Super glad that you love the game ^-^ but it sucks that the art is invisible for you T_T
Honestly, I give up with computers, haha. I just don't know how the heck to make sure things work well on all devices when some devices seem to have such random issues with things, haha.
Like, I don't even know where to begin in finding out and fixing why the sprites would be absent >.< Cos they showed up when I tested it on my PC, and on the family potato laptop, and I've seen other people play it with no issues, heck, a few people have even managed to play it on mobile using an emulator, so what in the world causes the sprites to disappear on your device?!?! It makes no seeeeense >.< Computers are weird T_T T_T T_T
There is a way to find out, kind of... I'd basically have to send you a separate developer version of the game that should create a log showing any errors, then you'd have to send me the log, and I'd have to send it to someone who knows more about coding than I do xD Because there is only like a 1% of me being able to understand the error log, haha.
I don't know about you, but I don't have the time or energy available to even do that :(
Total side ramble incoming, but this is one of the reasons I'm considering making all of my games into interactive videos instead! Because with a video, at least everyone would see the same thing x3 There's no chance of random bugs occurring on different devices (or at least, I hope not!), haha. And it would still be possible to implement choices :3
Anyways, I will shut up and just say thank you so much for taking the time to check out this lil game! :D
Thank you so much I was just coming back to say that the beginning of the game was dark (so i was confused) I let the game play out and then I seen your art. I thought my game was broken because I've had the issue in the past (audio and captions but no video). All is well, content is going to touch YouTube soon - I got a backlog.
i really wasn't sure what to expect when first playing this, all i could think about was "WHY IS THIS DUDE SPEAKING IN RIDDLES WTF WHAT DOES ANY OF WHAT HE SAYS MEAN" but anyways!
really did enjoy myself with this one, especially with the director's cut ending. i personally found it very funny and wholesome <3
and looking through the extra content was quite fun too, especially your rambles. i don't know, i enjoyed them. it's always nice to watch someone talk about something they are passionate about
thank you for this short jam! and for the work you put into it ; will def check out more of your stuff. <3
Glad you had fun with it, and particularly that ending ^-^ I always hope that anyone who takes the time to play this lil game will manage to reach that ending, cos it helps to explain a lot xD But especially explains some of the cheesy dialogue!! X3
My brain kinda explodes any time someone says they actually liked my rambles in the extra content x3 Especially since whenever I talk, I’m like hyper-aware of how monotone my voice sounds, haha. It’s fun to try to explain the thoughts and stuff behind it all, though, so I’m glad you found it interesting :D
So glad you love the voice acting, cos this project wouldn't be what it is without the awesome talent of the voice actors to really give it some oomph :D
PS. I don't know which version you played, but both VAs from this project are also a main character in this other project of mine if you happen to want to hear more of their awesome voice acting ^-^
Im not sure if I was supposed to be able to make decisions of what I say, but I wasn't for some reason, so I could only get one ending. It says there are four on this page so I assume you're supposed to be able to make decisions.
Yeah, there are a handful of choices in there :3 Not loads, since it's a microgame made for O2A2 jam, but I made a walkthrough/endings guide if that's any help :D
If you didn't encounter a single choice, though, it sounds like maybe you didn’t make it past the first fake title screen... if so, you wouldn't be the only one >.< Some players have not realised it's fake, and so force closed the game thinking it was over before attempting to click any of the UI.
You have to click certain parts of the UI to proceed to the next segment of the game :3
I could be wrong cos it's been quite some time since I made this, but as far as I can remember, there are no choices in the first segment.
There is also the possibility that it bugged out somehow, because games can be silly like that x3 haha.
Anyways, hopefully the guide I linked is of some help ^-^
Thanks so much for checking out the lil game! <3
Edit:
Also, the Director's Cut version contains 1 more ending than the jam version!
The jam version is mainly there for posterity. While the Director's Cut is the version I intend for anyone to download :3
I did realize it was a fake title screen after clicking around a bit and I still wasn't able to make any choices so I think my game is unfortunately just bugged </3
I will never cease to be amazed at the randomness of that sorta thing, cos I do a crazy amount of tests on both my own PC + the family potato laptop before I release anything, but it seems like no matter how much testing you do, stuff will always find a way to bug out for somebody's device, haha >.<
Just wish there was a way to stop it from happening! Cos it's frustrating to know that it works fine for most people, but randomly plays up for a few :(
And there's basically no hope of ever figuring out how to fix stuff like that, cos I'd need error reports from people's individual computers to even begin to investigate the cause T_T
This game was actually amazing, it had me theorizing left and right which is something I ABSOLUTELY LOVE to do when a game allows me it! The title screen thing, I was not expecting that and honestly that changed the whole game for me from just "a fun little game that I can play around halloween" to "Oh shit, this actually goes deeper than I thought"
That’s so awesome to hear ^-^ I’m so glad that you had fun with it!! I also love to do that sorta thing when I encounter games that allow it, haha.
I can’t lie, I find a lot of fun in messing with expectations and just generally hiding little things here and there in my games x3
This one, I kinda wasn’t sure if it would work out due to the limitations of the jam, but it’s such a fun jam to take part in BECAUSE the limitations really force you to think outside the box, haha.
Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out and leave such a kind comment :3
I gotta be honest, I don't know what that even means, haha. It's like you're speaking another language, but the classic Brit in me feels as though I should be responding with: "Your mum's boring!" And leaving it at that x3
wow this is beyond my expectation!! i reallyyy love the voice acting and the plot is kinda surprising too. u really do good in this game. look forward to your next work ^^ <3
Ahhh ^-^ I'm so glad you liked that particular ending, haha.
I was hoping it would make for a nice surprise and a change of pace, but I was a bit worried it might just make people go, "wtf? o.O" in a bad way if they found it xD
I enjoyed this game! The voice acting was good and unsettling, the soundtrack for the Director's Cut ending was beautiful and you had to keep guessing on what your kidnapper would do next. The twist at the end is unexpected but also wholesome.
Glad to hear it! Thanks so much for checking it out (and for sharing your awesome video! :3)
I'm really glad you had fun with it ^-^ The game certainly wouldn't be the same without the epic talent of the voice actors, and it means a lot that you enjoyed the soundtrack too <3
The director's cut ending was my favourite one to write, I think x3 or perhaps the hide & seek one maybe... I'm not sure, haha.
Anyways, I'm stoked you got to see the twist and found it wholesome :D
wow wow wow wow. I can't believe I'm just coming across this game, I was in awe the entire time. The art, writing, design, voice acting, music, everything. Even though it's not a longer playthrough, I was still so gagged at the various mechanics. Both voice acters had me kicking my feet. HUGE props to everyone that had a hand in this game.
The music during the hide and seek ending??? Oh. my. god.
Ahh, thank you so much for checking it out and taking the time to leave such a sweet comment!! <3
I'm super duper glad you had fun with it :3 I'm always paranoid with these bite-sized O2A2 projects that they might not be engaging with them being so short x3 So it always means a lot to know if someone enjoyed it :3
I definitely owe a lot to the voice actors and their epic performances! My projects in general wouldn't be what they are without the amazing talent of the voice actors involved :D
Hehe, that hide & seek version of the theme was probably my favourite one to make ^-^ The various versions I made for the director's cut were just a blast in general though! If you happen to want to listen to any of the soundtrack at any time, it's available to stream on Spotify & YouTube :3
hi!! i love this game, but i only get two options (saying whether you like being held hostage or not) in the game instead of four!! (im playing on mac and i downloaded the director's cut version btw!!)
(I don't personally own a Mac, so I have no way of testing Mac builds, sadly :( In theory, though, all the same options should be in the Mac version that are in the Windows one because the game code itself is identical).
Hey developer, maybe I'm just stupid but I can't seem to figure out how to play on windows. I downloaded the directors cut like you recommended and unzipped the file but I can't figure out how to actually play it
Hey Hey! No worries, technology can wind up being really weird sometimes, so never feel stupid x3 I find myself baffled by tech stuff on a regular basis, haha.
It's been a while since I made this game, so I can't remember the exact file names, but on Windows, once unzipped, there should be a few files and folders. My memory sucks, but one of em should have the Unity logo and called Unity Crash Handler or something like that.
Anyways, the one you need to launch the game should just be called The Hostage I think. The thumbnail/icon should be red and black like the game page. If you right click it and look at all the properties, it probably shows it's name as something like "The Hostage.exe", but I couldn't say for sure >.<
If there's nothing like that to double click on after unzipping, then I guess something must have borked during the unzip :( I don't really know what would cause that to happen though >.<
I'm not a suuuuper techy person myself, haha. I just taught myself the things I need to know to make my games work, but beyond that, I'm not great with it. I can't even figure out how to make my games work on mobile >.< all my ports for Android don't work despite following tutorials.
But yeah, Windows is the one system my stuff should work on cos that's what I use to make em + what I test em on :3 We've got a family potato laptop that I use to do extra tests too cos it helps a bit for optimisation issues that I might not notice on my PC.
But yeah, technology can be strange sometimes, and everyone's computers are different, so troubleshooting can be hard even on Windows T_T haha.
I'm so sorry if what I said isn't of any help >.< Thanks for your interest in the game though! :3 Hope you have a good weekend!!
This was such an interesting game to play and I loved it! The voice acting was amazing and I loved the dialouge as well as the different features in the game such as the beating heart mechanic which I found intriguing. Overall, this game was super cool and I loved the concept!!
So glad to hear you had fun with this bite-sized bit of craziness :D Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out and leave such an awesome comment! <3
<3 <3 <3 It amazes me when anyone says they actually enjoy my rambling x3 cos I always feel so silly recording it + hate my voice, haha. And I always think to myself, is anyone really gonna wanna listen to this? Haha.
But yeah, super glad you had fun with the game ^-^ Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out and leave such a sweet comment <3
MY GOOOOODDDDDD THIS GAME WAS GOOD! Absolutely loved it! Writing was great, the voice actors are hella talented, and GODDAMN you made the music yourself? Major props, I have nothing but praise to give!
