Been having some frequent freezing issues on steam deck/linux where the image gets frozen but the game's still running (ie: can press the menu and progress text buttons and it makes noises that sound like the presses registered). It does go back to normal when you restart, but since it's seemingly random it can cause a ton of lost progress.
Is this something that can be solved or just an inherent linux/steam issue?
I don't have the experience to resolve it myself, but I've been convening with a friend who works with Linux to figure out a solution. We're hoping to isolate the issue and discover a workaround. Thanks for your patience.
We get really cautious about these games that have multiple routes in them, saving every room or so. So I wanted to know if the branching points are pretty telegraphed, or if we really should be worrying about saving as often as we do?
Either way, we haven't played much of the game yet (just got through the vent you open in the storage room) and absolutely love the art, the writing, the tense sound effects and music (this is our first RPG Maker horror game we've played and I did not know the engine could be used for stuff like this), and the story so far! Definitely planning on finishing this and following your future games!
This game has a few important variables. There are three different "natures" towards which the protagonist can lean, with each changing some experiences, lore, and dialogue options while largely keeping the game consistent. Beyond that there is a level of respect that the current main party member has toward her, which is fairly easy to keep track of after you get to know her a little bit.
Basically the tendency of the main character has little effect beyond context and how she interacts with the world, and the respect has a major effect on how the party member interacts with you and the second party member you gain later.
If you want to appeal to the summoned daemon (first party member), do not kill imps, do not correct her, and let her know if she hurts you accidentally.
its really cool! im playing this game for an hour now but some of the puzzles\codes feel too difficult to me, i've been wondering if you have any 'checkpoint' or text file with all the answers&hints for someone like me? im just not sure if i could replay it again and i want to find all of the stuff on my first run..
as soon as i finish the game i'll write more normal review ahaha but i like it already
all necessary puzzles are skippable in some way, but the upcoming demo update will feature more puzzle skips and hints. which one is giving you trouble?
okii! i was having trouble with understanding directions (down left left down etc) but i ran around and found the right imp, so its ok now! & i also wanted to open bathroom door lock before the shower room but i couldn't think of any word other than lily&some others, i guess im just too silly now, its no big deal.
Ah, Grixa's process is meant to be inconvenient and difficult, that's just how they are. Most everyone has had to just wander around until they found Saffy. The bathroom door lock is hinted as being in the bookshelf next to it; try using the authors' names in some way. Good luck!
Hello my name is cat, I am here to spread the good word of Devotion. This game is very interesting, its well written with a good and engaging story. The characters you meet have interesting dialog choices that can lead to different outcomes. The puzzles are well thought out and can be a challenge if your not good at that sorta thing (like myself) but for anything key their is an option to skip the puzzle which I greatly apricate. I would give this game 5/5 stars and say that my favorite characters are the imps :3
Excellent work. I've really enjoyed this game a lot. The balance was also very good. I was able to make my way through, with just barely the needed room for healing items, and found myself needing to liberally use damage items at opportune moments. Any game that makes me actually use the stuff I am handed if I want to survive is made well, and the fact that you got the balance so tight for a GAME JAM ENTRY is wiiiiiiiild! Hell yes!
I also really loved the style and the character writing and all the stuff you had going on in this game. Very excited for updates and also seeing any other stuff you work on.
I'm confused about the bathroom lock. I see the books and I know that their the key to the puzzle, but I can't figure out what the configuration of the names is the answer for the lock. (Luv the game so far)
the bathoom letter lock is an optional sidepath, it isn't required for game progression. you're on the right path with the books; the note has a hint that's missable
I have to say, when putting together the rules in such a way to allow people to use engines other than RenPy for their submissions, I did not expect that someone would make and submit a full-fledged RPG Maker horror game—and I'm utterly delighted to see it, heheheheh~ After all, I love this genre of game, having played dozens of them long before I got involved in the VN scene!
What's more, it's a very solid RPG Maker game~ The art for the battlers, tilesets, and characters alike was all fantastic; there's a good variety in music for the battles and the overworld maps alike; the battles were appropriately challenging, neither too easy nor too difficult; likewise, the puzzles were all reasonable without being obvious. Chase sequences in RPG Maker are a pet peeve of mine, admittedly, but considering there was only one and it was fairly short, I'll let it slide, heh. Also, part of me wants to say the mazes were too easy, but I'm kind of an extremist about my mazes, so I'll keep my mouth shut~
And all of that is making no mention of the writing! I love how aggressively antagonistic I was able to make the dynamic between Carmine and Sluph~ For that matter, the game does an excellent job of showing how unhealthy Carmine and Sylvie's "relationship" is from the very beginning, especially thanks to a certain key item, heh heh heh. I got my head handed to me a few times in the battle as well, and hot damn, those bad ending scenes do NOT pull their punches~
Spectacular work across the board, truly! I'll definitely be circling back around whenever the full version comes out, heheheh~
P.S.: I was giggling so much at how self-satisfied Carmine was once she could identify the goddamn pad-mounted transformers, lol
I sincerely appreciate the thorough feedback! you seem like the kind of person this game was made for; many of my playtesters got fed up with the difficulty of some of the puzzle-like combats.
you'll be pleased to know that many of the disrespect route scenes with sluph have been overhauled and made much worse in the patches following the initial upload, and the game's significantly better overall. the kind route intimate scenes are stronger as well, but we're here for the toxic content.
