Carpe Diem [Drama][Slice of Life]

[Eyzi]

SYNOPSIS
What makes someone perfect?
Experience this short bittersweet story in the shoes of the main character, Jung, where you will spend your time hanging out with a girl named Ai. Ai is everything Jung wishes for in a woman... except for one very important thing. A thing he prefers to disregard in order for them to have the best time of their lives.
You have a day to enjoy your date and see the world from Jung's point-of-view.

INFORMATION
Words: ~5k
Theme: Drama
Gameplay: ~15 minutes
Resolution: 1280x720
Sprites: 6
BGI: 7
BGM: 2

Hi, guys! I posted this on 'Works In Progress' just a few days ago but I have finished it now. This is my first visual (kinetic) novel project with a very short story. I uploaded it on itch.io for everyone to see, and it has also been greenlit on steam, which will be up soon. I would really appreciate feedback from people. Thank you!

It is also on Steam for anyone interested!

[Windchimes]

Wow what a fast release! Grats!

The art looks gorgeous! Downloading now, will edit this comment when I finish playing~



Edit: Finished playing once! Was cute and fun to play!

I can't get over how pretty Ai's sprite is. xD I keep staring at her just admiring the coloring and everything. The backgrounds are nice too. The art is just amazinggg. I really like the overall look.

About the story...I'm ashamed to say I actually did not see the twist coming,

even though her name is a dead giveaway! It clicked in my head at the end when the twist was revealed. How did I not guess?!

It was a cute idea, I love stories with

a hopeless romance (what's wrong with me? xD)

Jung and Ai were cute together! I played the Arcade route first, and I love the part where

she started showing a different side when she was playing the fighting game with him. It made Ai seem more realistic because she's competitive and has very human reactions, which makes the twist ending even sadder D:

Probably because this is a short VN, but I found the pacing a little too fast at times. It feels a little rushed. I love the idea of the story, but I think it would be better if the story was longer, so you could really start to connect more with the characters and fall in love with their romance before the ending hits and then you're like "OHMYGODNO WHYYYY THEY ARE PERFECT TOGETHER". The story was still great, I felt sad for Jung at the end but yeah I just feel that the ending/big reveal was a little abrupt.

Other than that, I really liked it. It was fun, I wish it was longer because I love this premise and I would gladly read a lot more about them. xD The art was gorgeous. I spent a lot of time just admiring the art. xD I'm going to go and play the Park/Mall route now!

[Eyzi]

Wow what a fast release! Grats!

The art looks gorgeous! Downloading now, will edit this comment when I finish playing~



Edit: Finished playing once! Was cute and fun to play!

I can't get over how pretty Ai's sprite is. xD I keep staring at her just admiring the coloring and everything. The backgrounds are nice too. The art is just amazinggg. I really like the overall look.

About the story...I'm ashamed to say I actually did not see the twist coming,

even though her name is a dead giveaway! It clicked in my head at the end when the twist was revealed. How did I not guess?!

It was a cute idea, I love stories with

a hopeless romance (what's wrong with me? xD)

Jung and Ai were cute together! I played the Arcade route first, and I love the part where

she started showing a different side when she was playing the fighting game with him. It made Ai seem more realistic because she's competitive and has very human reactions, which makes the twist ending even sadder D:

Probably because this is a short VN, but I found the pacing a little too fast at times. It feels a little rushed. I love the idea of the story, but I think it would be better if the story was longer, so you could really start to connect more with the characters and fall in love with their romance before the ending hits and then you're like "OHMYGODNO WHYYYY THEY ARE PERFECT TOGETHER". The story was still great, I felt sad for Jung at the end but yeah I just feel that the ending/big reveal was a little abrupt.

Other than that, I really liked it. It was fun, I wish it was longer because I love this premise and I would gladly read a lot more about them. xD The art was gorgeous. I spent a lot of time just admiring the art. xD I'm going to go and play the Park/Mall route now!

Looking forward to it. Thank you!

EDIT:
Thank you for your feedback! I really appreciate it. And yeah, I agree with the pace being a bit fast. I was worried that players might find the mall, park and arcade parts boring; but I will try to expand it as much as I can. Thanks!

[OwlFeather]

WOOT WOOT~ Congrats on the release!
Will review after playing. :3

[Eyzi]

WOOT WOOT~ Congrats on the release!
Will review after playing. :3

Thank you! I'll be waiting for your feedback.

[OwlFeather]

Review Time~
I'm amazed by the art hahaha

What really got to me was...

DAT PLOT TWIST! After being totally convinced that this couple was the cutest ever BAM!
She's not even real! I was in denial for around 15 seconds."Nope, Author-san is just pulling my leg."

Congrats again for completing your first game!

P.s. I spied a grammar mistake in the second line "waren't"=weren't? ,but the wording still sounds a bit weird even with that

[Eyzi]

Review Time~
I'm amazed by the art hahaha

What really got to me was...

DAT PLOT TWIST! After being totally convinced that this couple was the cutest ever BAM!
She's not even real! I was in denial for around 15 seconds."Nope, Author-san is just pulling my leg."

