Thank you for your patience. I’m here to announce the result for the Spooky Jam!









❝
          This is such an adorable character asset! Spooky is an expressive ghost sprite. Her ghostly body can change color depending on her mood! That’s such a cool concept! 
The art style for this entry is also rather unique. The outline of the character is outlined using a textured brush which gives a flavorful touch to the character. There’s almost to no shading on the sprite which is a bit regretful. It can be an artistic choice, but shading can add a little more depth to the character.

We’re looking forward to seeing people using this asset on their game in the future! We will give 1,500 points to CookieCorn as a thanks!

❞

❝
          I love that it stays true to its color palette and successfully achieved the spooky vibe. The wiggly line art gives a sense of illusion as if the mansion itself is not real and we are in the world of nightmares. There is room for improvement for the plantation, for example, at the garden, the grass looks closer to being hairy than grassy. Maybe next time, you can use a variety of brush sizes for the grass so it will look more lively. We have to say good job as you’re doing a good job with the one-point perspective. It looks really neat. The combination of purple and green is definitely a brilliant choice of colors, as it really gives you the vibe of spooky Halloween. 

We hope this asset can be useful to many people, thus we will give this entry 2,000 points.

❞

❝
          Although this character asset is meant to be a base character, we believed the character as it is very usable as one of the cool monster sprites in a game. There are many variations of this character which include several skin variations and poses. The shading of the character can be improved with a bit more soft shading and clear indication of the light source. That said, considering this asset is supposed to be base, it’s not that important.

Thank you for joining the jam, SpringMetal4316. We will give 3,000 points for this entry.

❞

❝
          Our first impression when seeing this character was that we were impressed with the character design. She’s so pretty! We love the combination of the warm and cold colors in the design. It really brings out the attention to the character. Then, when we saw her demon form, we felt we caught off-guard. Actually, we didn’t expect that coming, but it was a nice surprise! The pose of the character was a bit stiff in our opinion. Probably because one side was too flat, while the side with arms had a lot more shapes when looking at her silhouette. To make a pose more dynamic, we would recommend KuroAkiza to turn the sprite into a silhouette to ensure they were balanced.

We are happy that we were given a chance to see this KuroAkiza, therefore we will give this entry 5,000 points.

❞

❝
          If we have to summarize this game in a single line, it will be… “You think it is wholesome, until it is not.”

In this game we play as a character who received a game console that only has a pet raising simulation game, GIGAGHOST in it. At first, our character is not thrilled receiving but plays it anyway because what’s the harm, right? Well, that’s our first mistake.

This game is indeed like the pet game, tamagotchi. Only difference is we’re now raising a ghost, instead of an animal pet. The mechanic of this game is pretty basic. We can take care of the ghost by feeding, patting and playing sports with it. After that, we end the day. Until, one day, our ghost pet starts talking to us.

Honestly, there is not much of a plot here. Questionably, if there is actually one… However, the jump scares are very much cute. It is honestly not as scary as we would expect it to be but one thing that got us the most is the scream at the ending. No one expected that.

The art in this game is original and cute. We love how innocent the ghost looks right until the end. I love the mix of pixel and non-pixel in the game and thankfully, the different art styles did not clash together and were beautifully in harmony.

The soundtrack of this game really reminded us of Undertale which is very suitable with the pixelly appearance of the game. There is unfortunately only one music in the entire game, so it gets pretty rather mundane after a while. Maybe if this game had more music variations or SFX depending on the mood, it’ll give a better experience.

Thank you for this cute game, LUC1GO7CH1Sama, we will give this entry 6,500 points.

❞

Spoiler







❝
          We’re surprised to have two entries with similar concepts in the same jam but looking closely, they’re actually different.

Mu Shr-homie is told from a player perspective playing a game called Mu Shr-homie in which the player has a virtual mushroom girl as a roommate. The gameplay consists of changing the roommate’s outfit’s color, feeding her some sweets, and having fun time together. As a player, we have to make sure her happiness and health levels are in tip-top shape. Well, that is… until we leave her.

