Apricot Kernel

definitely the longest i've played a PICO-8 game, i especially appreciated the hungry art connoisseur. well done

Very cute! Liked the transition effects. Good little story too.

It's always great to see other PICO-8 entries!
For the last ludum dare we tried to make a somewhat similar, linear story-based pico game, and there is surely a lot, we can take from you here, thanks!
A few ideas that came up during playing: I know, how hard it is to make something visible in pico, but the progress bar (healt and energy and stuff) at the bottom now does not really let the player know about its state, as it is not really visible.
The screen shake is cool, I loved it! Overall it is a very good job, congrats! Oh and I liked the ocean pert, where I was trying to find bugs by walking off the screen, but it turned out it was a feature!
Hats off!

pico gang! wooow, so much narrative for a pico game, amazing what you pulled off. it's really well put together, wish I could rate it.

What a journey, I really enjoyed that, I got sucked in and honestly it was quite unnerving at times, but in a good way.
Great job!

I wish I could leave you a rating.

It won't give me the option to rate this. The story was so original. I felt quite emotional playing it, I was so invested.

Veeerry cool, polished, and moody with a fiting art style. I know it's difficult to have some readable texts, but the fact that you have so much to read with a visibility that is not great was a hindrance to me :/
But I still really loved this entry !

I got stuck on level 4 in a room full of flowers (I believe it's a bug). Where are the rating options?

Felt very deep. Absolutely loved it!

Lovely game! really hit once I got to the flag and then the convo with Umbreon later on. Really enjoyed the narrative. The sound and visuals were charming too.

i too think about the transience of mortality when i enter a photobooth. the interface break where you enter the dialogue box was quite neat!

It's really fun!

the ratings should now be enabled!! for some reason i opted out for that :o

@cinterre @zahkros
@bartalomew
@waptaincaffles
@tofucat
@tomrijnbeek
@jimmymcginger
@zerovirus
@obe-dot

thank you all for your kind words i wanted to implement some animations there too, but the time run out in the end! i had to spend a lot of time with importing the text, because my dialogue system is very unoptimized, haha

@cheesepencil
that's an incredible compliment, thank you!!!!

Really solid and polished! Pico 8 games definitely have a place in my

Incredibly moving game. I would want this game to exist and to find it and play it even if Ludum Dare didn't exist, makes me think about all the great stories I don't get to hear just because I don't stumble upon them. Thank you for making it and for commenting on my game so I could end up here!!

Well that was an experience. I'm not sure how to rate this game in reference to ludum dare because there are very few that survive to make it to this point, and even fewer that seem complete.

I did spot a few points of clunky dialogue and one odd choice that the protag made. But i guess that's to be expected since there's so little time to finetune the writing.

I'm not sure if I was able to finish the game as I couldn't go past this screen at the end but I really liked how emotional the game was.
The font was a bit hard to read.

I love little adventures like this in game jams, even more so on the Pico-8. Your writing is impeccable, and I imagine a love for poetry plays a big part in this? Either way, I felt moved by a lot of your words. Excellent little game.

This was neat, I certainly played it longer than I initially thought I would (narrative games are not usually my thing)! I loved the story you created, and at first the Pokemon names really threw me off but I trusted there would be a reason, and sure enough there was. One thing that I did enjoy was that it was a trans narrative done through a lens I hadn't really seen too much before. Plenty of elements hit a bit too close to home at times, the staring, the difficulty with memories and dealing with the past and who you were. First of all, if these are things you are dealing with I want to say that things will always look better, and you will find a network and community to care for you as you. I know I personally have found that and it has been such a gift. But second of all I liked how you didn't hit people over the head with these elements. It's there, but if you missed the trans flag you really would just see it as a sad robot story.

The game itself was nicely paced, it went on a lot longer than i expected and I enjoyed the elements where you played with the UI, especially going into the textbox and interacting with the interface. At the beginning especially I really had some difficulty with the graphics I will admit, it was quite hard to parse what was what and what was going on, I could only really find the player when they were moving. The only other things was it was occasionally frustrating that if I backtracked, I would have to go through every trigger again when I passed it. I was able to get used to these two things, but it initially took me out of it.

Overall though I'm glad I spent some time with this game, it was really nice to go through and experience the story you created!

Never played a Pico game before. Very unique to me!

@rafagamedev
thank you so much for playing!! i love pico-8 games too :>

@red-dino
wow your words mean a lot to me!! thank you

Awesome ! Impressive story line, this game was quite a feat I imagine. Thank you for sharing it :')

An interesting and big project)

A good game with the entourage of old eight-bit consoles with authentic graphics and sounds

this was such an original concept! i really liked the narrative even though its hard for me to be patience when it comes to dialogues or text lol

i think you set the mood really well, and the fact that you decided to actually tell something in a game jam... in a very limited amount of time.. wow, you did an excellent job

The interface metaphor feels very clever -- especially since it seems so cluttered at first.

When I do comment, most of the time I have more to say, but this isn't about the particular mechanics, graphics or music or what have you. Words always seem to definitive to describe something as multi-faceted as emotions. So I suppose a short message about that it made me 'feel something' (even though I'm like 99% sure I'm cis) will have to do.

What a fun game! The story was deep, but for me honestly a bit long. I think that is a me-problem though :-) I love the visuals and sound effects. It is also intuitive to control. Very well done. The only feedback point I have is that the NPC starts the whole conversation again when you accidentally bump into them a second time. A skip button, or not starting the conversation at all would be ideal in that situation

I feel like this was telling a very personal story in *roman a clef* form. Really quite lovely. I can't say I share the same experiences, but there are sentiments in there that felt familiar to me regardless.

I really enjoyed the game! The aesthetics, sounds and art all came together very nicely. It was a great choice to make the game in Pico-8, which gave it a lot of charm! The story was deep and emotional, which I found very interesting and it kept me engaged until the end. I also loved the Pokemon references~
Congratulations on the great work and the awesome game! ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

The game gave me strange feeling, not my cup of tea but I can see a story being presented here.
I wish the dialogue buttons would be consistent so I don't need to switch key just to end a dialogue.

I love the horror elements you created with dialogue, they were quite chilling, the gameplay itself is cool and engaging (not just walking around, but going through a certain path or going into the heart in the end), the visuals are perfect for my taste (I love minimalistic pixel art like this) and it was interesting to discover and try to interpret the story (from the flag and "new" name and some dialogue I figured it represents the feelings of a trans person who was also, it seems, not quite accepted by their family). I love this kind of take on a realistic topic in the bounds of imaginary world, as a metaphor through a different story - of a robot who wanted to change their code. I enjoyed both the story and gameplay quite a bit. The only thing I wish would be different is that it would be more clear that I reached the end of the game (like: name accepted, correct, since "corrupt header" gives me an impression that I have to deduce the right name of our MC.

The visual aesthetics of this game have a homemade charm, reflecting the developer's personal touch and dedication to their craft

A remarkable game for PICO-8 — you’ve created a little world and populated it with strange characters. Some of the levels are beautiful — e.g., Level 6. It is a very good use of pixel art.

As for Christian art — it is violent but that is the point. How else can you depict crucifixion? But depressing, no, not at all, if you read it the right way.

One improvement you could make is to reduce the text — I think the game would be more fun with concise dialogue. Then, each word carries more weight. That being said, overall it’s a very imaginative game.