Gulam [NaNoRenO 2017]

[Aracade]

Gulam

Synopsis:
Abby is left all by herself for one night, yet it seems that the night repeats itself over and over. After coming across a talking book and pig, it's hard to tell what's even happening anymore and what action to take next.

Credits:
• Story, art, writing, coding - Aracade
• Music - Purple Planet, Presence of Music


Download on itch.io if you're interested

About:
This is my first entry (and first vn ever) for NaNoRenO. It was a little stressful but I'm glad that I finally got a project finished (even if it is slightly rushed ^^;). I posted it here because I'd really appreciate some criticism and feedback so that I can improve. If you have any thoughts just comment below!

[Dark Sentinel]

Even if it's rushed, it's still good. Really great for the first VN.
Art. Beyond discussion, it's gorgeous.
Story. Like... I mean, it feels sort of incomplete no matter what you do / choose. It's self-contained, sure, but what is the book and why is it there? What are Mom's dark secrets? What happens next if you pledge allegiance? Questions, and almost no answers.
Besides that, certain persist things aren't player-friendly.

Of course, sticking the player in the loop without way out totally does make sense from ingame point of view, but I wanted to check other options, so I had to look for persists and delete them manually.

Save/load is useless here, actually.

Also in text. "the nasiest thing ever". Isn't that a typo? Makes more sense if "nastiest", I believe.

But anyway, it's great. I congratulate you on actually completing this for NaNo'17 within deadline.

[Aracade]

Even if it's rushed, it's still good. Really great for the first VN.
Art. Beyond discussion, it's gorgeous.
Story. Like... I mean, it feels sort of incomplete no matter what you do / choose. It's self-contained, sure, but what is the book and why is it there? What are Mom's dark secrets? What happens next if you pledge allegiance? Questions, and almost no answers.
Besides that, certain persist things aren't player-friendly.

Of course, sticking the player in the loop without way out totally does make sense from ingame point of view, but I wanted to check other options, so I had to look for persists and delete them manually.

Save/load is useless here, actually.

Also in text. "the nasiest thing ever". Isn't that a typo? Makes more sense if "nastiest", I believe.

But anyway, it's great. I congratulate you on actually completing this for NaNo'17 within deadline.

Thank you so much for taking your time to play Gulam! I'm glad that you liked it and regarding your feedback:

For checking out other endings there's no need to delete the persistent data. All the persistent data enables you to do is when you look for Gunter the second time another option would be available as well. But you're right, it isn't clear to the player whether or not the new persistent data would affect other endings so I'll be sure to keep that in mind next time. :)

I'm sorry if some questions that went unanswered are a little too vague and off-putting. I did want to expand on the lore a bit but it was just a matter of time. I can't say anything yet but hopefully this won't be the last time I work on this story...

And as for that typo I will have to fix it soon ^^; (thanks for pointing it out).

[Mammon]

I have to admit this was a bit too difficult for me, I'm not one to really keep track of what I did and didn't do, although I feel I tried everything? Either way, I ended up reading the last part of the ending to escape the time loop in the .rpa file instead. It's a fine game for a first project, witty and cute.

[Aracade]

I have to admit this was a bit too difficult for me, I'm not one to really keep track of what I did and didn't do, although I feel I tried everything? Either way, I ended up reading the last part of the ending to escape the time loop in the .rpa file instead. It's a fine game for a first project, witty and cute.

Thanks a lot for your feedback Mammon and I'm glad you found it "witty and cute"! For keeping track of the endings:

If you
- tried to kill Gunter
- tried to kill the book
- made an allegiance
- hid, creepy book, made something up
- hid, creepy book, told the truth
- hid, pig, (which leads you to making an allegiance)
- asked Gunter about the time loop
then that's all the endings!(for now)
I'll try to get it out as soon as possible but I added one more extra ending to hopefully clear up some things.

[Catlip Candy]

It's a pretty visual novel for your first time, congratulations in completing it! I understand that the story may be a bit unfinished with all the questions still unanswered due to lack of time. It's made for NaNoRenO after all (but I think I just saw you updated the game with a newer version so I assume the endings are all out?)

I love the cute art, choice of music and the story makes me really curious, so I do hope to see all endings! I made a blog post about Gulam. Feel free to check it out!

[Aracade]

It's a pretty visual novel for your first time, congratulations in completing it! I understand that the story may be a bit unfinished with all the questions still unanswered due to lack of time. It's made for NaNoRenO after all (but I think I just saw you updated the game with a newer version so I assume the endings are all out?)

I love the cute art, choice of music and the story makes me really curious, so I do hope to see all endings! I made a blog post about Gulam. Feel free to check it out!

Aaah! First of all I just want to say that I love the fanart on the blog post ^^. I like the interpretation of Abby being older and and how they've travelled many magical realms after their allegiance. I'm really happy that you enjoyed the game enough to make some art for it yourself.
I did check your blog post:

About the endings, I didn't think of adding any more endings at first but then I had time and wanted to elaborate on some things. Maybe I'll revisit it again (it's hard to say whether or not you'll do some more updates in the future). But for now I'm leaving it there as it is.

As for the walkthrough that is a good idea! I don't have a blog yet but setting up one is a good idea. And then maybe I could put a walkthrough there.

Thank you so much for playing Catlip and for giving me your feedback! :D