Faceless Date
This is created for O2A2 VN Jam 2023 ~ Queer Edition ~ and follows its format which has the following limitations: "Only One of Any Asset" and 1000 word limit.
Additionally, Blossom VN Jam 2023 inspired me to decide on the aesthetics and backdrop of the story setting.
The story script has 998 words.
Story:
Short wlw romance story with emphasis on paranormal thriller.
Suzanne is a 20-year-old stylist and her life cannot be more perfect by fulfilling her childhood dream of working backstage at Tantalus Theatre. But one thing she misses out on is finding lasting love. She's still young, yet she can't resist the thought that her opportunities are already running out in the already limited dating pool of women of her age. Then she received a DM in the dating app from the mysterious Evelyn. Yes, there are many red flags, like how Evelyn doesn't have any photos of her face. However, she seems to be a lovely person from the conversations they had and there's always that secret ability Suzanne can rely on, so what can go wrong?
Features:
๐ Each choice gives different flavour text.
๐ Light puzzle elements where you look for clues that may unlock extra choice options to enter a different route.
๐ 5 Endings (guide on how to reach them is included within the game).
Content Warning:
๐ I would consider this the coziest romantic VN I've released so far, but there is also fair share of suspense and angst. It's not a dark story though.
๐ Story mainly focuses on distrust and abandonment issues. I was considering to go for a more uplifting tone to celebrate queer positivity, however I tend to write about flawed characters... so I stuck to this and opted to put it in content warning instead.
๐ Mention of nosebleed and traffic accident. There are no graphic details.
Credits:
๐ Story, code, art: Gaming Variety Potato
๐ Music track: "Secret songs" by "ใฎใ" (on Dova-Syndrome)
๐ SFX track: crop of "spooky ghost wind 01" by "titankaempfer" (on Freesound)
Download
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Development log
Comments
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Good game. Short and sweet but very interesting.
I first got the Reunite ending because I didn't notice the flower.
When Suzanne first mentioned the similarity between Evelyn and Eva I had the theory that Eva was a lost loved one of Suzanne and all of it was in her mind. Because of that I also thought that the Ghost ending meant that Evelyn was an actual ghost, instead of referring to ghosting. Oops.
So, is the Elope ending canon? If so, here's my interpretation of the lore:
In the end, after Suzanne opens up about her accident, Evelyn seems to notice someone watching them and they flee, possibly to go into hiding together or for Evelyn to teach Suzanne more about powers.
Sorry for the wall of text. Feel free to confirm, or correct if I've gotten something wrong or missed anything. Great game.
Thank you for leaving such a nice comment, TheHolyDyntan! Don't worry about sharing your thoughts, I love reading about theories from other people, especially when they contain so much details.
Not to mention that a few days ago I just told someone how I got a DevLog draft that remains unfinished, but this is the perfect timing to share some of my old thoughts regarding the inspirations. I think that would give better idea about the lore. At the same time I don't want to enforce specific interpretations, when this is a standalone short story that is more reliant on the player to fill in the gaps.
- You weren't completely wrong about 'Ghost'. While it is indeed about ghosting, I also wanted to add some ambiguity to the ending title. Evelyn isn't a literal ghost, but I envisioned her to be a metaphorical spectre for taking on Eva's appearance who is important in Suzanne's memory, so she's haunting her and also vanishes as easily. For that reason the story does allude her to have a ghostly quality (before you posted this comment, I had actually made a Halloween art of Evelyn that can be found on my social media, and that she probably should dress up as a ghost). I took inspiration from "Silent Hill 2" where you have James who receives a letter from his late wife Mary and then he meets Maria in the town Silent Hill who looks like Mary who died from a disease, but she has a different dress style, so who is Maria really? (I won't say much more about that game, because I always end up spoiling too much) However what I can say about my own VN is that I wanted to go for a direction where the actual reveal is surprisingly mundane slice-of-life and the spookier parts are only to mislead.
