It's maybe a bit weird but I really relate to the alien/other feeling of the main character (body dysmorphia) and like, being covered up when going out/seeing people as different (in my case, better than me, but yknow). I really enjoyed this demo and bugging Trigger in particular, I'm definitely saving this and waiting excitedly for more updates one day!
I'm glad you like it! I definitely wanted to convey a sense of like, formlessness and something approaching dysphoria (although I hope it didn't squick you out or anything!) so I'm glad that comes across 💚💚💚💚
Here from 2022 still patiently waiting for the next update because this game makes me very happy. I love your work and Im very excited to see what else you have to offer! :)
💚💚💚💚 Hybrid's still on the back burner unfortch, but that just means that all the neat features I painstakingly learn how to integrate with the other games will carry over REAL easy when the time comes lol !!
I absolutely love this!!!! it's so nicely written, and it fits the post apocalyptic style so well!! im so excited to see what happens next once (or if! don't feel too preassured, your well being is more important!) the full game comes out!!:D
Ahh, thank-you !!! 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚 Hybrid is the third project I update when I'm about to burn out on everything else I'm doing ;; it's set to enter proper circulation once my other game Manor Hill, gets finished: until then, I just like to play with code functionality in a setting with less active plot 😂😂 One day !!
I mean I'M not on a hiatus but Hybrid isn't receiving active updates. Three projects is unfortunately one too many for me! If you go to my Tumblr though (heart-forge.tumblr.com) there's some bonus content with the characters !!
I enjoyed this one a lot, which is odd considering set protagonists are usually a quick turn off for me, however I honestly think you're one of the few authors to make a set protagonist correctly, plus I'm always here for NB characters. With the name, gender, and appearance being chosen for me, I was extremely worried that it'd barely be an interactive fiction (there are a lot of "interactive" fiction on itch), but I think you successfully threaded the needle on giving me enough choices to feel satisfied while managing to keep the set protagonist. Which, honestly, is an impressive level of writing and design. Font and color is great and clean. Loved this one a lot ❤️
Cool title, subtext then reviewing the game (when listed next to other textbased games), while I like the font's colour & background-theme too.
Chilling font, size, colours for text and background when starting the game & I like that there's the itch's "run"-button than an instant-start. greyish-white font on black background for the navigation-screen looks cool, same as the itch's fullscreen-mode icon at the bottom.
Option's menu with "help" and its "stations", somehow no sound appears in my case? Browser's tab being non-muted, same as my win8.1-laptop's audio either. Trying to click the + volume & on/off, similar issue occurs.
settings on main-screen: The gear's wheel in the same section for black/light-mode is an awesome feature, like that font-preference there.
help & left-arrow buttons = home-menu option. btw: same "back"-option in that case, somehow? just noticed: only if I didn't start a game, nor saving one. After continuing, it is a different there.
asset credits. I'd be for a font that appears in similar sized letters, the different font-type looks cool there anyway.
loading-slots. I didn't save a progress yet, while I like the additional text there for saving/load the game, ever thought of setting a custom cursor's icon than the "defaut"-hand/"I"-text hovering status?
game-start. different font/colours look okay, I'd still prefer the letters in identical height and maybe not a "capital word"-font for clickable textlines. Hovering over selectable replies: could there be a background/font-colour change added somehow? Awesome option for gear-wheel if font/light-dark mode being updated, it sets those preferences for the game's lines (if the left-arrow icons being chosen than the "home"-icon there).
"cluster"-paragraph ...clicking "mom" there and lol-feature, didn't expecting it, while I like its result :-)
Thanks for commenting !!! I'm glad you liked the game !!!
The sound doesn't work when you play from the browser: it only works if you download the game and launch it from the folder, which has to do with how Twine itself works (Twine games are functionally little web pages, so if I want them to be able to use external assets like sound and images, I have to be able to store them somewhere that the CSS/HTML of the page can find them, which isn't possible through itch's browser feature).
