Visual Novels etc.

If memories make a person… what does that make you? 🦉🐧

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You, a mortal, awaken in an unfamiliar land of heat and sand, staring into the unfeeling mask of a spindly stranger who claims to rule the deathless kin of the air.

Beholden to an unremembered promise to assassinate their disgraced twin sibling, bound for an eldritch garden hidden somewhere in the arid plains, and compelled by an enchantment you do not understand, certain choices are beyond your control...

...yet even so, the power of life and death is forever fated to slip through immortal fingers. It lies within your hands, and yours alone. Many questions plague you, but only one can you answer.

What will you do with it?

GARDEN OF BONES is a 17+ interactive work-in-progress with an emphasis on relationships, and includes some content that may be triggering; complete warnings will be included within the game and updated if necessary.

MAIN CHARACTERS

The Younger (M/F)

Weary of being disregarded and mocked for their aspirations, the Younger needs their disapproving sibling and crowned ruler out of the way, for good... and only a mortal can kill an immortal. Will you be their weapon?

The Elder (M/F)

A banished ghost haunts a garden removed from the flow of time; they had not considered that their beloved twin would stab them in the back... and now they are doomed to rise and fall by your hand. How far will you take this lie?

The Mortal (N/A)

A forgetful assassin, sent to dirty your hands on behalf of an immortal ruler from another realm. Cling to the past with bitterness or longing, or abandon it all if you wish. Forge a path built on vengeance or mercy. What will you sacrifice?

Note: as the siblings are identical twins, both ROs must be set together, so you will have the opportunity to play the game with immortal sisters or immortal brothers as your romantic options and potential allies.

SIDE CHARACTERS

The Servant

Sworn to the younger's cause, just like you, yet she seems to be little more than a thorn in their side... there is a history between them that remains unspoken. Will she ever trust you?

The Guard

Nameless, voiceless, faceless, and unwaveringly loyal: the younger twin is rarely seen without their personal champion shadowing their footsteps, and others fear that silent presence. Do you believe the rumours?

FEATURES

CURRENT FEATURES

⮞ fey-adjacent immortal folk ⮞ 2 M/F selectable romance options ⮞ customize your appearance ⮞ shape your personality ⮞ 45+ minute playtime

PLANNED FEATURES

⮞ a curse (may not be discovered) ⮞ bones (quite a lot of them) ⮞ riddles and revenge ⮞ finished romantic route ⮞ finished platonic route ⮞ 4+ highly variable endings ⮞ impactful decisions

Everything here is subject to change.

LINKS

DEMO | ITCH.IO | RO INTROS | PINTEREST

Current word count: 70,000.

I find friendships to be equally as captivating and fulfilling as romantic affection (and also fully support your right to antagonism and arson if desired) so expect me to do my best to ensure that each route is as lovingly detailed as possible!

Thanks for your interest and I hope to craft a most distressing and positively delightful journey for you.

Ask me anything!

I find the whole concept of ren/dacted being a “blank slate” who also happens to only like the stuff mc likes as a way to feel “closer” to mc or whatever n blah blah is… a really shit concept??? 😭 also its so contradictory?? cos on one hand they mentioned redacted would listen to music like chase atlantic, hyperpop etc etc, likes violenc/gore/horror etc, but at the same time refuses to like anything that isnt directly related to the mc??? wdym he has interests but also doesn’t and only copies what mc likes, and how can he like those interests if he trult doesnt like anything and only likes mc and those interests he likes js cos mc likes them are—— you get the point. like i understand the ren persona being a blank state but how would redacted be the same except more violent because then by that logic he does have his own interests—violence…. the mc doesnt rlly engage in that unless you pick to be interested in it, so in a sense maybe? but redacted IS a violent person who enjoys gore regardless if the mc likes the same things too, he just doesn’t express it.

theres so many contradictions in what sai is tryna say about ren/dacted it feels like she isnt actually taking time to truly flesh out his character let alone his lore but more so come up with some rough concept of what she wants ren to be and then just focus on everything but fleshing out that story he has with the mc, n just coming up with ideas about ren on a whim.

