The Gallows

I really liked the graphics, style and music, the gameplay is also very nice, but the ending is not very clear

@puarie Thank you very much! In the end, the cat saves the fox during another suicide attempt.
To delay the Inevitability is that the game of the gallows begins again and again.

very beautiful game, the presentation is great and the atmosphere is dense, in a short time I was already invested in the plot, congrats

@shizuka Thank you very much! Now our team is focused on continuing. :)

Really like your art style! I would increase the deceleration on the character so that they stop quicker - it kinda felt like I was walking on ice.

Oh man the Mood of this game was amazing. The art and music really came together well.

Did notice the console pop up with a null reference, and pressing a button for the drawing sometimes didn't work.

I'd also really recommend to tighten up the movement, because it feels a little floaty; On the Rigidbody2d, tweak the drag and speed a bit, and set the interpolation, if it wasn't already. Depending on the Input system, GetAxisRaw generally helps too.

Would love to see this game developed further!

Really beautiful. The art, animation, music, and text all worked well together to create a compelling atmosphere. I was actually rather surprised that you spared my feelings at the end, so, thanks for that...!

I feel the controls could have been tighter (the sliding around wasn't great) but maybe it'd have taken more animations that you didn't have time to finish in order make it look right without the acceleration, so fair enough.

That said, though, that's just a bit of a nitpick--overall, it didn't detract from the experience. You guys did really well here, I'd be interested in seeing what you could make together outside of the time constraints of a game jam. :smile:

Oh, just to add, I realised as I was leaving that the theme of this jam really makes the ending quite bittersweet... If it's just delaying the inevitable, then it's hardly a happy ending. That realisation actually added something extra to the experience.

As I already said, great work. :slight_smile:

@miltage Thanks! We will correct your remark during development

@kimberly We are glad to hear kind words and criticism! Thank you for suggesting a solution to one of the problems.

@skruffye Wow! You understand the meaning of the idea! It is very cool! Our team is very happy :)
By the way, we are all very interested in this idea. We really want to continue working on it :з

@sofignedova Of course! If there's any other problems I can help with, feel free to reach out. This game was lovely, and I'd love to see it grow :)

The aesthetics are amazing...it's like playing a drawing on a piece of paper! Music was great! I had a bit of trouble whenever the paper with the hangman drawing appeared...it wouldn't go away after pressing any key...but maybe that was a transition image while I changed scenes? I could still run around when the paper was up so I was confused.

@claytonrumley Thanks for the feedback! After the gallows, there is a transition to the next scene. The picture was supposed to be in full screen, but for some reason the picture was reduced in the WEB

Really great game, loved the atmosphere and the art style!! Would love to see more in the future. Keep up the work, you are doing great! :)

@kimyokage Thank you very much!

Absolutely loved the asthetic and atmosphere of the game! The hand-drawn world, fitting music, and great choice of color palettes really brought the world to life in a cohesive way! The mechanics were simple but guided me through the story well and smoothly. Really liked this submission great job!

@lvl99chicken Thanks! Your words touched my soul!

Possibly my favorite art so far this Ludum Dare. Very poignant, stream of consciousness type game. Beautiful soundtrack too. This game really sets a great atmosphere and tells an intriguing story in a unique way.

@polymathld , I'm glad to hear it! OwO

really great sense of mood with the art and music. Feels very evocative, but I had a hard time understanding what to do next, and sort of felt like I was just clicking around until things changed.

This game is really sad but it's beautifully made. It hits different when you know how it feels and if you know friends or family that's also been through this.

Very beautiful game, I love the style. Really achieved the emotional feel and build up. The end was bittersweet.

a very interesting thought piece

Very beautiful game, and a very creative and unique art style! Thought that it really explored an interesting approach! Классная игра!! There was a null reference exception in one of the scenes though I'm not sure why that is...

-Tim

What a pretty game. I found my self rushing trough the levels as I was in a hurry, because I was worried of my fox friend. It was well and interestingly done and while it was very simple it drove in the basic idea well. Great, bit sad but hopeful experience.

So melancholic... I'm glad that in the end things went Ok :relieved:

I liked the idea to show memories through associated items to make story more detailed.