I'd love more details about your back button issue, if you can give them: the way it's supposed to work is that when you hit back without being in the story, you'll be taken back to the main menu by default (so regardless of whether you go from main menu > credits > settings, when you hit back you'll go back to the main menu regardless). When you're actually in the story, you should go back to the story page you were on regardless of whether you went from story page > stats > settings. This is for simplicity's sake: there's much less of a chance of the player getting lost in the menus (a bug the first iteration of the game had), if I'm a bit more firm with telling the navigation where it can and cannot go.
I'll definitely switch so that when you're hovering over link text, it's a hand. I hadn't even realised that it wasn't doing that, so thanks for pointing it out! I'll also definitely look into differentiating the cycling links and the navigational links: I've been meaning to do that, but part of the reason it's like that is just purely the "decorative" font choice for Hybrid is actually very small. If I make it the exact same size as the rest of the font, then it's impossible to see: the font itself is just naturally taller, so I leaned into it a bit just to make it seem less odd.
Just so you know (I'm not sure if you tried it out or not), but when you turn on "friendly" mode it will change all font to be the same! It's all in Veranda and fairly large (for ease of reading, especially on phones), but I'm not opposed to adding a option to just change the "custom" font to match the rest of the story.
I was testing that back-button before starting a level, so that's why I got confused first because nothing changes.
Just viewing that "friendly"-mode if it works on my browser/device (at least the hovering and cursor-change is updated now), the font-size still being different. and "hisses back" in first in-game paragraph ...won't do anything when getting clicked?
"Seongho, be polite,"-paragraph sounds interesting e.g. also the reply which state an expression which could be maybe bit more "family-friendly" (same for the paragraph where my reply being: "Thanks for walking me here, Crave." with twice a word that could be e.g. rather "hell no", sounds way more fitting).
"end of the demo" / 2x next game, if you technically re-nickname it somehow the in-game links could get affected in that case. I'd prefer e.g. listing them in the game's description, sounds quite easier also if you'd plan additional sequels added there?
I tend to not be attracted to post-apocalyptic stories, but you're so good at writing characters that I made this an exception. The mystery around Zed and the plants is super fascinating, and my curiosity regarding the characters has definitely perked. Happy writing!
Ahh, thank-you !! I'm glad you liked Hybrid too, and I definitely sympathise that I tend to avoid post-apoc: they can be REAL bummers, so hopefully I can make a more hopeful, slightly less apocalypse-y version 😂😅
No no no don't tell you're not going to continue this story 😭😭 I Absolutely liked the Demo so much it's so promising , I also liked the character panel , Zed is so cute and adorable I loved them , the other characters too , I feel like it's gonna be a really good story so don't drop it okay? 💔
Oh it isn't getting dropped !! I just don't regularly update this one because of the other two 😂😅 loving Hybrid requires patience, because it generally won't receive regular updates until I'm done with one of the other ones (probably MH). Not never, though: Hybrid is definitely my baby and one of my oldest concepts. I'm glad you like it though !!!!
I'm glad the family aspect is working for people ;; I said somewhere before that the whole thing kind of falls apart if people decide they don't care if the family member lives or dies, and I tend to look skeptically upon games that ask you to care about a character you've never seen before. That most applies to infants though, so hopefully I've avoided it.
Not for a while !! This was a proof of concept I released for my last birthday, just as an introduction to the characters. It's third in line behind my other two games: at the moment, as the demo indicates, it isn't receiving updates. It will, once one of the other two finish. It's a little more complicated than the others so it needs its own slot.
I adore this, and am thrilled at the chance to dig into this world and the characters!! I love the world concept too, I'm just so excited about this! Don't worry about rushing, I'm convinced that the final product will absolutely be worth the wait!!!