There is not much story in this game. We’ll have to just make sure the bars are full but because it gets full rather slowly, it gets boring after repeating the same action again and again. Something we really enjoyed from this game is that action gives out different dialogues and it changes depending on the days we’re leaving the girl. Even so, there’s not much information about how we found this virtual mushroom girl. Actually, no information about the “player” at all which is a shame because it can give the story a bit more depth and interesting.

The design of this game is really adorable. We love the saturated pastel colors because it made the bright colors really contrast with the gameplay. We loved how the glitches design in the second play through, especially the bloody play button that really foreshadows what to come next. Great job with the art!

The music was also beautifully chosen. It does get a little boring because there are not much changes in the gameplay but it’s not something we can complain about. It does feel creepy in the second playthrough because of the contrast, but maybe if there’s another slow version of the background music for the second playthrough, it will be creepier. Then again, we believed the music was a common creative resource so we don’t have any complaints actually because we understand that resources can be limited.

We’ve enjoyed the game thoroughly, CATmechu and we will be giving this entry 7,000 points.

❞

Spoiler: Mu Shr-homie







❝
          The description of this game is very simple.

A trio of friends has a tradition: go to an abandoned house every year around Halloween. This year, things are a little different.

And just like its description, the game is also very simple. We followed the viewpoint of Katherine, one of the trio, who has repeatedly gotten detention to the point that her friends called the detention room, her home. Ever since they found an abandoned house when they’re kids, they had been making a tradition to go to that house every Halloween. This year, however, gets a little bit interesting when her friend jokingly told the spirit to take Katherine away.

This game has a very fast pacing. We’re surprised at how fast the story quickly turns dark and it’s so fast pacing to the point it almost comical to us. Although the premise is somewhat intriguing, there’s no depth to the plot. We could also argue that this game might not have a plot at all. If there’s one, it is full of holes.

It made us wonder if the trio had done the same ritual every year, shouldn’t they know if the ritual works or not? If so, why would they do it again? Or is that why Katherine’s friend could bravely joke and tell the spirit to take her away? Because from the previous years’ experience, the ritual would just not work? However, if it is the same ritual, why would it work this time and not the previous years? If it is not the same ritual, why would she do that to a friend - or best friend, we would say, considering they have known each other for a long time? 

There are many questions left unanswered in this game because the creator, EliseAyume has decided to focus more on the horror element, instead of the plot. Which is not a bad thing, to be honest. As a result, this game is very creepy and enjoyable to play during Halloween. However, what a missed opportunity because this game could have the plot AND the creepy, horror element at the same time.

There are not much to comment about the art because they are common creative resources. However, we would very much love to applaud at EliseAyumu’s effort on choosing the right music tracks for this game. It really helps build the tension a lot and made us more immersed when playing the game.

Thank you so much for your effort, EliseAyume. We would love to give you 7,500 points for this entry.

❞

Spoiler









❝
          This game is about three kids playing a game called Unforgotten Realms. Although reluctant at first, Timmy managed to persuade his friends, Mike and Rob to play the game made by him. Soon, we entered their world of imagination to go on an adventure to defeat Harvey the Pumpkin.

The plot of this story is very, very simple but for some reason, we actually thought this was an RPG-like event set up by the whole town to celebrate the Hallowe- I mean, Hallowboleen which was wrong, we’re actually following a game of imagination by the three characters in the game, Timmy, Mike and Rob. The characters in this visual novel are interesting and fun to read, especially Mike aka Sir Schoompy (and a lot other names) who would grow on you over the time. However, we had to say that Skeleton was rather a fun character. We’ve only met him for a brief moment but he's cute and quirky. We also would love to give JohnnyOmaha a round of applause for the effort they put for the rhyme in Harvey's dialogue.