Thanks for game and psychological message. Take care of yourself and your loved ones. :kissing_cat:

P.S. Илья - жопа.

@amberfall92 Thank you for playing and appreciating the game! Text thoughts were supposed to hint at the use of objects. But because of the rush, this idea was very poorly implemented.

@andreia Our goal was to create a small emotional story. We're glad we were able to make it happen.
Thanks a lot for the feedback!

@darriasart thank you!

@studiocherno Thank you for sharing this bug! She doesn't meet often.
We are glad that you had a good experience with our game! I even got a little shy! Mood - shy artist :smile:

@boclow We are glad to hear that different elements have such a good effect on the idea and story! It will be necessary to analyze this. Thank you for playing the game!
The fact that different people experience the story that you experienced - it seems like magic!

@niklas-zhaga Thanks to my team members for not letting me make a very negative ending!
Thank you very much! Reading such words is unrealistically cool.

Thanks for this game 💕

Ludum Dare is full of action packed game, and it feels great to play something calmer and full of emotions like yours sometimes.
I loved the visuals and beautiful animations.
The story is simple yet full of beautiful small details, and the writing incorporated into the level is a very very good idea.

@doot Thanks for the kind words :з

Fine and simple game with sad story but good(?) ending. Only I can say: maybe it would be better if text with memories appears after using item

So cute !

@uboretsky Initially, the text was supposed to help solve puzzles. I'll have to think about it.. is it possible to integrate it into the background somehow. Thanks for the feedback!

@kmyho thank you very mutch!

I love the hand drawn art and the way you incorporated the writing into the environment. The story made me really emotional, and I'm glad it ended on a hopeful note!

Boy, that was melancholic and cute at the same time. Definitely full 5 for the mood. :)

I would like to offer you good advice to improve the game (same way you suggested for me) but I think its perfect as it is. :)

omg I really like this art style :o The mood is also really nice and you should def continue working on this! I got an unhandled exception during the last stage so I couldn't continue >_

@stochastic if you want, try to complete the game again! She usually works to the end.

Thank you for your kind words!

@snory We are finalizing it and therefore your advice could help us a lot! Do not hesitate, we will be glad to hear!

@tetrapteryx thank you for playing game :з

Great game! Really liked the art, music and mood!! First time a LD game hit me with the feels!

Wow. Fantastic art and music. I really liked the writing integrated into the backgrounds and the way the memories looked. Great job.

What a lovely experience. You captured those moments very well, and the interactions really helped set their place and make you feel more of a part of the story. It was very immersive, and the music was wonderful. I would love to see more.

Really like the art and music. The story was nice and short. Hopefully you guys get chance to expand it. Good job.

Love the sketchy quality of the ghost characters and the animation for the main character was nice :)

I liked exploring the backstory with this beautifully drawn scenery and cute artstyle. The music is probably my favourite part though. Really set the mood super well. Wish there were some more sound effects to complement it.

Game system wise, I didn't understand what the paper did at first. Maybe that could've been made a little clearer from the beginning. But it's fine.

Thank you very much! Our team is very glad that you liked it! @spladug @jasontherand @tan-games @fluri
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@alks thank you very much! Probably the story turned out to be so lively, because it is realistic to some extent for each of the team members.
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@yaen Thanks! A very correct remark! We didn't think about it.

Amazing art and music, good job! The only thing I didn't like in gameplay is UI overlapping main character's thoughts. Also because of game being this short for me it felt like the ending breaks story off too abruptly. But even in that short time I managed to get fully immersed in it.

Gameplay combined with overall atmosphere and main character gave me strong "Night in the Woods" vibes. Just out of curiosity, did you take any inspiration from it while creating you game?

@andrground Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I was inspired! I really liked the atmosphere of the game until the sectarian stuff started there. This atmosphere conveys my emotional experiences very strongly... And I also wanted to use this atmosphere for my idea.

The graphics are awesome! The only minor drawback I see is the player mechanics. It's not bad, it's just that the rest is so spectacular that it baffles me a bit. Seriously, you have to make this game longer and publish it on Steam!

