Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG, free]

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ebi-hime
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Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG, free]

#1 Post by ebi-hime »

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Download
The VN can be downloaded on itch.io or Steam for windows, mac, and linux!
It is also completely free!
I hope you enjoy it! ☆彡

Synopsis
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was a traveller...

Our protagonist, a mysterious traveller, wanders the far-off land of Desservir searching for patrons to buy their wares.
Upon hearing about a large annual market in the village of Castella, the traveller decides to set up a stall and try their luck.
Life, however, is not so easy.
After being double-crossed by a goblin and left in the middle of the cold, wet moors to die, the traveller almost gives up hope.
That is, until they stumble upon a mysterious church in the middle of nowhere, and meet the two nuns who attend to it.
What are these two nuns doing on their own, and why is there such a melancholy atmosphere in the air?
The traveller has only one windswept night to uncover these mysteries and learn the truth.

Characters
The traveller

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The protagonist. An enigmatic figure who refuses to remove their cloak, under any circumstance.
Their name, age, and gender is unknown.
They make a living as a travelling salesperson, but the actual items they sell are rather suspect.

Madeleine

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One of the nuns who works at the church.
Madeleine is a cheerful person who pushes herself hard, rarely allowing herself to take breaks.
She happily gives everything she has to help those less fortunate than herself.
If she wants to help somebody, she will help them, come Hell or high water. They don't have a choice.
She acts quite prim and proper, but has a somewhat sadistic sense of humour and likes to tease people - namely, Daffodil.

Daffodil

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The other nun who works at the church.
Daffodil is huffy and has quite the temper. She often insults people and is very mistrustful.
She loves Madeleine to a fault, and can be over-protective. She thinks Madeleine is too trusting, and devotes herself to protecting her.
Despite being a nun, she's very scornful of religion in general, and refuses to believe in anything she can't see with her own eyes.

Screenshots

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Credits
Writing/coding: ebi-hime
Art: melowbee
Music: yuzuki
Insert songs: Hungry Lucy

Notes
This VN has choices and multiple branches.
The script is around 40k.
Since it's a yurijam VN, it focuses on yuri (GxG) relationships.
You can listen to the OST on yuzuki's YT here!
If you spot any typos/bugs etc please let me know!
Last edited by ebi-hime on Fri May 19, 2017 8:33 am, edited 3 times in total.
I have a lot of free & commercial VNs available on Steam and itchio.io if you want to check them out! ☆

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Seigetsu
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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG]

#2 Post by Seigetsu »

Wow, that was completely not what I expected to be reading about, but I was surprised in a good way!
I thought the story would be centered around the nuns, or maybe even the traveller, but I guess I was wrong! I must say it was somewhat confusing navigating towards Lycoris' story, and the fact that you can't use the traditional save/load method of getting the "correct" choice for visual novels doesn't exactly help. But when I finally got onto Lycoris' "route", I was pleasantly surprised. I somewhat agree with Daffodil's sentiments about Lycoris' life choices, and Wisteria's choices honestly weren't better either. But there is a sense of realism to what happened, and I'm glad everything did work out in the end, even if it took five hundred years. You did a wonderful job of building up the characters and their story, and the background music suits the mood perfectly. The ending brought a tear to my eye. The only thing is, I wish I could read more about the nuns. I liked each of their backstories, but if only Madeleine would indulge the traveller when she asked about her relationship with Daffodil...(I guess the nuns' story is sort of just a story within "the" story of Lycoris and Wisteria, so there really isn't much of a point to get into details, but I would've liked to read about them anyway).
Overall, I really enjoyed the game and I thought you made a creative use of ren'py's features for the game mechanics. I did find it somewhat tedious that when you reach a "real bad end", your save gets erased and you have to start all over again from the very, very beginning. I also got somewhat confused that after finishing the story, you can't actually go back to the game again (so if I want to replay it, do I have to delete persistent files or something?). I do appreciate the extra bit of "immersion" these features bring to the game, but at times I also find them a little annoying, so I guess I'm somewhat conflicted about whether I like them or not. It is something I haven't seen much in other ren'py games though, so I must congratulate you on the bold experimentation!

Anyway, thanks very much for making this game. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hope to see more of your games in the future!

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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG]

#3 Post by celinarose »

I loved this! The writing and plot is of course, brilliant, and the art style is adorable. Just a fews thing, though. I found navigating a little bit troublesome, honestly. Also, the intro is quite long, on repeat playthroughs, given that there's no way to skip it.

