Heya. It's Randolf. You've made something quite beautiful here. I feel like I've seen this exact concept before elsewhere in the nooks of itch, but I can't quite recall. Nevertheless, great job. The idea is strong; quite literally: a mechanical interpretation of 'reading between the lines.' Standout. From a story standpoint, my only real comment here is that there lacks a bit of foundation, introduction, explanation. These aren't required in any story per se, but when you want to hit a narrative pay-off, you have to first establish towards it. I want to be introduced properly to our two characters just a little more for me to care deeply about them. Maybe that's just me.

From a gameplay standpoint, there isn't really a reason for there to be a maximum of three clicks(?) I don't know what you guys had in mind when implementing that, because at most I miss out on like one or two words per postcard. Is there like a different ending if I press the right words? Don't know.

Anyway, great job again. Loved this short experience. Congrats on participating, and I wish you three the best.

P.S. Get in touch again sometime!

add music frfr!!! the story and concept is very good :3

(minor spoilers ahead for people who haven't played yet)

Oh hey, a Twine game! Some of my favorites on itch are Twine games, shout out to House of Loki and Unbecoming.

Having said that, you'll forgive me comparing this to those. While I did get very similar vibes as them right from the off, the greatest parts of them and other text-based games you can perceive other than the text is the sound. The opening voice message is cool, I love it--- but the fact that it was the only audial element of the game kind of took away from what immersion you wanted us to have. If text is the only mechanical thing present, then having a good soundscape for interacting with the game or to up the immersion almost stops being a feature and starts being a necessity. So some accompanying sounds would have been nice, or! Have the voice messages be a constant for the first time you look at each postcard every playthrough. I acknowledge that this may muddy the line between left voice messages and postcards, which I think ties into the implications of Boni being able to (or wanting to) remember Maya's voice anyway, but other than that, it's good! All else taken into account, it's a game that turns out wonderfully personal depending on which words you click. Good job team!

I so love the concept of outsent, with enough time and budget this could turn out into a really cool game and storytelling concept

Reading Between the Lines, I like the idea that you can examine the author’s real intentions behind their words just by clicking on them. Can’t really do that in real life.

I agree with one of the other comments that some background music would go really well with this. I enjoyed how simple the game is, and I also liked that there were voice overs.

(spoilers ahead! give the game a spin first :D)

(also mad ramblings ahead LOL)


i think this is a really good example of a simple game concept executed super well!!! the idea of examining postcards and finding out about their author's true intentions when writing about them is such a neat idea to play around, and i thought the game was just short enough that it becomes feasible to memorize the contents of each and play around with combinations of messages (since you only get to reveal 3 parts of a postcard each time) !! i also think the narrative you form to get to the true ending makes a lot of sense when i thought it was going to be something i'd have to bruteforce haha...

the writing in general is super good, and i think yall tied it to the game's premise really well!! i also rly like the voice acting :))

some (very minor) things i'd consider adding:

• the prologue could be easier to skip, at least after the first read... some kind of "jump to postcard 1" or something would be great
• indications that you clicked on a "good thing" would be nice! but i think at the very least, i'd like to have the option to reset a postcards
• indicators for things you can click on would be nice!! i get that the twist is revealed after your first playthrough n i at least think these could be indicated after your first run
• background music would be fun i put on some acoustic bgm during this and it was such a good time

overall tho! really really good and simple game. i unironically wanna make shorter games with simpler concepts because of this WSHDSJKFFHK

also i teared up getting to the true ending. its so peam

peaaakkk.... peaaakkk you exploded me with your brain