Hi RinRan! Thank you so much for trying out my game. To be honest, it's on hiatus right now because I think there's just a lot of ideas that I had for gameplay mechanics that didn't work out and need to be completely overhauled for both player enjoyment and for the sustainability of the game. And also I apologize that I didn't make a CG kiss for for Reith and Katnir. I still believe in the story and characters that I had planned but I think I need to rework my approach completely.
Once again, an absolutely lovely demo! I tried Soul Contract months ago on a whim and was blown away by the story, interesting mechanics, and animated art. So I was extremely excited to see another game in the same universe! I played as Jou and ended up making a contract with Seladre. I think their dynamic is very good. I look forwards to seeing how their romance will play out.
Hopefully, this project will continue to be something you enjoy; because I think your love for these characters really shows!
Hi Whimberly, Thank you so much for taking the time to try this demo and write your thoughts. I definitely want to explore this world that I built. The beginning of this year I'm finally coming out of this long slump (though I'm still struggling with burnout and fatigue) I hope to share some more of my stories and characters soon~ Thanks again so much for your supportive words!
Thank you so much for trying out my game and including me in your review! I'm definitely keeping all this in mind as I plan my next move. I hope you enjoyed Otome Jam this year! Best wishes~
ohhh i was so excited for this!! idk if you remember me, but i played soul union and i was really excited when i saw you had put out a new game yayyy <3
as always, the game is so so beautiful, i love your artwork so much, honestly! and please!! jou ana is so beautiful, i'm in love with herrr (and just something i found funny is that there are a lot similarities between us two: we look a bit similar physically, we're the same age and my name also starts with j hahahah while playing i was even kind of shocked with so many coincidences!)
btw, i remember that in my review for soul union i mentioned having trouble with the tunnels but for soul labyrinth things went very smoothly, i had no troubles at all!
also, i really like the fact that you are expanding this universe even more cause as i played soul union i was just like "there's so much to unpack here!!" so i'm glad to see more of it. i think it's amazing that the main character this time is of another species cause it allows us to see things in a different light in comparison to when we played as ilyon, as he's an elf and jou ana is a beast.
anyways, it's an amazing and lovely game! thank you so much for thisss
p.s.: i went crazy when yaulan mentioned ilyon hahah i was "hey dudeee long time no see!"
Yes, I remember your comments that you left on Soul Union! I still haven't gone back and fixed the tunnels yet, lol, but I've learned a lot from from this demo so I'm thinking about revisiting and reworking Soul Union to be more cohesive. There are some things in the world lore that I'd like to define more clearly from the start and working on this expansion of the universe really made this more clear to me. That's so cool that you share things in common with Jou! I hope that you are able to find her relatable. I sure did have a lot of fun designing her clothes. Someday I'd like to make this story a trilogy with a human protagonist in the third installment ha!
Thanks so much for your feedback and I'm so glad you enjoyed this game so far. Take care and best wishes!
This is such a hard work! I reeeally like the concept, and the graphics looks amazing. Thank you very much. Btw, I'm already in love with Reith and hope to see more of him in the future x D
Hi there! Thank you so much for trying out my game and dropping me a note here. Reith is so much fun to write and draw. He's a bit more aloof outside of the dream ritual, so I hope you look forward to seeing more facets of his personality~
This is so aesthetically beautiful and I love the lore from the get go! It took me a while to open the first door because I just suck and must've kept missing the sorta click area on it once I had the key, haha. I don't generally like any sorts of minigames, puzzles, stat raising, or anything that's not just pure story when I'm playing VNs, but I do feel as though this blends together really nicely :3 I think I'd have to use a walkthrough for the full version because I'm too lazy impatient to figure out puzzles, haha. Oh, and I love your studio name and logo! It's awesome :D
Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm so glad you liked the lore. I've been building this world off and on for decades now. Previous incarnations always felt unsatisfactory, so I spent more time than I've ever spent before making backgrounds and planning the overall look of the game. I had hoped that it would pay off. I also don't usually like minigames or stat raising if they keep me from progressing the story but I wanted to try to enhance the sense of exploration. I'll continue to work on tweaking the systems to make it less burdensome for the player. Thank you again for your time and feedback.