Ren being a blankless state whereas redacted having his own character would have been so much more of a better idea than making him truly unable to be even somewhat independent from the mc in mind— to an extent, because yes he is a yandere— like think about it, he managed to get rich with insane hacking capabilities, live in a nice ass apartment etc etc and that somehow happened with ease for him despite him not even beinf able to think for himself because he can’t form any conclusive belief or opinion unless it’s what mc would also agree with??? 😭 what. I honestly play 14dwy with my own design/headcanons of ren and redacted in mind because its much more logical in my opinion— redacted should have his own character outside mc; because it still does not take away how the mc consumes him mentally to an extremely unhealthy extent when his actions such as stalking and murdering competition etc demonstrates as such.

also omg can we talk about moth in the recent day where they deadass just started flirting with ren in front of the mc 😭😭😭💀💀 Sai wrote this off as intended to be just surface level jokes that held no weight but the way she wrote Moth’s lines and how they acted was genuinely so weird it made me question how this wasn’t meant to be interpreted as anything but Moth directly literally harassing Ren and commenting their sexual fantasies about a character who resembles Ren to Ren whilst calling him said character he resembles in front of their best friend who Moth is led to believe that the guy they’re openly flirting with as a joke is the MCs boyfriend.. 😭😭😭 mind you, Ren makes obvious indiciations he’s a little thrown off by the comments too… if Sai wanted to make the story more plausible or somewhat realistic, the jokes should have been a one of comment of Ren being Haruko or less intrusive— mind you, Moth JUST met Ren. genuinely that part of the game was ragebaiting me so bad because it made it seem as if Sai genuinely couldn’t be bothered to give Moth or any side character for that matter any depth either or letalone try to make them realistic. The MC is somehow meant to be bestfriends with Moth but yet they’re overly weird to MC’s “boyfriend”?? Moth is meant to be a likeable character and funny— but yet their personality comes off as boring to me and holds no depth besides their hyperfixation for a pink haired anime boy.

idk i js needed to yap that off my chest even if none of this is edited and it is entirely incoherent oopsies but i hate howw little depth and characterisation that has been embedded into the game despite 5 days being out already yet no actual notable story builds have happened since release. Sai releases like one episode/day yearly at best— which is perfectly fine— because they only see 14dwy as a personal hobby/project and have uni on top of it— but yet in the time where Sai actually does work on the game, it still feels like Sai is rushing to just get an episode done rather than actually take her time to flesh out anything further??? 🌚 like id rather she just take more time to actually make a good day of the game than just go with the flow with no concrete plan or storyline with strong character and plot building in mind

I had to retype all this cuz I lost it so I lost motivation BUT I'M BACK!!!

I still have to make me reviewing 14 days with you I just lost all motivation because the toxicity of the delulu fans and just how I feel about the series. I love Ren, at least in concept. I love the idea of this repressed guy who's obsessed with every facet of you. Especially one that lies. I love a lying liar who lies and eats hot chip or something.

I swear sometimes I feel like I’m gaslighting myself into thinking I’m not looking at everything but every time someone points out “Ackshually he is written well” and then I’m given evidence, it’s just proving my point further that this guy fucking sucks. I hate the blog if I'm honest, not that its existence is bad per say but more so it's confusing. Although to be fair to saint, I am an idiot. But I don’t like the “blog canon” and “game canon”. Like what's the point of making the distinction if a lot of it seems to be in world content that we just haven’t gotten to yet? Not just that but like because this game has barely started, we have nothing on this guy and have no choice but to use the blog to give us hints to this character that aren’t even canon allegedly to the damn game. If it’s important to the game, it should be in the game not on tumblr. Don’t even get me started on how ass the game’s characterization is. We barely get any actual choices and the ones we do barely affect anything. Like yes there are route altering choices but it would be nice to have character affecting choices (we get to make mc into us rather than a shitty attempt at writing someone quirky and is also inconsistent anyway..) I wish we saw more of Ren trying to put up a front or to mimic emotions. Like if someone close to MC died, he has to feign interest. He can be sad that you’re sad while also not understanding how to properly console them. Tbh I can understand not having enough empathy so maybe I have an easier time writing it but it just feels inconsistent. He’s sociopathic because the narrative calls for it. I love the idea of a love interest who just fucking sucks at being empathetic, especially cuz he literally could care less right? He's here for you and that’s it.  

