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Late to the party, but it's time to reflect!

I wasn't sure if I was going to join at all because ten days feels like an impossibly long time and I kind of burnt myself out on O2A2 jam (play Canary Caged, I hate it but some people really like it, and then read my reflection on the 152 jam entries I played). But when I had the chance to team up with Katherine, Lemonink, and later Jon, I couldn't pass up that opportunity. It's my first time working as a major participant on a team, but it was so much fun! Time zones made things tricky, but Katherine and Lemonink are so organized that it was so easy to wake up, see what the plan is supposed to be, and then just hit the ground running. Then Jon would drop some banger music in the chat, and it was impossible not to be inspired to do my best. I highly recommend not only joining a team, but joining a team with people that you trust and admire creatively.

Like everyone else, I was sad to see not as many people joined (or were able to finish their games) as previous Velox jams. The first entry was spam mp3 and png files, so I was so worried no one would be joining at all! What draws me to the Velox series is the community surrounding it. Like bro, where are all my friends :( I was so relieved once actual people started submitting games!!

As always, it's an honor getting to play and rate everyone's games. Everyone really came through in the creativity department and made such delicious narratives. Congrats to everyone that placed, and to those that didn't, I hope you know your games are still good games and hold inherent worth. There were so many neat tricks that I'm going to be stealing for future projects. As always, thanks for giving me inspiration fuel.

Spoilers for In Full Bloom
Okay, so I know In Full Bloom is the longest entry. I knew when when we made it people might not have time to play the entire thing or would have to take longer to get through it. I know some parts of the game are extremely tedious (and intentionally designed to be that way dklfjlkjfgkgjlkg). I also try not to operate on a "I need comments and validation to survive" mindset. But man, getting comments and validation is so nice. I don't need people to shower me in endless compliments, but I am desperate to know everyone's innermost thoughts about my work (every artist is like this, right? Right??). 

There was definitely a moment of fear of "oh no, no one is going to play this game" when other entries were receiving comments and we weren't, even though we had steady downloads. Even if we received no comments at all, I would still be absolutely proud of the game that we made. I love it, and it's one of my favorite games I've worked on. Still, it was hard not to be a little bit sad when people said they played part of the game but not all of it alkdfjlkgjlgj. To me that's like rating Doki Doki Literature Club before even getting to Sayori's scene (which admittedly happens a lot sooner than In Full Bloom's twist). I'm glad In Full Bloom works as a dating sim, but that's only a part of it! We need that part to work well for the end game to work, but the end game is where we truly tried to put the heart of the narrative. All that to say, I need to work on being more patient, especially with projects like this that have a slow start. I'm trying! And I'm still really grateful for how the game has been received so far! But yeah, I needed a moment to complain, and now I'll leave those fears behind forever ^-^

See you all at the next jam! I'm off to the Celestial Signs mines for now <3

I studied Gone Home in a narrative design class, and there's really so much to say about it, what it did, and how context and the development of gaming has changed what it is. Garden is so successful in evoking messy emotions, which I adore. I think with grief there's a closeness with the loved one but there's also this sudden awareness of a gap between you and the departed--that realization that there's so much you don't know about them and you'll never get to learn that from them, instead having to search (mostly unsuccessfully) for that knowledge yourself. I love Garden for what it is and what it does, and I really enjoy reading about the technical side of its creation. Good job!

we can find ways to collab without making you lose sleep!! But yesssss i'm so down to working together more. Truly a delight 

Thanks for playing so far! For reasons I don't understand, the default walking speed is different for different people 😅 it was quite fast for me lol (which i am so grateful for because i have NO patience, so you're already stronger than me). iirc holding down SHIFT lets you run ^-^

Orion and Zara work so well together! The game truly shines with both of them in it ^-^ I love borrower stories, so I was very excited to play A Sunset and even more excited to learn it's fully voiced. 

