Hello and welcome to my long running commentary comment, where I share my thoughts as I actively play the game for your hopeful entertainment (spoiler warning for fellow players)
I immediately love the opening screen, it's such a nice piece of art and the low lighting sets a more ominous tone than I expected from my initial impression of the game. I am now recalibrating my expectations from 'cute and silly' to 'cute and Containing Dark Undertones.'
(Just a note: when I click on the menu tabs like About and Preferences, the font color makes the text on the sidebar basically illegible until rolled over. Not a huge deal, but thought it could be helpful to point out)
The bedroom background...is so cute. Holy shit that looks nice.
So, fun fact: Orchid was on my list of targets for Art Fight this year, I didn't quite get to her in time but I made an initial sketch and everything (will probably send it to you later as an off-season attack). Anyway, I have looked at Orchid's character reference, and saw she was described as a bit of a mean girl. I knew this. But some part of my brain insisted "but she seems so sweet! I am struggling to integrate this knowledge into my worldview because she's so cute." And now I'm reading her narrative voice and...yea. Yea. I see it now wwww
"See. I always knew there was something wrong with me." OOF. That's a great wham moment, and so early on in a game. Good writing.
Gah, I just...love this art. I love your art style. I love the aesthetics in the game and the colors. I love the soft linework. Every image is a joy, I'm eating this up. Augh.
Orchid's various expressions look so nice. Also her fears of "someone is going to recognize what is wrong with me and take me away, I'm watching everyone's faces waiting for them to notice" are so relatable...I feel like the metaphor is right in front of me, and I am relating to it even without understanding the specifics.
Oh this girl's got Anxiety
Orchid nooo stop being mean and standoffish to your friend/crush. Orchid you gotta CHILL. Orchid I am hoping you get smooches by the end of this game and you are Not doing yourself any favors. Orchiddd.
MOUTH ARMS, FUCK YEA
The way that she's like "I used to be kinda cool, now I have to factor my arms into things I do" actually hit so hard as someone who became disabled suddenly late in life. Orchid just like me fr.
Okay the metaphor feels Very apparent and Extremely relatable now, also goddamn I love how you describe her slow transformation. The cracks leaking not-blood, the mouths, the horns digging into her brain....ouuughhhh visceral and intriguing and cool.
Something I've been noticing throughout this game is how the BGs sometimes blur and distort during moments of narrative stress, and how cool of an effect that is. Huge fans. Inspires me to think more creatively about how I use BGs.
The part where Lune is like "Demons aren't real!" and Orchid is like "what does she mean, not real? Then how do you explain what's been happening to me? What are these thoughts and feelings I've been having, and the pain?" and oooouuuughhh goddamn. Relatable. Like, even while knowing Lune might be right, and that demons are not the correct explanation for what's been happening to Orchid, when Lune was initially talking I felt betrayed on orchid's behalf. Especially bc I've been through so much misdiagnosis and dismissal by doctors, it just hit there. There are Emotions Happening, dev. I am Experiencing Things.
THE SMOOCHES. YESSSS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED
I find it interesting that the initial horns never go away. They're no longer the really long versions they were by the end of the transformation, but they also didn't disappear. Does she just have horns now? I am spinning the implications of this around in my head.
Great game, fantastic message, and the art and narrative voice were both phenomenal.
The whole thing is really gorgeous! The pastel aesthetics have an especially fun vibe when paired with the painful body horror stuff. Big fan of Orchid's complete lack of problem solving skills
A super tender story about becoming your own demon, worse than the kind any storybook could hope to conjure up, and how love can save us from the depths of those miseries even when it terrifies us. Speaking of storybook, your visual style for this game is so charming, its daintiness only elevating the contrast of Orchid’s internalized horrors becoming externalized. Also a huge fan of the music you selected, it all works together really well to feed into the fantastical setting of witches and demons etc that this story boasts. Not to mention: lesbians. Very very cute game! 🌸 🌙 🫖
extremely tender, gentle, delicate, and pretty, the visual design and composition was stellar and gorgeous, and the writing was a really good reflection of the aesthetic/visual art design and illustrations where you knew everything was going to be okay no matter how bad it got, and orchid would be loved and believed and taken care of. what a lovely game!