I feel like maybe what Saint is trying to do is that Ren is a persona that's a blank slate but tbh it’s done so shitty (sorry). I feel like this could work but only if it’s clear that this is genuinely just a front. This is not his true personality, and I feel like an attempt is made but it's a bit.. Awkward.. I’m guessing what Saint was trying to do was make it so that redacted is the one that likes gore and all that emo shit but it's not very clear and also.. Kinda cliche and not in a cute way but like “of course your murderer likes gore and guts. Pack it up.” like I have characters that I share with my partner who like gore and guts and whatnot but that's because he’s a cannibal from millennia ago that's been demonized. Bro is not okay, and it’s made very clear. Yeah it's also cuz we are also both emo and whatever, but I dunno. I don’t mind if rendacted like gore but I’d like for it to be for a reason and maybe there is one but it just feels shallow so far... tbh there are some choices that I don’t like, such as having mc choose to encourage his violent behavior and have the reaction he does but I think it’s to avoid having him force mc which I feel is a detriment to the story. Like i dunno there's just some things that I just don’t like the execution for. 

Tbh, I don’t know if Saint is fleshing out Ren. It doesn’t feel like he is a fully thought out idea but like concepts of an idea. Allegedly there will be more than on love interest according to some recent asks that have been answered and I’m unsure how I feel about that. But I’m willing to be patient and wait out to see if we get more on rendacted in the game??  

I would really love to see there being like a fight in personality. Ren wanting to be Redacted or choosing to conform to what MC likes and that be a bad ending. Quick tangent but did anyone see that the dead-end routes aren’t bad ends but just routes Saint couldn't figure out how to transition to the next day?? What's the point of making them then.... anyway, back to rendacted and his personality. I fear that him conforming to what MC likes is going to be the end goal... Coming from an alt person who fell in love with the idea of getting an alt guy who also likes pink... sounds extremely disappointing.. Its like I could change him in the worst extreme. I don’t want him to just please me and if he does I want it to be sad. He is sacrificing his truest self to please you. Iunno just makes me feel bad. A goth baddy lost his wings to light academia (vomits. Im a dark academia liker oops. Darker stories are just more fun) i really hope redacted has his own personality and that he doesn't throw away his likes because mc doesn't like horror movies or doesn't like loud music... it would drive me bananas if it was treated like a good thing.  

I want Moth and every other side character to explode ngl. In a recent ask, Saint said that she relates to Moth and that they are the easiest to write and tbh.. It put a bad taste in my mouth.. The same character that sexually harasses Ren as a joke and isn’t at any point reprimanded for it. The same one that treated Ren like an object a IN FRONT OF ME???? Like you know I like this person and youre fucking flirting with him?? I will throw you in the ocean and hope Vox Hazbin Hotel comes and shocks you and makes shock.wav eat you. I genuinely hated Moth from minute one because they were written as loud and obnoxious and sort of dismisses you to talk about some shitty show they won't shut the fuck up about. It’s insane to me that Moth, who claims to be your best friend, just... casually sexually harasses Ren in front of me.. AND IM NOT GIVEN A SINGLE OPTION TO TELL THEM OFF OR TO SET REN ON THEM LIKE GO ON DO IT!!! moth makes me so mad they suck and then saint tries to make me feel bad by saying they have a big family and are the way they are beacsue of that.. Fuck you i hate you. I fear the reason they are boirng would mean that... saint is boring.. And tbh i dont like thier humor. I was shown an earlier build of the game and she was the landlord.. Im sorry but like the humor was fucking ass...  