- I would say that 'Elope' probably is canon that if I made a sequel, which I have no plans for though. I would continue from this point because the other endings don't really lead anywhere. Back then while writing I didn't necessarily saw 'Elope' as the true ending, but that has more to do with my pet peeves and wondering if the romance plotline went too fast. To justify it that it's not that quick, I like to think that they already formed a close bond from previous text conversations, and Evelyn might not trust Suzanne completely yet however she feels obliged to keep her safe. I'm perhaps one of these unusual VN players who don't always see the romantic ending as the best ending. However while playtesting my own game, I had the suspicion that 'Elope'-line would have the highest probability to be the last ending the player encounters, so I caved in to make them get closer to each other because it somehow felt right as a final. I should note that conceptually it wasn't originally labelled as a romance story. Yes, they're lesbians on a date... but they don't have to end up together, so I thought.
- It's not elaborated on what the flower is because there wasn't a lot of space in O2A2 VN Jam so I just kept it vague. I won't lie that I wasn't thinking about battle shounens like "Hunter x Hunter" and "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure", because I'm a sucker for the genre and ESP as power system in general: in particular the videogame "The World Ends With you" (TWEWY) which I also drew inspiration from. So I pictured the lily to be something that physically doesn't exist, but it also isn't visible to other espers, so it's only within Suzanne's mind as a representation of her power.
Since I wanted to write a story in a style that is majorly tailored for a queer female audience (or anyone that enjoys that genre) - I was in the josei mood even though the jam wasn't up - I would feature slightly different story beat than what's appealing in shounen with the life-or-death struggles/stakes where combatants may try to kill each other. To reflect that, the espers in 'Faceless Date' only meet up to get more information out from each other, and leave if it gets too dangerous, no blood drawn. Suzanne doesn't know this, she only wants to impress her date even though she does find Evelyn a bit odd. ๐ Evelyn initially wants to know if Suzanne is the dangerous type of esper and sets up the date, but at the same time she's also quite attached to Suzanne or definitely feels sorry for her, so she's forcing herself to act detached in some of the endings.
I also don't know how Evelyn's powers work exactly, but you are correct that she couldn't show photos of herself because her real appearance doesn't resemble Eva, and with the long distance she can't channel Suzanne's energy. I had a tragic element planned for Evelyn that she can't pick her own appearance (unfortunate characters who get powers that are detrimental have always intrigued me), so it is Suzanne broadcasting on Evelyn when she is close to her.
Evelyn is extra tuned towards perceiving the flow of ESP energy, but she cannot see what information is stored in people's thoughts. When Suzanne is mindreading, unbeknownst to her, some of other espers can tell she's sucking in the thoughts of people around them. I think it makes most sense that Suzanne's lily is not visible to Evelyn, because Evelyn would definitely stop Suzanne from overexerting herself. I totally haven't fleshed out the details of the other espers, so it's a bit difficult to write about it. Evelyn might be from a group with more espers in it? Although I can also see myself change this detail if I redo the lore for a hypothetical sequel. What's true though is that she has her powers for far longer than Suzanne.
The 'broadcasters' are the scary espers who have control over destructive telekinesis, pyrokinesis and the such. Both Suzanne and Evelyn are the typical support type protagonists and would be horribly matched if they ever cross paths with them. Although I rather not think about it, I prefer to let Suzanne and Evelyn have a peaceful life than turn it into some horror story. ๐ญ
- The only little bit of information you get about Eva is if you picked "A bizarro coincidence". Eva was Suzanne's first girlfriend in high school and Eva broke up with Suzanne. They went apart soon after that and right now Eva is living a normal life somewhere else. The car accident should occur later. Suzanne's attachment to Eva is meant to be disproportionate, somewhat petty even. I wanted to write it as an aspect of oneself might find extremely unflattering and do not want to admit to it, yet at the same time it's difficult to let some feelings go that are insignificant if you look at it rationally. I wanted Eva to be a tie in to show what person Suzanne is and why she would develop mindreading abilities, granted it happens magically, but say you're not picking your superpowers by choice but it magically forms based on your personality? It's left up to the player to interpret if the powers are a negative side of said perosn or just a neutral facet of them. Evelyn is not judging Suzanne for this. She also has her own insecurities that are not revealed in the story.