I haven't gotten all endings yet but this game is so much fun! I got the roleplay ending first and was pleasantly surprised. I still loved it and it is one of my favorite endings. I picked Philips voice and I think they did such a good job. There voice is so well detailed and in character. Its also oddly soothing to listen to lol. I have seen some of your games before and plan on playing more after this one!!!
Sorry it's taken me so long to reply >.< I've been going through a rough patch recently and haven't really been online much as a result. I just wanted to make sure that I at least drop by and say thanks so much for taking the time to check out the game and leave such a kind comment :3
I'm so glad that you ended up having fun with this lil game :D I hope you managed to find some of the other endings, but to be honest, it sounds like you probably got the most amusing one on your first playthrough, haha.
Also stoked that you enjoyed Philip's performance! Absolutely incredible VA who is amazing to work with (although, the same can be said for Emilie too! :3)
It means a lot that you plan to check out some of my other stuff <3 If you haven't already and happen to want to hear more of Philip's epic VA, you can also find Philip as the masculine version of Rhime in Tunnel Vision :D
Even though it's a bitesized game, it does have a few choices and multiple endings, so that's definitely not normal x3
The hard part is figuring out if you've run into some sort of bug that I'm not aware of, or if you just need a hint to get to the choices/endings :3
Are you encountering any glitches or freezing? Is there something preventing you from advancing the text that seems like it shouldn't be happening?
I did see a brief clip of someone else playing it where they thought the game was over once they ended up on the title screen within just a few minutes of playing, so they closed the game >.<
Without openly wandering into spoiler territory, I can say that being booted onto the title screen is not the end of the game. So if it doesn't seem like an ending, it's not an ending.
I don't know if you already saw it or not, but I made a walkthrough guide that can be found here:
To explain a gameplay element that can trip some people up, I'll put it under spoilers :3
SPOILERS BELOW
This game includes some fake UI x3 There are loops and segments that appear to be repeated, but there are small differences that eventually add up. And there are parts that appear to be title screens, but they're not.
It's been a while since I made this, so I can't remember exactly what you need to click on in order to advance the narrative, but if you get booted onto a title screen, to continue, it will be one of the UI buttons.
If you click everything, start, extras, quit, etc. You'll find the one that carries on the game eventually :3
I remember playing the Jam version, then when the director's Cut came out i tried it to get the secret ending. I didn't expect us to be playing enemies to lovers, it felt like a yandere wanted to kidnap and cage me forever. But now that i think about it, i like the plot twist alot. The voice acting was spotless to, the way the VA had the emotions out in every lines was spectacular. The character design is nice too, i knew they were a priest from the start. The dialogue was well written and got me curious about what happens way before the mc died.
What was even funnier when i started the game was the big mouse waving on my screen. it was so big but i can actually click something on my screen easily. And when i got to the secret ending the screen was taking too much time i thought smth happened, then there it popped up popcorn & banana.
Overall the game is very nice. In its own way if yk the content of the game.
I'm glad you ended up liking the twist in the extra ending :3 I had always wanted to include that ending, but because of the limit on word count from the jam, it just didn't fit >.< haha. So I figured I'd make the director's cut version with that and a few extras :D
I think the voice acting really made the game what it is, so I'm glad you enjoyed it! Without the voice acting, it just wouldn't be the same.
Thanks so much for playing <3 Hope you have some happy holidays and also a happy new year!
I came to replay this and I enjoyed it even better than the last time I played it. TvT I really love it when ppl do dynamics of corrupt obsession that seems to border on the line between love and hatred and this game did that so beautifully! (Enemies to lovers? Nah, Enemies AND lovers.)I really love how the dialogue was written... and accompanied by the voice acting? ...I was giggling in my seat. ^^
I honestly wish there was more to this.I was really captivated by what was going on between MC and the character, the dialogue gave a story suggesting so and so of what happened, but it made me really interested to know the FULL lore behind it :((. Trust me ill be willing to read an entire book of it! (That is if there is lore, if you consider the troll ending, HAHA.)
Also, props to the soundtrack. Got me really immersed into the game, it blended with the rest of the atmosphere really well. :))
The only troubling thing I can say is that it was a bit hard to navigate around the game since I had to sift through all the menus to find the next part. Cant really tell if that was on purpose or not...still! 99/10 Would recommend. :]]
That’s so great to hear :D I’m so glad you’ve had fun with it even though it’s only a short little game ^-^
I really need to write more stuff like this because as much as I love yandere characters, the whole enemies-to-lovers (or enemies AND lovers) kinda thing is probably something I enjoy even more :D When I was a kid, I used to write silly little stories about Disney villains and heroes falling in love while still remaining enemies xD
The voice acting is definitely what sells it in this project though!! I feel like it would be nothing without the voice cast doing such an awesome job :3
I also wish there was more to it if I’m being honest x3 Maybe it was a bad idea to make it for a jam that had such a big restriction on word count >.< haha. But I will definitely use it as inspiration for future stories of the same variety!
Cos while stuff was only hinted at in this game, I definitely had a full backstory in mind while I was writing it xD Even if you take the troll ending into account, the characters still take that stuff pretty seriously, so a backstory is something they would’ve lived at some point, haha.
