#gamedev rambles

[hummingbird-games]

2023 In Review (Indie Games)

Last year's! | 2021

I apologize in advance for how long this might be. As a reminder, I don't bash games here so even if I hated something with every fiber of my being...I ain't sharing. As a second reminder, my more in depth reviews and live blogging has moved to Gem's Game Gems so I don't clutter the HBG's main blog. Okay. ON WITH THE REVIEW!!

DEMOS

Diffraction (Demo)- A rainy day otome indeed. I love the quiet gentleness of this game, the two romance options, and the fact that our MC is a photographer and struggling with her art and stack of life "failures" (because...SAME!!)

Alaris - I was asleep and now I am awake: I came late for the advertised fae and dragon lore, stayed seated and waiting for Fenir zjgjdf. Oh, and I guess the mystery surrounding our MC's abilities LOL.

The Summit Library - When I say I was maaaaaad when I realized I blew through chapter 1 and would have to go back to waiting for more content??? LOL, I was very miffed. Anyhoo, check out this title for the gorgeous art, another intriguing mystery (like what is *up* with the magic in the poor library?? who or what is to blame?? 👀) and of course the lovely characters we've been introduced to thus far.

Of Sense and Soul - I'm a regency romance girl. Like after you strip away the other stuff, I am but a poor woman with simple needs: a good ass love story 🤧💛 It's about the yearning and the slow burn and the will they/won't they/PLEASEEE they...I've never been so charmed by a demo, and the full game is going to be amazing I just know it!

Made Marion - This project is a game I've been keeping tabs on for a hot minute but hadn't taken the time to sit and properly enjoy the demo. I'M SO GLAD I DID!!! It's in early access now, so I'm hoping eventually I'll be able to carve out some time to play, but guysss Velvet Cupcake is doing the Thing?!? No idea which love interest I'll go for first, but I had a fun time meeting the Nottingham peeps in the demo.

Herotome (Super Demo) - Oh gosh. Oh gosh oh gosh oh my GOSHHH. Where do I even began?? (Really the question is where the hell do I end because this is one of those projects I talk about a lot/think about a lot and surprisingly haven't run out of things to say zkjfksjd). Another game I've been following for a while, it 100% lives up to the superhero genre in its aesthetic, the characters you interact with, the music and sound design, and of course the slowly unfurling story. Jade and Mia had come out as my top faves, Warden is still there, like hovering in the backgroud, shhhh but I have a special place in my heart for Griffin too (that conversation we have with her?? I have so many screenshots just so I can go back and reread and sear the words in my brain. Like a weirdo. Yup.)

Celestial Crowns - Stats building, celestial royalty, dating sim where you fuck around and find out your choices directly affect your MC's personality?? I'm sat. I supported the Kickstarter and now I try to practice patience for the full game's release siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighh.

OTOME/JOSEI JAM

Please note this is a SUPER abridged list for my sanity and I fell a little more in love with these 2 jams with each entry I played...

Intertwine - As embarrassing as it sounds, I've never given much thought to the "red string" thing, and I consume more than enough romance media LOL!! But Van is suuuuuch a beautiful man, the UI for this game is so interactive and lovely, the music is ALSO lovely, just lovely-love all the way around teehee. (Also this game encourages replayabillity so like, do with that info what you will.)

Spring Boy [Demo] - I believe this game is going through a complete rehaul, so my thoughts and feelings refer to the original jam entry I played. The art is bright and cute and it's a super super short demo, but I was intrigued by the other student we meet on our mission to plead with our professor about our bombed exam lol!

Assignment Due: Project Blue - IRl group projects??? Suck absolute ass. Group projects with a guy name Asher?? Suddenly it's my new favorite thing in the world 😁

Cryptid Campaign Manager [DEMO] - Remember the last time I looked over a cryptid dating sim??? Remember how I was SUCH a fool?? Good thing I didn't make that mistake again!! The prologue is such a tease but you get an idea of what the full game is gonna be like, and I'm excited to see where my career involving love (and politics) goes!