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Hello and welcome to my long running commentary comment, where I share my thoughts as I actively play the game for your hopeful entertainment (spoiler warning for fellow players)
I immediately love the opening screen, it's such a nice piece of art and the low lighting sets a more ominous tone than I expected from my initial impression of the game. I am now recalibrating my expectations from 'cute and silly' to 'cute and Containing Dark Undertones.'
(Just a note: when I click on the menu tabs like About and Preferences, the font color makes the text on the sidebar basically illegible until rolled over. Not a huge deal, but thought it could be helpful to point out)
The bedroom background...is so cute. Holy shit that looks nice.
So, fun fact: Orchid was on my list of targets for Art Fight this year, I didn't quite get to her in time but I made an initial sketch and everything (will probably send it to you later as an off-season attack). Anyway, I have looked at Orchid's character reference, and saw she was described as a bit of a mean girl. I knew this. But some part of my brain insisted "but she seems so sweet! I am struggling to integrate this knowledge into my worldview because she's so cute." And now I'm reading her narrative voice and...yea. Yea. I see it now wwww
"See. I always knew there was something wrong with me." OOF. That's a great wham moment, and so early on in a game. Good writing.
Gah, I just...love this art. I love your art style. I love the aesthetics in the game and the colors. I love the soft linework. Every image is a joy, I'm eating this up. Augh.
Orchid's various expressions look so nice. Also her fears of "someone is going to recognize what is wrong with me and take me away, I'm watching everyone's faces waiting for them to notice" are so relatable...I feel like the metaphor is right in front of me, and I am relating to it even without understanding the specifics.
Oh this girl's got Anxiety
Orchid nooo stop being mean and standoffish to your friend/crush. Orchid you gotta CHILL. Orchid I am hoping you get smooches by the end of this game and you are Not doing yourself any favors. Orchiddd.
MOUTH ARMS, FUCK YEA
The way that she's like "I used to be kinda cool, now I have to factor my arms into things I do" actually hit so hard as someone who became disabled suddenly late in life. Orchid just like me fr.
Okay the metaphor feels Very apparent and Extremely relatable now, also goddamn I love how you describe her slow transformation. The cracks leaking not-blood, the mouths, the horns digging into her brain....ouuughhhh visceral and intriguing and cool.
Something I've been noticing throughout this game is how the BGs sometimes blur and distort during moments of narrative stress, and how cool of an effect that is. Huge fans. Inspires me to think more creatively about how I use BGs.
The part where Lune is like "Demons aren't real!" and Orchid is like "what does she mean, not real? Then how do you explain what's been happening to me? What are these thoughts and feelings I've been having, and the pain?" and oooouuuughhh goddamn. Relatable. Like, even while knowing Lune might be right, and that demons are not the correct explanation for what's been happening to Orchid, when Lune was initially talking I felt betrayed on orchid's behalf. Especially bc I've been through so much misdiagnosis and dismissal by doctors, it just hit there. There are Emotions Happening, dev. I am Experiencing Things.
THE SMOOCHES. YESSSS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED
I find it interesting that the initial horns never go away. They're no longer the really long versions they were by the end of the transformation, but they also didn't disappear. Does she just have horns now? I am spinning the implications of this around in my head.
Great game, fantastic message, and the art and narrative voice were both phenomenal.
i am rotating lune in my mind
i would like to be her friend and go on a Cool adventure with her
The whole thing is really gorgeous! The pastel aesthetics have an especially fun vibe when paired with the painful body horror stuff. Big fan of Orchid's complete lack of problem solving skills
A super tender story about becoming your own demon, worse than the kind any storybook could hope to conjure up, and how love can save us from the depths of those miseries even when it terrifies us. Speaking of storybook, your visual style for this game is so charming, its daintiness only elevating the contrast of Orchid’s internalized horrors becoming externalized. Also a huge fan of the music you selected, it all works together really well to feed into the fantastical setting of witches and demons etc that this story boasts. Not to mention: lesbians. Very very cute game! 🌸 🌙 🫖
extremely tender, gentle, delicate, and pretty, the visual design and composition was stellar and gorgeous, and the writing was a really good reflection of the aesthetic/visual art design and illustrations where you knew everything was going to be okay no matter how bad it got, and orchid would be loved and believed and taken care of. what a lovely game!
Your art is so pretty! Both the spritework and the CGs were so well done.
Poor Orchid really went through it... I honestly got a little teary eyed in the end!
i love their designs. affected orchid is so pleasant to look at