So glad you enjoyed the soundtrack too ^-^ Probably one of my favourites to work on even if it was short!
And yeah, it was on purpose x3 Sorry if it was frustrating to navigate though >.< I intended for it to be kind of confusing to make players feel a bit lost and disoriented + keep them guessing about what was really going on, but if it became annoying, that’s not ideal, haha.
Still, I’m super happy you enjoyed it despite that! And it gives me warm fuzzies to know that you still enjoyed it when you decided to play it again ^-^ Thanks so much for taking the time to type up such a nice comment <3
Hope you get to have happy holidays & an awesome new year!!
i have a mac and i tried playing this game but its so hard to navigate everything. the mouse (?) is so big like the icon of it, its so awkward in my screen and i had a hard time adjusting volume and stuff. its just, i really wanted to play this game since its looks so interesting and all - in the end, i didn't have any other choice but delete the game without finishing.. hopefully there would be added features where we can adjust the size of the mouse and stuff - that would really be helpful. hopefully, i get to play this in the future.
Ah, man, that sucks so much :( Thanks for checking it out at least! :3
The bad news is, there’s probably nothing I’ll ever be able to do about it >.< I only have access to a Windows PC, so when it comes to exporting Mac builds of my projects, I kinda just have to press the export button and then pray that it works for people T_T
I wouldn’t be able to tweak UI or anything like that cos I have literally no way of verifying how it looks on Mac :(
And I have no idea whatsoever how to allow players to change the size of the mouse cursor in-game because all I do is reskin the default Unity UI that’s provided within Naninovel. I don’t know how to add options that aren’t already there >.<
So yeah, I’m really sorry about that :( I wish there was more I could do to help because it really sucks if someone wants to play the game on a platform other than Windows because I have no way of properly testing things to see if they work properly.
I really appreciate you taking the time to check out the game though! I’m just sorry I couldn’t do more to help >.<
omg!! dont worry about it!! ill make sure to play your game again with different device next time (i am really into yandere games soo aaaa) thank you for taking the time to reply and explain things for me, i really appreciate it. you are so nice and so responsive 🥺
No problem at all :3 I can be quite slow to reply sometimes cos I get easily overwhelmed by pretty much everything in life >.< haha. But I always try to when I can.
Hope you have some happy holidays and a super duper new year ^-^
Ah! Thank you so much for playing it :3 And for liking it enough to come back and play it again :D I’m glad you had fun with it and that you still enjoyed it the second time!
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a sweet comment <3
Kind of horrible. The first time I opened the game it gave me a blackscreen, the second time I tried to play it was freezing and it froze my laptop completely. I verified everything and there was no problem with my laptop or wifi.
Since I see you posted a similar thing on another project of mine, I can only assume there's something your computer really doesn't like about games made using Naninovel in Unity :(
What that could be I have zero idea without troubleshooting, and that would sadly be impossible at the moment as I am too unwell to get on my PC. It would also require me to export and send to you a separate dev build of the game for you to send me any error logs that your computer generates, so quite longwinded >.<
I know it's not helpful to say, but plenty of other people have played this and Darling Duality from start to finish without any issues at all, so it must be something specific to your device :(
I appreciate you checking out the games regardless! I'm just sorry that they don't seem to work correctly on your computer for whatever reason cos that sucks for both of us T_T
That's just one of the woes of everyone having different devices I guess. I know everything I make works on both my PC and on the family potato laptop (albeit slower loading on the potato) cos I test stuff for ungodly amounts of time before releasing, but that doesn't mean the games will run perfectly on every device out there, unfortunately.
For big companies, it's not so much of an issue cos they can get a whole team to troubleshoot, but I'm just one person making games as a hobby x3
There are a billion different reasons that a PC could fail to run a game properly. I've come across a fair few bugs in other people's indie games I've played. Sometimes, I'll download something that has no sound at all, even though I've seen video playthroughs and know the game has sound. I know there's something my PC doesn't like about the game for there to be no sound for me, but I have no way of knowing the cause, and the dev wouldn't stand much of a chance of figuring it out without going through time-consuming tests.
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playing the game - I dont see the art in the directors cut. I do love the game, but I couldn't see any characters.
Super glad that you love the game ^-^ but it sucks that the art is invisible for you T_T
Honestly, I give up with computers, haha. I just don't know how the heck to make sure things work well on all devices when some devices seem to have such random issues with things, haha.
Like, I don't even know where to begin in finding out and fixing why the sprites would be absent >.< Cos they showed up when I tested it on my PC, and on the family potato laptop, and I've seen other people play it with no issues, heck, a few people have even managed to play it on mobile using an emulator, so what in the world causes the sprites to disappear on your device?!?! It makes no seeeeense >.< Computers are weird T_T T_T T_T
There is a way to find out, kind of... I'd basically have to send you a separate developer version of the game that should create a log showing any errors, then you'd have to send me the log, and I'd have to send it to someone who knows more about coding than I do xD Because there is only like a 1% of me being able to understand the error log, haha.