I have such a soft spot in my heart for this story. I made it up on the fly in like 2017 for a publishing assignment and it was gunna be a novel and then a game and back and forth for a while. I'm glad the concept is coming through 🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡
You did NOT read it wrong 👀👀👀 the plants were hard because they play such a big role but like there wasn't much cause to discuss them early on so I just slipped something in there. 💕💕💕💕💕 thank-u I love when you comment on stuff 🧡
i tried to play this, but once i clicked the stats screen i can't get back in game. even closing the tab and pulling it up again, it still stays on the same screen.
H'm, I'll have a look. In the meantime, I reckon if you clear the cache on your browser you'll be fine. I think it might be an issue where if you hit the stats button more than once (which shouldn't be possible but I did put this up in a bit of a rush) then the button (which just operates on a literal "go back" basis, ie the last page you were on whether or not it's the same page becomes the previous page) will just end up cutting you off from the game altogether.
Like I said, try clearing your cache (which is where Twine saves all its information). I'm working on other stuff at the moment but when I get time I'll fix up the back button.
I love it so far! But I already knew I would, you're one of my two favorite writers.
Will we have a chance to choose our pronouns? I can appreciate "they" but having my identity represented is really important to me in games.
Is everyone we've met a love interest? It seems there might be a poly route? I'm hoping that's avoidable while still being able to romance who we choose.
I know you're super busy! Just wanted to let you know one of your biggest fans is really excited for more of your work.
I'm glad you like the demo !!! And no, in this case the pronouns are locked to "they": Zed is sort of a unique case. Whereas with my other games I give you a blank slate character, Zed is more of a character in and of themself: hence they have a set gender. It's also partially an experiment in gender-locked games, since so many exist for she/her and he/him protagonists but I don't think I've ever found one where you play a NB person (besides maybe a few coming out games specifically about gender).
Consider them like a character you play with rather than an empty space where you build a character to play. You'll handle Zed's reactions, their attitude, and their motives: some things, though, like their gender, a secret aspect of their appearance (which you do kind of control, but unconsciously; it'll be developed through your choices), and their goal (ie, the game would be rendered sort of moot if you wanted to play a Zed that hates their family member enough to not want to find them again) are the building blocks you'll use to develop them !!
This is partially because Hybrid was developed differently from the other games. Whereas the others I started with character customization in mind, Hybrid was the first game concept I'd ever come up with. I had planned on doing a straightforward Ren'py visual novel (this was before I even knew about other engines) and if I was going to get art, then I wanted to keep the protagonist static for simplicity's sake. I decided on NB because it's important to me, and like I mentioned I don't think I've ever seen a game where NB was used as anything but an option (if it even gets to be an option at all).
Overall, I don't think you'll notice a huge difference besides the pronouns. I don't really make a special point to ever differentiate between genders, even in my other games where you get the option, and this certainly isn't going to become a game about gender (god I would make such a terrible game about gender).
And I actually don't have any planned poly routes !! I'm only one developer and I find doing poly routes by myself requires more time than I'm able to dedicate to a project at the moment ;; I wouldn't want to just toss them in haphazardly for the sake of having them there, as I imagine it would sort of be insulting to people who actively seek those options out ;;
And thank-you so much for saying so !! I'm glad you like my writing <3
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It's maybe a bit weird but I really relate to the alien/other feeling of the main character (body dysmorphia) and like, being covered up when going out/seeing people as different (in my case, better than me, but yknow). I really enjoyed this demo and bugging Trigger in particular, I'm definitely saving this and waiting excitedly for more updates one day!
I'm glad you like it! I definitely wanted to convey a sense of like, formlessness and something approaching dysphoria (although I hope it didn't squick you out or anything!) so I'm glad that comes across 💚💚💚💚
Here from 2022 still patiently waiting for the next update because this game makes me very happy. I love your work and Im very excited to see what else you have to offer! :)
💚💚💚💚 Hybrid's still on the back burner unfortch, but that just means that all the neat features I painstakingly learn how to integrate with the other games will carry over REAL easy when the time comes lol !!