I understand the feedback about chase scenes and their clunkiness in the system, it was a portion that felt narratively important. I'm working to make it less brutal (through occasional lapses in the chaser's speed), but every adjustment is a learning experience with this program as I have limited experience with it.
I'm glad you enjoyed this title and had good experiences with it! I'm still committing a lot of daily time to this project, so look forward to an even better finished game at some point in the future
(in case you're just wondering roughly how long this game takes to finish, it took me ~4hours for 1 playthrough)
(abridged crosspost of my review for other players to see, this review is about the game jam version of the game)
first of all i would like to say that i am completely blown away by the depth of this experience! it really is a full-blown RPG with carefully considered mechanics, items, armour, etc. i haven't seen anything like it for this jam and i'm really impressed!
second, i love the subtle storytelling. it's fucked up in a really juicy way and i'm very intruiged to see where it goes next. i really like how some of the puzzles and how the gameplay (particularly the enemies) interweave seamlessly with telling the story, where the story is enhanced by the gameplay and vice versa.
the characters were delightful, even those we only get to see for a short time. i liked the fat imp the most but i'm biased haha. i loved all the art, though i especially liked the enemy/creature designs.
as for the gameplay, as i said it's very well thought out. be advised though that the difficulty curve is VERY steep. same goes for the puzzles. i think i spent like 20 minutes with a pen and paper on a particular number puzzle haha. anyway it was overall a really impressive and ambitious game!!! i liked it a lot!!!!! well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thank you for your thorough feedback, it's greatly appreciated!
the update patches balance combat much better and generally improve quality of life (and updated all the main sprites), but playing the original that was a one-month project is its own experience.
the fat imp will be making another appearance later on in the story, as long as you didn't kill them :)
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Been having some frequent freezing issues on steam deck/linux where the image gets frozen but the game's still running (ie: can press the menu and progress text buttons and it makes noises that sound like the presses registered). It does go back to normal when you restart, but since it's seemingly random it can cause a ton of lost progress.
Is this something that can be solved or just an inherent linux/steam issue?
I don't have the experience to resolve it myself, but I've been convening with a friend who works with Linux to figure out a solution. We're hoping to isolate the issue and discover a workaround. Thanks for your patience.
We get really cautious about these games that have multiple routes in them, saving every room or so. So I wanted to know if the branching points are pretty telegraphed, or if we really should be worrying about saving as often as we do?
Either way, we haven't played much of the game yet (just got through the vent you open in the storage room) and absolutely love the art, the writing, the tense sound effects and music (this is our first RPG Maker horror game we've played and I did not know the engine could be used for stuff like this), and the story so far! Definitely planning on finishing this and following your future games!
This game has a few important variables. There are three different "natures" towards which the protagonist can lean, with each changing some experiences, lore, and dialogue options while largely keeping the game consistent. Beyond that there is a level of respect that the current main party member has toward her, which is fairly easy to keep track of after you get to know her a little bit.
Basically the tendency of the main character has little effect beyond context and how she interacts with the world, and the respect has a major effect on how the party member interacts with you and the second party member you gain later.
If you want to appeal to the summoned daemon (first party member), do not kill imps, do not correct her, and let her know if she hurts you accidentally.
its really cool! im playing this game for an hour now but some of the puzzles\codes feel too difficult to me, i've been wondering if you have any 'checkpoint' or text file with all the answers&hints for someone like me? im just not sure if i could replay it again and i want to find all of the stuff on my first run..
as soon as i finish the game i'll write more normal review ahaha but i like it already
all necessary puzzles are skippable in some way, but the upcoming demo update will feature more puzzle skips and hints. which one is giving you trouble?
okii! i was having trouble with understanding directions (down left left down etc) but i ran around and found the right imp, so its ok now! & i also wanted to open bathroom door lock before the shower room but i couldn't think of any word other than lily&some others, i guess im just too silly now, its no big deal.
will try to play new update !
Ah, Grixa's process is meant to be inconvenient and difficult, that's just how they are. Most everyone has had to just wander around until they found Saffy. The bathroom door lock is hinted as being in the bookshelf next to it; try using the authors' names in some way. Good luck!
thank you!!