I don't know about you, but I don't have the time or energy available to even do that :(
Total side ramble incoming, but this is one of the reasons I'm considering making all of my games into interactive videos instead! Because with a video, at least everyone would see the same thing x3 There's no chance of random bugs occurring on different devices (or at least, I hope not!), haha. And it would still be possible to implement choices :3
Anyways, I will shut up and just say thank you so much for taking the time to check out this lil game! :D
Thank you so much I was just coming back to say that the beginning of the game was dark (so i was confused) I let the game play out and then I seen your art. I thought my game was broken because I've had the issue in the past (audio and captions but no video). All is well, content is going to touch YouTube soon - I got a backlog.
i really wasn't sure what to expect when first playing this, all i could think about was "WHY IS THIS DUDE SPEAKING IN RIDDLES WTF WHAT DOES ANY OF WHAT HE SAYS MEAN" but anyways!
really did enjoy myself with this one, especially with the director's cut ending. i personally found it very funny and wholesome <3
and looking through the extra content was quite fun too, especially your rambles. i don't know, i enjoyed them. it's always nice to watch someone talk about something they are passionate about
thank you for this short jam! and for the work you put into it ; will def check out more of your stuff. <3
xD There is much in the way of confusion, haha.
Glad you had fun with it, and particularly that ending ^-^ I always hope that anyone who takes the time to play this lil game will manage to reach that ending, cos it helps to explain a lot xD But especially explains some of the cheesy dialogue!! X3
My brain kinda explodes any time someone says they actually liked my rambles in the extra content x3 Especially since whenever I talk, I’m like hyper-aware of how monotone my voice sounds, haha. It’s fun to try to explain the thoughts and stuff behind it all, though, so I’m glad you found it interesting :D
Thank YOU for checking it out <3
thank u for creating it :3 !
WJWJWJWJ i llloovvee this smm the voice acting? dont even get me started im obsessed ^-^
<3 Thanks so much for playing ^-^
So glad you love the voice acting, cos this project wouldn't be what it is without the awesome talent of the voice actors to really give it some oomph :D
PS. I don't know which version you played, but both VAs from this project are also a main character in this other project of mine if you happen to want to hear more of their awesome voice acting ^-^
https://melancholy-marionette.itch.io/tunnel-vision
They both play Rhime, so it's a case of choosing masc or fem again, like in The Hostage, haha.
Im not sure if I was supposed to be able to make decisions of what I say, but I wasn't for some reason, so I could only get one ending. It says there are four on this page so I assume you're supposed to be able to make decisions.
Yeah, there are a handful of choices in there :3 Not loads, since it's a microgame made for O2A2 jam, but I made a walkthrough/endings guide if that's any help :D
https://melancholy-marionette.itch.io/the-hostage/devlog/567737/walkthrough-guide
[Slight Spoiler Below]
If you didn't encounter a single choice, though, it sounds like maybe you didn’t make it past the first fake title screen... if so, you wouldn't be the only one >.< Some players have not realised it's fake, and so force closed the game thinking it was over before attempting to click any of the UI.
You have to click certain parts of the UI to proceed to the next segment of the game :3
I could be wrong cos it's been quite some time since I made this, but as far as I can remember, there are no choices in the first segment.
There is also the possibility that it bugged out somehow, because games can be silly like that x3 haha.
Anyways, hopefully the guide I linked is of some help ^-^
Thanks so much for checking out the lil game! <3
Edit:
Also, the Director's Cut version contains 1 more ending than the jam version!
The jam version is mainly there for posterity. While the Director's Cut is the version I intend for anyone to download :3
I did realize it was a fake title screen after clicking around a bit and I still wasn't able to make any choices so I think my game is unfortunately just bugged </3
Well, damn, that sucks T_T
I will never cease to be amazed at the randomness of that sorta thing, cos I do a crazy amount of tests on both my own PC + the family potato laptop before I release anything, but it seems like no matter how much testing you do, stuff will always find a way to bug out for somebody's device, haha >.<
Just wish there was a way to stop it from happening! Cos it's frustrating to know that it works fine for most people, but randomly plays up for a few :(
And there's basically no hope of ever figuring out how to fix stuff like that, cos I'd need error reports from people's individual computers to even begin to investigate the cause T_T
Still, thanks again for checking out the game!
i did really like the bit I was able to play tho :) maybe I’ll try it again at a later date and see if it magically works
This game was actually amazing, it had me theorizing left and right which is something I ABSOLUTELY LOVE to do when a game allows me it! The title screen thing, I was not expecting that and honestly that changed the whole game for me from just "a fun little game that I can play around halloween" to "Oh shit, this actually goes deeper than I thought"
That’s so awesome to hear ^-^ I’m so glad that you had fun with it!! I also love to do that sorta thing when I encounter games that allow it, haha.
I can’t lie, I find a lot of fun in messing with expectations and just generally hiding little things here and there in my games x3
This one, I kinda wasn’t sure if it would work out due to the limitations of the jam, but it’s such a fun jam to take part in BECAUSE the limitations really force you to think outside the box, haha.
Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out and leave such a kind comment :3
ts was boring ash bruh
I gotta be honest, I don't know what that even means, haha. It's like you're speaking another language, but the classic Brit in me feels as though I should be responding with: "Your mum's boring!" And leaving it at that x3
so lets see u make a better game..? the game is great
<3
gave it another try shi was STILL boring ✌🤣
omg bro ur soooooo fucking cool for being a dick to everyone aghhh
is that what you wanna hear?? stfu dude youre corny ash
wow this is beyond my expectation!! i reallyyy love the voice acting and the plot is kinda surprising too. u really do good in this game. look forward to your next work ^^ <3
So glad to hear you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for choosing to check it out ^-^
I LOVE the exrta/meto ending so much, it had me giggling, I was just excpecting a random horror vn !!
Ahhh ^-^ I'm so glad you liked that particular ending, haha.
I was hoping it would make for a nice surprise and a change of pace, but I was a bit worried it might just make people go, "wtf? o.O" in a bad way if they found it xD
Thanks so much for playing!! <3
I enjoyed this game! The voice acting was good and unsettling, the soundtrack for the Director's Cut ending was beautiful and you had to keep guessing on what your kidnapper would do next. The twist at the end is unexpected but also wholesome.
Glad to hear it! Thanks so much for checking it out (and for sharing your awesome video! :3)
I'm really glad you had fun with it ^-^ The game certainly wouldn't be the same without the epic talent of the voice actors, and it means a lot that you enjoyed the soundtrack too <3
The director's cut ending was my favourite one to write, I think x3 or perhaps the hide & seek one maybe... I'm not sure, haha.
Anyways, I'm stoked you got to see the twist and found it wholesome :D
Thanks again for playing :3
wow wow wow wow. I can't believe I'm just coming across this game, I was in awe the entire time. The art, writing, design, voice acting, music, everything. Even though it's not a longer playthrough, I was still so gagged at the various mechanics. Both voice acters had me kicking my feet. HUGE props to everyone that had a hand in this game.
The music during the hide and seek ending??? Oh. my. god.
Ahh, thank you so much for checking it out and taking the time to leave such a sweet comment!! <3
I'm super duper glad you had fun with it :3 I'm always paranoid with these bite-sized O2A2 projects that they might not be engaging with them being so short x3 So it always means a lot to know if someone enjoyed it :3
I definitely owe a lot to the voice actors and their epic performances! My projects in general wouldn't be what they are without the amazing talent of the voice actors involved :D
Hehe, that hide & seek version of the theme was probably my favourite one to make ^-^ The various versions I made for the director's cut were just a blast in general though! If you happen to want to listen to any of the soundtrack at any time, it's available to stream on Spotify & YouTube :3
Thanks so much again for playing!!
hi!! i love this game, but i only get two options (saying whether you like being held hostage or not) in the game instead of four!! (im playing on mac and i downloaded the director's cut version btw!!)
Hey hey! So glad to hear you've been enjoying the game :3 Thanks for checking it out!
I made a walkthrough a while back to provide some help if anyone needs a hand getting the different endings :3 Hopefully it is of some use:
https://melancholy-marionette.itch.io/the-hostage/devlog/567737/walkthrough-guid...
(I don't personally own a Mac, so I have no way of testing Mac builds, sadly :( In theory, though, all the same options should be in the Mac version that are in the Windows one because the game code itself is identical).
Hey developer, maybe I'm just stupid but I can't seem to figure out how to play on windows. I downloaded the directors cut like you recommended and unzipped the file but I can't figure out how to actually play it
Hey Hey! No worries, technology can wind up being really weird sometimes, so never feel stupid x3 I find myself baffled by tech stuff on a regular basis, haha.
It's been a while since I made this game, so I can't remember the exact file names, but on Windows, once unzipped, there should be a few files and folders. My memory sucks, but one of em should have the Unity logo and called Unity Crash Handler or something like that.
Anyways, the one you need to launch the game should just be called The Hostage I think. The thumbnail/icon should be red and black like the game page. If you right click it and look at all the properties, it probably shows it's name as something like "The Hostage.exe", but I couldn't say for sure >.<
If there's nothing like that to double click on after unzipping, then I guess something must have borked during the unzip :( I don't really know what would cause that to happen though >.<
I'm not a suuuuper techy person myself, haha. I just taught myself the things I need to know to make my games work, but beyond that, I'm not great with it. I can't even figure out how to make my games work on mobile >.< all my ports for Android don't work despite following tutorials.
But yeah, Windows is the one system my stuff should work on cos that's what I use to make em + what I test em on :3 We've got a family potato laptop that I use to do extra tests too cos it helps a bit for optimisation issues that I might not notice on my PC.
But yeah, technology can be strange sometimes, and everyone's computers are different, so troubleshooting can be hard even on Windows T_T haha.
I'm so sorry if what I said isn't of any help >.< Thanks for your interest in the game though! :3 Hope you have a good weekend!!
This was such an interesting game to play and I loved it! The voice acting was amazing and I loved the dialouge as well as the different features in the game such as the beating heart mechanic which I found intriguing. Overall, this game was super cool and I loved the concept!!
