Trust Fall [Minecraft: Story Mode fangame]

[ArizaLuca]

(Don't judge me, I have my tastes.)

This is my first ever NaNoRenO! Excited to participate, but also nervous and slightly stressed since we left completing the story 'till pretty late. Ah well.

Posted this pretty late, and I don't have much to show for it in terms of images as of now. I'll update it as we go.

Trust Fall is a visual novel fangame for Minecraft: Story Mode where you get to enjoy some good ol' fashioned group therapy with every single villain in Minecraft: Story Mode and a couple other people. Don't worry, even if you know nothing about the game, you can still enjoy it, although there is spoilers, so if you're planning on playing Minecraft: Story Mode you probably shouldn't play it.

STORY


You play as a therapist in a walk-in therapy clinic who's also a psychology student and has been demoted to... the receptionist. One rather slow day, the doors open, and a motley group of people walk in. You quickly discover that most, if not all, of these people are considered to be part of the 'villain' group.


CHARACTERS


You
The nameable protagonist. You're a psychology student who works at this walk-in therapy clinic. Of course, being only a psychology student, you aren't usually asked to do sessions with people, so you're a little out of practice... well, that should still be fine, right?


Jesse
Ah, Jesse. The hero of Minecraft: Story Mode, the leader of a city, and the most stressed-out cinnamon roll you'll probably ever meet. They've fought through a living storm that tried to eat the world, got kicked off of the world, solved a murder mystery, battled their mind-controlled friends, played in some 'Games' that involve lots of dying, got dumped in a prison buried at the bottom of the world, and fought a literal god. It's not like they are going to have any huge problems that therapy needs to address, right?


Ivor
Everyone's favorite grouchy potionologist, alchemist, whatever you want to call him. He's been betrayed by his friends, and created the living storm that tried to eat the world in response. Logical response, right? He doesn't really think he needs therapy, but as Jesse says, there's a reason he's here with the villain group for therapy, and it's not the fact that he's a ninja.


Aiden
This teenager has destroyed a world, tried to kill his ex-friend and the world's greatest hero, and practically lost his sanity while doing it. He's a lot calmer now, but I'm pretty sure you're gonna need therapy to fix a problem like THAT.


Cassie Rose
She's a murderer. She was desperate to get home, desperate to get out because she was trapped, and lashed out because she didn't know how else to react. If anyone deserves a prize for the most angst in this whole group, I'd present it to her almost instantly.


Harper
She's an inventor and brilliant with redstone, but she also accidentally created a mind-controlling robot that caused the apocalypse because she was a little TOO good at her job. She claims that she's only here for Jesse, Ivor, and the computer... but dammit, we're dragging her into this therapy session even if she doesn't think she needs it.


PAMA
PAMA is a mind-controlling robot that basically caused the apocalypse in Harper's world. Sure, it might be a computer, but it's also an AI, and we're about to see an AI in the world's weirdest therapy session... even if it doesn't think it needs therapy.


Hadrian
The chief organizer of the Games who doesn't want to be here and is being a complete jerk about it. Nobody likes him anyway, though, so it's fine. Sure, he's a jerk, but saying he needs therapy MIGHT be pushing it a little... right?


Mevia
Hadrian's friend who literally murdered Jesse at one point. She's not the NICEST person on the planet, but compared to Hadrian she's a total sweetheart. But she hasn't done too much (minus killing Jesse), so she doesn't seem like she needs therapy. But you know what? She's here. Might as well participate.


Stella
The leader of Champion City, she's mostly solved the whole 'rivalry' issue with Jesse. (Mostly.) But she's still a little full of herself, and can be a little... much to deal with at times. Though, going so far as to say she needs therapy might be pushing it a little...


The Warden
The Warden of the Sunshine Institute, a prison literally buried at the bottom of the world. He doesn't seem to HATE his job... although, it may be a bit of a stretch to say that he enjoys it. But considering his surroundings, he seems... fairly normal.