I’m starting the game and I just got some “Sweet Tooth,, vibes right off the bat :0
oo, I've never seen that but it looks cute !! Thanks !!! 💚💚💚
I recommend it with how you made this story. It’s on Netflix :)
I absolutely love this!!!! it's so nicely written, and it fits the post apocalyptic style so well!! im so excited to see what happens next once (or if! don't feel too preassured, your well being is more important!) the full game comes out!!:D
Ahh, thank-you !!! 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚 Hybrid is the third project I update when I'm about to burn out on everything else I'm doing ;; it's set to enter proper circulation once my other game Manor Hill, gets finished: until then, I just like to play with code functionality in a setting with less active plot 😂😂 One day !!
is author hiatus ?
I mean I'M not on a hiatus but Hybrid isn't receiving active updates. Three projects is unfortunately one too many for me! If you go to my Tumblr though (heart-forge.tumblr.com) there's some bonus content with the characters !!
cool
I love this a ton. This is the 3rd time I've replayed the demo and I have a blast every time. Cant wait for the full release!
Glad you like it !!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for taking the time to comment 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
Crave is so cute!! I want to protect him and his doggo for sure!!
And idk if you've heard of bnha but Trigger reminds me of aizawa haha. He is also very cute!
I haven't seen bnha but I googled the name and laughed out loud 😂😂😂 I'm glad you like Crave !! Thanks for taking the time to comment 💚💚💚💚
I enjoyed this one a lot, which is odd considering set protagonists are usually a quick turn off for me, however I honestly think you're one of the few authors to make a set protagonist correctly, plus I'm always here for NB characters. With the name, gender, and appearance being chosen for me, I was extremely worried that it'd barely be an interactive fiction (there are a lot of "interactive" fiction on itch), but I think you successfully threaded the needle on giving me enough choices to feel satisfied while managing to keep the set protagonist. Which, honestly, is an impressive level of writing and design. Font and color is great and clean. Loved this one a lot ❤️
I haven't beat it yet, but I already like the game a lot!
10/10
I don't need to beat it to know its good
Thanks for reading, I'm so glad you like it !!! 💚💚💚
It was nothing, It's actually way better than most of the novels I've played!
Cool title, subtext then reviewing the game (when listed next to other textbased games), while I like the font's colour & background-theme too.
Chilling font, size, colours for text and background when starting the game & I like that there's the itch's "run"-button than an instant-start. greyish-white font on black background for the navigation-screen looks cool, same as the itch's fullscreen-mode icon at the bottom.
Option's menu with "help" and its "stations", somehow no sound appears in my case? Browser's tab being non-muted, same as my win8.1-laptop's audio either. Trying to click the + volume & on/off, similar issue occurs.
settings on main-screen:
The gear's wheel in the same section for black/light-mode is an awesome feature, like that font-preference there.
help & left-arrow buttons = home-menu option.
btw: same "back"-option in that case, somehow? just noticed: only if I didn't start a game, nor saving one. After continuing, it is a different there.
asset credits.
I'd be for a font that appears in similar sized letters, the different font-type looks cool there anyway.
loading-slots.
I didn't save a progress yet, while I like the additional text there for saving/load the game, ever thought of setting a custom cursor's icon than the "defaut"-hand/"I"-text hovering status?
game-start.
different font/colours look okay, I'd still prefer the letters in identical height and maybe not a "capital word"-font for clickable textlines. Hovering over selectable replies: could there be a background/font-colour change added somehow? Awesome option for gear-wheel if font/light-dark mode being updated, it sets those preferences for the game's lines (if the left-arrow icons being chosen than the "home"-icon there).
"cluster"-paragraph ...clicking "mom" there and lol-feature, didn't expecting it, while I like its result :-)
Thanks for commenting !!! I'm glad you liked the game !!!
The sound doesn't work when you play from the browser: it only works if you download the game and launch it from the folder, which has to do with how Twine itself works (Twine games are functionally little web pages, so if I want them to be able to use external assets like sound and images, I have to be able to store them somewhere that the CSS/HTML of the page can find them, which isn't possible through itch's browser feature).