Heart Cage [Demo] - Yoooooo I stay my ass far far far away from yanderes (could never get into the trope or the character type). WELP. Guess I just needed to keep searching because I really downloaded this off a whim--well, the whim being one of my fellow dev peers playing and rating-- and proceeded to get sucked in 🤧I thought being a detective would be the highlight, but I guuuueeesssss I was more into the romance options than I thought. Oops.

Evernight - I tried to explain what this game meant to me on the side blog, but words failed me. I still don't know what to say other than I loved it?? Which is like ummm I say I love everything, and yeah I'm easy to please BUT Y'ALLLLLL if you play no other game, play this one. Please. Date a werewolf. Or a vampire. Or a fae. Plz. Also figuring out the mystery of your MC's abilities and past is just delightful, ugh.

Bright Oak (demo) - Anotha one I wrote about on the side blog!!! Play this one!!! The writing is lush and atmospheric and the characters are all delightful and it's another game with a mystery to untangle!

The Faithfulness of the Universe- This one gets the award for most unique all around entry that I played. Theeeeee prettiest pixel art to bless my eyeballs, and this tasty mystery concerning Fate and witch Faustina's future (or lack thereof 👀) and what it all means. As a player I very much want to know what it all means!

A Cup For All Seasons - Another game that needs its flowers y'all. It's short but super healing and super cozy and the voice acting and music really tie the gaming experience together???

The Working Woman's Guide to Burning Bridges - DEMO - It's the way I played the demo twice and I've been thinking about it ever since 😭😭😭🙃 obviously life happens and things come up, plus this was a demo. But. BUT!!! I am on my hands and knees prayinnggg the team gets together again to finish the game. I love playing as a stressed, lowkey bitter hot mess who doesn't have her life together 😂somehow the fictional version is soooo much more entertaining!!!

Keyframes (Spring Demo) - After the game College Craze, this is legit THE college, slice of life visual novel of my dreams. I cannot wait for the updated demo next year, and the Kickstarter whenever that rolls around. And now that the developer is on Tumblr, I've definitely been stalking the account and reading each new post like it's my day/night/weekend job 🤧

Hello Counsel 💋 - Okay I take it back, Evernight is like a 20/10 but Hello Counsel is like an 100/10 👁️👄👁️ This game is necessary for my mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health, alright? The banter ✅ the character designs ✅ the music ✅ the sizzling chemistry between Poise and Salem ✅ I wish this game had more buzz because IT'S SO GOOD!!! (also the dev, Miseri, is who I wanna be when I grow up. I've made it through almost their whole backlog of games and there are no misses and EVERY game is different from the rest and it makes it hard for a toodler dev--ME--to cope LOL)

Candied Hearts - Isekaied into a candy themed game?? Sign me TF UP!!! (Peppermint I love you dearly, you must understand.)

Fully Released & Played (at least 1 playthrough)

The Knight's Dilemma - I don't even know how I originally stumbled upon this??? I just know it had been in my backlog for a hot minute and I was intrigued enough to save it way back when. Y'ALL WHY DIDN'T I PLAY SOONER SKJFHFJFH! There's a couple different endings, I loved the voice direction, AND it's such a simple concept of a game that was just executed beautifully.

Trouble Comes Twice - If I had to make a top 5 list of romance VNs, guess who makes the list?? Guess. Guess guess guess. Have you guessed yet??? LOL! I have been in love with TCT since it's development days and with each passing month, waiting in anticipation, playing the Pateron beta builds, screaming on the main blog about every single thought I had about Jace and Hazel (shoutout to Jace for helping me figure out *me*) Lol if you're curious about said thoughts, those posts are on this blog and not the side blog.

Aelfric the Wondrous - 10/10 would love to forget my first play through JUST to have that experience fresh again 😭😭💛Cute and funny and a wonderful parody type game all around.

