I eventually gave up on Windows and just ran it through WINE. Worked like a charm. Well, it is the year of Linux on the Desktop after all.

And dang, I'm glad I went through the effort! This is a really cool title. It gives me some "lost media from the 2000s" vibes, and I enjoy these a lot. It's a fairly bizarre format, but I think it works. After all, unique things are always more interesting than generic ones. I love the crunchy pixel art style with the thick outlines, I love the character designs (some really cool critters!) and I'd be interested to see where this one goes.

I got scared when I double-clicked the executable and it gave me an error (The screenshots made me really interested in playing this), but then I found the instructions to make it work!

Is the cursor actually just a player controller disguised as a cursor? That's an inventive solution for what I imagine are the limitations of RPG Maker 03! But I wish I could move the cursor in diagonal directions too (Or, well, use the mouse).

Ok, this looks awesome. I really love the visual style of this game. I do think that the font is a little hard to read, though (But I got used to it). (Maybe instead of a shadow, I would have used an outline? I don't know).

I like the characters a lot. I had a friend that used to grow weed in his bathroom. Haven't seem him in a while. He had a band and was cool.

But, yeah, I really like the characters and would love to hang out with them more. I kind of fell in love with them during the little while we had to share. I usually have little patience for long sections of just dialogue, but I guess this was so well written and intriguing that I was never bored. There are interesting dramatic questions and conflict. I just want to discover more about everybody and see what happens with the bar. Really, what happens to the people that work there.

The music was really really nice. It goes very well with the dialog and locations and has personality. I found the mp3s in the music folder son now I can hear it while I do chores or code my own game lol.

I hope this story continues!!!

did not expect this to be about getting high in an alley, but i was high on my couch so it really resonated.  very curious where y'all are headed with this because obviously you put some narrative thought into it.  love when characters all talk different too

i do wish i could inspect a trash can and get like, "it's just a trash can", that sort of thing

Making a visual novel in RPG Maker 2003 was a curious choice. I’m finding it really difficult to actually control anything because of the too-fast-moving keyboard-only cursor with tiny click targets. I love the art style and music though, and the characters are well-written and each have a very distinct voice, especially the introductory character.

It would definitely be a good idea to re-export this with the RPG Maker runtime included and also tag the bundle as being for Windows, which would make it a lot easier to install and run (particularly from the itch app).

I really want to see more of these characters cuz I love their designs

Art's great, character designs are great, I enjoyed the writing [oooh that marcks is trouble >w<].  I really like the idea of a point n click in rm2k3, it's got such a particular style. And the narrative device of observer is neat!

I had a great time with this one! Love the conceit of being an "observer" which is a good excuse for the player to get to listen in on all these intimate scenes between characters and still allow them to explore. Beautiful art!

The art is very well done! The game does a great job introducing the characters and sets up intrigue in such a short amount of time and it makes me left wanting more, in a good way. Would love to see it continued.

I love your art style a lot! The characters and environments have wonderful palettes and a lot of visual personality! The slice-of-life style of dialogue isn't quite my thing, but I know there's lots of other players who will appreciate the flavor it offers. It's always nice to see another game made in one of the classic RPG Makers! I was surprised that the RTP wasn't already installed on my PC, I feel like I've added it to every computer I ever owned at some point.

The writing in this was so lovely. Even though we only get to see small glimpses of each of these characters, they all felt so genuine and vulnerable and just trying to get from one day to the next. I also absolutely adore the art style and the music, both of which give the game such a dreamlike and wistful vibe. (In fact, I'm listening to the music on repeat as I write this.)

This felt to me like a very personal game, and I'm really glad to have played it. Looking forward to playing more, so I hope you keep working on it!

Definitely a pain to get up and running without the VERY helpful instructions in the comments here - which is a shame, because the visual identity of this game is really strong. The character designs themselves are super well done and some of the best in the jam, and the concept of the “observer” is a really neat way to involve the player.

I definitely felt a little bad going about the tech’s route - she doesn’t seem quite happy for you to be there, and the barkeep seems miffed you didn’t choose her. The conversation between all the characters feels alive and really makes you feel for them - you can feel that sense of community grow with every new character and interaction. It’s really captivating.

I am curious about where the horny is to come into this - while the game deals with adult topics, it kind of feels a bit out of place in the jam with there being no kink or sexual content to speak of, not illusions to it. I’m curious where it would be implemented in the future!

Intriguing storylines. I get the feeling they’d go in interesting ways. I’d love to see more, actually.

For other players: dl https://www.rpgmakerweb.com/run-time-package (the 2003 version) to be able to run the game!

Not much horny in sight but some tension and most importantly a lulling sense of community. The writing is soft and caring and brings a sense of universe that is way more vast than the bar. Art was DELICIOUS. Would love to see more!

Now that I've played it, I like the art and writing. Hope to see more of this little struggling bar and the people surrounding it. I hope they can save the bar through the powers of passive observation.

Really beautiful and well presented demo! Very well written dialog and overall narrative, the vibes are unique and very captivating. Can't wait to observe more of this!