@milq Thanks! We are in the process of developing :з

Really beautiful game. Not really my style of game that I like, but the story was beautifully told and the art was very well done!

I felt like I was walking on ice, the deceleration could be cranked up a bit.

The mood and atmosphere were really good. I didn't really find it 'fun' as it was more of an interactive experience, but this was very well put together!

Short and bittersweet. It kind of reminded me of Omori in some ways.

The art and mood of the game were really well done, and the story was told with impressive depth. The music was really nice too. The paper confused me a bit at first though, and I was originally confused by the ending.

The theme of this game hita a little too close to home so I had to play it (well, I also play a lot of narrative-based games during this LD since our game is also narrative-based and I feel like this kind of games are a little bit neglected sometimes).It reminded me heavily of Night in the Woods, both visually and narratively. The mood and music were marvellous. Really great and serious entry - those are hard to spot!

The story of the cat and the fox is simple, but catchy. I liked it. The picture and sound "work" on the plot, the characters are very cute.

Wow that really did make me feel something. Love the art and music! (minor note but I noticed the web build had "Development Mode" in the bottom right, I think you can turn that off from the build settings)

The art and music are amazing! You really get into the mood of the game.
At the beggining I was a bit puzzled because I didn't know what to do but I easily got it.
Nice job!!

The art and music work well together!

Beautiful art, must've taken forever to draw all the animation and 2d assets. The ending actually surprised me and it's emotionally very impressive particularly for a game jam. Keep on keeping on.

Great art style and nice story telling! The only little nitpick was that the background panel for the inventory was just the default one, contrasting with the rest of the style!

I experienced emotions from this game, I really liked the art and music, amazing game.

@sasquatchbstudios Thanks for the feedback! As for the movement, we will fix it. I'm glad you liked it!

@nsadie @csdoescs @bwalter @carla @bqq @shumarie @ehon @manan @kinart Thank you so much for the feedback! We are glad that you liked it! :heart: :heart: :heart:

Just finished this now. What a nice game! The art style was excellent, and the music helped convey the mood really well. Thanks for making it!

This is a very pretty game with somber atmosphere and relatable story to almost anyone who got into a deeper relationship with someone. It would've been perfect with a bit more polish. For example, the text telling the story is very static and it looks kind of off putting. It would've been amazing if it popped only when you were at a relevant location and it could've used some kind of doodle effect to fit more the rest of the art style.

UI is also a big problem and it breaks the immersion. Not only does it not fit the rest of the style, but it also blocks some of the text, making it needlessly harder to read. There are also some null exceptions you'd probably want to look at.

Despite all of this, I had a really positive experience. I just thought it would be nice to address some of the rougher parts because I want to see this game gets the polish it deserves. Be sure to work on it post jam, I would love to see the improved version of it!

It's rough around the edges, but interesting. I feel like there's something here, having all of the text sprawled lends to an interesting emotional effect, like I'm reading someone's notebook with everything laid bare. At the same time it's a bit overwhelming and stifles any sense of intrigue. So I'm not sure what is best.

Congrats on your game!

I really like the style of this and it's a really interesting method for story telling. I did get soft locked on this level with a few null reference errors. Or maybe I got a game over? Overall I think this was a really cool entry, nice work!

@don-fouts because of an error, you could not complete the game to the end?

@don-fouts The final location is on the roof. To get to the roof, it is necessary to take a pink plate, then press the table. At the end, go to the book in the right corner of the apartment and press F or space several times

@don-fouts if it's not hard, can you describe in detail your actions in the apartment that caused this error?

Gorgeous game, and so heartfelt! You created a great atmosphere to tell such an emotional story. Really great job!

@sofignedova I was walking around pressing "Space" to try and find items to pick up. I think I triggered a few of the memories on that stage and when I got close to the right side of the screen I got the above screen shot.

@sofignedova I just replayed it without slamming the spacebar like a spaz and didn't get any errors that time. Seems like it's something I did rather than with the game.

Very moody! Love the art and music. Not sure how I feel about the ending - too ambiguous if it was a _good_ ending or not. As intended, I imagine. Good game!