A Summer's End - Hong Kong 1986 - Goodness, there's no excuse for why this took me years to finish but anyhoo, I finished, I loved it, I recommend it! It's romantic and achingly authentic and the art is soooo gorgeous I literally can't stand it 😭

The Things You Do For Love - Unhinged yandere manages to entertain and garner sympathy and laughter from Gemini. And that poly ending is chef's kiss too????

Band Camp Boyfriend - There are a handful of games I found and loved before I began my game development journey, and this is one of them. BCB is so dear to me, because of the story and characters but also because of the Dynamic Duo creators and their team behind the scenes. I was never a band kid I was a chorus kid but just as the band geeks loved this game to pieces, us normal folks do too!! Even the boys who I didn't like I STILL managed to find joy in playing their routes (still have a few more to finish at the time of this posting lol, GOTTA GET THE FINAL ROUTE YO). Anyway, this game more than delivered for me and I hope more people keep discovering it!!

Belle Automata: Chronicle I [RELEASED] - While only Chronicle 1 is out at the time of this posting, I already know that the 2nd and 3rd parts are going to be just as amazing???? I wrote about this one on the side blog, so here's my copypaste that still rings true:  

I love TNP (The Nightmare Prince) but Victor’s route hit the sweet spot for me. Maybe it’s the slow(er) burn nature of this route, maybe it’s the reserved nature of Victor and watching him slowly start to care (AND NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THOSE FEELINGS TEEHEE) for me.

A Date with Death - I wrote about this on the side blog--again--. The demo. And then right after finishing a route. And then again where I was fully awake and still managed to sound deranged. No copypaste for that, I shall be nice. But yeah!! Another game where I was screaming at the sky about how much I love it and how I'll never know peace as long as I live.

Our Life: Baxter DLC - I need to offer an official apology to both Cove and Derek because falling head over heels, down the stairs, crashing into the parking lot, falling again but down a manhole for Baxter's infuriating ass was NOT on my 2023 bingo board??? HELLO???? I bought his DLC just to complete my OL collection. Was not expecting to love it this much. Was not expecting to be called to write fanfic and abandon all responsibilities to do this. WHILE DOWN WITH COVID TOO. Allow me to play the song of my people. *Send in the Clowns plays*

Our Cinderella - (this is so funny I'm taking about a side game before the main game LOLOLOLOL) Guys. Guysss. You guyyyysss 🥹if you're looking for a cozy, hilarious, equally oddly and wonderfully sweet short game, this is the one!! You may have your personal favorite Iggy ship (like me) but all the pairings are so amazing and just make sense lol!

Wylde Flowers - This is the only non visual novel game on here but it gets the spotlight because I did NOT spend 90+ hours on this game to gatekeep this beauty. No. It the coziest, the funniest, the funnest, the most addictive Switch game (after Teacup) I've ever played.

Fully Released (& still on 1st playthrough)

Garden of Seif: Chronicles of an Assassin - Life kicked my butt and then sat on me SO while I finally got my grubby hands on the full copy, I still have only played the entirety of the demo. But. We will return to this in 2024 and hopefully I'll have a full review for the next wrap up!

Our Wonderland - I looked back at the side blog and I can't believe it was only THIS year that I started OW??? Because I'd known of the game and the dev for longer than that??? So basically what I'm saying is that I was chicken shit for longer than I've been in love with this world that Developer Carrot has created kjzhhshggj. But OMG to get me, who is scared oh so easily to get hella invested in this clearly labeled horror game??????????????? And even with shit gets super absurd and hella disturbing, I cannot stop playing. At the time of this post, I'm only in Act 4, hence the category above, but it's only because I play each act in a sitting and lose track of space and time and myself. That's a compliment btw.

...

Okie!! That's 2023 in a nutshell! I played a looooot of really good games this year and while I would have liked to talk about them all, I think this list provides a nice overview.

Let me know if we share any favorites!