🌱 Chiron (⚷) in your birth chart can represent multiple things, for most of us, it repsents your wounds, physical or spiritual and the way you manage and heal them. Chiron (⚷) is our inner "healer/shaman". 🌱

The applying aspects for this post are: (⚷)

Conjunct

Trine

Sextile

Sqaure

Opposition

Quincunx/Inconjunct

Quintile

🍃 Chiron - Sun indicates a sensitive healing process to the native, they may have issues or wounds related with their dad, their personality/ego, they may stay in the shadow watching others while the others are ignoring them, they can be very sweet people once you start to know them. They may have wounds connected to their own persona, to your own mind and spirit 🍃

🍃 Chiron - Moon indicates a deep wound in your soul that you may have it from childhood or when you were younger, it may indicate wounds related to your mother/grandmother and problems with your own feelings. You can often doubt your feelings, you tend to often ignore the things that cause you pain thinking that will solve everything, but sometimes your feelings matter more than anything 🍃

🍃 Chiron - Mercury indicates a deep wound related to your speech, your communication, the way you express yourself. You can be prone to social anxiety or anxiety in talking with others, you can often be shy in others presence. Try to listen to healing music, that can often help you with your thoughts and feelings, if you find yourself having a good time listening to healing music they definitely help 🍃

🍃 Chiron - Pluto aspects, indicate the "Phoenix" myth. That once they are hurt, they reborn into better versions with themselves. They have a powerful healing but it may come with their own struggles such as feeling too clingy or wanting to be clingy/too attached for others and sometimes you tend to put others above you. With this aspect you have a great inner healing that takes you to an ultimate state of mind where you may choose if you choose yourself or if you choose others instead. Once you are reborn you feel like a new person

🍃 Chiron - Mars aspects indicate wounds related to your own anger, frustration, and your own confidence, some people with these aspects may develop anger/angry issues, they may get angry fast. They may give an angry person vibes when they are in the mood though. And some of them may have the fear of losing things 🍃

🍃 Chiron - Venus indicates, here Chiron is highly sensitive, it can be wounds connected to the way your view yourself as your image, the way you love yourself, the way you treat yourself, but the way you handle love relationships, you may be insecure in relationships and in your partners. You may suffered in your past relationships that left you with a trauma to love, but the most important, you may had enough love to love others but they couldn't give the same love back

🍃 Chiron - Ascendant (Rising) - indicates problems/wounds with viewing yourself, you may see yourself in a very negative imagine. You may not trust yourself enough, you may have problems with your body, some people can develop eating disorders, some people can develop anxiety about their body or about the way they look, this aspect shows healing inside and out in your body 🍃

🍃 Chiron - North Node aspects most time indicate a healing journey that's ready to start, spiritual and body healing are both needed in this journey, take as much time as possible and listen to your intuition. Take mediation as a healing key

🍃 Chiron - South Node aspects, here we take some steps back to your past life, something in your past life caused you pain and suffering, sadly some traumas have been coming into your current life from your past life, do you often have experiences of deja-vu? Takes these as signs, most times your own wound is right in front of your eyes 🍃

🍃 Chiron aspecting the asteroid Nessus (7066). Chiron here can mean many things, because asteroid Nessus is an violent one It can show violence, abuse, in worst cases (r@pe) which takes some time to recover and I hope nobody ever experience that. Nessus aspecting Chiron DOESN'T mean that you will get these things in your life, it means some people may went through this in their lives. Sometimes astrology is dark and it can show things we didn't know about, with Chiron aspecting Nessus which mostly indicates abuse, can indicate your soul can heal from that thing only if you learn to let it go, you have to let go off your past in order to heal yourself 🍃

🍃 Chiron aspecting Neptune shows a wound related to their creativity, you are talented but you may fear people may not like that, and that can cause you pain sometimes, you may experience prophetic dreams that can be signs to you 🍃

🍃 Chiron - Saturn indicated wounds to authorities, but in most cases most of the natives with these aspects have strict parents and they could've have been raised in a strict household where there could be some authorities you didn't got so along with. You fear of failing/or being seen as a "failure". You may have wounds connected to your father again aswell, you may experience anxiety/panic attacks and fear of letting your past to go 🍃

🍃 Chiron - Jupiter aspects, a really good point about them is that they have this inner "optimism" that keeps them alive, and their hope for getting/being better. You can heal faster than others with these aspects. Especially if you have harmonious aspects you have more energy to heal. With negative aspects the energy is still to heal fast but it may face some challenges. They may be hopeless at times, and at other times to be the type of people who can achieve anything. They have powerful mindsets and goals

