Lac-Pochette Centennial

I feel like I just read a literary masterpiece. Never expected to see the usage of doll play to explore the history of a defunct company town: I can almost see a new brand of historiography emerging from this kind of play. I’ve been a fan since I read Ten Metre Tide, but this is on another level and I hope this team keeps surprising me.

this felt so special. i have more experience with plushies than dolls (though i do own a few), but a lot of the things talked about inside this work definitely resonated, about the nature of play. i loved watching susanna and lucy teach each other how to dream, and the uniqueness of this setting. i loved the dolls as literal building blocks. i thought making the dress-up game diegetic to the characters of the story and then having it available to play from the main menu was also a really interesting creative decision. i can't wait to read more of your works!

another banger frl. 

Absolutely loved this as well. Right off the bat the colors for this game are quite literally my two favorite colors together so adored that. So cute so soft so frilly.

Second I wanted to note how much I loved the story, particularly the relationship shared between Lucy and Susanna. I loved how they interacted with each other, it felt so natural. It often felt like I wa sin the cabin with them watching everything happen, rather than playing a game if that makes sense. Despite not seeing the cottage, I felt like I knew exactly what it looked like. I know what their winter coats looked like. I saw their home-made bed. I could visualize everything so well just with words. Loved it.

Lucy is play motivated. I respect that.

wonderful! gorgeous illustration, prose, music, excellent use of photography for this collage-style moment. this game holds so much tenderness for people of the past, and i loved doll-frame-story as a way to explore the people who weren’t truly in the story. i also love the historical-except approach… the strange, matter-of-fact magic of a place where the snow never melts, and the trees that hold dolls inside. fantastical, made practical by the question of, ‘but how do we make any damn money off of this?’. and what that question means for our two leads. really lovely story. thank you for sharing.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Every part of this is so perfect, there were a few moment I nearly cried because of how well it all fit together and what a powerful sum it was building towards. I took a million screenshots as to be able to more easily re-read my favorite segments. Echoing Amet here and saying you two come up with such beautiful new ways to tell stories. I was so moved by how tender and real every life felt, how it was held in the palm of their hands, and how the feeling moved through the girls in the privacy of their cabin. It felt like such an intimate and precious communion. Every detail so neatly served the central story—for example, the girls themselves felt on equal footing with the Merrymeeting dolls they played with in their humanity as pilot’s portraits render them so sweetly and doll-like, while neatly tucked inside the gorgeous embroidery. I genuinely started crying when I saw the reverend and how cutely Lucy held him to her chest, and I think part of that was because I was so surprised how wide the net was cast for who was “fit” for this sort of narrative device. The truly enlightened soul knows anyone can play with dolls and any story can be told through them…

I will be thinking about this visual novel for a long, long time and could probably write a very long essay on it. Going to go cry some more about it but will be sure to share more thoughts later on my inevitable replays. Thank you two for making and sharing!

I think it's bonkers and remarkable how you guys come up with completely new ways to tell stories. doll frame story?? holy cow dude

I want to lead by saying I'm so incredibly happy to see another VN from you two. And Pilot, thank you for running the jam to which this is part of.

On to Lac-Pochette, what an amazing experience. The delicate needlework that frames it all, the ethereal and playful soundtrack. The tremendously textural writing, and the incredibly cute portraiture. I was wholly gripped through the entire play, and found myself stopping at multiple points to marvel at it all coming together. Truly wonderful, thank you both for sharing.

It is clear that a great deal of care and craft was poured into this VN; it was such a delight to read! I loved Lac-Pochette, that utter character of an unplaceable zone that made such a bewildering environment for the cast to go about their very human pursuits. Plus I just thought this was a super neat conceit for a story.

I particularly enjoyed watching how Susanna and Lucy's chemistry developed. They continued to surprise me right up to the very end. But I also really enjoyed the stories they told when playing; Marcel and Ephraim especially were such fun characters to hear. And I'm going to be thinking about Goody Bourdon a long, long time.

Such an evocative story grounded in a deep, snow-buried realism yet still whimsical in nature. There's such a strong narrative painted amidst the stories told with the dolls, and I love the somewhat muted yet very raw and real feelings between the two girls.

You're really never too old to play with dolls (said with tears in my eyes)

a masterclass in narrative. passion taken shape. it's such a treat to hear each voice and tale so well realized. oh susy....

after this, i think the highest praise i could give is the dressup game makes me cry if i think too hard about it. thousands of outfits, yes yes!!!

WOOOOWWW THIS TURNED OUT SO AMAZING. I feel like the assets are really expertly used and feel so polished, the little animations for blinking/speaking adds a lovely touch. Also the background squares had a lot of interesting historical work I found fascinating. But mostly, even though the GUI is a bit atypical in how it handles backgrounds, I think that plus the prose was allowing me to picture everything really well nonetheless. That is to say--I enjoyed using my mind to imagine it as I liked :D Also, the prose is SUPER evocative, and I really enjoyed the sort of Feeling it gives you... like I'm nostalgic for a place that I haven't even been anywhere I could compare it to. I think my favorite part were the doll scenes. Especially the ones about Goody Bourdon, and particularly that last one + the ending... well, it feels like everything comes full circle, right? And I'm right there with Lucy being so swept up in Susanna's story that I'm like... we must search ALL THE CAMPS TO FIND THIS STUFF... 10/10 I would watch a miniseries based on this.