Very descriptive, and good sentence length, breakup and pacing, but perhaps a little over-flowery.
Comes across as more a storyteller talking, retelling of an old epic, than the sort of story that this usual for this medium.

Very descriptive, and good sentence length, breakup and pacing, but perhaps a little over-flowery.
Comes across as more a storyteller talking, retelling of an old epic, than the sort of story that this usual for this medium.

You hit this one out of the park, Kraaj.  Admittedly, I felt a bit more of a connection to the characters from your entry last year, but I also admit it is like comparing apples and oranges; this is a different beast entirely and is quite excellent.  

Typography is one of my favorite niche interests from years of creating ads and page layouts for newspaper and magazine, and the impression that you are able to convey with your presentation was amazing.  It was uncluttered and minimalistic, but still conveyed the perfect tone and personality for the narrative, which is a difficult balance to strike.

You hit this one out of the park, Kraaj.  Admittedly, I felt a bit more of a connection to the characters from your entry last year, but I also admit it is like comparing apples and oranges; this is a different beast entirely and is quite excellent.  

Typography is one of my favorite niche interests from years of creating ads and page layouts for newspaper and magazine, and the impression that you are able to convey with your presentation was amazing.  It was uncluttered and minimalistic, but still conveyed the perfect tone and personality for the narrative, which is a difficult balance to strike.

I enjoyed the read and vibe that the VN gave, I also appreciated the descriptive views as told by the wolf, but maybe the inclusion of a few more commas might be needed such as the phrase "... stood a well guarded by..." either I'm bad at reading, or I thought something else was well guarded. But overall, the short read, the few graphics executed what it needed to express, and I'm left quite satisfied.

OH AND MIGHT I ADD
The presentation, very very well done, from the opening of the VN, to the moving graphics, the choices in fonts and their positioning was really good for lack of better terms

Very well written. It was rather abstract though, but the writing really elevated the VN, leading to a poetic, dream-like atmosphere. The presentation is... a bit more mixed I think. It was kept intentionally simple, minimalistic even. I think it complements the minimalistic story really well, so one cannot call it flawed. It's just that I prefer VNs with a bit more substance I guess. While I was impressed by the quality of the writing, I didn't really absorb much of the story nor get attached to any of the characters. It's a bit of a standard "boy meets wolf" story, though one as draped in fantasy as one can possibly can be. But don't let my preferences get you down, it really was beautiful and well done.

I haven't read all the jams yet, so I can't say for sure, and god forbid I commit to an opinion but... This might be my favorite game of the jam. I think other people have done a wonderful job summarizing it. This is a visual novel, but really it's a visual poem. I could cite a lot of the moments that are really good, the repetition, the simplicity of the art, the symbolism, the sort of melancholy feel of the ending, the use of the music, the quiet intimacy of the piece. I think there's a lot of things that are left to speculation, but it feels cheating to call it that since I feel like there's often accompanying context clues that tell us the answers even if its not explicitly stated. The lack of any sprites and instead only backgrounds and CGs really adds to the story book feel. It also reads out loud wonderfully, if that was something you were wondering about. Absolute banger of a game, short and sweet and with absolutely nothing wasted. 

A short fable that uses it's minimalist but well thought assets to tell a poetic short tale filled with evocative fairy tale images.

Incredibly charming, is impossible not to like this one.

Goodness gracious, let's go and rate this.

The presentation is really well done, from the title screen, to the opening and closing credits, and the music and sound design is very engaging. I love how ethereal and vibey the prose is, and the use of repetition throughout the story (namely "Come, my Prince") makes this feel like a poem more so than a story. Either way, I enjoyed this a LOT.

This is a personal interpretation, and also a spoiler for those who didn't read the VN yet so I'm putting this next part in rot13.

V'z cerggl fher gur Oynpx Uner'f vf gur snzvyl bs gur Cevapr, naq gung gurl bapr ehyrq gur xvatqbz. Sebz gur qrfpevcgvbaf bs gur Ynaqf gung gur Jbys naq gur Cevapr cnff nf gurl nfpraq gur fgnvef, guvf xvatqbz fcenjyrq sne naq jvqr. V pna bayl fhezvfr gung gur Cevapr jnf xrcg va n pnfgyr naq abg n qhatrba, orvat sbeprq gb ernq naq jevgr naq yrnea nyy gur oryyf naq juvfgyrf bs orpbzvat n cebcre Xvat. Pbafvqrevat guvf, gur Cevapr cebonoyl yrnearq bs gurfr Ynaqf bs Jbaqre, Ynaqf bs Qernzf, Ynaqf gung Pbhyq Or sebz uvf fghqvrf naq gur obbxf ur sbhaq va gur yvoenel be fbzrguvat.

Speculation about the Prince aside, the ambiguous nature of the ending and the flowery prose gives this a very story book feel. Congrats, Kraaj!

"Since I left you, I found the world so new"

This is probably the most beautiful VN in all of the jam. The prose is masterful, being delicate but not overly purple. The story's also ambiguous enough that there are several different ways to interpret it, while still being easy enough to follow through. It's hard to describe the symbolism and themes that the VN depicts as they're so abstract, but I will say that they are strong. The presentation is very strong, with a unique storybook-like GUI and a minimalist art style. I just really like everything about it. It's very tight and all in one small package. Highly recommend you read this for yourself.

'Wolf of White Waters' is an evocative fable that uses it's minimalism of assets to it's advantage to let the prose do all the painting. It's quite the mysterious tale, one that leads the reader on a journey. It feels grounded in a world, but then become ethereal and dreamlike. It doesn't seem interested in spinning a moral, but rather, leaves it up to the reader to interpret if there's hidden symbolism and metaphors within it's simple plot. The imagery is striking, and the writing is well crafted, and it's just mysterious enough to allow for many types of interpretation of the text. 