I'd say it absolutely paid off because it all looks gorgeous :3
I definitely think you succeeded in enhancing the sense of exploration the way you made it! And I wouldn't necessarily say that I felt any of it was burdensome to me personally :3 I'm just lazy when it comes to putting in effort towards puzzles, haha. I have to say though, I did enjoy the sort of vibes from the puzzles and such. It actually reminded me a little of some of the types of puzzles in Deemo!
Anyways, I'm definitely excited to see more of the world you've created because it's very intriguing and beautifully pieced together :3
I didn't personally find the puzzles too difficult; I didn't notice the tuft of grass in the first area but since observing reveals it, I think that's actually a good way to make the player learn how to use the different actions. I did completely fail to find the pattern in the flowers so I brute-forced that, but otherwise I found the interactible areas pretty clear.
I really liked how the lore of the setting is delivered, as well; the visuals have a really lovely style and the lore gets straight to the point in how it relates to our protagonist and the story. I thought that was really compelling and it kept me interested all throughout the demo.
Thank you so much for trying out my demo! I really appreciate your time and thoughts, especially as a talented creator yourself. I've been trying to get more direct with my story delivery and I'd like to think I'm making some progress on that front as well. There's so much to work and improve upon, it's overwhelming sometimes! I definitely learned a lot from this jam, though. I hope you had a great game jam as well!
Hi Naomi, I didn't intend for the game to be too difficult. This is my first attempt at adding point and click puzzles so I'm afraid I have to rework my approach. Thank you for your patience and willingness! I am going to be reworking some of the energy system in the future, but if it helps in the meantime I can totally post a walk through ^^ I'd like to come up with something more polished but in the meantime, here is a crude video I made to help my collaborators. I hope this helps! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qlj0dGBfzeNP4Q6QSk-Ooeu9lKaWnsWp/view?usp=shari...
A few time I was stuck after clicking "interact" and had to go "unscroll" to unblock (there is no text but clicking doesn't do a thing). I don't know why it happens, I couldn't make out what produced the outcome.
No bug afterward, I think.
The "click somewhere you want to interact with" message was a bit too much triggered every single time, I would remove it after the first time.
The rugged glove was... Tiny alright. I had to strain my eyes after being convinced it was a bug ^^'
The enigma with the book. Oh my god. I'm a gardener and naturalist, I thought it'd be easy. It wasn't. I had to have it spelled out to me. I never would have made this kind of association. X_X
The boss plant seemed weird to me. I tried saying every good thing to the black flower, then every bad to the white. Win. I then tried the reverse. Worked. I have no clue how to fail the test.
I also tried to be the most spiteful and rebelious partner. I couldn't make him being mad and could even exchange saliva to the end ! I expected clash :(
On the mechanic/artistic side, I've nothing but praises (even if most enigmas were lost on me, I failed half of it). On the writing side I felt it was... Kinda unatural/shallow ? Compared to what I felt on Soul Union that is ; the heroine seemed like un impatient child and the companion like one of theses puppy that can't get mad at you. I couldn't grant them substantiality.
Thank you again so much for your thorough and thoughtful review. Thanks to your screenshot I was able to correct that offending v_rooted = Fals typo. I've gone ahead and made some color alteration that will hopefully make the glove easier to find. Some of the other issues you mentioned, I will give a bit more time to consider fully.
As far as the boss encounter is concerned: The boss choices are related to which vassal is summoned. ATM Seladre is not implemented so all answers lead to Reith. This will be corrected in the future.
It is not possible in either Soul Union or Soul Labyrinth to get your vassal to hate you, (except in very, specific deal breaking question in Simion's and Grei's routes that were not implemented in current version). The ritual lore makes it very difficult for vassals to hate or even fully challenge their weavers, which is why I plan to make interactions take place inside and outside of the ritual in this sequel. Ultimately these games are more about "bonding" and what kind of bond is created, than "liking/hating" by answering questions a certain way, so there are very few instances of making a definitively "wrong" choice.
Your concerns about the characters, their lack of appeal, or development are totally valid and I hear you. I do plan on having a lot of personal growth for both of them in the future but they may not end up being to your preferences. I hope by having other options available that you may end up having a good experience with some combination of characters but I can only keep trying and being mindful.
