lilyvalleygames

[lilyvalleygames]

This is just appreciation commentary! I love love the crystalline cage demo! I do and I hope we get to see more (Certified Johan lover🤭) and I’m really amazed by how intricate and how well the story line goes. It keeps me intrigued. It keeps me hooked girl. Consider me a big ass fan🙂‍↕️

Awwwww thank you so much! I will definitely be picking it back up— my only issue is a mental block I’m having with this file size issue. I know the fix for it, but it’s time consuming and monotonous and I’ve been putting it off haha

[lilyvalleygames]

I am cooking yet again

[lilyvalleygames]

A message out of my appreciation of your VN! <3

Hey, I just wanted to come on here to tell you how much I love your game! I wish that it got the attention from the media that it deserved!!! The demo already had me hooked on the characters and the mystery and the EVERYTHHHINNGG!! I've played ur game like 30 times until I've memorized every line in every route and am starving for content. I'm severely hyperfixated and severely dehydrated of fan art and any type of fanbase that will interact w/ me *cries*

Anyways if you ever feel like nobody would care if you update, share anything of the game or your progress, KNOW THAT I'M HERE STALKING URPAGE 24/7!!!! Keep going dev!!! <3 <3 <3 <3

I’m so sorry I’m this late to get back to this— I’ve been taking a break from tumblr— but thank you so very much!! That’s so kind of you! Currently I’m on a little hiatus (somewhat overtaken by other OCs at the moment) but this means the world to me! :3

[lilyvalleygames]

Writing out Day 2 now!!

[lilyvalleygames]

dating simulator where it starts normal but it slowly becomes clear that all of the romanceable characters are attempting to cover up an extremely specific murder they committed a year ago before you arrived

[lilyvalleygames]

Yeah I should probably draw out a map for world building purposes lol

[lilyvalleygames]

Sorry for any mistakes in advance, english isn't my native language. OuO

I played “Crystalline Cage” yesterday and while I'm writing this, im replaying your game because i love reading in between the lines and gather as much MORE info as I can, im just thirsty for more since I really loved your game. 💜 I found it through my endless searching of looking for games like this one, it's really interesting how you can find a variation of games like these! And every single one of them is unique on it's own way and carefully crafted, I just love that.

I'm aware that you recently dropped your demo but... I'm really interested on knowing more of what's to come or any new characters that are going to appear on the “Day 2”? It's okay if you don't want to share anything too “spoiler-y” but i don't mind.

Will we learn how this fantasy world works? Asking since Vesta/MC seems so... Detached? Uninformed? Ignorant? Towards things like that but it makes sense since they are a servant who doesn't really go out.

Is the Countess Dantalion aware of her son's attachment or... interest towards Vesta/MC? She acts rather odd towards them and i don't know if it is only me but... It seemed like she wanted to imply something when going to see her...? [“I see. I supposed it's only to be expected that he'd come earlier than necessary...” “ (...) Johann does enjoy his little surprises, doesn't he?” 👀]

Are you thinking of adding more good or bad endings to the games? There's so many possibilities and outcomes... Since this is your first game and you working on it as much as you can, please do not overwork yourself, your game is beautiful as it is, mistakes can always be fixed, if you think is okay as it is, that's fine and that is what totally should matter!

I laughed a lot when Vesta/MC said that they ONLY every considered being the... NANNY??? of the new heir and Johann is just like.... “😧” BAHAHHAHAHAHA

Also, I would recommend you to add your Tumblr account to your itchio profile, you really need more reach and im telling you, people will LOVE your blog since a lot of individuals want to ask questions and just look around to find more about this game while it's still in development. 👻

There's so many questions I want to ask... But i think most of them will be answered on the next update or so . 💜 I'll be patiently waiting for it!

Stunning visuals, really interesting and captivating storytelling. I love it!

No need whatsoever to apologize for your English, you're doing great! :D

Ahhhh I'm so glad that you liked my game!!! And even more that you're replaying it! I wrote it out specifically so that different choices would provide different bits of information, and for a more cohesive picture to be built out through multiple play-throughs!

