Old Games Smorgsborg
As of writing this I have 9 games published, despite this I have never written a postmortem for a game before. I think this is mainly due to just, not thinking anyone would care that much about it, especially for my very first few projects, and while I don’t think that has changed terribly much I have changed to decide I don’t care, and I am going to ramble about some of my first released games, even if no one reads this, because I want to.
Mister Mandragora's Special Errands
My first game ever was Mister Mandragora’s Special Errands, it was made in Rpgmaker XP because it was on sale for 5$ and I’ve always admired Rpgmaker games, and had a deep want to make games of my own, so it seemed the most accessible entry point to make what I want. The game itself is a very short errand sim where you play Blythe Mandragora as he goes into town to pick up things to celebrate he and his werewolf husband Marth’s anniversary. I cannot remember a whole lot about the development of the story and characters besides wanting the protagonists to be big gay trans dudes, and wanting something cute and wholesome. OH and also I was super into this app game called Mandrake Boys, which is why out of all the possible monster boys he’s a mandrake plant dude. Honestly my main two memories of this games development are 1.) I originally intended to use my whole college summer break to make something longer and slightly more interesting, but this was the summer my friends got me into Final Fantasy 14… so I did that all break until I realized there was only a week left of summer and basically panic made this game in the last half week off -w-)ll 2.) The night I finished the game I wanted to reorganize my maps a little, only to fat finger a shortcut and delete all of them… panicking and breaking into a cold sweat I thankfully remembered to hit the undo button and was very relieved to find everything back where I needed it. Phew! I had actually done a little bit of remake work for it before, only to realize my interests were elsewhere and pausing it, an unfortunately common happening with me… While not anytime soon I’d love to remake this game one day, it’s a simple game but it’s where I started and it means a lot to me.
Fungus & Delicacies
My second game would be Fungus & Delicacies, a short creepy cute game about an imp walking into a fairy ring and ending up lost in a strange place… This one was made in Rpgmaker MV because there was a sale. I wanted to make something kind of horror-y, but was still leaning more towards more simple cutesy designs, I remember the main design idea especially with the main character was to make something incredibly easy to sprite and draw in CGs. I wish I had more insight for this game but I mainly just smooshed my enjoyment for meat and mushrooms together with the goal of making something slightly more ambitious than my first game, which hey, this game has multiple endings and stuff so I think I managed that at least!
Pale Sand, Dark Skies
My third game, but way more importantly, my first visual novel~ Pale Sand, Dark Skies was a short game I basically made over a weekend in Tyranobuilder. You play as someone who goes to the beach after a storm to see if anything cool washed up, and depending on what item you find you talk to a different ghost. I was really happy with this one when it came out, the art was really good especially compared to my previous games and I’d even customized all the UI elements which was a first, so of course this is still one of my least popular games, second only to I think Maidhem (another game I’m happy with lol) there’s no accounting for taste, what else is new. Genuinely cant remember why I made this game about sheet ghosts, though I vaguely recall I wanted to add a bad end where you find no ghosts and a big sea serpent just bites your head off, but didn’t want to animate that so just left it out.
Room 400
My very first game jam game! And second visual novel :3c Room 400 was made for the O2A2 Jam, a game jam with the limit of only one of every asset and 1000 words or less allotted for script. The game has you playing as Subject 38, a man who wakes up in room 400, where a voice over the intercom tells you to escape. This one was SO fun to make, since I had a time crunch and I draw a lot faster traditionally I busted out the Posca markers to draw the background and my main sprite, any slight expression changes done through medibang. Even now I love the look I got here, especially with the limited palette, I need to do this again sometime. This is also my first game with point and click elements, which was kind of annoying to get working in Tyranobuilder, but I did it! The idea for this one I’m pretty sure I got because I’d recently gotten into Your Turn To Die and wanted to make my own escape room death game flavored deal. I was really surprised at how well this game was received, this is still one of my most played games, and most of the comments are people asking if I’ll expand it somehow, which is nice though I think they’ll be disappointing if this is what they follow me for…
Mimsy & Friends
Mimsy & Friends! You play as Mimsy looking for her girlfriend Alma to deliver a cake you made her! This is the last Tyranobuilder game I made, as after this I finally moved to Ren’py and never looked back. I did some little clickable things enabled in this game too with you getting to pick the type of game you make Alma, overall this was another one of those games I made in about a weekend, so it always surprises me that this is my most popular game, maybe because I put popular tags on it like furry and lgbt? Who knows, certainly not me. It makes me happy this game is my most popular because all the characters in this game are my dolls! Mimsy, Comrade, Mia, and even Alma all exist and live with me on my shelf, I even gave them little furniture, it’s awesome ^w^ I would love to do more with them for a game, though I prioritize making new dolls and interacting with them, so making them another video game is lower on my priority list right now.
MMSE Remake scrap, as a treat
Okie! I think that’s me just about caught up on my smaller early games, because next up is Those Infernal Girls! which needs its own full post… as well as RadiAngel which I have something partially written up for, but due to the remake being paused I’m keeping that for until I have more to say. Maidhem and Prey Animal are newer and I have more thoughts, so I also want them to have their own posts. Until next time, thank you for reading, stay safe!