I love the way that effects are used in this visual novel. It's super simple, but super effective. The audio was just enough to get immersed in the story. The presentation in the UI and title screen was really polished. It feels inappropriate to try and critique or review the story itself, since it doesn't aim to be a character driven narrative. The wolf and the prince seem to have a few defining characteristics that are alluded to from their actions, but whether this tale is meant to be taken literally or figuratively, that's part of the interpretation of the reader.

If I were to interpret this figuratively, the prince's demeanor sounds as though he's trapped on this island of 'black walls' and 'in the dark'. Perhaps, bound by duty and expectations? Of royal lineage, we find out later that he's to be married off to the King and Queen to make a dynasty, so is this representative of a class system or male gender norms? If so, what does the white wolf represent? Much like the theme, 'a light in the dark', it sounds as if the white wolf is a force to take him away from that expectation. The wolf is the one that tells him stories of the outside world, so maybe the white wolf represents literally stories and ideas, that he wouldn't have been able to know about since the prince seems to be under lock and key, a sheltered existence.

It becomes a bit more explicit what the allegory is when the Prince casts away his black nightgown and follows the white wolf naked up the glowing steps to the moon. The prince giving up his position and duty to pursue more colorful and different destinations. One area is a bustling market that goes out of its way to describe all the different colors and fruits. One is a quaint village with a lumber mill. One is a city of ruins that was his kingdom, I think. And then the great city of the moon, which is described a bit like a heavenly place. In a way, that kind of also paints a tragic picture for the prince who's night gown was found on the rocks in the shore. An existence so sheltered and dark that to dive out into the ocean and take his own life was preferable.

From that kind of interpretation, it does make me take notice that this tale takes a lot of time to describe the settings of these far off fantastical places, but not as much information about what the prince thinks about seeing and learning about these places. Is he curious if they exist? Excited to visit them? Or sad for never getting to visit them? Perhaps, the reader is meant to put themselves in the prince's shoes and think about if they were kept in a dark tower, which places would appeal to them? I feel the story may have indulged the prose a little too hard in some places, when it could use a bit more grounding. Giving the wolf something more to do, than just sitting there, or the prince a bit more lines to say, since the wolf did get a few lines. Overall, this story is really profound and mysterious, even if it does make you wonder what the heck that wolf was supposed to be.

Very good all around. Crazy evocative with its rich imagery and well-used, minimalist visuals; everything that happens on the screen feels effective and justified, and the sound design hits all the beats it needs to as well. On the whole, it's a short piece confident in its restrained, classical simplicity, and the story comes off as thoughtfully scoped and paced, maybe apart from one scene near the ending where the descriptions feel like they drag just a little.

I like the attention given to presentation, too, especially the (too often neglected) opening and credits sequences. Just a couple of technical nitpicks: the font doesn't look too good when bolded, and some screens don't respect text speed, which feels a bit jarring and breaks the flow of the text.

10/10 poetry. 100% art. It probably won't sit right for some people, but I enjoyed it!

Minimalistic style, but you utilized the medium very well. My only complaint is, for some reason, the Wolf's dialogue text got pixelated (instead of glowing, if that's what you're aiming for). And there was that one part where the dialogue overflowed to the bottom. Big chunks of the lines didn't show up in history, but I probably know why.

Nice cozy read. Great work!

Well this was fun. Certainly much more abstract than most of the other entries I've looked at thus far, but it's definitely a neat art piece. Going to go through the criteria in slightly different order since I think this project really emphasized certain elements over others.

Spoilers therein.

Implementation of Theme:

Take your pick. The literal moonlight for someone locked up in a prison of some kind; the white wolf that the prince meets at night; the ivory gates of the city that the wolf leads him to. Can't fault this one for hitting the light in the dark requirement. A few times over at that.

Presentation:

Gorgeous in its simplicity. Practically a clinic in how to do a kinetic novel with minimalistic visuals. Only complaint I had was that the font you chose kind of blended some letters into the periods. This was more of an issue in the beginning, but not too big of a deal once I got used to it.

Story:

This is where the VN trips up a little bit for me as I felt this project was heavily style over substance. There's a lot of room for interpretation here, which I think was the intent, but I think you could've kept your kind of ethereal aesthetic while dropping a few more breadcrumbs as to how and why the prince was there (other than other people wanting him to marry the princess; maybe a bit more about the people that he came from) so we can better empathize with how much he wants to leave at nearly any cost. Obviously being locked up in a dungeon sucks in its own right, but I think there was room to flesh out at least a few details.

Tail end of the story is also pretty vague, but based on some context clues, the mention of "ivory gates", and the tattered clothing on the shore, I'm interpreting it as the prince taking his own life. Whole story kinda gave me "Don't Fear the Reaper" vibes honestly. Whether the wolf was some kind of spiritual aspect or just a manifestation of the prince's deteriorating mind would still be unclear though. 

I'm not sure the last minute switch in perspective to the princess was necessarily effective. Other than finding the scrap of clothing, I'm not sure how much it really adds. I wonder if it would be more effective to have the prince entering the gates be the final words of the VN, then fade in and out to an image of the torn cloth floating in the water or resting on the rocks before going to credits.

Creativity:

As mentioned, this project definitely took a very artistic approach to the premise, and I think that worked well. Really solid effort overall.

An incredibly atmospheric journey that often reads like poetry. The mystery is alluring and I enjoyed reading it.

We catch glimpses of what the protagonist is thinking, but it was a little hard to grasp how he feels most of the time.

The act 2 imagery is evocative and accompanied by lovely prose.