- Gemini 💛

[auranym]

I think the saddest part about Unity's godawful news is that a lot of games are going to just. disappear.

it's like Unity is trying to go the way of streaming where the hidden gems and cult classics don't make enough money, so, they're taken offline. except this time it's with games (mostly indie).

to put it in perspective, hollow knight, cuphead, and ori are made in unity. so are night in the woods, tunic, and countless more indie gems. hell, AMONG US is made in unity. if the devs of any of these games can't shell out the outrageous cost, then maybe the devs will take them offline. and we'll just. never be able to play them anymore

it's a sad possibility that I don't think any of us ever had to consider. but now we do.

[hummingbird-games]

LOL!!

I just imagined Ryan bald ☠️ Mack would have a field day OMG—

spoiler for high school daze 2 demo?

Ryan if you don't communicate with me in the winter uptade I will cut all your hair off

Btw @hummingbird-games I LOVED THE DEMO SM I KEPT GIGGLING UHhus

[dokjafang]

the yan vn community is a bit hectic,

Whats your opinion on the indie visual novels with yandere characters?

People get intense with games to be honest. Though, root cause is pride to be honest. Unfortunate. Hopefully, things cool down sooner rather than later. I don't get involved with networking, so I'm not a direct associate to the yan vn community.

WARNING: My controversial opinions. Things I keep to myself. But, you did ask for my opinion so here. Also, casual and unstructured content.

Well I like playing them, or watching gameplays of it. Usually, though, I wouldn't say a lot of characters are my type. Most of the characters are my friend's type, not mine. So rarely will I play yandere visual novels. Usually on the emotional side or um, just know a lot of them aren't my type!

Also, ANY visual novels... well, I honestly treat it the same way as any other story or book. It's just another story to play through. Sure, it has visuals, but what matters most to me is story and characters. Like, if the MC genuinely irritates me (usually ENFP's, ESFJ's, or ENFJ's protagonists irritate me most), then I will not play the game no matter what. I can tolerate things; but honestly I can't play a game, where I have to constantly deal with an annoying character.

It's also one of the reasons why I didn't get so far playing Love and Deepspace. I heavily dislike the MC there. Too emotional for my tastes, too outspoken, and frankly? I'm no dom, you won't find any dom bone in this tiny body of mine. haha So yeah. But mostly, MC personality irritates me. Things like that. It also goes for yanderes and plots in general.

I play games to have fun, and I don't have any expectations for yandere visual novels. I play for just relaxation; because I know it's once-in-a-blue-moon will I ever find an actual yandere that vibes with me.

Because most of the time, the male yanderes I like are what people consider "abusive" and what most consider not yandere. People say it's plain abuse shiz and all. But for me? Food. Like for me, my favorite "love story" manhwa of all time is this one:

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE THIS STORY. WHO IS THE PREY.

BOTH THE NOVEL AND MANHUA. YES I LOVE IT. Why?

Don't ask. Reminds me of my husband and I hardcore. Like among all stories I've read (that I haven't written), it's this one that resonated most.

So... you can already tell I have unconventional tastes. People hate this man. lol. But I love this story. Hardcore, reminds me of my own love story wahhhh so it's really close to my heart. 🖤🖤🖤

OH WAIT! I REMEMBER. I love this character because reminds me of my husband. People hardcore say he's not yandere, but I consider him one:

YANNNGGGG. I love this man.

Among all yanderes I've seen, this guy was most memorable for me. Yes, choke meee.

A lot of yanderes are on the soft, emo, creepy but wholesome, or what you generally read on most manhwa, for example. But, truly unhinged or unapologetic villain yanderes? Rareeee.

It's why I'm starving hardcore for content. Like actual confident + doesn't need validation from darling + unapologetic + sadistic + intelligent + truly black flag yanderes. That's my type.

Listen. I play games, write, or do anything really because I love my husband. Truly do. So anything that reminds me of him makes me happy.

Anyways.

There's this one story my friend played. People may not like or vibe with it, but it's called "Boyfriend to Death (BTD)". Never played it but my friend chatted it about it with me since she finished the game, and it's my kind of vibe. I don't like the graphics so I wouldn't play it. But the survival horror and genuine aim for your life? Well, that's dope. So, basically stuff like that is my kind of vibe.