I felt so insensitive in retrospect leaving such a mixed comment while you are so... Kind, humble, and hardworking person? Looks that way from where I stand - anyway. Thanks you again for sharing your art and time, it's <3 every time !
You make huge game plans every time, it's scary how big you see things even on jams, honestly ^^'
I just saw your video bouncing back on the "humble" word.
I kind of think of "humble" as in "you don't seem to acknowledge how good you are doing".
I guess what I'm trying to say is, you look defensive ?
Where is the "I'm pretty proud of how turned out, I'm so good sometime ! What ? You didn't like some of it ? *Shrugh* I stand on this one !".
Hum. Confidence, boastingon some good stuff or idea you are proud about ? Disagreeing about a critic ? I think the lack of it compared to the quality of what I met made me think "woaah. Aggravated humility over there !".
Anyyyway. It's just my personal take, I don't rule out I'm deeply mistaking. Text based interactions can sometimes do that. ^^
I'm not sure I fully understand what your stance is on this. I hesitated to speak about the word humble, because I think I have some pretty mixed feelings about it and I fear coming across disingenuous. Your comment just got me thinking and sorting through some of those feelings. Perhaps it was inappropriate to share online, given how awkward my delivery was. I don't believe confidence requires boasting or making declarations. I just believe personally I feel more comfortable with myself these days to take critiques in a more measured mindset. I don't consider myself humble but perhaps my responses don't communicate this. I had hoped to try and clarify why I feel this way but I may have ultimately failed. I do genuinely appreciate your continued communication!
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Hello! The game plot is very interesting and intriguing, so can you tell please, is the game still in development or on hiatus?
And also I played as Katnir, but I didn't get the CG kiss with Reith. Did I do something wrong or it's just the art hasn't been drawn yet?
In any case, thanks and all the best!
Hi RinRan! Thank you so much for trying out my game. To be honest, it's on hiatus right now because I think there's just a lot of ideas that I had for gameplay mechanics that didn't work out and need to be completely overhauled for both player enjoyment and for the sustainability of the game. And also I apologize that I didn't make a CG kiss for for Reith and Katnir. I still believe in the story and characters that I had planned but I think I need to rework my approach completely.
Once again, an absolutely lovely demo! I tried Soul Contract months ago on a whim and was blown away by the story, interesting mechanics, and animated art. So I was extremely excited to see another game in the same universe! I played as Jou and ended up making a contract with Seladre. I think their dynamic is very good. I look forwards to seeing how their romance will play out.
Hopefully, this project will continue to be something you enjoy; because I think your love for these characters really shows!
Hi Whimberly, Thank you so much for taking the time to try this demo and write your thoughts. I definitely want to explore this world that I built. The beginning of this year I'm finally coming out of this long slump (though I'm still struggling with burnout and fatigue) I hope to share some more of my stories and characters soon~ Thanks again so much for your supportive words!
I like this one! I reviewed this in Part 4 of my Otome Jam videos! Starts at 3:22.
Hi Bez,
Thank you so much for trying out my game and including me in your review! I'm definitely keeping all this in mind as I plan my next move. I hope you enjoyed Otome Jam this year! Best wishes~
You're very welcome. Best wishes to you too! <3
ohhh i was so excited for this!! idk if you remember me, but i played soul union and i was really excited when i saw you had put out a new game yayyy <3
as always, the game is so so beautiful, i love your artwork so much, honestly! and please!! jou ana is so beautiful, i'm in love with herrr (and just something i found funny is that there are a lot similarities between us two: we look a bit similar physically, we're the same age and my name also starts with j hahahah while playing i was even kind of shocked with so many coincidences!)
btw, i remember that in my review for soul union i mentioned having trouble with the tunnels but for soul labyrinth things went very smoothly, i had no troubles at all!
also, i really like the fact that you are expanding this universe even more cause as i played soul union i was just like "there's so much to unpack here!!" so i'm glad to see more of it. i think it's amazing that the main character this time is of another species cause it allows us to see things in a different light in comparison to when we played as ilyon, as he's an elf and jou ana is a beast.
anyways, it's an amazing and lovely game! thank you so much for thisss
p.s.: i went crazy when yaulan mentioned ilyon hahah i was "hey dudeee long time no see!"