🍃 Chiron - Uranus aspects, may show off as different and people often think to them as the person who doesn't always shows much, because to you, your wounds and your suffering can come in unexpected ways. You may be seen as someone who doesn't show their emotions entirely which you're not to blame for. You are very transformative, going through a stage to the others, gaining experience and evolving your soul. You see the world with different eyes and you want to help it make it better 🍃

🍃 Chiron - Lilith (h12) aspects. You may feel trapped with your own sexual desires, or with your own sexuality, these aspects tend to show only the mask of their feelings, ignoring their own. Sometimes you may have the need for intimacy but also the fear of rejection, both these things can cause you a deep wound. You may not feel yourself if you're not in your own energy which you mostly need to be in most times. Your desires may come and go, but only you know what your heart truly seeks for 🍃

🍃 Chiron - aspecting asteroid Juno (3), in some cases people with these aspects tend to attract people who have wounds aswell as they have, like a magnet your partner can be mirroring your own wounds,fear and traumas. But in some cases the relationship can be a healing key, like healing and transformative waiting for eachother to grow and to be bounding. Sometimes it can happen for your partner to not understand your wounds or to be confused about it, and that can cause you tension and overthinking about your relationship. In my opinion try to heal the wounds/traumas you have before entering in a relationship. If you are in a relationship and you have traumas/wounds try to make it work together with your partner 🍃

🌱 Healing is always a key to happiness 🌱

🌱 Have a good Monday and a great week to everyone who reads my notes. Stay grounded and listen to mother's nature melody!!🌱

And remember that an broken soul is not broken is just waiting for you to heal it 🌱🌱🌱

I won't name the game itself directly, but since this is a well known popular game within the VN yan indie game community, it might be obvious what this is about.

A enby masc presenting character gets genderbent but now looks super feminine and acts as such, even treated as such too. Compared to their canon self.

I feel it shouldn't be that way. They should just act like themselves but with a fem appearance now.

Why suddenly a complete change of their personality with their fem appearance? Why does giving them boobs, a small waist and wide hips suddenly make them feel they have to act and be treated differently?

Also don't get me started on the makeup. genderbent fem suddenly means they wear makeup now when they never did canonly as themselves, or it wasn't clearly shown/stated.

You'd be 100% correct, I've been in the fandom for years and it's constantly overlooked. (My guess is because people constantly 'he/him' Ren and want to put them into the 'Hot Yandere Man' group/trope despite them being nonbinary)

I WROTE AN ENTIRE ELABORATE ANSWER AND IT DIDNT SAVE AS A DRAFT IM DEVASTATED. But. i'll try to rewrite what i originally had. starting with i was TERRIFIED of posting that cuz i thought i was gonna get flamed lolol 🙈🙈🙈🙈

and yeah! i completely agree with you anon! it definitely reminds me of my lived experiences as a masc presenting non-binary individual. i strictly use he/him now (for the ease of others, though i use he/they in private) i prefer masc gendered compliments and descriptors rather than gender neutral (again, for ease of others, though it has grown on me)

i saw another person but in the tags of that post state that it "feels like the game doesn't explore it, either" (paraphrasing, rewording, etc..) and.. yeah! sort of? on one hand, i would like to give the benefit of the doubt to the game and its writing. we are only on day five of fourteen days, so i'm sure there is a lot of information we are missing.

to me, ren (the persona) is also putting on the act of a man for the reader. whether that's because that's what the reader desires, societal expectations, or another thing... ren is playing the act of a man. [REDACTED], on the other hand, seems more gender neutral to me? non binary? whatever terms you want to use? that's his real self, so i'm going to assume that bitch has transgender energy.

game writing aside, of course, there is no denying that it definitely feels like the fandom treats ren still as a man, and use their non binary identity to put them in traditionally "unmasculine" clothing, situations, etc etc. (and, to me, it just reminds me of 2020 when cis men would attempt to act gender non conforming to get views, female attention, etc etc.........)

i wish the fandom EXPLORED why or how ren is nonbinary. when did they figure that out? how did they figure it out? is it simply non binary, or is there another gender label they fall under? have they experiemented with other pronouns? WHY ARE YOU NON BINARY?????

my fear is that ren is non binary due to their dads treatment when he was a kid. are you non binary because your dad forcibly feminized you as a child?? are you non binary just to be with the reader regardless of their orientation or identity? because if so, that's... uhh...... if you're trans, you know 👀.

but, once again, this just.. reminds me of living life as a masculine individual. people assume i'm a man, they treat me like a man, and they even assume i romantically or sexually desire other men too. (i'm an open and out butch lesbian! have been for years) and it will always feel like men are the default. it's definitely hard to not feel that when... everyone acts that way!