Sorry, I do play otome games and visual novels, but usually it's not even yandere. The personalities are never vibing with me :((. It's difficult to even find fanfiction or stories in general with truly confident, unapologetic yanderes. Like truly strong.

My husband is like that, and well... I can't find any wahahahha. Oh well. At least I have food now in the form of writing.

Rambled but yeah. To me, visual novels, whether yandere or not, well, just another video game to me. As long as the game is generally fun to play and doesn't irritate me, then I'll play it. I don't really care nor get involved in community stuff; because I just want to have fun playing. And, I keep to myself, so yeah.

[jacobtheloofah]

im finally learning how to use rpg maker and so far ive made a little game where you can meet a demon in a small prison, meet an old man in a volcano who gives you a key to release that demon, you can sip on a bottle of piss, and you can go to sleep and dream you're in a winter wonderland and kiss jack frost. so far so good.

[pixeldotgamer]

Hey there! Did you know my next game is coming out THIS SATURDAY?

My Horror Visual Novel "Don't Tell My Wife" is coming out October 26th! 🪓 Follow the story of Hus as he prepares a special surprise for his dear Wife without getting caught.

(Countdown art by @wasd-paint)

[bf-rally]

Happy April! 🌹🌼🐇

I have an update!

New "bfs" and some alts have been added to get into the Spring mood.

Make sure to get them when you want. Though, I'll leave them up til like Summer probably (so late June) :]

[ketsie]

Oof, that was a difficult couple of months.

First off, I'm finally cancer-free and considered cured. Now I just need to check every couple of months if everything is still okay. So, yay!

Second, our studio has published our first game today. I've worked on it as a QA tester for the last three years, but--as you can see above--I also made three murals for the game (as well as some additional art stuff). It was a great opportunity to do something more than portraits.

As for the upcoming months, I have no idea how much time I'll have to do art, no idea if I'll be posting here much. I'm trying to enjoy my day to day life and not stress about painting. Because of the release of the game and all the stress I let down one person who commissioned and I really hate that.

I'll see you... soon? Perhaps. Thank you for still being here.

[bbbigforehead]

can nintendo fuck off

[mokagachas]

the narrative gameplay design of is3 vs is4 is really good

i really like it. its driving me insane.

we've all played is3 right. here's the gist of is3: the ocean is treacherous and cruel and ever-changing. there is something with you in the water and you can not see it, you can't even sense it properly- you see flashes of what it is and it is so, so much more incomprehensible than you.

you can stock up well in is3. hell, you can stock up REALLY well- you can get dozens of collectibles and hit all the right operators and you might roll 1s the entire way down.

because is3 is based on helplessness.

is3 is a scenario where your fate is determined by the roll of a die. you will grit your teeth and sigh as you get hit with the worst random debuff available and be like well. nothing i could do there! certainly there are choices that can be made, strategic advances and whatnot, but the ocean is what decides this for you. you are helpless to the ocean's whims.

in fact- there is certainly something comforting in helplessness! it makes the terrifying a little less terrifying. the yoke of responsibility is lifted from you!

is4 is not that.

is4 there is something with you in the mountains and it is just out of view. is4 it is gritty and unchanging and uncompromising. is4 says: here is what is in front of you. there is no chance here.

is4 gives you the terror of choice.

is4 says hey. there's the boss on this floor but you have 1 life point remaining and there's an emergency node up next, do you spend a foldartal now to get a buff or risk the wait? there's a trader node right below you but if you spend it your equipment will be damaged and maybe you'll need that down the line? either way you are making a choice.

you can see what is in here with you. you can grab it by the scruff of the neck and you can say Screw You You Are Going To Have 50% Less HP In This Node And I Will Have +50 ASPD Whether You Like It Or Not.

but it can do the same. you're not in a lush, terrifying ecosystem of the ocean, you are in a barren and frozen mountain. you are getting less collectibles you're getting less hope you've got less resources and more enemies and is4 says okay, yeah, you can shoot me.

but you only have one bullet. and you need to choose to pull the trigger.