Hi Maki,
Yes, I remember your comments that you left on Soul Union! I still haven't gone back and fixed the tunnels yet, lol, but I've learned a lot from from this demo so I'm thinking about revisiting and reworking Soul Union to be more cohesive. There are some things in the world lore that I'd like to define more clearly from the start and working on this expansion of the universe really made this more clear to me. That's so cool that you share things in common with Jou! I hope that you are able to find her relatable. I sure did have a lot of fun designing her clothes. Someday I'd like to make this story a trilogy with a human protagonist in the third installment ha!
Thanks so much for your feedback and I'm so glad you enjoyed this game so far. Take care and best wishes!
This is such a hard work! I reeeally like the concept, and the graphics looks amazing. Thank you very much. Btw, I'm already in love with Reith and hope to see more of him in the future x D
Hi there! Thank you so much for trying out my game and dropping me a note here. Reith is so much fun to write and draw. He's a bit more aloof outside of the dream ritual, so I hope you look forward to seeing more facets of his personality~
This is so aesthetically beautiful and I love the lore from the get go! It took me a while to open the first door because I just suck and must've kept missing the sorta click area on it once I had the key, haha. I don't generally like any sorts of minigames, puzzles, stat raising, or anything that's not just pure story when I'm playing VNs, but I do feel as though this blends together really nicely :3 I think I'd have to use a walkthrough for the full version because I'm too
lazyimpatient to figure out puzzles, haha. Oh, and I love your studio name and logo! It's awesome :DThank you so much for your kind words. I'm so glad you liked the lore. I've been building this world off and on for decades now. Previous incarnations always felt unsatisfactory, so I spent more time than I've ever spent before making backgrounds and planning the overall look of the game. I had hoped that it would pay off. I also don't usually like minigames or stat raising if they keep me from progressing the story but I wanted to try to enhance the sense of exploration. I'll continue to work on tweaking the systems to make it less burdensome for the player. Thank you again for your time and feedback.
I'd say it absolutely paid off because it all looks gorgeous :3
I definitely think you succeeded in enhancing the sense of exploration the way you made it! And I wouldn't necessarily say that I felt any of it was burdensome to me personally :3 I'm just lazy when it comes to putting in effort towards puzzles, haha. I have to say though, I did enjoy the sort of vibes from the puzzles and such. It actually reminded me a little of some of the types of puzzles in Deemo!
Anyways, I'm definitely excited to see more of the world you've created because it's very intriguing and beautifully pieced together :3
Looking forward for the full game, I am very intrigued!
Thank you for dropping by. I hope to update in the near future~
I really enjoyed the demo!
I didn't personally find the puzzles too difficult; I didn't notice the tuft of grass in the first area but since observing reveals it, I think that's actually a good way to make the player learn how to use the different actions. I did completely fail to find the pattern in the flowers so I brute-forced that, but otherwise I found the interactible areas pretty clear.
I really liked how the lore of the setting is delivered, as well; the visuals have a really lovely style and the lore gets straight to the point in how it relates to our protagonist and the story. I thought that was really compelling and it kept me interested all throughout the demo.
Thank you so much for trying out my demo! I really appreciate your time and thoughts, especially as a talented creator yourself. I've been trying to get more direct with my story delivery and I'd like to think I'm making some progress on that front as well. There's so much to work and improve upon, it's overwhelming sometimes! I definitely learned a lot from this jam, though. I hope you had a great game jam as well!
This looks really interesting, but I am finding the game to be very difficult. ^^; Will there be a walkthrough?
Hi Naomi, I didn't intend for the game to be too difficult. This is my first attempt at adding point and click puzzles so I'm afraid I have to rework my approach. Thank you for your patience and willingness! I am going to be reworking some of the energy system in the future, but if it helps in the meantime I can totally post a walk through ^^ I'd like to come up with something more polished but in the meantime, here is a crude video I made to help my collaborators. I hope this helps! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qlj0dGBfzeNP4Q6QSk-Ooeu9lKaWnsWp/view?usp=shari...
Thank you! I appreciate that. I'll check it out.
I'll be the linux tryer ! When my broken proletarian connexion will allow me !