As for the art, there was a sense of imbalance when the character art is very much different in comparison to the main menu illustration and the background images. Probably because of the texture. The background images are highly textured and grainy but the character art is so buttery smooth. Maybe, this can be improved if the character art also has a little bit of texture in their shading. We love the drawing of Harvey's backstory. It deserved an applause!

Then, the next thing we noticed is that the text box of this game is too big. It takes up around half of the screen. While it may make the text easier to read with a bigger font and all that, it also made it hard for us to focus on everything behind the textbox which included the character animation and the bigger font can easily feel more overwhelming if someone doesn't like to read, play this game.

The music is amazing! In fact, it was the music on the main menu that really gave us a nice first impression for this game. The music built up the mood for the game, whether it had to be tense when we met Harvey or when it had to be fun and happy! We love the music choices in this game.

We’re very much impressed with this game so we will give 8,000 points to Johnny

❞

Spoiler







❝
          Play as Greyson who was living alone in his house during Halloween until he heard a sound coming from his attic which led him to find a cute ghost who had been living there for decades!

This visual novel tells a very cute and rather sad romance story. There are few choices in the game and it only has two endings. As far as the romance goes, it’s really cute, but only that. To us, H.M’s affection towards Greyson seems rather superficial as it feels like it stems from his love towards Greyson’s look-a-like and his old lover, Casey. There is not much effort made to build the romance between the two of them. The game also has not really given us a reason as for why Greyson fell for H.M, other than he’s so cute. Overall, this game feels really rushed. It has a high potential to have a heartwarming, touching story, but because it was so rushed, it almost failed to do that.

The art for this game is original and adorable! We love every artwork created for this game. The character design for H.M really suits his personality! The illustrations for the CGs are delightful! The textbox designs is also cute but we do not think it is a good idea to have a white text on top of white/orange text box even when the text box. Furthermore, considering several background arts are very light-colored, it made the text a bit challenging to read.

That said, we had to commend your effort with the music choices. Although it pretty much only has several soundtracks, the clever usage of it felt like the music fits the mood perfectly and sounds refreshing.

Thank you for the cuteness, feelingpeachyy! We will give this entry 8,500 points.

❞

Spoiler








❝         
          We like how we are first greeted with the ‘Welcome to Raven Reach’ line on the Main Menu. It really made us want to expect what's next to come!

Raven Reach: All Hallow’s Eve tells a story of a strange little town, Raven Reach which we have recently moved into a small cottage at the graveyard. While on the way to the Halloween Party, you’ve encountered an uninvited guest from another world who had arrived to hunt on the night of Halloween.

The storyline in this game is pretty interesting. Although the word count of this game is short, only over 3,000 words, there are actually many endings which gives this game a high replayability value. The writing and the pace of the line is also good. However, while the game has many endings, most of them are related to our character dying so the main choices of this game was to survive. We were hoping there’s a little bit more extension to the choice conclusion before we died but we still enjoyed playing the game nevertheless.

Regarding the art, not much to comment. They are simply gorgeous. We love the art style. The character designs are very pretty and handsome. Because they’re all dressing up for the party, it made us wonder how they would look normally. The room background though was drawn at a rather high viewpoint. Because of that, it gave us a little bit of discomfort because the high viewpoint was supposed to make us look down at the characters but the sprites of the character are at normal eye level. Just a little bit of discrepancy.

The music is superb. It actually gives us a little bit of comedic relief because the soundtracks reminded us of the Plant VS Zombie game but frankly, it actually suits the game! We love it!

We really wish this game had a sequel! Thank you CastleCovenGaming, this game deserved 9,000 points from us.

❞

Spoiler







❝
          This is such a wholesome game!

We played as a red wolf who had broken their friendship with their friends. Unexpectedly, the old friend, Ame, came to our door at evening of Hollo Night. Thus, we’ll be given choices to shut the door right on her face, or invite her in and probably rekindle the lost friendship… or maybe, more?