I'd love more details about your back button issue, if you can give them: the way it's supposed to work is that when you hit back without being in the story, you'll be taken back to the main menu by default (so regardless of whether you go from main menu > credits > settings, when you hit back you'll go back to the main menu regardless). When you're actually in the story, you should go back to the story page you were on regardless of whether you went from story page > stats > settings. This is for simplicity's sake: there's much less of a chance of the player getting lost in the menus (a bug the first iteration of the game had), if I'm a bit more firm with telling the navigation where it can and cannot go.
I'll definitely switch so that when you're hovering over link text, it's a hand. I hadn't even realised that it wasn't doing that, so thanks for pointing it out! I'll also definitely look into differentiating the cycling links and the navigational links: I've been meaning to do that, but part of the reason it's like that is just purely the "decorative" font choice for Hybrid is actually very small. If I make it the exact same size as the rest of the font, then it's impossible to see: the font itself is just naturally taller, so I leaned into it a bit just to make it seem less odd.
Just so you know (I'm not sure if you tried it out or not), but when you turn on "friendly" mode it will change all font to be the same! It's all in Veranda and fairly large (for ease of reading, especially on phones), but I'm not opposed to adding a option to just change the "custom" font to match the rest of the story.
Thanks for the in-depth comment !!
I was testing that back-button before starting a level, so that's why I got confused first because nothing changes.
Just viewing that "friendly"-mode if it works on my browser/device (at least the hovering and cursor-change is updated now), the font-size still being different. and "hisses back" in first in-game paragraph ...won't do anything when getting clicked?
"Seongho, be polite,"-paragraph sounds interesting e.g. also the reply which state an expression which could be maybe bit more "family-friendly" (same for the paragraph where my reply being: "Thanks for walking me here, Crave." with twice a word that could be e.g. rather "hell no", sounds way more fitting).
"end of the demo" / 2x next game, if you technically re-nickname it somehow the in-game links could get affected in that case. I'd prefer e.g. listing them in the game's description, sounds quite easier also if you'd plan additional sequels added there?
I tend to not be attracted to post-apocalyptic stories, but you're so good at writing characters that I made this an exception. The mystery around Zed and the plants is super fascinating, and my curiosity regarding the characters has definitely perked. Happy writing!
Ahh, thank-you !! I'm glad you liked Hybrid too, and I definitely sympathise that I tend to avoid post-apoc: they can be REAL bummers, so hopefully I can make a more hopeful, slightly less apocalypse-y version 😂😅
I loved this demo!🐸✨ I really hope I'll get to see the rest of the story one day!😍
I'm so glad !!! I'm definitely seeing Hybrid out til the end !! It gets less frequent updates but I can never stay away for too long 😂
I loved this, it's definitely a world I want to get to explore more off. Also Crave is adorable and I love him. :3
I'm glad you like Hybrid !! And Crave, he is my wonderful son 😂💚💚
No no no don't tell you're not going to continue this story 😭😭 I Absolutely liked the Demo so much it's so promising , I also liked the character panel , Zed is so cute and adorable I loved them , the other characters too , I feel like it's gonna be a really good story so don't drop it okay? 💔
Oh it isn't getting dropped !! I just don't regularly update this one because of the other two 😂😅 loving Hybrid requires patience, because it generally won't receive regular updates until I'm done with one of the other ones (probably MH). Not never, though: Hybrid is definitely my baby and one of my oldest concepts. I'm glad you like it though !!!!
After playing the demo, I realized that I absolutely love shy Zed lol, they are precious.
Good story as always :D I like all of your WIP and I found this story very interesting with its setting and character. Love the family aspect too
I'm glad the family aspect is working for people ;; I said somewhere before that the whole thing kind of falls apart if people decide they don't care if the family member lives or dies, and I tend to look skeptically upon games that ask you to care about a character you've never seen before. That most applies to infants though, so hopefully I've avoided it.
when will the full game release ?
