Goat Hill Mansion
A lone figure wanders amongst the misty marshes with a longing.
A young woman is looking for a fresh start .
- A gothic suspense visual novel where you need nerves to make choices.
- Made for Spooktober 6th Annual Visual Novel Jam.
- The game is short, approx. 15 minutes.
- There is only one ending - if you don´t count the game over! (o_o);
Content Warnings
This game contains depictions of violence and themes of death, and occasional flashes of light.
Credits:
Programming, Godot Master, Voice Acting (Mr. Cat): ut-elias
Art & Visual Design: metalmiku
Narrative Design & Writing, Game Design, Audio Direction: Ester
3rd party resources:
Music: HarumachiMusic
SFX: Atelier Magicae, Pixabay, Krotos Fundamentals Sound Library
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Comments
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Thanks and congrats to the whole team! I agree with both the previous posters. The art is beautiful, and I loved the historical detail. I really enjoyed the nerve mechanic as well; it's so fitting for a gothic suspense. The writing is also nice, but I do agree the beginning is stronger and that the 'monster' reveal at the end didn't quite match the gothic tone set at the beginning. That said, I totally understand! I entered the jam myself, and I know how short once month can be! (And how rewarding it feels to have finished in time.) So amazing job for the one-month deadline, and if you keep working on this, I am absolutely going to check it out! :)
Thank you! The team appreciates all the feedback! And yes, it was super rewarding to get this done for the game jam, so I give you that silent “ah, a fellow traveller, who’s been in Spooktober-quest too”-nod with a smile 😉
The writing feedback does give me affirmation to follow that hunch while writing, it is delicate balancing of creative solutions while being true to yourself under pressure.
There will be definitely an extended game to check out for in future as the characters didn´t get all the story they´d deserve, so thank you for the support! : )
The cat is very cute! As Sun Labyrinth mentioned, I really liked the fashion illustration style and it gave it a good atmosphere. The reveal at the end didn't seem to suit it much. I was expecting (im trying to not spoil anything) something more natural or mystical or eldritch? Probably because of time constraits their motives or ending wasn't expanded upon which made it feel a bit underwhelming for me. The start was very very strong though!
may have simped for them until the kitchen scene... the design is gorgeous
Aww, "Mr.Cat is pleased”, I think the art is very fitting for the game too. And yes, as the writer I did struggle for not having enough time to build the story with my pace of writing. I did realise after spending time polishing the beginning that “nope, can´t keep polishing the writing like this, there's no time!”, but still I'm glad that the extra work I did for the beginning shows.I have to confess that in the end I just felt victorious for having completed a story for the game, but I agree that there definitely is room for development.
A much extended polished game with multiple endings is definitely in order…;)
The sprite art is simply beautiful, kind of reminds me of vintage/60s fashion illustration (I would love to see more art like this in VNs) . The gothic atmosphere, suspense, and the 'nerves' mechanic all came together really well - and I enjoyed the twist at the end. I wasn't expecting that monster reveal. :-)
Thank you so much! The team appreciates the feedback and yes, the artist was quite meticulous making her study on fashion for the characters, and likely there will be more of that art in future VNs too : )
I’m so blind to my own writing, so good to hear that it had impact! I’m also glad my mad idea of implementing a game mechanic while writing a visual novel paid off XD I knew I was onto something.