Love the art and the music! Really gave me strong Night in the woods vibes! Seeing the drawings kinda made me worried that the ending of the game would be a sad one haha. Overall a lovely submission! Great atmosphere and mood to fit the theme!

#### Что понравилось:

Визуальный стиль. Выделяется на фоне большинства других игр и подходит к рассказываемой истории.

Вышла действительно грустная история

#### Что вызвало вопросы:

Инвентарь иногда перекрывает текст. Особенно это касается места с гитарой в мусорке т.к. край уровня и возможности пройти дальше чтобы интерфейс не перекрывал текст нет.

Было бы прикольно как-то поиграться с музыкой. Когда происходят счастливые моменты хотелось бы чтобы в этот момент их как-то дополняла более светлая и жизнерадостная музыка, а так все как-то в один тон смешивается и не создается контраста между счастливыми воспоминаниями и печальной реальностью.

#### Спасибо за игру!

The music here was stunning and with the visuals added the 2D art here was lovely. props to audio team the soundtrack was amazing. The ending with the absence of the track really took me by surprise and I really hope it was a good ending because I wasn't sure if they were just seeing her there as an imagination. Very good visual storytelling.

Short & sweet entry! The art & music are beautiful and really add to the overall mood of the game. The hangman drawing was such a simple & effective tool throughout the game. I also really liked the color palettes that were chosen. The first scene was so light and bright and hopeful in the park which I think helps pull the player into the relationship. The next two scenes in the city and house with the more grounded setting and low saturation palettes helped build dread. Especially the house scene with the lo-fi vinyl crackling effect immediately put me in a melancholy mood. The final scene with the sunset I think did a good job walking the line between building anticipation & calmness so it was a great way to end this game.

I thought the story was also well done. Even though it was a short game I felt connected to the characters early on into the game. All the sentences scribbled around also really contributed to the growing anxiety and feeling of something coming around the corner. I would have liked a way to go back between scenes though, or at least be able to exit the hangman drawing once you’ve opened it. It didn’t seem like there were ways to do those things and sometimes I would miss unlocking a memory before accidently going to the next scene. Especially since the game is all about connecting you to the characters knowing you missed a memory can be a bummer. I did end up replaying to make sure to check them all out!

That being said I still appreciated that you guys let the player learn by themselves how to play your game. Letting players walk around in the beginning enjoying the atmosphere & soaking in the story I think is very effective so that they’re intrigued by the time they get to the far right where you guys introduce using F to pick up things and combine object & location to unlock.

Great job to the whole team!

@milestone-games, @ddrkirbyisq Thank you. I hope music and arts have given you availability to feel this story.

@sodoj thx for your remarks. Many of this problems we didn't found in development. But now we understand that some things can give players more mood. We will try to fix this asap

@iguanana @sheol nice to hear that game give you good mood. Thank you с:

@quackbehavior эти моменты действительно нарушают полноту впечатлений, хоть и во время разработки этого не заменто. Спасибо за пометки с:

@kitkii We really like to hear this about our game. The ending not bad but and not good. Something terrible didn't happend, but this did not absolutely end because bad emotions returned again. And we don't know what will happen at this time. Maybe something inevitable....

P.s. in next version we can stop this recursion and really help hero.

@evedoll wow, your words are so emotional and we glad that our game can give you such a strong feeling. Thank you for playing to our game and your words.

@saintchristopher777 thank you :heart:

Nice small game with great mood and graphics

cool narrative and emotional game. i like the art style with the loose sketch drawing representing past memories. i like the audio which helps to create to mood in the game. thank you for the experience

@4ahizon :heartbeat: thanks for the feedback!

Amazing! I like the narration and graphics!

A touching and poignant game with phenomenal presentation. The writing is effective; the graphics and sound design are perfect for the theme and topics. My only issues were the slightly awkward movement and a glitch where the scene change wouldn't apparently trigger properly -- the "press any key" prompt kept throwing errors and took a bit of fiddling. Altogether a very coherent, well-made, and memorable submission that's got the theme and mood completely down!

Спасибо, красивое (и очень щемяще-печальное)! Помним вас по прошлым лд, всегда очень приятные работы