A beautiful, intriguing game with a SUPERCOOL mechanic, I really loved this! The art and atmosphere are lovely, and the setting really draws you in - books and flowers and special teas, what a great combination! And the colour palette is so peaceful. I started feeling like I really wanted to visit this place in real life and then was annoyed that I couldnโt.
I was impressed how it felt like the player really began to make a connection with Evelyn within such a concise wordcount โ and there were so many interesting hints at wider worldbuilding, I really enjoyed considering the different possibilities for the questions it raised!
I also liked how โ in contrast to the cute designs (and super pretty cottage-core sprite!) - some of the endings gave a real sense of menace โ and I think the contrast made them even more effective.
Great music choice too, delicate but with a kind of wistfulness underneath, I thought it fitted the story to a T! And that sound effect is very clever, because it makes lot of sense for the use of the โability; but also gives an unsettling feeling to some of the endings,
On a technical note โ obviously I loved the lily mechanic, but also having the hint after the first playthrough and a flow chart for checking were very handy, thank you.
I also thought the text / dialogue boxes were very nicely designed! Iโm actually really inspired now to go and try make something outside of the usual โlower textboxโ structure… Oh and! Such a cute loading screen! All these extra little details really make the most of the limited assets allowed, a very thoughtful touch for this jam.
Thank you for such a lovely comment, Cerise Makes! I'm glad you enjoyed my game's mechanic and that you found it work well as an O2A2 entry. I loved hearing your thoughts. I'll try to respond to each of your words.
The background art could be more detailed, but at some point my drawing hand was probably crying so I rushed the bookstore design a bit, and it means a lot that the energy still came across. I wasn't sure if Evelyn dressed cottagecore enough because I'm not the most knowledgeable about fashion, but I wanted her to look a little bit 'extra' so that you can tell that she's a main character of a story despite the somewhat plainness. I probably should thank 'Blossom VN Jam' for everything related to the art and setting! Because every time I'm stuck with what idea to pick, I do the 'let's think about flowers' trick and let that guide me. ๐
About the world-building, sadly enough I wrote myself a bit in the corner that I didn't plan far ahead. Therefore it's written as if there would be a sequel, however it's self-contained. A lot of times, players have better ideas of how to fill in what happens next.
Concerning the dialogue boxes, this VN was made before the balloon feature was officially available Ren'Py 8, so two textbox locations were defined depending who is speaking. It's far easier to achieve the effect nowadays, and I really recommend you to play with the balloon feature. Can't wait to see what effects you create with it!
The loading screen is a new addition that is edited from the Thank You art mentioned in one of the devlogs. I'm happy you like the cycling little Evelyn. โบ๏ธ
The flower is really great. A good gameplay mechani... But the story I don't think I understand all the endings and their meanings.
Thanks for leaving a comment BakaHentai! This was made for a minimalism VN jam and I wanted a different outcome if you/Suzanne acted differently hence there are multiple endings to reflect that. Due to the 1000-word limit a lot of the endings are written a bit open-ended, but the main purpose is to get to know the characters a bit better by revealing different information about them.
Okay, I finally sat down and played it. The lily mechanic just blew my mind, and then I remembered that it was for O2A2, which probably blew my already blown mind apart once more. Getting all the endings usually isn't my priority but here, I wanted to unlock them all and figure out how everything goes. Very interesting piece, cute visuals, intriguing story, and once again, the lily mechanic, I'm amazed, I enjoyed it greatly, I don't know what else can I even add.
Thank you for your playing my VN and leaving this kind comment, Naarel! I'm glad you enjoyed the Lily Mechanic and overall package. I had brainstormed on the rough concept of the VN in advance, but it was a little bit of a gamble doing jam projects like this as it depends on whether the code I come up in jam period will play out the same as sketched in the game design. I finished the story script first with the expectation that everything goes right, and in the worst case I would have the entire plot unfold with normal choice buttons and redo the story to have that flow nicely, but luckily it's straightforward that everything can be accomplished with default Ren'Py elements like buttons, screen logic, and some variables.
