Play Visual Novel
In the Spotlight's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Presentation | #5 | 4.541 | 4.541 |
| Implementation of Theme | #9 | 4.054 | 4.054 |
| Story | #12 | 3.892 | 3.892 |
| Creativity | #26 | 3.703 | 3.703 |
Ranked from 37 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
What is the name of your wolf/wolfess/wolves?
Adam
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Comments
BANGER, BANGER, BANGER!!! I LOVE FAT BOY FALL!!! I LOVE FAIL GIRL FRIDAY!!!! Genuinely I'm so excited for the next chapter, can't wait. Adam really is a cutie, ready for the hurt comfort and the shitty abusive ex/stalker/etc. Great opener, I'm glad you got attached to these characters because I sure did too
waaaah thank you! It'll have a minor update tomorrow(or whenever the embargo is over :O ) but I'm quite far into chapter 2! :DIt'll be coming soon <3 I'm so glad you like it!
This was a pretty wholesome and heartwarming read, albeit with a sad (for now) ending. I really like the art style. It's hard to explain why, but it's stylized without being too exaggerated. Needless to say, the CGs look very good, and there's a bunch of them. The food also looks very appetizing. It's also refreshing to just read a VN with a girl-failure protagonist. It's a different perspective from most FVN protagonists and provides a different set of issues. There are times when the protagonist is hard to like, but the game quickly reminds me why I care for this corgi. Adam's very likable. He's the kind of chill guy that you can just be around without having to worry about pretty much anything. I just really like the vibes of the VN. There's a homeliness to it, and it does both darkness and lightness well. A lot of cute moments as well as some gloomy ones. Definitely recommend reading even if you aren't very interested in the str8s.
Oh wow, I didn’t expect to find such a cozy and gorgeous one like this. I’m not gonna dabble much. The writing is neat, and the presentation is amazing. I’m not a fan of a condensed text box, but it just works this time, and I like that. Could do some fixing with the lack of white space, though, some lines are just too full. It’s a brave topic to pick up, and while there’s not much yet to be said about the overall project, the current content is enough to hook you up.
Great work! Will keep the project under the radar.
Good story, big wolf, and DAMN the art is awesome! All the CGs, the backgrounds, the characters, the food, the tail wag… All drawn very well! Good job for this vn!
I enjoyed this one a lot
Catfish for dinner...
I love the style of the artwork for this one, and the current story direction is quite lovely. Maybe because I volunteer at a food bank and have seen and heard so many stories of homelessness and hardship over the past few years, I instantly connected with the main character and the wolf on a number of levels. And the tail wagging was so cute! Keep up the amazing work!
I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting going into this ("content warning: weight gain" would usually be a pass for me), but this crushed it in just about every conceivable way. Finding gems like this is really the best part of working through all the jam entries.
Breaking down by rating criterion, spoilers from this point forward.
Implementation of Theme:
Seems pretty clear-cut. Adam is the "light" in Emmie's "darkness" of struggling to get by, with a little bit of a twist since she's reluctant to approach that light due to an additional side-darkness of self-loathing and doubt. There are constant visuals added to support this as well, with the dim light from the phone in the car, to the bright lamp post that reveals the characters to each other, and the bright lights and colors of the diner that represent the happiest point for Emmie so far. Excellent reprise of the streetlamp for the post-credits stinger too. Creepy.
Story:
It's a little tough to evaluate since it's just a first chapter, but I think you did really well in finding an appropriate place to pause for the jam. Aforementioned stinger notwithstanding, you honestly could've ended it here and had a thematically cogent story. Characters mostly feel real, if a little exaggerated for effect, and their chemistry was really working, especially considering we're going at a realistic pace where neither feels totally comfortable with the other yet (more of that from Emmie, but still).
I noted a few lines that didn't seem to gel for me though:
- "evicted for depression and mood swings": I... might need a bit more context on how that actually happened. Like unless "depression and mood swings" is code for "unable to hold down a job so couldn't pay the rent" I'm not sure how you would get evicted for that. Or if your mood swings were causing you to like, assault your neighbors maybe. Wondering if this is something that will be expanded later, but considering it's the impetus for Emmie being homeless and desperate in the first place, it feels weird to just blow by that line without a second thought.
