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Mica: Apoptosis
A horror game about delusions, blissful ignorance, and the depraved acts that humans do in the name of love.

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Mica: Apoptosis

Thanks so much for the comments!! :)

I've been going through the game and replacing the old music with new original music. There are some occasional samples on the Tumblr blog!

Mica: Apoptosis

Thanks so much for the comments!! :)

I've been going through the game and replacing the old music with new original music. There are some occasional samples on the Tumblr blog!

Dear Mariko

Hmm true, especially for the door suggestion. I'll keep that in mind!

For things like Mariko laughing, I just chalked that up to her going slightly deranged from all the prolonged stalking (and some of it was just normal giggling at oooh silly Darien and his silly book collection), and her reaction to the letter was just how upset she was at how her relationship had to suffer like this because of the stalker, but I can see why that would be a little confusing in hindsight.

Dear Mariko

author=Kylaila
Okay, got it. Well, makes more sense that way. But the whole letter thing is still weird to me. The forced feeling is really more the situation you find yourself in, as there could be a far more reasonable course of action to take.

Why would then the real Mariko go search for you .. ? That does not make sense whatsoever. If you think someone dangerous, so dangerous your relationship broke up because you might be killed, you just scram. Nor makes the bad ending much sense.
Unless it's your delusion kicking in .. but .. eh. I see it. I see the twist. But I can't connect it with the overall experience. I just can't.

Not having the key before makes sense then. As well as the touches you pointed out. Still, ugh .. then is the ???/real mariko dialogue in her head, a delusion or just added for fancy's sake? Even someone coming in "by force". I don't know how it's for you, but I don't scratch around the door when I get home.

The "reaction" to the normal end makes in a way sense, but in another way it doesn't. Because you know, they broke up. You could see this as a chance just as well. And I highly doubt that she is not aware of her being a little bit obsessed ..

I can't get something coherent together, no matter the version.

(and Darien's course of actions is still a mystery and completely stupid to me, to be perfectly honest)

I think I'd add some clarifications that you do not kill yourself. Like noises of leaving the house. Then it will be clear.
When you get that line of dialogue - the knife's are already bloody! The deed is already done. Another stab would either be on an already dead corpse .. or on yourself.


Ahhh I see why it may be confusing, true. Good point there, maybe I should do that if I ever release another version. Thanks for the suggestions!

For me the main challenge in the game is trying to strike a right balance between foreshadowing the twist while at the same time still trying to make it shocking, heh. I wasn't sure if I managed to get that, but I guess for different players the balance would probably be different. For a Charon-style 'yandere' plot like this, I don't really have high expectations for it to be realistic, but I still tried, though probably not hard enough. :P

An explanation for Mariko would be that she has been so freaked out by Shinku's stalking that she decided to take matters into her own hands (after fiction-land police clearly don't seem to be very competent), the door sound effect was supposed to be a 'doorknob getting stuck' sound effect (though I guess that can be pretty confusing as well) and the normal end is just something to be added in for fancy value (though I guess with Shinku's creepy obsession, it does seem a little strange how she'd easily give up just because Darien left a letter behind for Mariko). Sadly I don't have any explanation for Darien's idiocy, haha... just chalking that to typical anime/horror guy cluelessness. Not that he ever appears though, so I left that behind.

As for the real Mariko searching for you, well, she was just going home. She has a knife for her own protection. Probably a little dumb of her to go around investigating after hearing a noise in her own house especially since a crazy stalker's on the loose, but well. *shrugs* Haha.


Thanks for the comments - really appreciate them!:)

Dear Mariko

author=Kylaila
Well? It's kept fairly clean. Here's my gist as far as I can tell

Stalker faces Mariko, Mariko kills stalker, Mariko kills herself, because she's become a murderer and thus is not befitting of him anymore (or so she thinks)


Anything else is up to interpretation, and likely

he will mourn her death until eternity, will blame himself for it all, but can't change a thing.

No, that's not it haha... :P I was puzzled as to why you said it felt 'incredibly forced' ('cause if that's the real plot, then yeah it is incredibly forced), but no that's not the twist. The true ending is basically just: (Warning: Major Spoilers for the game!)

You are not Mariko. Remember, the game never said you were...
And goodnight to the real Mariko.

There were a few foreshadowing hints hidden around the place, e.g. the player character finding Mariko's bed stinky, and saying that she hates Mariko's choice of flowers, and being generally all-around creepy around Darien's bed. And saying "So that's what he really thinks of me..." to Darien's letter, which described her as an insane stalker.

Wasn't sure if I should've made it clearer though... I thought the main character saying "Goodnight, Mariko" as she stabs the real Mariko should've been obvious enough, but I guess I must've put too much effort into making the player assume that the main character is Mariko.

Dear Mariko

Thanks for playing, guys! :) And yeah, fanart will be very very very much appreciated and encouraged!

Dear Mariko

Thanks so much for playing, guys! :)

@Dragnfly: Thanks for the critique! To be honest I'm not a fan of the head proportions thing either, but the thing is - it's simple to draw. :P I wanted to do something 'chibi-like' so that I can get all the art and CGs done quickly so that I can release the game. But yeah, she's meant to be an older person.

@IA-chan: Thanks for notifying me about the bugs! Phew so glad that it's all fixed now. Glad you enjoyed it!

Blood Ties

This game looks cool! I'm going to download it :)

Dear Mariko

author=Dragnfly
I get that error too and I just downloaded version d. I have to wait 20 mins before I can re-download.

EDIT: Will try version e when I can

Also, on the title screen having up/down move the cursor left/right, but left/right doing nothing is really weird.


Yeah, I noticed that too, heh. ^^; I'm not too sure how to fix it right now, but hopefully I'll find it eventually. For now, to scroll through the menu, you need to use the up/down keys and not the left/right ones.

Dear Mariko

Ok, I've uploaded one and I think it's *finally* fixed. So sorry for leading you on this silly wild goose chase :P Let me know if there are anymore problems!