First, we have to compliment the text box design. It has a unique design and looks pretty! Although the height of the text box is rather short, it complemented the pacing of the story that is more relaxing and laid-back.
 
This game is not scary at all. In fact, it is very cozy and warm. Reading through the story, the plot has subtle depth in it. We loved how it reminds us of the storybooks found at Barnes & Noble. It made us question, what is the meaning of “Friendship” and “Alone”? Are we still “alone” if we still have someone that still cares for us? Or, is “friendship” so fragile that it can shatter with a single misunderstanding and word of hate?

The art of this game is completely original. We love how traditional the art looks despite being drawn digitally. The character design of each character is faithful to their personality. We especially love how gorgeous the ending CG illustrations are for each ending. It really encourages us to replay and get more endings just so we can collect more ending CGs.

The music tracks chosen for this game really suits the game’s overall vibe. It’s cozy, it’s warming our heart. Overall, we would definitely recommend this game to people who would like to enjoy their Halloween in their cozy bedroom.

We really enjoy playing this so we would love to give this game 9,000 points and congratulations ShotoNemar for winning the special Sailor Moon figurine!

❞

Spoiler







❝
          Among all other entries, this game is such a classic horror.

It tells a story of three girls having a sleepover until one of them, Yui convinced her bestfriends Naomi and Yuri to sneak into the school in the middle of the night after hearing the rumors about it being haunted by spirits. Not only that it was a reckless choice but it also ended up being a choice that they will regret the most in their life.

The writing is pretty simple but it also suffers for some basic grammatical mistakes which can easily be fixed if SyntheOtaku ran the script through a grammar checker program. Fortunately, most mistakes are minimal so it did not affected the playing experience for the most part but there were some lines with incorrect word being used, for example the word “sprang” was supposed to be “sprain”. 

That said, the story is rather intriguing and never once in this game we felt like we were bored playing it. We loved the jumpscares, the blood and the horror elements in this game. It is also interesting how SyntheOtaku implemented a drag and drop minigame in the game to give us more interaction with the characters. However, while the game itself is very entertaining, the characters’ deaths in the game are rather disappointing. Somehow, all deaths in this game are treated very lightly. There were not many emotions when one of the girls died. Even in the bad ending, the main character’s death did not make us feel sad. It just feels “Oh, they died.”

Although that is such a missed opportunity, we cannot deny that we’re still enjoying the game right until the end. The replayability of this game is good. Furthermore, we have to adore how cute the original characters drawn SyntheOtaku and the fact that they edited the common creative assets to match the aesthetics of the game and the original characters is praise-worthy! Especially love the rain and the edited sprite from tokudaya!

Then, let’s talk about background music. Honestly, we did not notice how many soundtracks were used in the game because SyntheOtaku mainly used the rain sounds and silence very effectively that it gave us creeps every time jumpscares happened! We’ve gotta mention the perfect timing of the animations too! It’s really great!

To conclude this review, Sonya said that this was her favourite entry because in her opinion, this was the scariest entry in the Spooky Jam. She also thought that Kitomi is the best ghost! 

Therefore, we will award 10,000 points to SyntheOtaku for letting us have a good experience with the game.

❞

Spoiler
That's all for this jam! Next, we will have a Christmas Jam!

Thanks so much for the criticisms and tips!
(i really was in a rush to finish my entry. i'm not very efficient when it comes to stuff like this lmao)

And congratulations to everyone else, your entries were all amazing o0o

Thanks for the feedback. I was in a rush making the game since I work at night and don't have much time. The game will be updated with cG and those grammar mistakes will be corrected. I'm glad you enjoyed the game despite the short comings! And congrats to everyone else. The stuff this year were really great!

AAAAH thank you so much for the comments and the points and the figurine is amazing. I stare at it for hours now. 

Thank you so much!