By 18+ content, I mean sex scenes fyi.

Which already the dev will be removing/censoring from their game because its apparently a "problem" now. And doesn't want to people to see their game as a "gooner/porn" game cause that's apparently bad.

Lowkey blaming people who are fans of that content too, even those who make/share said content for the game to show love/support, etc.

AKA being anti-sex pretty much here, even if they say they will be be paywalling the sexual content to "protect the minors". (Which fyi that is never truly the case here. Get more informed why censorship is a thing now and happening.)

But really they could just get rid of it all together if its truly a problem to them and their game as a whole. But won't. Why you ask? Because they know very well, their game is only as popular, loved and supported as it is today, mainly because of those sex scenes.

Yet believes those sex scenes and content is a major issue that needs to be removed from the base game. Yet is putting them behind a paywall to make a profit off of it, er—sorry, to "protect the minors". Because they know very well, they get support, especially financially, for their game from those very sex scenes/content and fans who love that content.

Making a profit off your game is nothing new or bad. Am all for artist making money off their work after all, 18+ or not, saying this as a artist myself.

What I don't like however, is the obvious finger pointing and blaming of sexual content as a whole here for being apparently problematic. As well blaming and throwing their own fans who make said content for their own game, as the problem here too.

It's not just a attack on sexual content in art, but a attack on some of their own fans too. Which fyi, many of those fans, are the reason their game and characters is so popular in the first place.

This is just a clear show of not appreciating their fans. As well, siding with censorship and puritans, which is also a attack against other creators within their own community who make "gooner" games.

As well, is stating pretty much games with porn or sexual content are seen or considered less than of worth/importance to them. Compared to games without it...It's puritan talk and thoughts. Simple as that.

Games with sexual content = Bad/Problematic

Games without sexual content = Good/Acceptable

Is their mindset pretty much here now.

Also, the dev fails to grasp the removal of the sexual content won't be enough or is the answer to "protecting minors" here. Especially since a lot of queer games were affected by the censorship attack too, which many weren't 18+ at all.

But why were they attacked? Because a lot of people see queerness itself as sexual, which fyi isn't. They see queerness as bad and immoral as adult content. And the whole "to protect the children" talk falls right into the same talk conservatives use against us queers to censor/erase us in the name of "protecting the children". When really its just about having power and control over the people on what they consume, post, share, etc online and the world as a whole.

I already talked about this on another post, but if you truly are siding with censorship and puritans here. Then soon enough I will expect to see you see the queerness in your own game/characters as a issue too. Even if you are queer yourself, because you fail to get what is truly going on here. Or just refuse to see how much deeper and serious this all goes.

This especially goes double for PLUSHY SALES.

Like i love plushies, and am guilty of buying a few of some characters I love from some unfinished games. Hell I want one of Z from Favor lmao Wanna smooch and cuddle that little demon up to bits!

But boy will not deny, some shouldn't exist or try to exist until the game is near its completion or already done.

Also don't get me started on those games made just for merch sales...Tell me you're just in it for the money without telling me.

And if some of those plushy fund raisers don't become a success...Often they just do more harm than good for the creator's confidence in their own work and game in general.

When in reality, the game might just be fine as is. The funding very likely just failed because your game isn't finished, or people aren't that confident in throwing money at something that big yet. (Especially if there's a lack of confidence on the creator coming through with their promises. Especially if money is involved.) Focus more on the game development and getting it finished, than massive merch sales first.

And if you do want to sell merch as a artist in general, while still working on that game. Then start off SMALL, test the waters. Keychains, stickers, buttons, art prints, etc.

OP tweet is a joke fyi but sadly its something some truly believe in.

Now we have another one to add to the list of "consent" for adult women or fem-leaning on looks(fictional/real):

Height of consent

Breast size of consent

Facial structure of consent

Also...