Wow you're so busy! I hope all your Spooktober projects go well~

Omg you put aside grad school apps for me 🥺 It's been such a pleasure working with you I'm the luckiest girl on earth~ thank you so much for letting me into your and lemonink's little group. I don't know if I love you or hate you for ruining all future collab experiences for me. It was SO perfect and SO much fun that I'm afraid I can never join a group again because it won't be as smoothly run as this one (what if I join a group and it's like Spread Thin: We're Toast! ....no....I can't face such horrors....).

Good luck with all your apps and stuff! And please, for the love of God, GET SOME SLEEP <3

LOVE when divine inspiration strikes HATE when divine inspiration doesn't shield me from other parts of the creative process

I'm glad you were able to finish your game and decided to publish it! I've definitely made things where I'm like "this must never see the light of day" just because of how much of a struggle it was to make it, but I think the world is better with NIEZWYCIĘŻONA in it <3

The theme this time around is seriously god tier. It's so much fun with the theme is inspiring instead of constraining. Can all future themes be this good pretty please <3

You did such a good job with the collages!! They're so much fun I'm obsessed. 

Wahoo welcome to the Velox jams!! Hopefully you can join future ones too ^-^ It's been so much fun with you around.

OMG???? WEIRDEST ISSUE IVE EVER SEEN BUT GLAD YOU FIGURED IT OUT

omg i'm SO sorry it's being so difficult T_T I wish I was smarter so I could fix it, but please don't stress yourself out trying to get it to work! 

Omg if I had a nickle for every tsundere Emrys....

I'm glad so many people have been choosing Emrys because Katherine did such a good job writing him. So prickly, but so sweet...perfectly balanced.

Thank you for playing! You have to play a different route now! The game needs you to...please...it's being so patient....

Ah thank you so much! I'm so glad you like Harper. They're my favorite, but shhh don't tell the others ^-^ Something about a dreamer who will never pursue their dream is so fascinating to me... the quiet tragedy of it all hehe

I'm also so glad the weight of the ending came through! It's always hard to tell if the emotional weight of a scene will come across to the player, so it's such a relief to hear that it did. Thanks for playing! 

Unfortunately, with no popups to even say what's going on, it's hard to find a solution ;v; 

I did find this lemmasoft forum that suggests the following if its a case of your antivirus blocking the game: 

- Create a folder in a location you can find

- In your antivirus, find the EXCEPTION parameter and add the folder you just created for that.

- Unzip the game in that folder

I've had my security program completely delete the .exe file before when unzipping games without telling me, so maybe something similar is happening with you, Naarel? It's so unfortunate you're running into trouble just trying to play the game T_T

Uh oh. That's not good :( I'm on Windows and have to manually bypass the security setting to run the game, but we did test that it works on both windows and mac. Are you getting any error reports at all?

I love the collages! So creative and create such a distinct vibe. I adore how you carry multiple stories at once. Very reminiscent of how you wrote Disruptive Compassion. The way you can weave multiple stories simultaneously is something you're so so good at and that I really enjoy. Such a creative game, and the way you personify the city and make it a character of its own is done so beautifully.

The voice actors did such a good job bringing the characters to life! The music and art were both so atmospheric. I really enjoyed just listening to the music and the emotions it brings. The world felt fleshed out and the characters well written. It all reminded me of stories I used to read as a child.

The visuals, music, and writing are so absolutely perfect. I loved the intro with the eclipse, that quiet, frightening magic of it all. I think that worked well to set the tone for the rest of the story. The slow changes to the mom's sprite that aren't really commented on by the child is so haunting, and the scene in the maze filled me with so much dread. It felt like a ghost story in the way we leave ourself in our things and our home and with death comes a haunting but also comes the removal of the self by those who never knew us and want to strip it all down. The glimpse of the bedroom and the final image of the face will haunt my thoughts for a while. Absolutely beautiful storytelling.

I adore the writing. The city has so much heart and emotion, and I love hearing its thoughts and fears. The sounds, images, and colored text felt extremely effective in bringing Warsaw, its emotions, and its history to life. Thank you for bringing me to Warsaw and letting me into its heart, even for such a short time.

