Tying Threads

[Blue Lemma]

I just played this last night and was very satisfied ^^ The art is very well done (yay snowshine!) and the writing was solid, too (yay SJ!) The story seemed to come from the heart.
The music flowed very well, and Cheryl's song was just so appropriate, like a little glimmer of hope

I didn't quite get the choice at the end determining the ending... but oh well!
I liked the use of color as a metaphor, especially in the bad #2(?) ending.

I wanted a kiss!

Good work, TT team

[ShiraiJunichi]

I just played this last night and was very satisfied ^^ The art is very well done (yay snowshine!) and the writing was solid, too (yay SJ!) The story seemed to come from the heart.
The music flowed very well, and Cheryl's song was just so appropriate, like a little glimmer of hope

I didn't quite get the choice at the end determining the ending... but oh well!
I liked the use of color as a metaphor, especially in the bad #2(?) ending.

I wanted a kiss!

Good work, TT team

Thanks for the kind comments
About the last choice...

The last choice was to show that Allen didn't need to run to Cheryl whenever he had a problem. If he's always running to Cheryl, then he what would he do if Cheryl wasn't there?

Thanks for playing~

[Gego]

em, i see at the end of the game, it says 1/3 or 2/3 but i have not seen the third, i have done all the decomposability's, but to no avail.
can some one post how to get to the last one?

[ShiraiJunichi]

The third ending depends on the last two questions in the game. Think "Independence", and you should be able to answer both correctly

[Guest]

The third ending depends on the last two questions in the game. Think "Independence", and you should be able to answer both correctly

gr8! that ending was gr8!

nice art! nice music! nice Story!

well, me and my friends are going to start our game in 3 weeks! code name: West Coast Story

[ShiraiJunichi]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for playing ^_^

[chronoluminaire]

Well, this thread deserves a bump I just played this for the first time, thanks to its Lemmy nominations, and I'm very glad I did. (Rather sad I missed it first time round, in fact!)

The story was very well done. The emotions come through very clearly. The choices all made sense to me after a moment's reflection. I got Ending 2, then Ending 1 twice, then Ending 2 twice, then finally Ending 3

The use of transitions was excellent - particularly the splash screen, menu fading in, and the excellent use of colour and black-and-white. Very nice.

A couple of constructive criticisms:
* Cheryl's skirt looked unnaturally straight-lined, and didn't look as if she had any legs underneath it. And the expression which I gather from the text is meant to look sad/thoughtful still looked very smiley. That said, though, she's very cute and pleasing to look at, and her other expressions fit her character perfectly.
* Some of the backgrounds vary significantly in art style. Though I do very much like the filter that was applied to the photo of buildings-trees-streetlight-and-path, it doesn't quite fit with some of the other background pics.

* I don't understand why she answered "So, what's on your mind?" with "... yes. Yes. That is the right answer. Thank you Allen." I assume the "right answer" isn't referring to his choice of whether people or society determines who people are, since she says that either way ^^;;
* Also, I think Allen's comment "Who do I want to be? I knew the answer instantly. But, I also knew it was something I could never tell anyone. Especially Cheryl." was never followed up, right?

Overall, I'm very glad to have played this, and my thanks to Summer Snow for making a satisfying VN that I'm happy to vote for in the Lemmys

[ShiraiJunichi]

Well, this thread deserves a bump I just played this for the first time, thanks to its Lemmy nominations, and I'm very glad I did.

Thanks for the kind comments- I'm glad you enjoyed Summer Snow's work.

* Some of the backgrounds vary significantly in art style. Though I do very much like the filter that was applied to the photo of buildings-trees-streetlight-and-path, it doesn't quite fit with some of the other background pics.

Unfortunately Snowshine was unable to finish the artwork for this game. I mentioned it in the first post- check there for details.

* I don't understand why she answered "So, what's on your mind?" with "... yes. Yes. That is the right answer. Thank you Allen." I assume the "right answer" isn't referring to his choice of whether people or society determines who people are, since she says that either way ^^;;

Your assumption is correct. There are several pieces of dialog which don't have obvious meanings. I wrote it and so naturally all the meanings stand out to me each time I play, but I often wonder if others pick up on it or not... Anyway, this is one of those pieces of dialog. Cheryl is plagued with the question, "What's going to happen to Allen after I leave?" She's worried he'll isolate himself again. That's why she asks the question she does. That's why she is so pensive. That is the question she is pondering when Allen asks "What's on your mind?" She see's it as evidence that Allen is showing genuine interest in others (Just as Cheryl showed genuine interest in Allen using the exact same question several scenes earlier), and that he'll be OK, even after Cheryl is gone. And so that appeases her fears for the time being.

* Also, I think Allen's comment "Who do I want to be? I knew the answer instantly. But, I also knew it was something I could never tell anyone. Especially Cheryl." was never followed up, right?

I'm not sure what you mean exactly. Allen never explicity reveals who he wants to be. Maybe it's another one of those pieces of dialog that's really obvious to me, but not to others. Who Allen really want's to be is someone like Cheryl. He greatly admires her cheery temperament and unconditional friendliness- traits which he completely ignored in himself for several years, but which he was learning to regain. But, of course, the last person he could ever tell that to is Cheryl. So he makes a joke instead.

Hope that answers your questions ^_^

[chronoluminaire]

Ah, of course. Yes, that all makes sense now

[ShiraiJunichi]

Updated to version 1.0!

Snowshine was able to complete the art and even translate into Vietnamese! Thanks SnowShine!
And I was able to stop being lazy and put everything together! 'Bout DANG time, Jun!

See the original post for updated game files. Would someone mind uploading them to the archives?

So what does this update include?
- Vietnamese translation
- Additional images (backgrounds, event backgrounds, and more)
- A few typo fixes and text updates (all fairly minor)

Enjoy!

[Samu-kun]

Well hell, never say never. Salute for a job finished.

[llirium]

*sniffles* That was a really wonderful VN, it reminded me a lot of my own childhood. Didn't have any friends for a really long time, then I found some. I don't have many friends now, but I do appreciate them greatly.

The internal monologue was really convincing, having a rational explanation for what seems like irrational behavior (pulling away from all people because they cannot be your friend without a connection in the past). I really feel for these characters, they do seem real to me, because they put a lot of thought into what they do, even when it seems like someone is just talking randomly.

Not sure if I'm being too clear, here, but that's how I feel about it. Wonderful work! ^_^

[mika.magu]

Hello!!! I just wanted to say how much I truly enjoyed this visual novel. I had started it with just the cause of passing time, but as I read more, I felt more and more attached to the story. I absolutely loved the writing, and especially the art and way of transitions that you did with it!!!

I absolutely loved the greyness of the story turning into a colored one after meeting Cheryl. It was a very beautiful concept; even in the ending 2 where his world just turns grey again. Very beautifully executed.

I truly loved this. Great writing and very beautiful manner of portraying the story. Thank you for making this!

[Lesleigh63]

This was lovely to read, thought originally it was going to be monochrome colouring, so it was nice when it became coloured and tied in well with the plot. Looks like I got the bad ending and I'm happy he changes in the other endings as I was quite angry with him. Need to go and play again to get those other endings.

[green_hello]

I'm really glad I found this thread. I spotted your game from the Ren'py games list, and it really struck a chord in my heart. I went through something similar in elementary school, and so I really wanted to say thank you for releasing such a beautiful game. Thank you so much....this game will forever stay in my heart (;-;)