As for Day 2, there will be several new characters introduced! They're largely people Johann knows and personally invited to the upcoming inauguration, and they all have their own interesting relationship dynamics with each other! I won't go too deep into them and their backgrounds, but 3 of the new characters will be old school chums of Johann's, and the 4th new character will be an unanticipated guest :D

As for Countess Dantalion, good catch! She's been aware of Johann's... infatuation for some time, and isn't exactly a fan of her darling boy marrying so far below his station. She would prefer that he get into a political marriage that cements House Dantalion into a more elevated position--currently House Dantalion is considered in the capital to be frontier-adjacent, and not as 'cultured' as one might consider the capital to be.

Regarding endings, I certainly intend for there to be more good and bad endings! There are a lot of directions that I can take this in, and I intend for there to be a loooooooooot of different ways to end the game, depending on your relationship with Johann and others. There will even be romance-able routes for Roy and Bridgette, which I'm excited about! That said, I appreciate your comment about not overworking myself! I love to do a large variety of creative projects, so while I take a little break from game development I've been doing some painting and reorganizing my apartment and even doing fun little kitchen experiments! Currently I'm trying to ferment ginger with sugar and make it into a nice bubbly beverage! But I digress.

As for the fantasy world, I'm glad that you caught that! Vesta was intentionally made to be unaware of much of the world around her. This is because 1) players can benefit from having things explained to them via Vesta and 2) Vesta is indeed incredibly sheltered! Even her name was carefully chosen: Vesta is the Roman goddess of the hearth, the personification of home and comfort and family. And she's very much... at home. Especially as far as Johann is concerned haha. He really enjoys Vesta's lack of awareness-- he considers it to be a kind of "purity" that makes Vesta special to him.

That said, I'll still definitely be doing some fleshing out of CC's world! A lot of the new guests are more well-traveled, and will provide whole heaps of world building and fictional politics.

And I'm so glad you enjoyed the funny bits in CC! I just adore pairing humor with horror-- the contrast just makes the scarier parts so much scarier! At least, that's my opinion lol.

You're absolutely right, I should update my game page to include my Tumblr-- I'll do that just after answering this ask! Thank you again for reaching out! These asks are so incredibly satisfying to me-- it's such a great feeling when your creative work resonates with someone!!!

[lilyvalleygames]

I found your demo through 14dwy and I'm so glad I did :D I enjoyed playing it and now I'm left patiently craving for more

If you're still answering questions- did you have any inspirations in mind when creating the characters? If thats too much to answer then perhaps just Johann specifically? He is giving Mr. Darcy in the best way

Hello! I am absolutely answering questions, and thank you for asking one! I told myself that I would take two weeks off of dev stuff but here I am, already plotting out how Day 2 is going to go haha

As for character inspiration, there have been a LOT of characters that have inspired me! I'm a big Pride & Prejudice fan myself, and while Johann wasn't intentionally pulling Mr. Darcy (I'm a longtime fan of the 1995 BBC mini-series adaptation) I can definitely see where you're coming from!

Before I started on CC, I had a few different OCs floating around my brain that eventually coalesced into the Johann we know today! Johann actually really solidified in my mind while I was sketching out his different expressions way earlier in development. I wanted someone who was deeply obsessed with the MC (naturally) and willing to do just about anything to get them. At first, I was imagining a more moody, taciturn version of Johann, who desired power for power's sake, and believed that acquiring power would eventually let him marry whomever he chooses-- like getting so OP that no one can really tell him who to marry anymore, given his status.

From there, I started thinking about how that might work in high-class social circles. Moodiness isn't exactly a great trait for making connections in business, so I did some reworking and decided that he'd be the type to maintain composure in almost any situation. Frankly, I find that kind of personality to be more frightening.

Later, I started developing characters that would eventually be his school chums (they'll be revealed in Day 2) and I realized that the composed persona crumbling in front of the right people could be super entertaining!

I am a longtime P&P fan but Jane Austen's characters tend to be (imo) less conniving and more... gentle, I guess? There's an element of comfort and decency that I find in Austen's characters, and I love that about them! But my characters are distinctly a little more... Brontë adjacent, I'd say? I'm definitely going for something more gothic and tangled.

TL;DR Johann has more social skills than Darcy but much fewer scruples lol

[lilyvalleygames]

Heartbreaking that I have to do my job instead of work on my game. I have so much I want to do!!!