EDIT :
While fighting the boss, I clicked twice on the left branch. Got this error : https://debian-facile.org/paste-3F0B93A93D
A few time I was stuck after clicking "interact" and had to go "unscroll" to unblock (there is no text but clicking doesn't do a thing). I don't know why it happens, I couldn't make out what produced the outcome.
No bug afterward, I think.
The "click somewhere you want to interact with" message was a bit too much triggered every single time, I would remove it after the first time.
The rugged glove was... Tiny alright. I had to strain my eyes after being convinced it was a bug ^^'
The enigma with the book. Oh my god. I'm a gardener and naturalist, I thought it'd be easy. It wasn't. I had to have it spelled out to me. I never would have made this kind of association. X_X
The boss plant seemed weird to me. I tried saying every good thing to the black flower, then every bad to the white. Win. I then tried the reverse. Worked. I have no clue how to fail the test.
I also tried to be the most spiteful and rebelious partner. I couldn't make him being mad and could even exchange saliva to the end ! I expected clash :(
On the mechanic/artistic side, I've nothing but praises (even if most enigmas were lost on me, I failed half of it). On the writing side I felt it was... Kinda unatural/shallow ? Compared to what I felt on Soul Union that is ; the heroine seemed like un impatient child and the companion like one of theses puppy that can't get mad at you. I couldn't grant them substantiality.
Hi Eeupy!
Thank you again so much for your thorough and thoughtful review. Thanks to your screenshot I was able to correct that offending v_rooted = Fals typo. I've gone ahead and made some color alteration that will hopefully make the glove easier to find. Some of the other issues you mentioned, I will give a bit more time to consider fully.
As far as the boss encounter is concerned: The boss choices are related to which vassal is summoned. ATM Seladre is not implemented so all answers lead to Reith. This will be corrected in the future.
It is not possible in either Soul Union or Soul Labyrinth to get your vassal to hate you, (except in very, specific deal breaking question in Simion's and Grei's routes that were not implemented in current version). The ritual lore makes it very difficult for vassals to hate or even fully challenge their weavers, which is why I plan to make interactions take place inside and outside of the ritual in this sequel. Ultimately these games are more about "bonding" and what kind of bond is created, than "liking/hating" by answering questions a certain way, so there are very few instances of making a definitively "wrong" choice.
Your concerns about the characters, their lack of appeal, or development are totally valid and I hear you. I do plan on having a lot of personal growth for both of them in the future but they may not end up being to your preferences. I hope by having other options available that you may end up having a good experience with some combination of characters but I can only keep trying and being mindful.
Thank you again so much for your thoughts. <3
Your are the most thoughtful of all !
I felt so insensitive in retrospect leaving such a mixed comment while you are so... Kind, humble, and hardworking person? Looks that way from where I stand - anyway. Thanks you again for sharing your art and time, it's <3 every time !
You make huge game plans every time, it's scary how big you see things even on jams, honestly ^^'
I just saw your video bouncing back on the "humble" word.
I kind of think of "humble" as in "you don't seem to acknowledge how good you are doing".
I guess what I'm trying to say is, you look defensive ?
Where is the "I'm pretty proud of how turned out, I'm so good sometime ! What ? You didn't like some of it ? *Shrugh* I stand on this one !".
Hum. Confidence, boastingon some good stuff or idea you are proud about ? Disagreeing about a critic ? I think the lack of it compared to the quality of what I met made me think "woaah. Aggravated humility over there !".
Anyyyway. It's just my personal take, I don't rule out I'm deeply mistaking. Text based interactions can sometimes do that. ^^
Hi Eeuphy,
I'm not sure I fully understand what your stance is on this. I hesitated to speak about the word humble, because I think I have some pretty mixed feelings about it and I fear coming across disingenuous. Your comment just got me thinking and sorting through some of those feelings. Perhaps it was inappropriate to share online, given how awkward my delivery was. I don't believe confidence requires boasting or making declarations. I just believe personally I feel more comfortable with myself these days to take critiques in a more measured mindset. I don't consider myself humble but perhaps my responses don't communicate this. I had hoped to try and clarify why I feel this way but I may have ultimately failed. I do genuinely appreciate your continued communication!
I think you're right. I don't know what I was thinking ! I never thought I'd say to someone "you should act more smug to fit my artist cliché !" T_T