Not for a while !! This was a proof of concept I released for my last birthday, just as an introduction to the characters. It's third in line behind my other two games: at the moment, as the demo indicates, it isn't receiving updates. It will, once one of the other two finish. It's a little more complicated than the others so it needs its own slot.
I adore this, and am thrilled at the chance to dig into this world and the characters!! I love the world concept too, I'm just so excited about this! Don't worry about rushing, I'm convinced that the final product will absolutely be worth the wait!!!
I have such a soft spot in my heart for this story. I made it up on the fly in like 2017 for a publishing assignment and it was gunna be a novel and then a game and back and forth for a while. I'm glad the concept is coming through 🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡
This intro is a delight!!! Loved all the options w regards to Zed’s missing family member.
The mentions of other people looking strange and that Zed is somehow different were deliciously eerie.
I looove the soft, so to speak, post-apoc setting, like plants that will guard if respectfully asked (unless I read that wrong?).
You did NOT read it wrong 👀👀👀 the plants were hard because they play such a big role but like there wasn't much cause to discuss them early on so I just slipped something in there. 💕💕💕💕💕 thank-u I love when you comment on stuff 🧡
i tried to play this, but once i clicked the stats screen i can't get back in game. even closing the tab and pulling it up again, it still stays on the same screen.
H'm, I'll have a look. In the meantime, I reckon if you clear the cache on your browser you'll be fine. I think it might be an issue where if you hit the stats button more than once (which shouldn't be possible but I did put this up in a bit of a rush) then the button (which just operates on a literal "go back" basis, ie the last page you were on whether or not it's the same page becomes the previous page) will just end up cutting you off from the game altogether.
Like I said, try clearing your cache (which is where Twine saves all its information). I'm working on other stuff at the moment but when I get time I'll fix up the back button.
I love it so far! But I already knew I would, you're one of my two favorite writers.
Will we have a chance to choose our pronouns? I can appreciate "they" but having my identity represented is really important to me in games.
Is everyone we've met a love interest? It seems there might be a poly route? I'm hoping that's avoidable while still being able to romance who we choose.
I know you're super busy! Just wanted to let you know one of your biggest fans is really excited for more of your work.
I'm glad you like the demo !!! And no, in this case the pronouns are locked to "they": Zed is sort of a unique case. Whereas with my other games I give you a blank slate character, Zed is more of a character in and of themself: hence they have a set gender. It's also partially an experiment in gender-locked games, since so many exist for she/her and he/him protagonists but I don't think I've ever found one where you play a NB person (besides maybe a few coming out games specifically about gender).
Consider them like a character you play with rather than an empty space where you build a character to play. You'll handle Zed's reactions, their attitude, and their motives: some things, though, like their gender, a secret aspect of their appearance (which you do kind of control, but unconsciously; it'll be developed through your choices), and their goal (ie, the game would be rendered sort of moot if you wanted to play a Zed that hates their family member enough to not want to find them again) are the building blocks you'll use to develop them !!
This is partially because Hybrid was developed differently from the other games. Whereas the others I started with character customization in mind, Hybrid was the first game concept I'd ever come up with. I had planned on doing a straightforward Ren'py visual novel (this was before I even knew about other engines) and if I was going to get art, then I wanted to keep the protagonist static for simplicity's sake. I decided on NB because it's important to me, and like I mentioned I don't think I've ever seen a game where NB was used as anything but an option (if it even gets to be an option at all).
Overall, I don't think you'll notice a huge difference besides the pronouns. I don't really make a special point to ever differentiate between genders, even in my other games where you get the option, and this certainly isn't going to become a game about gender (god I would make such a terrible game about gender).
And I actually don't have any planned poly routes !! I'm only one developer and I find doing poly routes by myself requires more time than I'm able to dedicate to a project at the moment ;; I wouldn't want to just toss them in haphazardly for the sake of having them there, as I imagine it would sort of be insulting to people who actively seek those options out ;;
And thank-you so much for saying so !! I'm glad you like my writing <3