Foon → Ludum Dare Explorer → LD48 → Black Magic, White Cat
By lyxil and Colm Eccles
| Category | Rank | Score | Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 330 | 3.88 | 28 | |
| Fun | 952 | 3.32 | 27 | |
| Innovation | 1498 | 2.76 | 28 | |
| Theme | 1454 | 3.17 | 28 | |
| Graphics | 685 | 3.86 | 28 | |
| Humor | 477 | 3.26 | 27 | |
| Mood | 539 | 3.76 | 28 |
The scenario was not the most original, but the concept is nice overall ! Characters were a bit clichés, but they still worked well. The story was nice to follow and it really made me want to see more of that universe. Good job !
THE WHITE CAT IS SUCH A CUTE SPRITE AHH!! Ok but for real I want to know where this guy is getting his money from and why he's not a broke college student I can't relate D: But nice job!!
@jeanne-rossat: Thanks for the feedback! I agree I could have been more original. It was challenging to think of fully-fledged original ideas while making the game in a weekend, so I had to make a few compromises in the story. I've got some more interesting ideas for post-jam. And I'm glad you like the universe! I'm thinking of setting this story up as one of a few I'll explore in this world :)
@isabelle-szeto: Haha glad you like the cat <3 @colm-eccles does a great job with animals! I like to think of the campus as having a big bartering center where Feronin takes his garbage and tries to see what artifacts he can get with them :P
Well Done! I love this concept and the story :cat:
Well written, nice visuals and an interesting aproach to the theme. Good job!
A Ren'Py game! Delight!
Prescribing sunlight is a charming concept. The lore of this game is generally wonderful.
I smiled so broadly when Feronin summoned his cat. And his struggle with impostor syndrome is very compelling.
I think the game might benefit from more choices. The writing is good, but at the moment it comes off more as a visual novel you're here to read than a game you can interact with. I really wanted to follow that furry thing and was sad the choice was grayed out!
Got both the endings! Loved the scenario and worldbuilding you set up here. The topic of impostor syndrome isn't tackled quite enough in games, and you approached it well. I especially love how Feronin changing out of his black clothes and into the white represented his growth.
I do agree that there should be more choices though, it felt more like I was reading a book. But overall well done, I don't play many visual novels but I couldn't put this one down :)
This was so well written and made me really think :O :O about how the cat could represent an unwanted art style or something, or how things that we perceive as hindrances might not be!! I actually thought the idea / execution / small details in the world were quite original and it worked really well as a short story in terms of pacing, set up etc (might even work better as a short story...but it was good in this format too) and I liked the art, the cat was so cute haha
neet topic a bit cliches. I'm not into it visual novels but I see the appeal
Great novel! The art style, history and concept are amazing, really great work!
Mrow meeeow mroowww mrowww mrooow mrooeoeooow mrow mrow mrow.
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**Translation:**
Saw this game in need of more ratings in the Danger category, and with handdrawn-looking graphics and a cat on the cover, there is **no way** I could have resisted clicking on this.
Oh my goodness, I love this! 😻 It's such an inspiring and moving story, and the fact that it features a cat "fur"ther increases its "purr"fection. You need to get to 20 ratings ASAP, I'll assist.
Also, you ***need*** to make that "Follow the cat" option! I had completely "fur"gotten I was even playing a game, it felt like I was reading a bestselling book. I need to see what happens when I pick that path....
I feel your pain/joy at having cat hair all over everything because your cat is a big sweetie, Feronin. Whether it's my laptop, my pants, or whatever random stuff I have sitting around, nothing is safe from cat hair when your cat is a sweetie.
###### Sorry about all of the bad cat dad jokes. I can't help it, I have issues with making too many dad jokes, even when I'm doing game rating.
Wow, really great narratives and story, and nice artworks too! Maybe it will be more interesting if there are more choices and endings! Nice works!
Wow, I really liked this! I would love to see the expanded version of this, with the "follow the cat" option, as well as more of Inora's story. Great job doing all that writing during LD, I know coming up with a story on short notice is always hard.
The overall story is a bit simple, but still enjoyable regardless. If I had to give a critique I think it might be how things seem to resolve themselves kind of out of nowhere, almost as if by chance. I think that might make the story a bit less relatable and/or realistic. But I think the journey was still fun to read all the way through, and never felt like I could figure out exactly what was going to happen. And it's hard to fault a story for something like that when it is so short.
Great job and please keep us posted on updates!
Also I JUST realized the main character's name is....Fur-ronin....omg......wow
Seems like a really fun game, but trying to play the game both in Firefox and the itch.io app only shows an error:
2021-05-17-005049.png
I'm on Linux, which I figure is the root cause of this issue. I reviewed the Graphics category though, based on the screenshots :)
Hey! [I played your game on stream!](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1025150194?t=02h21m16s)
This is so cool! Before I knew it, I got quite invested in the story. The writing, even though based on a fairly simple premise, felt really smooth, and pacing was on point. I loved the visuals too!
I would've liked to hear some music to go along with everything, but I still really enjoyed reading.
I definitely want to return to this later and finish reading after LD ^^
It's... long-ish readable. Maybe, if you get it shorter, add some sound (at least for the jam entry), would be better. Feels like there already was a story that you had to visualize somehow, which you did. The script is quite predictive, would be great to experience more suspence and plot twists. Personally, I wanted the cat to drink sake and curse, like Nyanko one in Natsume. Still, solid job, indeed.
Got what appears to be the positive ending. Pretty cute story, if a bit...annoyingly saccharine. While the story length is quite commendable, I would have liked to see more split story paths and choices to make in the game, even if some of them would have no changes to the story progression. Add a little more roleplay, let players be complete jerks and reap those consequences!
Still, I appreciate how the world is introduced in a simple way, utilizing our good ol' boring world as a grounding basis for the extra added supernatural. Characters were mostly likeable, if a few (Karth and Inora) felt like they just blended into each other. And, well, I don't especially enjoy playing as jerk characters (even though I'm a jerk player myself), but Furonin wasn't pushing my buttons too much.
And...uh, I felt the Japanese excerpt at the end read a bit too much like Google Translate.
Excellent visual novel. I liked the way the imposter syndrome themes were portrayed by the main character and how frustrating it can be. I think I got the "good" ended, but I'm not totally sure why/how my choices ultimately lead to that ending. Definitely curious about what would have happened if I could have followed the cat.