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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG]

#4 Post by ebi-hime »

@ Seigetsu
I feel bad for Madeleine, since she plainly has the 'worst' backstory of all the characters, but she's not actually all that central haha XD;
If only Lycoris and Wisteria were more direct about their feelings, this wouldn't have happened...!
I didn't think I needed Maddie to indulge the traveller when they ask the question, since I thought it was so obvious anyway...
There was actually a bit more direct confirmation in the story that yes, they are lesbians, but I thought it seemed a bit... fanservice-y and tasteless, since it was kind of comedic and not really in-keeping with the tone of the story, so I cut it.
Well, there is still a bit of it left in there, but I toned it down a bit.
There is only one 'real bad end' haha XD; The other ends won't do that to you.
And if you want to replay it, you do indeed need to delete your persistent data, from the roaming folder and from the game's folder.
I debated whether I should include it or not, since it's pretty annoying, but I thought it made sense from a story perspective.

In any case, I'm glad you liked it! u///u

@ celinarose
Thank you! I'm glad you like it! >///<
The opening segment is actually randomised each time you open the game, if you've read it through the first time.
There are like... 6 or 7 unique introductions, so you shouldn't have had to read the same piece of text multiple times.
That is, unless you deleted your persistent data and started again from the very, very beginning? Or got that one really bad ending.
I have a lot of free & commercial VNs available on Steam and itchio.io if you want to check them out! ☆

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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG]

#5 Post by ebi-hime »

Hi guys u///u

I got some comments that the endings are a little hard to reach, so I thought I'd post a quick walkthrough here.
This'll only show you how to get all the good endings, not the bad ones, and it won't show you 100% of the text in the story...
But given the nature of the story, that might be a tall order.

I'll put it in spoilers so people don't need to read it.
Madeleine's route
- any choice except 'leave'
- any choice
- any choice
- stay with Madeleine (if you get the option)
- tell me a bedtime story
- it sounds like an inspirational story

Daff's route
- any choice except 'leave'
- you should be more careful Madeleine
- it's good
- I won't do anything
- tell the truth

Secret route
(you must have reached the 'good' ending for Daff and Madeleine to unlock this)

- examine the tree
- you should be more careful Madeleine
- it's good
- either choice
- I don't know who you are
- either choice

And after you reach the 'true ending', you'll find the game locks itself and you can't replay it anymore.
If you want to try playing it again, you need to do two things.
First, you need to go into your game’s files and delete your persistent data. Next, you need to go into this folder:
\Roaming\RenPy\Once on a windswept night-1475875736
And delete the persistent data in here, too. Then, it should reset the game and you can play again!
And that should help you get all the good endings!
I hope this is useful!
I have a lot of free & commercial VNs available on Steam and itchio.io if you want to check them out! ☆

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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG]

#6 Post by txqina »

OK, so the nuns story book finished and THE END came up immediately. So that is one of the endings?

Apparently it is. But re-running the game with the assistance of the brief walkthrough sorted things out. In the end. The very end. I admit to being confused for most of this game, due to a) incorrect assumptions about who was romanceable; b) not understanding how the routes unlock and c) plot twists. But eventually it made sense and I was glad I played it.

These 'should have said, could have said, didn't say' romances are frustrating but can be real tearjerkers too.

And Madeleine is just gorgeous and sweet!
And not romanceable - so sad.
About character in the library
I presume what was happening with 'Lycoris' in the afterlife was something like she remembered the name of the most important thing to her (her true love) but eventually forgot even the context and then assumed it was her name? Can't re-run to check my theory due to game lockdown.
I thought that the costume of one of the sprites didn't really fit very well with the rest of the story.
spirit Lycoris
Last edited by txqina on Wed Nov 23, 2016 7:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG]

#7 Post by ebi-hime »

txqina wrote:OK, so the nuns story finished and the game ended immediately. So that is one of the endings?
I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by 'ended immediately'. Can you be more specific?
I have a lot of free & commercial VNs available on Steam and itchio.io if you want to check them out! ☆

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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG]

#8 Post by txqina »

ebi-hime wrote:
txqina wrote:OK, so the nuns story finished and the game ended immediately. So that is one of the endings?
I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by 'ended immediately'. Can you be more specific?
What happened: there was a few seconds of black screen after clicking when "The End" came up and before getting the next scene (in the library). Because nothing happened straight away other than black screen, I then assumed that I had just finished an abrupt 'bad ending' and closed the game to go get dinner.

I realised my mistake in the next session with the game when I was taking more time and I saw the library scene come up after the Daffodil route. I have updated and expanded my previous post comments.

Thanks for responding.