Hello my name is cat, I am here to spread the good word of Devotion. This game is very interesting, its well written with a good and engaging story. The characters you meet have interesting dialog choices that can lead to different outcomes. The puzzles are well thought out and can be a challenge if your not good at that sorta thing (like myself) but for anything key their is an option to skip the puzzle which I greatly apricate. I would give this game 5/5 stars and say that my favorite characters are the imps :3
Excellent work. I've really enjoyed this game a lot. The balance was also very good. I was able to make my way through, with just barely the needed room for healing items, and found myself needing to liberally use damage items at opportune moments.
Any game that makes me actually use the stuff I am handed if I want to survive is made well, and the fact that you got the balance so tight for a GAME JAM ENTRY is wiiiiiiiild! Hell yes!
I also really loved the style and the character writing and all the stuff you had going on in this game. Very excited for updates and also seeing any other stuff you work on.
I'm confused about the bathroom lock. I see the books and I know that their the key to the puzzle, but I can't figure out what the configuration of the names is the answer for the lock. (Luv the game so far)
the bathoom letter lock is an optional sidepath, it isn't required for game progression. you're on the right path with the books; the note has a hint that's missable
Oh yeah, I know its a sidepath but I wanna explore/ experience everything that isnt a bad end because those make me sad. and thank you for the tip.
im still too dumb to figure it out
I cant fidn the screwdriver :d
try backtracking and checking each feature :) you need to use an item on something to get a key
I found it like right after I left to the comment felt dumb as hell lol
I have to say, when putting together the rules in such a way to allow people to use engines other than RenPy for their submissions, I did not expect that someone would make and submit a full-fledged RPG Maker horror game—and I'm utterly delighted to see it, heheheheh~ After all, I love this genre of game, having played dozens of them long before I got involved in the VN scene!
What's more, it's a very solid RPG Maker game~ The art for the battlers, tilesets, and characters alike was all fantastic; there's a good variety in music for the battles and the overworld maps alike; the battles were appropriately challenging, neither too easy nor too difficult; likewise, the puzzles were all reasonable without being obvious. Chase sequences in RPG Maker are a pet peeve of mine, admittedly, but considering there was only one and it was fairly short, I'll let it slide, heh. Also, part of me wants to say the mazes were too easy, but I'm kind of an extremist about my mazes, so I'll keep my mouth shut~
And all of that is making no mention of the writing! I love how aggressively antagonistic I was able to make the dynamic between Carmine and Sluph~ For that matter, the game does an excellent job of showing how unhealthy Carmine and Sylvie's "relationship" is from the very beginning, especially thanks to a certain key item, heh heh heh. I got my head handed to me a few times in the battle as well, and hot damn, those bad ending scenes do NOT pull their punches~
Spectacular work across the board, truly! I'll definitely be circling back around whenever the full version comes out, heheheh~
P.S.: I was giggling so much at how self-satisfied Carmine was once she could identify the goddamn pad-mounted transformers, lol
I sincerely appreciate the thorough feedback! you seem like the kind of person this game was made for; many of my playtesters got fed up with the difficulty of some of the puzzle-like combats.
you'll be pleased to know that many of the disrespect route scenes with sluph have been overhauled and made much worse in the patches following the initial upload, and the game's significantly better overall. the kind route intimate scenes are stronger as well, but we're here for the toxic content.
I understand the feedback about chase scenes and their clunkiness in the system, it was a portion that felt narratively important. I'm working to make it less brutal (through occasional lapses in the chaser's speed), but every adjustment is a learning experience with this program as I have limited experience with it.
I'm glad you enjoyed this title and had good experiences with it! I'm still committing a lot of daily time to this project, so look forward to an even better finished game at some point in the future
(in case you're just wondering roughly how long this game takes to finish, it took me ~4hours for 1 playthrough)
(abridged crosspost of my review for other players to see, this review is about the game jam version of the game)
first of all i would like to say that i am completely blown away by the depth of this experience! it really is a full-blown RPG with carefully considered mechanics, items, armour, etc. i haven't seen anything like it for this jam and i'm really impressed! second, i love the subtle storytelling. it's fucked up in a really juicy way and i'm very intruiged to see where it goes next. i really like how some of the puzzles and how the gameplay (particularly the enemies) interweave seamlessly with telling the story, where the story is enhanced by the gameplay and vice versa.
the characters were delightful, even those we only get to see for a short time. i liked the fat imp the most but i'm biased haha. i loved all the art, though i especially liked the enemy/creature designs.
as for the gameplay, as i said it's very well thought out. be advised though that the difficulty curve is VERY steep. same goes for the puzzles. i think i spent like 20 minutes with a pen and paper on a particular number puzzle haha. anyway it was overall a really impressive and ambitious game!!! i liked it a lot!!!!! well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thank you for your thorough feedback, it's greatly appreciated!
the update patches balance combat much better and generally improve quality of life (and updated all the main sprites), but playing the original that was a one-month project is its own experience.
the fat imp will be making another appearance later on in the story, as long as you didn't kill them :)
very devoted to this
Praying on this game's success.
it's here it's here it's here it's here it's here!!!!