Sepulcher [O2A2 2023]
A downloadable prayer session for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Summary:
"Sepulcher" is a short visual novel created for the O2A2 2023 Visual Novel Game Jam. The game was created using renpy in the span of 5-6 days, and is a little less than 1k words total.
The entry follows a young man who has done something grave, and seeks refuge at the worn down cathedral in his village in the aftermath.
Plot:
Within "Sepulcher" you follow a young man called Miron, who has taken the events of his life into his own hands. In the aftermath of his actions, he claims refuge at the worn down cathedral in his village and begins to pray.
Content & Trigger warnings:
- Religious imagery
- Vague descriptions of violence
- Themes of exploitation and servitude
Credit(s):
- Art & Story by Sleepyboydev.
- Droplet SFX sourced from Pixabay.
- GUI font is 'Arpegius' created by Hazel Abbiati, sourced from Dafont.com under the 100% free licence.
- Font for dialogue is 'Zelda DX' created by Ænigmam, sourced from Dafont.com under the 100% free licence.
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Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
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The font made it a bit hard to read at the beginning but I love how the style of the story felt quite old and the theme is spot on.
I also like how there's some sort of limbo like trance going on here as Miron prays for either penance or absolution and that any endings you do achieve are not necessarily good or beneficial. Which is true because Miron did kill his master even if the master was a horrible person.
Killing someone is a very harsh burden to bear, even though a lot of people see it as a means of an end and that some people deserve it, killing is not something that can be taken very lightly and the fact we are all desensitized to that, to the point where we feel nothing but pity, justified rage, or apathetic to someone killing another is quite sad.
I know a lot of people have their own morals, conditions, and views about the act of killing, but I appreciate it that Miron was not completely absolved from his crime of killing a human being no matter how awful they are. A great little thinking exercise with morals and virtues!
Great story--has a very classic feel. I really liked the sprite--something about that little braid feels perfect for the character. But I wonder if the story could have been structured differently. I would have liked to have it open with him praying at the statue and communicate the backstory through his lines so it doesn't open with this long extended sequence with no visuals except color.
First off, thank you for the comment and feedback, I really appreciate it especially on jam entries where there are limitations set in-place (such as this one.)
I do agree in hindsight that way too much of the game was taken up by no visuals, especially since I made custom choice boxes that could’ve gotten more use if most of the information was delivered more naturally through Miron’s prayer session. As I was working on it I felt a little frustrated we could only have one background because I really like how the photobash came out in the end!
I think if I do a post-jam version I will try to explore that sort of dynamic between the statue and Miron deeper, I was struggling a lot with the writing and especially with the word count as ending titles are included inside it so I didn’t want to have too many choices (as each branch counts toward the total WC too and the limit was only 1,000 words.)
As for Miron’s sprite… I was struggling thinking of an actual detailed look for him, which is why I left him pretty identity-less overall in the way he looks, it unintentionally made him look a little like a statue too in the end when I look back on the assets actually.
Once again thank you for your feedback! It’s really nice getting external feedback/critique so I kind of get confirmation on stuff that bothered me anyway so I know that I’m going in the right sort of direction lol!
All stuff to explore post-jam!