Are We Still Friends?
Five years since she ditched her hometown, Jay finds herself back home for her mother's funeral. While she's been "honing" her "craft" in Hollywood (read: doing drugs and talking about art without actually doing it), her former best friend has already married, settled down, and had a kid. Determined to rekindle their friendship, Jay invites him out for a night of nostalgia and Halloween fun.
"Are We Still Friends?" is a kinetic visual novel made for the Spooktober 2023 Visual Novel jam. It contains mature themes and strong language.
The game can be played in-browser, but it's recommended to download and play for best performance/quality.
Features:
- ~17,000 words (approx. 1 hr of gameplay)
- 300+ unique frames/variations
- A linear story
- The nagging fear that something is fundamentally wrong with you and that you are fucking it up, all the time
- A cat
Content warnings (click to expand):
- Abuse, self-destructive behavior, drugs/alcohol, abuse of said drugs/alcohol, death/grief, implied past suicide, some sexual humor but also unfunny (non-explicit) sexual themes, homophobia, toxic gender/sexuality fuckery
Credits:
Story/writing/art by me, done in a two-week fever dream
Music purchased from Humble Bundle. All music by Rainy Days for Ghosts
This game is held together by duct tape and prayer, so please feel free to leave a comment if you spot a bug.
Download
Comments
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i love this ALOT. I love the simple expressions, I love the cat, I love the direction maybe most of all. just how little detail there was but at the same time expressing so much in poses and dialogue. chefs kiss.
This was enthralling. I can't say I personally relate to any of these characters―my life took a very different path―but I still felt all of them. The writing was perfectly paced, and the overall sedate tone gave room for the hard hitting topics to feel real without getting overbearing.
The art was gorgeous in its simplicity and vagueness. I need to stop using the word "feel", but it really did let me feel these scenes rather than just see them. The use of monochrome only enhanced that.
The ending was sweet, if a little unexpected. But hey, you can't explain a cat.
One of the things I struggled with was figuring out how to find the right balance between expressing how characters felt in words vs. letting the dialogue and (very simple) expressions speak for themselves. I'm glad to hear it contributed to the overall feel.
Thanks for playing and commenting!