This was such an innovative and unique experience! The first time I played it, I admit I had no idea about the petal mechanic and thought that I was missing half of the game, haha. But once I read your description and tried it out for myself, it was fascinating! I enjoyed discovering all the different dialogue and endings - really well done.
Thank you for your sweet comment, Fablefly Music! I'm glad you continued on and found joy in the different endings. I ought to update the VN with better instructions within the game itself, ah well, after a tiny break (of indefinite time). ๐คญ
I'm still figuring out how to get other endings, but this was BRILLIANT. I can't believe you've done so many endings + extra dialogue while sticking to the word limit. This is truly fantastic!!!
Thank you for playing my game and commenting on it, FUTURE RUINS. I'm happy you had fun with it!
I spent most time on plotting and writing the story. The actual script took me about 5 days (I was worried whether I could even finish it in time since I had a shorter personal deadline at 18 April, and I didn't have any art at the beginning). There are some extra edits over the days when I had to rephrase parts differently when they didn't flow well within the VN code.
Sometimes I wonder if other devs count it differently. ๐ค Either way I used Googledoc and colour markers to tag sentences to a character. I worked with pre-calculated min and max word count targets for each section, and eventually moved parts around to balance out the route lengths.
The 'Separate' ending is a last-minute addition since I originally planned out 4 routes, but I felt that it must be a bummer for the player to see 'Ghost' ending (which kind of is the default fail route ending) once again after reaching so far. Luckily I still had a buffer of open space to fit yet another ending, so that there's a follow-up to your choice. It was this or the final mindread is forced action to finish the story, but it felt strange to me since it has always been optional.
OH THIS WAS SO INTERESTING. I didn't notice the lily on my first runthrough (like a silly goose) and I was surprised at the brevity - I took a peek at the description and only then realized there was an entire GAME MECHANIC i hadn't even thought about!!! i think the mechanic is absolutely brilliant even if I missed it at first, it was so interesting to check when to read Evelyn's mind (though I appreciated how forgiving it was, considering I'm really bad at reading expressions haha). & i'm so curious about what could potentially be going on, supernatural-wise, it sounds fascinating!!! This was great, really fun to play and I'd honestly love to play even longer games w this mechanic lololol, it's very very fun to interact with. absolutely lovely!!!
Thank you for your kind comment, Pothos Studios!
Don't blame yourself, I admit that many things are poorly telegraphed in my VN and it's something I should fix. ๐ Yes, I wasn't sure how readable the facial expressions are because it's among the last tasks in my list for this VN and had to rush the art to deliver within deadline. At least it's a learning experience for me to streamline gameplay better for future games from all the comments I received.
To tell the truth I haven't planned the story beyond this jam. And I also have a tendency to start on completely new VN projects that are not linked with anything else, solely to test out new concepts. Personally I love small scope VN jams like this for experimenting. And I'm delighted that you are so enthusiastic about the gameplay and supernatural elements in "Faceless Date".
Since the game mechanic is inspired from "Ace Attorney", maybe that would scratch that itch for you? I only didn't mention it because a lot of VN players are familiar with that series and then they would start to look for statements that contain contradictions, or expect 1-on-1 identical mechanism.
A friend recommended this short game to me, and after a playthrough, I was confused why it came so highly recommended. The art was unique and the music was nice, but there wasnโt much to the game. I went through it twice and was still confused. Then I went to this webpage and (shocker!) actually read the instructions, and then I understood it a bit better. I clicked the flower petal and was surprised that it did something!
I eventually figured out the trick to it (using it at the right time to read minds). That was really cool! I thoroughly enjoyed this game and it was the perfect length for an experimental VN.
My only critique are that I wish thereโd been an instructions screen before the game started, and I had a bit of trouble understanding some of the dialogue. This was really fun, though! I love to see you branching out (get it? plant pun?)
Thank you for playing my game and leaving a feedback, Jordan!
Duly noted, I have added more instructions on the game's page and in a potential future build (depending if I will actually do it) I should update it with better hint system.
There isn't an instruction screen because I thought it would make the prelude 'Reunite' ending easier to miss which would mess up the order of story reveal - as players are inclined to press any buttons they are aware of and forget they can also omit pressing it altogether. Technically the first ending was also to function as the reveal of the mindreading ability, but I should have made it clearer that the lily is a button. Unfortunately the instructions suffered due to the VN being rushed for publishing before the jam deadline.
