.
cheesepencil
04. Oct 2023 · 19:58 UTC
@jerem-watts I liked the story, I can't say I really understood it, but I liked it, and the character art was charming. I liked the ending. GG!
🎤 LDJam user 259037
04. Oct 2023 · 20:15 UTC
good point @cheesepencil. for how simple the art is, the subtext is quite demanding. thank you for your kind words.
🎤 LDJam user 259037
04. Oct 2023 · 20:17 UTC
@chrishie that was a really good idea, thank you for suggesting it!
Dijkstra
04. Oct 2023 · 22:25 UTC
Now I literally have 'aqua' in my eyes.. A great story! That's why we love LD. Great job!!
zanagi
04. Oct 2023 · 22:26 UTC
While I felt that the story was jumping through the events a bit too fast, the mood, music and words were definitely on point. Thank you sharing the story and ending it on a positive note, and congrats on submission!
LDJam user 268934
05. Oct 2023 · 12:10 UTC
Wow, my friend,heavy and beautiful at the same time.
EggTillius
07. Oct 2023 · 00:52 UTC
surprisingly deep, i did not expect it to be a sad story, but im happy that the banana got a nice ending it made me smile !!! very very good job
Logicon211
07. Oct 2023 · 00:52 UTC
That was Bananas!
woona
07. Oct 2023 · 08:10 UTC
I'm glad I played this game! I hope all the bananas and lemons featured in the story are doing well!

Great job, the music and art complement the story really well.
Aune
07. Oct 2023 · 08:59 UTC
It's refreshing to see something other than just a game. It's a very heartwarming story, especially as it speaks, I believe, to everyone who has jammed at least once and experienced that wave of validation from the community that warms the heart so much.
Wendel Scardua
07. Oct 2023 · 12:00 UTC
Didn't expect a Ludum Dare ren'py game to make me teary-eyed like this...

I wish the best to the aqua and hazel eyed bananas <3
civmaniac
07. Oct 2023 · 21:50 UTC
Wow! Deeply emotional... Thanks for sharing! :heart:
🎤 LDJam user 259037
08. Oct 2023 · 00:06 UTC
@woona we are indeed doing much better. thank you woona

@aune and that's possibly one of the most validating things I'll ever read. it's such an amazing cycle of oxytocin. thank you so much for sharing that
Hawkin
08. Oct 2023 · 14:29 UTC
Lovely story! Once I accepted that it was a tale I was being told and not something that I could determine the outcome of, I was able to sit back and receive it. You also applied music very well to reinforce emotions.

There were some screens that were white (no images or text) that I just clicked through. Did you mean for those to be an interlude between sections? Maybe some indication (like "Proceed" or "Continue") would have made that clearer to me, or maybe that would have spoiled the formlessness :)

Thank you for sharing something unexpected!
José Bonilla
08. Oct 2023 · 18:40 UTC
Beautiful story, we love you, keep it up.
HagamosVideojuegos
12. Oct 2023 · 19:05 UTC
Good story, yes, it's not really a game, it's "just" a story, but really good, yes, you can add more images and maybe some path but if this is what you want to say.... why not tell it your way?

Well done! Take a candy! :candy:
🎤 LDJam user 259037
17. Oct 2023 · 19:45 UTC
@hagamosvideojuegos thank you for the praise and candy
c:
LDJam user 375578
17. Oct 2023 · 19:48 UTC
Dude u are cool man !
Dan Str
17. Oct 2023 · 20:04 UTC
the game is very interesting, I liked it, the idea is good, continue at the same pace and you will become more professional
LDJam user 374883
20. Oct 2023 · 05:14 UTC
Thanks for sharing. I appreciate personal projects like this!