[dreamtydraw]

It's official the work on apple bag's update will begin in a few days. Before writing about the future update I want to take the occasion to host a Q&A about the game. Please send questions regarding the characters or the game itself for a little Q&A session before I officially keep all new information private.

After some time and 3 other games + 1 in work that will release soon, I am officially back on working on apple bag. I know it's been a while now and the update might come one years after the release of the original demo so I want to thank everyone who played the demo and been very nice and supportive regarding the game. I am thankful that the demo was nicely received and I hope that once the first update release you guys will enjoy the new content.

What do you need to expect on the updated demo ?

-CG

-Original soundtract

-Multiple days of event for the 3 routes

-Updated artwork and Gui art

-Possible voice acting

-More sketchy behavior from your favorite customers.

That all I can share as for now regarding the update. Again I thank everyone who ever made fanart, left nice comments and in general helped me into not abandoning this game by sharing their interest in the story. Thank you a lot and I wish you the best. I also take the occasion to say that if you have played the game and enjoyed it, I encourage you to leave a review on itch.io to help the rating of the games this would be very helpful.

If you haven't played the game yet and is interested to give it a try before the update, here is the link :

I'll also use this update to recommend other games for you to give a try if you're searching for new games to try.

[hummingbird-games]

Oh, how I *love* being reminded that people hate black women 😍

Oh, how I LOVE forcing my black girls and women agenda in my games!!!

[auranym]

indie games are safe!!

good news! unity has walked back a lot of the runtime fee!

they made a blog post outlining their new terms, the link is here. but if you want a sparknotes version, here's the highlights:

1. the runtime fee is not retroactive. previously released games are safe.

2. the fee only applies to the next major version of unity. developers can choose not to upgrade if they don't want do deal with it.

3. the fee is opt-in and number of installs is self-reported. if they'd prefer, developers can instead pay a 2.5% revenue share. (for reference, unreal is 4%.)

4. interestingly, the splash screen is being completely removed. this is probably a way to improve their reputation.

overall, this is a HUGE improvement! but, if I remember right, there was not any revenue share before, so, we are not at the same point we started. unity will still be taking a larger cut of developers' revenue if they choose to use newer features. but, it is nowhere near as drastic as we thought it would be.

overall, I think we're in a stable spot now, but I also think unity has lost most if not all of the trust it had. especially with indies. there has already been a mass exodus, and I kinda hope that will keep going.

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

okay well. one thing that i absolutely adore abt ieytd3 specifically is their dedication to The Bit. The Bit, in this instance, being the telekinesis.

i first heard of ieytd pretty much the year it came out- although i wavered in and out of the community until a few months before the sequel was announced. within that time, there was this trend in what few ieytd fics were published that they would reject the telekinesis mechanic entirely. they would pretend it didn't exist. they brushed it off as a mandatory game mechanic for a VR title, but obviously it doesn't actually matter in canon. it's unnecessary.

but seeing schell games literally go "nuh uh". and take what's a pretty significant step in a unique direction from their source material. and say "actually, not only is telekinesis canon, but we are going to make it's existence critical to the plot of our entire third installation" was so much fun. i respect them so much for that.

a lot of times i find the best sort of games are those that take their silliness seriously. they don't feel ashamed of doing their own thing- breaking the mold a little bit, if it means developing a deeper sense of identity. they took this mandatory mechanic- essentially the only obstacle between them and an untarnished james bond-esque experience- and said "we can roll with this". and just did.

i love a game that's not ashamed to be what it is.

[recently-retired-game]

littol ebbies.... smol..

[jacobtheloofah]

i wish i could describe to you the amount of effort and consulting with friends to troubleshoot this silly sequence, getting it to work truly makes me feel proud as a human being. and i dont even know what to actually put in this screen to make the gag worth it.