So glad to hear you had fun with this bite-sized bit of craziness :D Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out and leave such an awesome comment! <3
I LOVEDDDDDDDDDDD THE RAMBLING o(〃＾▽＾〃)o
Oh yh and the game was rly good too ig （︶^︶）
Nah but seriously for a short game it was actually really entertaining, I cant wait to play more games from you ☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆
<3 <3 <3 It amazes me when anyone says they actually enjoy my rambling x3 cos I always feel so silly recording it + hate my voice, haha. And I always think to myself, is anyone really gonna wanna listen to this? Haha.
But yeah, super glad you had fun with the game ^-^ Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out and leave such a sweet comment <3
MY GOOOOODDDDDD THIS GAME WAS GOOD! Absolutely loved it! Writing was great, the voice actors are hella talented, and GODDAMN you made the music yourself? Major props, I have nothing but praise to give!
<3 So glad that you had fun with this lil project ^-^ Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out!! :3
I haven't gotten all endings yet but this game is so much fun! I got the roleplay ending first and was pleasantly surprised. I still loved it and it is one of my favorite endings. I picked Philips voice and I think they did such a good job. There voice is so well detailed and in character. Its also oddly soothing to listen to lol. I have seen some of your games before and plan on playing more after this one!!!
Sorry it's taken me so long to reply >.< I've been going through a rough patch recently and haven't really been online much as a result. I just wanted to make sure that I at least drop by and say thanks so much for taking the time to check out the game and leave such a kind comment :3
I'm so glad that you ended up having fun with this lil game :D I hope you managed to find some of the other endings, but to be honest, it sounds like you probably got the most amusing one on your first playthrough, haha.
Also stoked that you enjoyed Philip's performance! Absolutely incredible VA who is amazing to work with (although, the same can be said for Emilie too! :3)
It means a lot that you plan to check out some of my other stuff <3 If you haven't already and happen to want to hear more of Philip's epic VA, you can also find Philip as the masculine version of Rhime in Tunnel Vision :D
i've never been to make any choice or to have any ending... is that normal ? (i'm playing the director's cut)
Firstly, thanks so much for playing!
Even though it's a bitesized game, it does have a few choices and multiple endings, so that's definitely not normal x3
The hard part is figuring out if you've run into some sort of bug that I'm not aware of, or if you just need a hint to get to the choices/endings :3
Are you encountering any glitches or freezing? Is there something preventing you from advancing the text that seems like it shouldn't be happening?
I did see a brief clip of someone else playing it where they thought the game was over once they ended up on the title screen within just a few minutes of playing, so they closed the game >.<
Without openly wandering into spoiler territory, I can say that being booted onto the title screen is not the end of the game. So if it doesn't seem like an ending, it's not an ending.
I don't know if you already saw it or not, but I made a walkthrough guide that can be found here:
https://melancholy-marionette.itch.io/the-hostage/devlog/567737/walkthrough-guid...
To explain a gameplay element that can trip some people up, I'll put it under spoilers :3
SPOILERS BELOW
This game includes some fake UI x3 There are loops and segments that appear to be repeated, but there are small differences that eventually add up. And there are parts that appear to be title screens, but they're not.
It's been a while since I made this, so I can't remember exactly what you need to click on in order to advance the narrative, but if you get booted onto a title screen, to continue, it will be one of the UI buttons.
If you click everything, start, extras, quit, etc. You'll find the one that carries on the game eventually :3
I remember playing the Jam version, then when the director's Cut came out i tried it to get the secret ending. I didn't expect us to be playing enemies to lovers, it felt like a yandere wanted to kidnap and cage me forever. But now that i think about it, i like the plot twist alot. The voice acting was spotless to, the way the VA had the emotions out in every lines was spectacular. The character design is nice too, i knew they were a priest from the start. The dialogue was well written and got me curious about what happens way before the mc died.
Overall the game is very nice. In its own way if yk the content of the game.
I'm glad you ended up liking the twist in the extra ending :3 I had always wanted to include that ending, but because of the limit on word count from the jam, it just didn't fit >.< haha. So I figured I'd make the director's cut version with that and a few extras :D
I think the voice acting really made the game what it is, so I'm glad you enjoyed it! Without the voice acting, it just wouldn't be the same.
Thanks so much for playing <3 Hope you have some happy holidays and also a happy new year!
I came to replay this and I enjoyed it even better than the last time I played it. TvT I really love it when ppl do dynamics of corrupt obsession that seems to border on the line between love and hatred and this game did that so beautifully! (Enemies to lovers? Nah, Enemies AND lovers.)I really love how the dialogue was written... and accompanied by the voice acting? ...I was giggling in my seat. ^^
I honestly wish there was more to this.I was really captivated by what was going on between MC and the character, the dialogue gave a story suggesting so and so of what happened, but it made me really interested to know the FULL lore behind it :((. Trust me ill be willing to read an entire book of it! (That is if there is lore, if you consider the troll ending, HAHA.)