Congrats again for completing your first game!

P.s. I spied a grammar mistake in the second line "waren't"=weren't? ,but the wording still sounds a bit weird even with that

Thank you! I've been experimenting on how I will deliver the twist and that was the best way I thought of. haha

[AsHLeX]

Bookmarking this and gonna try it out the moment I got time!!!

[Eyzi]

Bookmarking this and gonna try it out the moment I got time!!!

Thanks for your time!

[TsukiShima]

Hello! I tried out your game a few days ago and I have to say, kudos for the twist! It is surprising that I did not see that coming while I still call myself the psychic of plot twists!

I'm not sure if you did the background yourself, however, the light colours of the sprite and the difference it made with the background bothered me slightly. It's not really pleasant for the eyes to see. But the sprite itself is very pretty, there's no denying that! The GUI was simple, but I say the textbox was a bit too small for a 1280 x 720 game. I would recommend a bigger textbox in the future.

Now I would like to talk about the story itself.

I have to agree that I felt it was a bit fast, but for me, it's also ideal for a short kinetic novel. The choices that appeared here and there made sure I did not get bored. The twist, again, was very cliche yet clever, perhaps again, due to the fast and correct pacing. I also must praise you for the Ai's dialogues. It really showed her personality as a woman. But the main character itself was sort of blant. I guess it would because they are only actually just a player?

Well, I do hope to see more from you! And congratulation for making it up to Steam!

[Eyzi]

Hello! I tried out your game a few days ago and I have to say, kudos for the twist! It is surprising that I did not see that coming while I still call myself the psychic of plot twists!

I'm not sure if you did the background yourself, however, the light colours of the sprite and the difference it made with the background bothered me slightly. It's not really pleasant for the eyes to see. But the sprite itself is very pretty, there's no denying that! The GUI was simple, but I say the textbox was a bit too small for a 1280 x 720 game. I would recommend a bigger textbox in the future.

Now I would like to talk about the story itself.

I have to agree that I felt it was a bit fast, but for me, it's also ideal for a short kinetic novel. The choices that appeared here and there made sure I did not get bored. The twist, again, was very cliche yet clever, perhaps again, due to the fast and correct pacing. I also must praise you for the Ai's dialogues. It really showed her personality as a woman. But the main character itself was sort of blant. I guess it would because they are only actually just a player?

Well, I do hope to see more from you! And congratulation for making it up to Steam!

Thank you for your feedback! And yes, I did the background images, too. I was debating because the first few backgrounds I made was as bright and saturated as Ai's sprite but it didn't quite fit. I guess that was a shortcoming of my art skills. Hopefully it will get better the next time around. I'll keep in mind the things you've pointed out for future projects. I really appreciate it!

[AsHLeX]

Downloaded and finished!!!
Reading the steam comments before playing was a bad idea (it spoiled it for me on the spot). But still, it was nice playing it.
I probably wouldn't have realized that plot twist if I didn't read the comments though haha. Nice one.
The art is really pretty, the writing is enjoyable and smooth-flowing.
Congrats on making it to steam!!
Really love the background images and Ai.
Also love how the name of the game fits the story so perfectly. "seize the day"

[Eyzi]

Downloaded and finished!!!
Reading the steam comments before playing was a bad idea (it spoiled it for me on the spot). But still, it was nice playing it.
I probably wouldn't have realized that plot twist if I didn't read the comments though haha. Nice one.
The art is really pretty, the writing is enjoyable and smooth-flowing.
Congrats on making it to steam!!
Really love the background images and Ai.
Also love how the name of the game fits the story so perfectly. "seize the day"

Thank you for reading it! It really means a lot to me.

[txqina]

Thanks for making this. Ai looks cute, which is why I tried the game. I played through the arcade route. I didn't see the final resolution coming, so while it was a good plot twist I also had the slightly disappointed feeling of "Oh, so that's where it ends up". To me, the more interesting dilemma would be that the program runs successfully for as long as Jung wants but how much is he willing to distract/delude himself away from real life and why? I took a bit of a look at the mall route, but knowing how it had to finish I didn't persist so the game was fairly short.

In searching for the Carpe Diem completed game topic, I seem to have found a topic about a possible sequel. I'll have a look at that too.

[Eyzi]

Thanks for making this. Ai looks cute, which is why I tried the game. I played through the arcade route. I didn't see the final resolution coming, so while it was a good plot twist I also had the slightly disappointed feeling of "Oh, so that's where it ends up". To me, the more interesting dilemma would be that the program runs successfully for as long as Jung wants but how much is he willing to distract/delude himself away from real life and why? I took a bit of a look at the mall route, but knowing how it had to finish I didn't persist so the game was fairly short.

In searching for the Carpe Diem completed game topic, I seem to have found a topic about a possible sequel. I'll have a look at that too.

Thanks for checking it out and for giving a feedback! I appreciate it. Yeah, it's quite common that I hear comments regarding the abrupt ending. It's partly why a sequel is being made. Hopefully, that will expand more on who Jung is and what comes after.