Agoraphobia is the abnormal fear of being in crowds, public places, or open areas, sometimes accompanied by anxiety attacks. This is a visual novel designed to create awareness for this form, and other forms, of anxiety and depressive disorders. Your character decides how to interact with other characters, who either show you support or impatience. If you make decisions to isolate yourself, or let the negative thoughts take you, the dark mass of "Fear" creeps further and further into your mind. There are many ways to combat anxiety, and there is no single solution for everyone, but seeking support is always a good first step. This is the first game I have written and designed and it could not have been completed without the incredible talent of the members of Tech Valley Game Space in Troy, New York.
Trigger Warning: This game includes depictions of anxiety through audio and visual elements which may be difficult for some.
We did a similar game about Alzheimer's! Loved the piano song in your game, would totally just listen to it on repeat. Great artwork as well :smile: If you try our game, let us know what you think :smile:
Excellent job, everyone! I know some of the stuff below are repeats of what I already said in person, but I hope you find the following feedback useful:
I do think that for the most part, the progression of the story is smooth and believable, though a bit compressed. The presentation is excellent, with the sketchy penciling heightening the tension, and music that uses unconventional instruments. I do appreciate the majority of the character dynamics, but there's a line with Quinn that makes her sound like a Mary Sue (the "Nelly thinks she's helping, but she's really not" part), or at least a sudden and uncharacteristic author-insert. And while neither of these problems are immersion breaking, I managed to find a typo and a bug while pursuing all the bad endings (because I'm a jerk).
For the typo, in the scene where you go to Quinn's party without a therapist's help, Quinn suddenly starts referencing themselves in third-person (was she secretly a cartoon villain this entire time!?):
For the bug, right after choosing "You're right" when Nelly confronts you in Quinn's party...
This was interesting. Presentation is very nice from the art to the audio. I empathized with my character as someone who has felt this way in the past. Something interactive like this would be good to have in clinics rather than a doctor asking you between 1-10 how anxious you feel everyday. Good work team. I'm impressed.
I'm on the same team as @mister-kweh, and we were happy to see another group tackle something similar to us (different topics, but similar mood/tone/presentation).
I really liked how yours had options that led to different scenarios. I actually played through a few times because I was curious how the other responses would turn out. Our team had planned on doing something similar, but we weren't able to squeeze it in with the limited time.
I'm very impressed you were able to make such a unique game, especially with the varying situations.
Loved the pencil drawings! I liked going through the scenarios and seeing how my character and others would respond. It did feel a little rushed, and the session with the therapist felt more informative than necessarily relational (though that may be my personal preference). With games on a particular subject, could be cool to show it to a subject matter expert and see if they have any helpful feedback or suggestions if you already haven't done so. Nice job and keep up the good work!
Wow! I am not a fan of dialogue games but this topic kept me interested to the end. The art style stands out compared to most other games here and one other thing that impressed me a lot was the menu system, that looked super professional!
One of the best games I've ever play in LD's since LD#32 (my first LD). I really love this kind of narratives. I suffer from panic syndrome but i like to talk about many other mental illness. I've made a game about depression and suicide on LD41 (https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/710166). It would be nice make a game with you someday. Get in touch if you're interested ([email protected]). Congratulations.
It's quite hard to see the narrative-based games that discuss some serious problems on these jams. You've done a great job, The game is very interesting!
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I do think that for the most part, the progression of the story is smooth and believable, though a bit compressed. The presentation is excellent, with the sketchy penciling heightening the tension, and music that uses unconventional instruments. I do appreciate the majority of the character dynamics, but there's a line with Quinn that makes her sound like a Mary Sue (the "Nelly thinks she's helping, but she's really not" part), or at least a sudden and uncharacteristic author-insert. And while neither of these problems are immersion breaking, I managed to find a typo and a bug while pursuing all the bad endings (because I'm a jerk).
For the typo, in the scene where you go to Quinn's party without a therapist's help, Quinn suddenly starts referencing themselves in third-person (was she secretly a cartoon villain this entire time!?):
For the bug, right after choosing "You're right" when Nelly confronts you in Quinn's party...
...well...
I'm on the same team as @mister-kweh, and we were happy to see another group tackle something similar to us (different topics, but similar mood/tone/presentation).
I really liked how yours had options that led to different scenarios. I actually played through a few times because I was curious how the other responses would turn out. Our team had planned on doing something similar, but we weren't able to squeeze it in with the limited time.
I'm very impressed you were able to make such a unique game, especially with the varying situations.
Also, thanks for checking out our game :)
You've done a great job, The game is very interesting!