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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG]

#9 Post by ebi-hime »

@ txqina

Thank you for these other comments. I didn't see them >_>

Maddie is very sweet! I'm fond of her. My composer liked her the most too, haha XD;

As for your theory about the story, you pretty much got it.
Lycoris' character design is actually taken from a really old idea I had a while ago, for a different story - but I liked the design and wanted to do something with it.
That might be why she looks a little strange compared to the rest of the cast, since I designed them more recently.
I have a lot of free & commercial VNs available on Steam and itchio.io if you want to check them out! ☆

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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG]

#10 Post by ilyilaice »

This is my first ever post after lurking on this forum for months. I just had to tell you I LOVED your game. I have never played such a polished free game except perhaps Cupid, Asagao Academy, Aloners, [redacted] Life, The Lady's Choice, and RE: Alistair++, which are all my favorites. Now I can happily include this game of yours in my favorite games.

I admit I was at first skeptical about the game. I know it was made for Yuri Jam, and while I love yuri/shoujo ai as much as the next person (especially since I am in a lesbian relationship myself), I had the perhaps unfair assumption that games made for these sorts of events would likely be rushed romances filled with gratuitous fan service and ecchi. But the art of this game induced me to download it. I started playing, and while the impeccable language and execution immediately impressed, I found the game slow-paced, and so I moved on to other VNs I'd downloaded. Weeks passed, and yet I couldn't bring myself to delete the game, for some reason. I opened it again yesterday and found "Lycoris" welcoming me back to the library. I was charmed. I finished the game.

The story is just incredible. It takes its time, and allows the reader to savor it. The game was a labor of love and it really showed. I never expected to enjoy a yuri/shoujo ai game with nuns and religious themes, but I was really touched by the relationship between Madeleine and Daffodfil. Madeleine is such a refreshing character and is my absolute favorite. I dislike "tsundere" types, but I unexpectedly also found Daffodil hilarious. The frame story (with its various secrets) also appealed to me. While I did wish that the stories-within-the-story had some visuals, I could also understand why they were plain words on parchment, given the library setting.

All in all, I absolutely adored the cumulative impact of this game. The story and art were top-notch, and all the characters were really well-designed. I kind of wish I could have seen what Bernadette looked like. Anyway, keep up the great work. <3 You really made this jaded VN player happy. <3

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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG]

#11 Post by ebi-hime »

@ ilyilaice
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it u///u

Well, VNs with fanservice and ecchi are probably be more expensive to produce than this, since they have a heavier reliance on art assets and different CGs. Story-heavy stuff told through flashbacks and dialogue exchanges is easier because it cuts the need for unique art assets, thus cutting down on the expenses. And I (generally) prefer writing this kind of thing anyway.

I wanted to write something with cute nuns for a while, since I thought it would be fun to design their outfits u_u
And I'm a pretty big fan of tsunderes (they're cute!), but Daff is mainly in there for comic relief because portions of the story are pretty gloomy.

I wanted to give sprites to the flashback scenes, or else do it with silhouettes, but there wasn't enough time when it was made in a month - and I guess having sprites would spoil a later reveal.

Again, thank you! I'm glad you liked it! u///u
I have a lot of free & commercial VNs available on Steam and itchio.io if you want to check them out! ☆

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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG]

#12 Post by ebi-hime »

Bumping to say the VN is now on Steam greenlight. It would be pretty cool if you voted for it! u///u
(note: the Steam version probably won't be any different to the finalised version currently available on itch.io)
I have a lot of free & commercial VNs available on Steam and itchio.io if you want to check them out! ☆

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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG]

#13 Post by Harle »

Hey, finally got a chance to play through this~ in short: I adored it!

Personally I didn't find it confusing or hard to navigate through the storylines (but I have a thing for replaying through all the options to '100%' otome games so... anyway.) And what happens at game completion made me smile. I really enjoyed the 'book' and 'stories' format you used, as well as the end reveal.

~ Harle
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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG]

#14 Post by Zelan »

I finally played your game. It was a fantastic experience. ^_^ The entire set-up was extremely clever.

I did manage to figure everything out when I was partway through the final story, which I was pretty proud of, but that didn't lessen the impact that it had.

Really, I just liked every aspect of this VN. The writing was brilliant, the art was adorable, I loved the soundtrack, and the clever coding was cool to see.

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Re: Once on a windswept night [yurijam, GxG, free]

#15 Post by ebi-hime »

@ Harle
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it :>
Well, the VN is set up with choices and routes but you have to read the whole thing anyway to understand it...
So when I was writing it, it felt more like a kinetic story XD;

@ Zelan
Thank you! u///u
Melow's art is very cute, and I really loved yuzuki's soundtrack.
I think the coding is pretty clumsy but I'm not the best with coding complex stuff orz
I have a lot of free & commercial VNs available on Steam and itchio.io if you want to check them out! ☆

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