Hi! I played the game and reached all the endings! What an interesting game, truly!
At first, I thought: "Oh, Suzanne is a cute protagonist!" But... I wondered if where the mystery was. I tried the game again, changing my choices and... nothing happened. So I read again the synopsis and I wondered: what was Suzanne's special ability?
It took me a while to figure out, but once I did, it was just a matter of tempo, I guess, to use the ability at the right moment. I tried different things and I'm glad the last ending I got was Elope, since it's the one solving the mystery! It also makes the title of the game a great pic!
I also loved the music track used, and the art! I really think the "sketchy" aspect of the lineart works very well with the mystery behind this date (SPOILERS: As a reflector, Evelyn doesn't have her own face... she's unachieved in some way, just like the lineart).
The text-bubble GUI was lovely and ultimately, I really loved the game as a whole! I really enjoyed uncovering the mystery behind it!
Thank you for your detailed review, chimeriquement! I'm glad you enjoy the whole experience and the mystery.
It made me laugh when you call Suzanne a cute protagonist, I know that it's just at the beginning, but as the creator I can never rub off her image of being a total wreck. I'm glad you continued to explore on how to reach all the endings.
It's very interesting to read your interpretation of Evelyn's face. Because at some point I almost wanted to imply that Evelyn has her own face as she was inspired by a character I hold dear, then I removed this implication. It's a bit of spoiler of that game so I just tell the overall gist of how the character is not liking her own appearance and is jealous of her popular fashionable friend that she wants to be her; in the epilogue you see a bit of character's real face that she looks plain. I find your read really cool and I'm pleased to have kept up the ambiguity, because it also reminds me of a shapeshifter character in a different game who lost his original appearance & identity from impersonating so many different people which I found quite dark. I kind of moved forth and back how to do it, because I couldn't determine which tone to lean harder on: cute or dark? Thanks for sharing your thought. (I hope that this doesn't read as disclosing what it actually should be, your comment caught my eye which inspired me to unleash this block of text ๐ )
Concerning the sketchy art it's also a bit of a happy coincidence, because it's my default art style as I don't really have a steady hand: keeping it sketch-like is more comfortable for me. I probably should have said nothing to keep up the mystique. Although perhaps this is also a good reminder to write the type of stories to match the artstyles I'm capable of doing to maintain a cohesive look.
I liked this a lot, what a neat mix of romance and suspense ๐คญ
It took me a moment to figure out the petal mechanic but once I did, the story unfolded like a flower haha (and in an unexpected way, too, which i loved!). The cozy date part was already very charming but I was delighted to find there's a lot more going on under the surface. Now you've got me curious about the future of those two after the Elope ending. ^^
Very nice job overall ๐
Thank you for your kind review, HiroRCK! I'm overjoyed you like the mix of romance and suspense.
That's a beautiful metaphor with the flower. ๐ธ Don't mind me for noting it down (I'll credit you!), because I felt a bit self-conscious for not implementing enough flower theming for 'Blossom VN Jam', but you made me realise it can take the form of subtle symbolism. ๐คญ
IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO GET ALL THE ENDINGS.
I couldn't quite figure out what I was supposed to do at first ๐คฃ๐ฆ So at first I played through without even knowing I could do anything else... then I realized what I could do, so I immediately used all the petals and got the worst ending (or at least I assume that's the worst ending aldkjfa). Then I kept trying all sorts of various combinations but was still unable to find anything and thought it had something to do with the number of petals,,,,,,,
ONLY FINALLY when I saw your tip about using rollback gave me the hint that I was looking for something on specific lines... AND THEN. Then I figured it out all the way ๐ It was really neat tho??? I liked feeling like I was investigating and solving the puzzle of the game, so I actually enjoyed trying out all the little different things until I started to figure it out a lot. And then I felt that much more accomplished when I finally got the best ending ahhhh!! I was quite joyous lol.
BUT ENOUGH ABOUT MY FOIBLES.