Romeo
A literal god-- or, well, ex-god with issues. Even HE admits he's got issues. And when a literal god with an ego bigger than the size of the colossal statue he once inhabited admits that, you KNOW he's got REALLY bad issues.


The story is rated 13+ because of sensitive topics within the game.


Keep in mind, the authors (me and Toni42) ARE NOT ACTUAL THERAPISTS. If any mental illnesses, disorders, etc. come up within the story, the symptoms are taken from websites and the 'solutions' are what would commonly be used to help cure it. WE DO NOT CLAIM TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT PSYCHOLOGY.


We hope you enjoy the game!

Images and updates will be added later.

[Zelan]

Hey there, ArizaLuca! I couldn't find a thread in the Completed Games section so I figured I'd just post here.

So, the first thing that I should mention is that I know nothing about Minecraft Story Mode except what I read about it in your first game. Obviously, this made some parts of the game confusing - there were references that I didn't understand all over the place. Despite that, you did a pretty good job of informing me of the major plot points, as I figured out everyone's relationships to one another pretty easily throughout the game.

One thing that did stand out to me was just how long the game was. It took me a solid two hours to complete it, maybe even three, and I feel that parts of it dragged a little bit longer than they needed to. In particular, the questions "Tell me about what you do" and "Would you like to chat" often led almost nowhere, spiraling into random tangents that didn't always do much to help the characters. On the other hand, most of these instances were legitimately funny, and lent a good amount of comic relief to the VN to balance out the more serious parts. I'm a bit torn on exactly what to say here because I feel that there are lots of people who would dislike the mood whiplash and the rambling tangents, and that many people would advise you to avoid doing so in the future; on the other hand, since I personally enjoyed it very much, I feel like I can't really tell you that.

One thing that did bother me quite a bit was the way that the game progressed chronologically. The first person that I chose to talk to was Stella, and I started right off with the "Why do you think you're here" question. I liked the way that her therapy session progressed, and I felt like her story had already come to a close, so I was confused when it brought me back to a menu where I had to ask her two more questions. I know that the questions were there to give some degree of player agency, but since the order of these questions is so important, I feel that it would have been better to eliminate those menus entirely and sprinkle other questions throughout the therapy sessions instead. Also, Cassie's session in particular felt awkward in the way it progressed. This time, I asked the questions in the proper order, and I loved the hug CG between her and Mevia, which took place during the "tell me about yourself" portion. It felt very important and meaningful, and I thought that scene was so well-done; I was literally on the edge of my seat as I was reading through it. It felt like it was ruined somewhat when, during the "Why do you think you're here" portion, the two of them were at each other's throats again as if they hadn't just had a huge breakthrough. For her scenes in particular, I felt like the order of progression needed some work.

So, I feel like I've posted a lot of criticism up above, but what I really want you to take away ultimately is that I really enjoyed and was impressed by this game. For one thing, I played it in one sitting - it takes some doing to hold my attention for that long, and it's not uncommon for me to take multiple breaks in the middle of a VN if I feel myself getting bored with it. Also, even though I complained about lengthiness earlier, when I put my mind to it I really have trouble thinking of a part that I would actually suggest removing or condensing. Although some scenes could have used some polish here or there, the bottom line is that the comedic scenes were funny and the dramatic scenes had me really feeling for the characters. That's what you were trying to achieve, and you did that.

What's more, I am seriously interested in this game now, thanks to you. I looked it up after I finished playing Trust Fall and I'm thinking about buying the game. :> So you must've done something right! (Like, a lot right. I teared up when the game ended.)

(Also, somewhat off-topic, but I found Riddle Me This on your itch.io - haven't had the chance to play yet, but you should post to the Completed Games thread here! It might get a little more attention that way, and I know there are a lot of people on this forum who like mystery VNs.)

[ArizaLuca]

Ahhh, I'm glad you liked it! Definitely something to keep in mind for all the criticism, though it was probably our own faults because we had to write the entire thing in a month and I'm more of a humor and/or fluff writer. And yep... I realized after creating the game that the progression of the questions were really weird... so that's something to keep in mind for the future. xD

Again, though, I'm really glad you liked it!