Design Statement
If It Reaches You is a visual novel and decoration game where you help woodland animals write postcards, and hear what they couldn’t bring themselves to write. The theme track reached us like a postcard: succinct and bright on the surface, with a sense of melancholy underneath.
Birds chirp, the woods grow, seasons change, but something always remains the same. The music-box-like melody inspired a narrative anchored in the woodlands, where meetings and departures happen on a paper diorama stage. As a correspondent, you cross paths with animal visitors returning across the seasons. Through conversations and postcards, you get a glimpse into their lives. Their loves and losses, friendship and kinship span childhood, adulthood and old age, much like our own lives and the lives of the strangers we pass by.
The theme track’s mechanical whirring and bright chimes inspired us to incorporate crisp, playful sounds into simple, satisfying interactions that encourage players to create and experiment. As you decorate their postcards, you get to leave your own mark on the visitors’ stories, and maybe carry a little of theirs with you as you look for that something.
In due time, we will all find our season.

Game Instructions (launch steps, controls, and gameplay overview)
Launch Steps
Runnable in the browser, or extract the downloaded ZIP file and run the game's .exe file to start playing.

Controls
Left Click: Interact with objects, advance dialogue, and select decorations.
Drag & Drop: Place stickers and decorations onto postcards.
Keyboard: Type your own message when prompted.

Gameplay Overview
Welcome to your little post office in the woods! Meet animal visitors, listen to their stories, and help them create postcards for their loved ones.
Decorate each postcard with stickers and other materials. Try placing at least 5 decorations to discover more dialogue!
As the seasons pass, familiar faces will return with new stories to share.
P.S. Stick around after the credits! You'll get to revisit and download all the postcards you've created.

Gameplay walkthrough video
https://youtu.be/CGjUpFRTwEE

Did your project use any AI tools or assets? If yes, please specify.
Claude and OpenAI Codex were used to assist with code review and debugging.
No generative AI was used to create any art, music, or narrative assets.