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Perceiving Shapes is my submission to Third Annual HAWKTOBER Game Jam https://itch.io/jam/3rd-hawktober-game-jam . The Game Jam has a theme of "Horror of the Cosmos".

The game had the honor of being ranked 4th place on people's choice! And I'm truly honored and happy for that. ^_^

Story:

Beau Portman, a 21-year-old guy who lives in Canada, has decided to finally meet his online date in person for the first time. His online date Susan has led him to a mysterious town called "Saturnalia", claiming that it's her address. But the question is, was there ever a "Saturnalia Town" in Canada? Is it just a regular town that's isolated from society? Or is there more to it?

Features:

- Fully Voiced Dialogues

- Immersive Horror Atmosphere

The game was also featured as GOTY for 2020 on HBgames.org! <3 Such great honor! ^_^ :) You guys might also want to check out HBgames.org forums as they are having massive updates on the site! :D
http://www.hbgames.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=77&t=80403&start=0

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  • Completed
  • Starmage
  • RPG Maker MZ
  • Adventure
  • 11/03/2020 02:40 PM
  • 06/10/2023 02:34 AM
  • 10/24/2020
  • 19120
  • 9
  • 501

Posts

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Hello AnimeGirl! Sorry for the late upload of the download file. But I already have them up and ready now! ^_^ :) Both a direct download and a mirror link to Media Fire! :D Hope you enjoy! :)
Nice screens. Looks pretty interesting for what regards the plot too...I'll be sure to try it!
Hello TheRPGmakerAddict! Thanks so much for checking out! ^_^ I teally hope you will enjoy!! :D <3
author=Starmage
Hello TheRPGmakerAddict! Thanks so much for checking out! ^_^ I teally hope you will enjoy!! :D <3


Heya! Thanx! Well, remember to set one of this downloads as the primary (don't know how is done) since it shows no download button (despite the presence of two downloads!)
Ohhh! Now I get it! Haha thanks for the heads up! ^_^ I was wondering why it had no download button, now I know why! xD Thanks so much again TheRpgmakeraddict! <3
author=Starmage
Ohhh! Now I get it! Haha thanks for the heads up! ^_^ I was wondering why it had no download button, now I know why! xD Thanks so much again TheRpgmakeraddict! <3


Don't worry,
Anyway that also enable reviews :)
Awesome! ^_^ :) I am also very happy and excited to enable reviews for the game page!! <3
Already told you at RMWeb. Had a lot of fun with this game. Gave you a Misao nomination. Good luck, bro.
Hello again Tw0Face!! And wooow! Thank you so much! I am happy and honored to hear that and you enjoyed the game enough to give a nomination! :D ^_^ It means a lot! Best wishes! ^^
This game really made me think, I'm not gonna lie. XDD Anyhoo, congratulations! You've made a really great game. :)

Um, is it okay that I posted my gameplay of it? Here is the link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43sePjoGBa8. Please let me know if not!~
Awww thanks so much BKLabanos! Truly appreciate it! :D Once again enjoyed your LP of the game! <3
Hello Starmage! I just finished playing this game. I've got to say it was a really cool experience, similar to Inner Sanctum, though there were some aspects I preferred in this game and some others I didn't. Congratulations for finishing it on time for that game jam (and getting fourth place too!).

My opinion...with heavy spoilers hidden, as usual.

When it comes to the story, Perceiving Shapes' is more cryptic and hard to decipher compared to Sanctum's. The protagonist goes through a lot of events as soon as he steps into Saturnalia and everything goes wrong (as expected from a horror game). The ending doesn't really explain much at all, which I imagine could leave players feeling a bit empty, unless they personally like to theorize. At least for me, it seems my own theories were kinda similar to the ones in the reviews...
...as I also thought Beau was trapped in something similar to a simulation / AI training, mainly due to Cernelia's dialogues. I would've liked for the game to continue exploring this idea, maybe with the two new guys who ended up in Saturnalia, maybe by explaining more about Beau's reality. A horror game should not give every answer, but this game would really benefit from a bit more of answers.

One thing I have to say, is that it was a really cool decision to force the players to outrun their fears. Most games usually present choices like that for aesthetic purposes (or small, minor variations of dialogue). In my case, I chose spiders as the fear, so I felt really curious when the chase sequences involved spiders. Once the game finished I went back to that scene, chose the sea, and there it was: the chase scene turned into something completely different. That's a detail that, in reality, most people won't see. But for the people who replay and like to see how choices actually affect the game, it is really appreciated and enjoyed!


The game lacked puzzles other than moving boxes, making choices and finding objects and keys (some of these could've been replaced with other objects, as to not make it repetitive and end the game with four), so when it comes to gameplay, most of it is decided by the chase and hide sequences. I didn't find them THAT difficult but,
, the first one (in its spider version) was kinda annoying due to dark lightning and hard to see obstacles. When it comes to the last one that involved the killer clown, I saw that the reviewers kinda struggled with it. I personally just moved back one of the boxes to block him from reaching me. Wish I could've done that to the annoying spiders xD.


Regarding graphics, I have to say this is probably the strongest point in the game, done better than Sanctum's. The Pop!Horror City resources are used and mixed beatifully, just as the lightning in every environment. The only thing that I didn't really feel was the individual moon CGs, as those looked a bit stretched, and could probably been edited with some filters. Other than that, nothing looks bad at all in the game. The music is good too, though a little bit of mixing would've been appreciated. Some of the enemies were kinda loud compared to the music, haha.

And yeah, the fully voiced dialogues were amazing. I do agree that some of these sound forced (by example, Beau and Susan), but the NPCs, Cernelia and the enemies had really good voice acting. Again, a plus: Most games use it only for important scenes. Here, there was voice acting even for checking random spots.

That's all I have to say! Nice game to play, and would recommend it to anyone (who likes horror games of course).
Good luck and congratz again.
Hello JapoZero and wow! Thank you so much for your detailed feedback and I'm so happy you enjoyed the game! ^^

And yep, I do love it when players themselves theorize about the ending, and I do have a canon for it. A lot of the times, you guys are very close when you theorize. And I enjoy reading them! :D Though tbh, you're right, there's definitely room for more information at the end, but alas. xD

And I'm glad you enjoyed the different monsters and chase scenes, as well as the voica acted scenes. Again, thanks so much for playing JapoZero and for your detailed feedback! It is much appreciated! <3
Just to clarify, in my review the chase I complained about wasn't one of the two involving the Clown (I thought those were fine), it was the one you get if you choose "people with sharp objects" as your biggest fear. That one wasn't very good.
Ohh, yeah, I admit there are too many boxes blocking the dark room for that chase scene, so I can see what you mean, Beregon. xD
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