- "I've never had someone catfish me back": Like... never? From a basically borderline professional catfisher? Even if she vets all her matches, that just seems... unlikely, I don't know.
- "Why are we having this discussion like besties gossiping about the date": I can understand this one more since it's coming from Emmie's point of view and maybe just the idea of a date not completely sucking is that incredible to her, but everything in the date felt like fairly normal conversation to me. Like, there's supposed to be a disconnect between the objective narrative and Emmie's perspective, but this one felt like that disconnect might have been a touch too great.
Presentation:
Great! Sprites were really well done and expressive, all the CGs were spot on, there was extra effort given to animations, and sound effects were used effectively as well. Really good implementation of the phone images too, and to do all of that on such a short timeline is really impressive.
Creativity:
There's plenty of creativity to go around in this one - double-catfish-romance is original enough on its own, and combined with some really inspired audio-visual choices to sell the themes this is a really impressive effort and I would like that second chapter as soon as possible, thank you.
I give this 15 deep fried catfish out of 18 flickering streetlamps.
ahhhh this is so kind, and I appreciate that you were willing to go through it despite the weight gain warning, how I plan to portray that is definitely different than one might expect.
I'm horrible with discussing compliments but please know I really appreciate all you've had to say, eeee ;v; thank you
but the comments I can respond to
"evicted for depression and mood swings" - I miiiight be leaning a little hard on whether or not Emmie is a reliable narrator trying to cope in her own mind with this line. The comment she makes about Henni is closer to the truth. It's not super helpful for the reader without spelling that out, but there were a couple lines like this that I sprinkled in as an attempt for that effect!
"I've never had someone catfish me back" This line is definitely something I wanted to show her total obliviousness and her own hypocrisy that she tries to project on him. It would be better to hint that she's never been catfished in a way she cares about before. I could definitely write it more clear, thanks for pointing it out :O
"Why are we having this discussion like besties gossiping about the date" This got a bit of a clarity edit already, that edit is going up asap on July 1st ;o;, but the jist of it is a theme with Emmie and relationships.
Chapter 2 is 10k words already and has some programming I've never done before needing to be figured out. Woo! On the way ovob
'In the Spotlight' is the first chapter in what looks to be a classic romantic story between a starving corgi and a well fed wolf. The presentation is quite amazing, with the custom UI and title screen, the great looking drawn sprites and food, and all the little animations and cut-scenes were just super charming. There's so many little details in the art, like cracks on the phone or small details in the food. For a first chapter, the story is really good about setting up the initial meeting between the two main characters, giving enough of a taste for their personalities, but giving enough mystery to be unveiled in later chapters.
Since this is just the first chapter though, it's hard to judge the story as a whole, but I will say that it does create an interesting hook for the reader, though I wonder if it's more from the content warnings than the story itself. It's a little weird that Adam knew about Em's catfish since he recognized the profile pic, but the reasoning for going on it anyway is to 'lookout for those in his community', which I feel for a first date and chapter, would be alright to better clearly explain. As for Em, I enjoy her particular brand of girl-failure, and look forward to seeing how her and Adam continue to develop their relationship. I think there's a point where the story refers to Adam by his name before he says it.
For the theme of 'in the spotlight', you definitely nailed that imagery with meeting in the park and Adam under a lamplight, and there's the figurative element of Adam literally being her savior by giving her food when she's starving. Overall, it's an engaging read, though, with it having more chapters planned in the future, I am left yearning for that sweet resolution and teased content warning subject matters.
As a dumb bear, I deleted this from the jam on accident, so I lost all your lovely and very helpful comments QnQ I apologize.
😭😭😭
now my thirsty star rating has no context and I look even more insane 🩷😇
I read it so it is remembered in my heart ;c; I came to respond to you and my tired butt literally spammed through the delete button. My heart may have fallen out my ass