This was absolutely lovely! The combination of the sweet and innocent-esque visuals with the just ever-so-slightly minor tinge to the music gives this a vibe where you want everything to be fine, but you can't quite shake that it's not. Couple that with the weird different endings you start to get, and you quickly realize there's more going on here beneath than surface than you first expect. I enjoyed how by the end, while we certainly had a bit more info and could start to make sense of things, there was still a lot of openness about us that leaves this air of questioning uncertainty even after you've gotten all the endings. It really makes me want to learn more about these two characters and this world ๐คญ๐
I love the sketchy look of the art! As well as the somewhat worn look of the UI??? It fits the vibe of the overall game so well -- something that seems sweet at first but then you look closer and the edges are more worn than you expect because something is not quite right beneath the surface. I'm not sure how to explain adlkfjsad but it's very lovely! And the mechanic of using the flower to read Evelyn's mind was so cool?? That part really felt so investigative, like, trying to figure out where to use it and then feeling sneaky when you're able to get those few extra thoughts. And then how that lets you make a new choice to veer off into a new path! The use of the sound effect was also so freaky HAHAHA Especially as since the first times I heard it was on some of the not great endings, it gave me a rather unsettling vibe whenever I heard it upon reaching an ending.
I enjoy how it ended -- with some hope?? Even in spite of everything that's happened, there is something that Suzie and Evelyn can now move forward towards together. And it leaves your mind with so many thoughts on what will happen next and wanting to know more about their powers.
Overall, really well done!! This was an incredibly unique VN with a very interesting feature that also forces you as the player to really dig into things to figure some of it out yourself, which I found to be a ton of fun. And I enjoyed the art and characters! Had a ton of fun with it!! ๐
Thank you for this detailed review that touch on multiple facets of my VN, Carrot! I had a lot of fun reading it all, including your so-called foibles. I can't get enough of them and they totally made my day! ๐
I'm glad you went for all the endings. And how you're so bold to not be scared off by the depleting petals and went straight to the 'Abandon' ending. Originally I mapped that ending to be even worse but I turned it down a bit because it didn't fit with the general tone of how the story is shaping up. When I say worse, I mean... death. ๐But that is an entirely different type of story that's more thriller and less romance, way before I wrote down the story script.
I'm happy that 'Elope' is satisfactory for you and yes, that's the one I intended as the canon ending if I were to continue this universe because it's a cliffhanger to set off the hypothetical full story instead of this remaining standalone. But I doubt I will, because I didn't actually write this VN with what happens next in mind. It's all a mystery to all of us. ๐
I have so many things to say about the SFX. I wanted to have a cute 'wind woosh' sound for the cozy vibes but the first one I found had a too low volume, plus its format is not compatible with Ren'Py. So I recorded myself... and then realised how embarrassing it is to clearly hear myself saying 'wooooooo' and I'm not savvy enough to salvage it to sound like a real SFX. Eventually I went with a SFX that I saved for a horror game and unintentionally this VN got a little bit more spookier.
Perhaps it's because I love cosy vibes, or maybe it's because I find Evelyn to be very pretty, but I really like this VN you put out! It has just the right amount of mystery and interaction for me. Plus the GUI and the text boxes and speech bubbles bring to mind a delicately told psychological josei manga. Really great job, Gaming Variety Potato!
Thank you for playing and leaving this lovely comment, Tamafry! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I planned to draw even more flowers in the UI to evoke that effect in shoujo/josei manga whenever the love interest shows up or something romantic happens, but I had other more important priorities like drawing the expressions for Evelyn which I did at last step despite how important these are. Even though I had a guideline with art style, for some reason it was actually difficult for me to decide a face for Evelyn. I'm more comfortable at drawing plain facial features you normally only see for NPCs, such that I'm a bit out of touch how to suddenly draw an attractive character. So due to this I'm a little bit giddy you call her pretty, because I'm not sure if I managed to achieve it. ๐คญ
Although I would say the facial expressions apart from default smile are intentionally a bit off-model as I wanted to go for eerie uncanniness instead of cute manga depiction of emotions. At least I could fill my quota on this. ๐