I used Firefox on my computer. Click+Left on the frame → This Frame → Open in New Tab
3 Likes
Ah, thank you! Good to know for next time.
2 Likes
Ah, I actually just noticed they said:
I used ChatGTP for 42 pages of research[…] and some content.
2 Likes
Well, that explains some sentences, then…
4 Likes
I don’t know if this is related, but…
3 Likes
I did get a reply about it on my Tumblr review actually!!
3 Likes
A World Without You by jaunefleur
An Anti-Romance Jam entry.
> Note: this entry was submitted as a demo. containing a prologue and 3 Chapters. The review will only reflect what is there.
Still the demo is quite long. I maybe needed a few hours to read it all (one playthrough).
Entry - More by Jaune - Tumblr Review
Dealing with a World without You
Review - Long
You are going to die. You know it. Nothing will change from the facts that your illness is incurable and that you only have few moments left before your inevitable demise. You resigned yourself to your fate. But when Damin, a bubbly bubblegum-haired [person] crosses your path, everything you thought about life flips upside down. This is the premise of the project. At the current state of the demo, you’ve met that person, but sparks haven’t quite flown just yet between you two.
From the start, it is clear AWWY is quite anchored in the Tumblr/CoG school of IF, with its custom UI, expected extensive length, and flowery style. However, instead of focusing on branching and choices, AWWY takes a more linear approach with a twist. This makes sense with the story told, considering the MC’s fate is sealed - unless a magical cure comes at the last minute, they will die no matter what.
So, rather than giving player a plethora choices, the demo subvert expectations by switching POVs within a chapter, limiting choices to one or two for flavour within a chapter. You may start the chapter with your MC, before the story is cut to your mother’s POV or your brother’s or Damin’s. Parsed through those, you are treated to some flashbacks, exploring the different character’s pasts, and how those events shaped their present.
This creates an interesting dynamic, making the story feel at times more like a movie than and interactive game. The switches between POV or time period are also clearly indicated at the start of each part. Having to control the MC through the eyes of another character was a bit surreal, but in a good way!Maybe a downside to this approach is the evident lack of player agency throughout the story. Even with the MC referred as 'you’ in their POV, you feel more like a spectator than an active participants. While again, this make sense considering the context - you can’t affect the end - it does take a bit away from the interactivity of the game, making the project look more kinetic than interactive in nature.
This is not an inherent critique of this aspect of the project, as kinetic stories can pull a bigger punch than a choke-full-of-choice game. And I can see this story being one of those. It is just that, at time, some opportunities to elevate a scene through interactivity were missed, which could have made important beats more impactful (like the scene where the MC claims to hate everyone).
On the other hand, it did work quite well for the character creation, avoiding any potential choice-fatigue for the player by spreading out those choices throughout the story - only bringing up relevant elements when necessary.I struggled as well with the pace of the story, as it went back and forth between past and present, and between POVs, making something the sequence of events a bit… confusing. A perhaps good example would be when Damin meets the MC at the butterfly grove*, for the first time it seems, but doesn’t seem to recognise the MC (who turns out to be their neighbour) in the next chapter, or whether Damin arrived before the MC into town or the reverse. This resulted in some high-pressure events, like the fight between the MC and Damin, feeling a bit coming out of nowhere (unless it was supposed to be a flashforward?).
In the same vein, it seemed like the prose focused a bit too much on (over)telling the player what was happening, rather than let the scene speak for itself. This lead often to repetitions in one same passage/paragraph*. I thought this was a bit of a shame, since there are pretty poetic descriptions of actions/setting, but were drowned in explanations. A bit more TLC on the prose will help the flow of the story. For example, hinting at a character’s feelings through action only (instead of the action + description of the feeling) - like breathing a bit too fast or twitching when anxious, or freezing when someone is angry talking to you - or use punctuation and formatting to establish at a tone (instead of describing the tone then the uttered words) - like three dots to show uncertainty or disdain, or a en-dash to choke on words when emotional.
Sidenote: this scene felt pretty magical with the butterflies dancing!
Repetition can be useful, but should be used in moderation for strongest impact.Underneath it all, there is a good base for an interesting story. The characters, though clearly flawed (good!), feel believable and quite human (especially the moody teenagers). Their pain will still pull your heartstrings. It is set up to be a tearjerker, for sure!
Most introduced characters have clear motivations, goals, and challenges to overcome - mainly carrying on after MC passes. It is quite clear where the story is going, and it could make for quite the heartbreaking and bittersweet conclusion.
Out of all characters introduced so far, I particularly enjoyed Damin’s sassy grandmother. She seems like a treasure, and a needed comedic relief in this heavy story. I hope we see more of (and learn more about) her in future chapters.Another aspect I quite enjoyed was the addition of assets in the game, particularly the images. The demo gave a neat way of choosing Damin’s gender (and inherent design), as well as customising our room (by choosing one of “our” drawing). Seeing our sketchbook getting filled as we move from chapter to chapter, used as an alternative to a written journal, was a nice touch. I hope more are planned for the future, their designs were lovely.
Note: I picked the hippopotamus
The premise of the game made me thing of The Fault in Our Starsby John Green, which I think it took inspiration from?
There was supposed to be audio according to the credits, but I didn’t hear any music during my playthrough.I had some small issues with the game itself, with the OpenDyslexic font not working, or the colour palette not being quite accessible (not contrasted enough) for easy reading. I also picked up on a few wrong pronouns for Damin and wrong names for myself.
~~
I only have The Archivist and the Revolution left. I had had played it already during the IFComp (and reviewed it in the Author’s corner), but didn’t get the chance to review the Post Comp version until now.
4 Likes
Aaaaand the revisited review of A&R (pretty long):
I played the game yesterday and had made note, it’s just that I wasn’t done writing the review 
So I am done! I’ve reviewed all the Anti-Romance Jam games!
3 Likes
Some final words:
There were some very different takes on what Anti-Romance would be, from unrequited love, doomed relationships, to simply ending them, to love without romance, or breaking clichés about what is romantic, even simply pure carnal lust… Creators took the theme and went in very different directions, showing quite the wide range on what anti-romance could be. It was interesting to explore all these takes, whether there were made very serious/personal or just took a sillier route. It was also fun trying to find similarities between the entries (the unrequited love and end of relationships were quite popular ).
While I only reviewed the IF/VN entries, it was nice to see people using different formats to use this theme, from prompts/essay, to dungeons, to even an FPS game!
What else can I say, other than (anti-)romance is not dead 
6 Likes