Also, props to the soundtrack. Got me really immersed into the game, it blended with the rest of the atmosphere really well. :))
The only troubling thing I can say is that it was a bit hard to navigate around the game since I had to sift through all the menus to find the next part. Cant really tell if that was on purpose or not...still! 99/10 Would recommend. :]]
That’s so great to hear :D I’m so glad you’ve had fun with it even though it’s only a short little game ^-^
I really need to write more stuff like this because as much as I love yandere characters, the whole enemies-to-lovers (or enemies AND lovers) kinda thing is probably something I enjoy even more :D When I was a kid, I used to write silly little stories about Disney villains and heroes falling in love while still remaining enemies xD
The voice acting is definitely what sells it in this project though!! I feel like it would be nothing without the voice cast doing such an awesome job :3
I also wish there was more to it if I’m being honest x3 Maybe it was a bad idea to make it for a jam that had such a big restriction on word count >.< haha. But I will definitely use it as inspiration for future stories of the same variety!
Cos while stuff was only hinted at in this game, I definitely had a full backstory in mind while I was writing it xD Even if you take the troll ending into account, the characters still take that stuff pretty seriously, so a backstory is something they would’ve lived at some point, haha.
So glad you enjoyed the soundtrack too ^-^ Probably one of my favourites to work on even if it was short!
And yeah, it was on purpose x3 Sorry if it was frustrating to navigate though >.< I intended for it to be kind of confusing to make players feel a bit lost and disoriented + keep them guessing about what was really going on, but if it became annoying, that’s not ideal, haha.
Still, I’m super happy you enjoyed it despite that! And it gives me warm fuzzies to know that you still enjoyed it when you decided to play it again ^-^ Thanks so much for taking the time to type up such a nice comment <3
Hope you get to have happy holidays & an awesome new year!!
i have a mac and i tried playing this game but its so hard to navigate everything. the mouse (?) is so big like the icon of it, its so awkward in my screen and i had a hard time adjusting volume and stuff. its just, i really wanted to play this game since its looks so interesting and all - in the end, i didn't have any other choice but delete the game without finishing.. hopefully there would be added features where we can adjust the size of the mouse and stuff - that would really be helpful. hopefully, i get to play this in the future.
Ah, man, that sucks so much :( Thanks for checking it out at least! :3
The bad news is, there’s probably nothing I’ll ever be able to do about it >.< I only have access to a Windows PC, so when it comes to exporting Mac builds of my projects, I kinda just have to press the export button and then pray that it works for people T_T
I wouldn’t be able to tweak UI or anything like that cos I have literally no way of verifying how it looks on Mac :(
And I have no idea whatsoever how to allow players to change the size of the mouse cursor in-game because all I do is reskin the default Unity UI that’s provided within Naninovel. I don’t know how to add options that aren’t already there >.<
So yeah, I’m really sorry about that :( I wish there was more I could do to help because it really sucks if someone wants to play the game on a platform other than Windows because I have no way of properly testing things to see if they work properly.
I really appreciate you taking the time to check out the game though! I’m just sorry I couldn’t do more to help >.<
omg!! dont worry about it!! ill make sure to play your game again with different device next time (i am really into yandere games soo aaaa) thank you for taking the time to reply and explain things for me, i really appreciate it. you are so nice and so responsive 🥺
No problem at all :3 I can be quite slow to reply sometimes cos I get easily overwhelmed by pretty much everything in life >.< haha. But I always try to when I can.
Hope you have some happy holidays and a super duper new year ^-^
去年九月第一次玩，今天想起来就又打了一次，还是很喜欢啊啊啊QWQ配音、氛围、剧情都很好，我的天，我好喜欢他
Ah! Thank you so much for playing it :3 And for liking it enough to come back and play it again :D I’m glad you had fun with it and that you still enjoyed it the second time!
Thanks for taking the time to leave such a sweet comment <3
I hope he haunts you in your dreams, hehe.
Kind of horrible. The first time I opened the game it gave me a blackscreen, the second time I tried to play it was freezing and it froze my laptop completely. I verified everything and there was no problem with my laptop or wifi.
Since I see you posted a similar thing on another project of mine, I can only assume there's something your computer really doesn't like about games made using Naninovel in Unity :(
What that could be I have zero idea without troubleshooting, and that would sadly be impossible at the moment as I am too unwell to get on my PC. It would also require me to export and send to you a separate dev build of the game for you to send me any error logs that your computer generates, so quite longwinded >.<
I know it's not helpful to say, but plenty of other people have played this and Darling Duality from start to finish without any issues at all, so it must be something specific to your device :(
I appreciate you checking out the games regardless! I'm just sorry that they don't seem to work correctly on your computer for whatever reason cos that sucks for both of us T_T
That's just one of the woes of everyone having different devices I guess. I know everything I make works on both my PC and on the family potato laptop (albeit slower loading on the potato) cos I test stuff for ungodly amounts of time before releasing, but that doesn't mean the games will run perfectly on every device out there, unfortunately.
For big companies, it's not so much of an issue cos they can get a whole team to troubleshoot, but I'm just one person making games as a hobby x3
There are a billion different reasons that a PC could fail to run a game properly. I've come across a fair few bugs in other people's indie games I've played. Sometimes, I'll download something that has no sound at all, even though I've seen video playthroughs and know the game has sound. I know there's something my PC doesn't like about the game for there to be no sound for me, but I have no way of knowing the cause, and the dev wouldn't stand much of a chance of figuring it out without going through time-consuming tests.
Computers can be a nightmare sometimes >.<