The heartbeat sound effect together with the repeating images was extremely effective. That feeling of being caught in a loop comes across well. Adding the inspector to the images disrupts that pattern, which I really enjoyed. Everything works together well thematically.

I love the sounds in this one. Pushing the buttons gave me so much joy. The writing definitely brought me to the subway and pulled up thoughts and conversations I've had before. I love that even as things are getting existential, the characters still joke and talk casually and feel like actual people. Who says you can't get philosophical without also joking with a friend? Intriguing game. Time for me to push more buttons 

Can confirm that Katherine is an extremely fast writer XD

Another thing that helped is that we had a very clear roadmap before writing even began. Scenes were outlined and story beats laid out so we were able to jump straight into writing a scene without having to think much about where it would go. Having an editing partner that you trust takes off some of the mental burden that can come with writing. Even if my writing isn't perfect, I can trust Katherine to help me get it there. Much easier to enter a flow state that way.

And, ofc, LemonInk covering all of the programming was a HUGE factor in Katherine and I being able to write as much as we did. I was still adding dialogue on the final day which I never would've been able to do if I had to program it all myself. Us writers were truly spoiled for this one <3

Playing that many games in about two weeks was something I had to do at least once in my life but never again because buddy I felt like Lee losing my mind in the mines by the end of it all

Thanks for reading! Vampire's Invitation was SO much fun. The dialogue changes with Em's affection level are everything to me <3 I'll definitely have to do similar things in future games hehe

If we're not learning and having fun, what's even the point!! I'm so glad you understand. And yes! Getting to support each other is so amazing! Playing games and talking with fellow devs really can be just as important (and fulfilling) as creating. I look forward to playing more of your stuff :D

Thank you so much for your kind words! I'm glad the different tones came across well, especially for a game with no description. It's a challenging to write only dialogue, for sure, but it can also add a lot of depth for the players to read into and discover on their own. Thanks again :)

THANK YOU FOR READING!!!!!!!

Aww Lemon thank you <3 your flattery is the drive that keeps me creating. Listening to Crane Wives and contemplating canaries is an activity we should all partake in. Truly great for the soul

In every universe, in every life, when you turn to look at me I'm there giving you and your beautiful games my official seal of approval. Giant thumbs up as I'm whisked away to the underworld <3

The art for this is so gorgeous! I love all the reds and purples. The endings leave just enough to force me to second guess everything and really sit and think about the implications of all that's been said. It can be very tricky to pull that off, so good job! The voice actor also did a phenomenal job.

I love the use of the space. The way the sprite moves and the text is placed all feels very intentional and gives the words more weight. The layout, especially for repeating words and phrases, is just done so exceptionally well and really affects the reading experience. I'm obsessed.

The one hundred years part of the curse has always haunted me, so I enjoyed seeing your exploration of it. It's very well done. I love how the different choices lead to the different endings--the way they change the player's motivations and Celeste's response to those motivations.

The voice actor did such a good job, holy shit. The writing was so delicious, and the art, especially the different expressions, is perfection. Great game.

I'm in love with the background art. It's so pretty. Gerrit's design is also super nice, and the music has such a nice melody. 

Aww this was really cute. The thought process and emotions are written so well, and the art is absolutely adorable. What a charming game

Ooo the achievements are cool! I like the image with the reflection. It's a clever use of the space

I love all the different sprite expressions! They're so well done. The ending is done very well and makes good usage of the strict word limit.

All of the art is so cute! The writing has such a fun tone to it that matches the art~

The voice acting is so charming! I loved the different options and all the different expressions Chance has. I really love how vastly different each ending is, especially with such a strict word count.

I love the flashlight mechanic! Searching for the fairy was so much fun. What a fun story <3

Oooo I love how the language is used. Such strong imagery following a solid metaphor made real. Very well done.