The City of Black and Graey [KN][Short][Psychological]

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Ophelia
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The City of Black and Graey [KN][Short][Psychological]

#1 Post by Ophelia »

Image

Synopsis:
You find yourself in a grey city and talk to the black citizen to find a way back home and possibly to understand what's going on.

Around 5000 words.
A short game I made in less than two days. All art is made by myself (obviously). Made as distraction / exercise instead of sitting in my room and feeling silly.
Warning: It does not particularly make a lot of sense.

Screenshot:
Here.

Download:
Here.

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Re: The City of Black and Graey [KN][Short][Psychological]

#2 Post by tiya_nofurita »

Such a short introduction. But I will download and play it anyway :D
Webtoon

"For what reason I live?"
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---
Completed project:


"What will you see when you are dead?"

Image

MY VISUAL NOVEL

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Ophelia
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Re: The City of Black and Graey [KN][Short][Psychological]

#3 Post by Ophelia »

Haha, well, yeah, there isn't really much to say about this. I just kinda wrote what popped first into my mind, without thinking about too deeply.

But I really want to know what you think about the music.
I don't play my games with music, so this was the most difficult task for me there.

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Re: The City of Black and Graey [KN][Short][Psychological]

#4 Post by Scarves »

Just played this through, and it made perfect sense!

Well, just kidding. But I did really appreciate the way there was such individuality within the sameness of all the characters.
And the art complements it so well.. it was also surprisingly fun trying to figure out all the backgrounds. =D
That ending is gonna have me wondering all night though...

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Ophelia
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Re: The City of Black and Graey [KN][Short][Psychological]

#5 Post by Ophelia »

Scarves wrote:Just played this through, and it made perfect sense!

Well, just kidding. But I did really appreciate the way there was such individuality within the sameness of all the characters.
And the art complements it so well.. it was also surprisingly fun trying to figure out all the backgrounds. =D
That ending is gonna have me wondering all night though...
Oh, wow, sorry, I didn't actually think someone would play this, so I saw your post just now!
First: Thank you so much for playing! And your positive comment!
I had a lot of fun drawing the backgrounds, actually. :D I'm not an artist at all, so figuring out the proper perspective was incredibly difficult and I gained a new respect for artists!

Second: I'm actually not entirely sure what I was trying to say, myself. Also, I wrote most of the script in one setting and when I returned to it on the next day, I didn't really remember where I wanted to go with it
I made this game mainly because I felt depressed, so I started drawing stick figures in paint on a whim and then I got the idea to pour my energy into making a little game instead of sitting there and feeling bad for myself. (It really helped, too! I felt so much better after actually doing something with myself. I highly recommend this.)

Me trying to explain the game:
So the game is mainly the expression of my dark thoughts I had at that time. The figures are of course supposed to be "illnesses", or rather fear, since most of them where pretty scared of everything. And the player character is supposed to be the conscious; it's trying to fix the problems and fears, but sadly, it succumbs to it. Then we can see the former "conscious" interacting with a new "player", trying to get out of the depression hole, only to repeat that cycle. It's dark, but I thought it was an appropriate image of depression. It doesn't have a happy ending, but unfortunately there aren't always happy endings.

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DarkClaymore
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Re: The City of Black and Graey [KN][Short][Psychological]

#6 Post by DarkClaymore »

Tried this out, merely due to my new motivation to "play amateur games". Didn't know what to expect honestly, thought it gonna be all sort of weird and puzzling. The truth is, it was a pretty fun read. The idea even reminds me a bit of my latest VN, though I took it in a bit different direction there.

The different personalities of the characters are really well crafted in my opinion, and I think it's the main thing I enjoyed. They may all just be "black", but nevertheless each of them bears a distinguishing personality, which is conveyed well through the dialog. The music felt a bit off at times, at others changed too suddenly to my taste, but overall was fitting the static depression that was going on there.

As for the ending:
A depressing ending to a depressing story, only fitting. Don't know if intentional, to me it felt as if the story built the player to feel that he is "special" or can "change things". Sure, they were hammering nonstop that "it's happening again" and "it's all the same", but when the "cheat console" was brought up, it made me think "this is going to be that kind of story where you are the chosen hero and save the day".

Well, it clearly didn't happen, and the player's failure to change that gray world felt even more impactful that way. Again, not sure if it was intentional or just my take on it, but I enjoyed that.
One thing that still eludes me is:
Why "graey"?
Even before starting the game, I already asked myself what could that mean. When the protagonist first questions the word, I read it with increased concentration, yet it didn't answer the question. It hasn't really been addressed since that scene, and just left me wondering till now...


Some general notes:
  • The Quick Menu is nearly invisible; it's both small and bright. I'm one of those who like using it (yeah, call me a weirdo), so if you keep it around instead of hiding it - I suggest also making sure that it's visible enough to be functional.
  • Were the white parts on the character sprites intentional? There are characters in which it was clearly stated to be intentional, but with some (like Black 1), the white parts just look like poor cutting job.
  • What's a "ringkeeper"? I even tried to google it, but I couldn't find such a term. Wasn't it supposed to be "gatekeeper"? After all, they were talking about a gate.

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Ophelia
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Re: The City of Black and Graey [KN][Short][Psychological]

#7 Post by Ophelia »

Thank you so much for playing!

I'm really happy that you enjoyed it. :)

Regarding the ending:
Yeah, that was definitely intentional. Because on one hand, the player character is most games is the hero that can and will change things - has to change them, even, and on the other hand, while most of us still have hope even in the darkest situation, it doesn't always end in a happy ending.
Regarding 'graey':
This is actually a dumb reason. I just can't never remember what the 'correct' way to write graey is and I was sure if I decided to use gray or grey I would probably end up writing the other version anyway, so I just merged them together for some pseudo artsyness. Yeah, no deep meaning behind that, sorry!

The music was actually the most difficult part of me. I almost never play games with music turned on, so I had a few difficulties to place it appropriately in the story.
Hm, yes and no? Well, I leaved the white parts on purpose, but I guess it was laziness? Except for the sprites with holes in their bodies, there was no deeper meaning, if that is what you are saying. But I keep that in mind!
Yeah, I meant gatekeeper, I'm sorry! That was some kind of translation error on my part. I actually meant a person who holds the key to the gate, I don't know how I came up with ring. Didn't even notice, thanks!

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Re: The City of Black and Graey [KN][Short][Psychological]

#8 Post by DarkClaymore »

Ophelia wrote:Regarding 'graey':
This is actually a dumb reason. I just can't never remember what the 'correct' way to write graey is and I was sure if I decided to use gray or grey I would probably end up writing the other version anyway, so I just merged them together for some pseudo artsyness. Yeah, no deep meaning behind that, sorry!
I was tricked! I want my money back! :lol:

Ophelia wrote:The music was actually the most difficult part of me. I almost never play games with music turned on, so I had a few difficulties to place it appropriately in the story.
Really? Even when you play VNs?
For me music is one of these things that really make an impact, so I can spend literally HOURS on finding the right pieces and fading them in/out properly between transitions.

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Ophelia
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Re: The City of Black and Graey [KN][Short][Psychological]

#9 Post by Ophelia »

DarkClaymore wrote: Really? Even when you play VNs?
For me music is one of these things that really make an impact, so I can spend literally HOURS on finding the right pieces and fading them in/out properly between transitions.
Especially when I play VNs. Somehow I almost always get a headache when I have the background music on.
But I also spend hours looking for the right music and it's going to be a real nightmare to find proper music for my current project - but simply omitting music isn't really the way to go, from what I've read here on the forum.

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