[lilyvalleygames]

I'm soooo excited for people to play Day 2 and realize what a two-faced bitch Johann is with his old school chums <3

Would anyone be curious to hear about my upcoming Day 2 characters?

[lilyvalleygames]

Hiiiiii!! I LOVED your visual novel! Especially Johann (ɔ◔‿◔)ɔ ♥!

The demo already had me baffled and full of questions, one of my biggest questions is what exactly happened to the MC (Vesta) in the bad ending? Did he trap us IN the red gemstone? Did we *TURN INTO* a gemstone?!!?!! (┛ಠДಠ)┛彡┻━┻ I'm not sure which one is worse....

Also, Johann seemed awfully familiar with turning people (or...trapping them) into a gems...

ALSO ALSO are we able to meet one of the women that Johann had married before from the gossip at the bar in the future???

Hiiii I’m so glad that you like it! Regarding the gemstone, I’m afraid that’s something of a spoiler— in this case, feel free to speculate away! That’s why I left that ending a smidgen ambiguous! ☺️

As for the gossip at the tavern, I apologize if it was unclear— they’re talking about the older Count Dantalion, Johann’s father! There’s a juicy mystery unfolding on a multigenerational level in this game :D

For context, this is Johann’s father, Winston Dantalion:

He’s a little heartbroken here— for reasons currently unknown…

Thanks for asking!

[lilyvalleygames]

Love love love your game ! The story, the mystery, the characters and the art whoa ! ε(´｡•᎑•`)っ♡♡ After the "good ending" with Johann, I'm curious to see if it will be possible to get a different attitude from Johann towards a more resilient MC. Or to see how finding out what he's hiding can change the dynamic between them.

Also… What was that with that "no" becoming a yes… Johann what are you doing ?? ( •᷄‎ࡇ•᷅ )

Good luck with the full game, I'm really excited to see where it goes next <3

Thank you so much!!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Fun fact: there’s a whole variable I created regarding the player advocating for themselves, and it’ll start really affecting gameplay in day 2!

And, who knows?? >:3c

Thank you for your well wishes! I’m hyped to get back to it— just spending some time focusing on irl stuff and my mental health to rev up for the next update!!

[lilyvalleygames]

HOW DID I JUST SEE THIS AHHHHH thank you!! :DDDD

So it's taken some time, but I wanted you to know that 14dwy has actually inspired a game of my own! It's also a yan game and it's called Crystalline Cage! :D You're in the games credits lol

✦゜ANSWERED: aaaa I'm so happy and honoured to hear that!! ;v; I know I normally keep things strictly 14DWY-related on this blog (and require a secret phrase for asks), but I'll make an exception hehe

The demo for "Crystalline Cage" drops on the 3rd of August!!

✦ Links: tumblr | itch ✦

[lilyvalleygames]

If it's not too spoiler-y, I'm really curious as to what moment made Johan realize he's in love with MC?

In Johann's case, there was never any one particular 'moment.' If you asked him, he might mention spending time in his father's study as a child and discussing the topic with him. The Count had always believed that love was separate from infatuation-- infatuation may be a passing feeling, with a lot of ups and downs, but love is consistent. It's feeling at peace with someone; not having to put on a facade, not having to omit difficult truths... it's that kind of connection. If infatuation is cotton string, then love is an iron chain.

That resonated heavily with Johann. MC was pretty much the only friend his age he'd ever had as a child, and the closest thing Johann knew to love without conditions. His father was one thing, but Count Dantalion always had an air of authority. With Vesta (MC), there was no need to play the role of a perfect son or student. He could just be himself.

That's probably when he realized his feelings.

[lilyvalleygames]

Reblogging these for the new followers! Little quips about some of the Day 1 characters :)

[lilyvalleygames]

I've been planning for Day 2 already (it's brainworms at this point) and I'm so hyped about Johann behaving differently depending on where you went the night before. For those who enjoy the game, I recommend trying out different choices-- they genuinely affect the gameplay in a fun way :>

[lilyvalleygames]

Is the MC genderlocked or gender neutral?

Hello! The MC is currently set up as gender neutral. I want to add some custom pronouns (among other things) but for now just wanted to get the game out!