Two Can Play at This Game
A downloadable visual novel for Windows
Jealousy, desire, and seeing love as a prize to claim. Only one can win, but two can play at this game.
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Two Can Play at This Game follows the lives of robotics engineer X2-0, and robotics software developer HL - two lovers working in tandem with private investors for The State government to produce a working prototype of a Girlfriend Robot. A project of high importance intended to lead to the revolutionary restoration of an otherwise broken society. As the robot, LYNDA, enters her testing phase, X2-0 despairs for the state of the couple's already crumbling relationship. Will X2-0 be able to convince HL that her love as a human can surpass that of the perfect vision of an AI? Or will her fear be realised of being replaced entirely? Here are our main players:
Originally a comic script idea from 2020 that never saw the light of day, revived over 3 years later as a visual novel for the 2023 yuri jam. There's a lot of differences thematically between what it was initially conceived as a few years ago, and now. A lot has happened in my life since then that's directly influenced my outlook on things, and the sorts of topics that are deeply personal/important to me. The scope of it ended up expanding exponentially so the story I wanted to tell could not be condensed into a one shot anymore. The submission for the yuri jam contains half of Act 1 covering scenes 1 to 3 that I completed within the allotted time. Originally scene 4 was going to be included as well, but the fact of the matter is, I ran out of time. I didn't feel comfortable releasing something that looked half complete alongside the polish everywhere else in the game. I hope what is there can be enjoyed for what it is though, with the knowledge that it is an incomplete story in its current form.
A sound novel, currently the VN is roughly 16k words (approx 1 hour 30 minute read), has at least 12 distinct CGs, and an original OST!
A future update (hopefully in the first quarter of 2024) will contain the rest of Act 1 which covers scenes 4 to 6, as I think I need to take a little break before jumping right back into things.
This game is intended for mature audiences (much more so than my previous works), so viewer discretion is advised. Depictions and discussion include, but are not limited to: Unhealthy/abusive relationships, emotional/sexual abuse, mental disorders, ableism, sexual themes, violence/assault, and societal taboos. A more in depth breakdown of content warnings by scene can be found in a text file of the game’s folders (they do contain heavy spoilers, read at your own risk)
But if you feel any of the topics are too real within the work or triggering, it's best to stay safe and skip this one. You are responsible for your own well being.
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Development log
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Good Job ! I really liked it.
I really like sci-fi settings and slice of life and you seems to kinda mix them both (~^w^)~ Still, I'm left with way more questions than anwsers concerning HL and X-02. I'm really curious how their relation will evolve with LYNDA in the mix.
I'll (im)patiently wait for next update (^w^) <3
Good rest and good luck with that very long Scene 4 (^^)
So far this VN is so polished and well-put together! I understand why you'd want to take the necessary time to finish scene 4, this is really good so far. Besides the programming and sound/visual design, the concept of the story itself and the characters are so real and vibrant it really jumps out at you.
It's... not an easy story to read, but I mean that in a good way. Scene 2 especially was a harsh slap to the face, one I wasn't expecting to but which was very effective in what it wanted to do, I assume. I won't say I haven't drawn conclusions already, and it's probably not surprising that I don't like HL much after that scene, but it made her a much more deep and real character. Great writing for making me hate it like that (?
And I'm sure there'll be a lot more of that. It's exactly the kinda stuff I wanna see in visual novels. It's disturbing and real and anxiety-inducing, all the things I love in media. And with really good game design to boot. I wanna hug X2-0 and Lynda, they deserve the world.
Also I love that HL sleeps with her hat on. Perfectly ridiculous.
Loving this so far!!! I'll follow you and wait patiently for the rest of the game to come.
Aaaaaaaa thank you so much for your wonderful words! Aesthetically I really wanted to put my best foot forward and have everything be as polished/finished as possible upfront so I'm really happy to hear the VN succeeded there! I'm also glad to hear the writing has been enjoyable and engaging thus far, even with its thematic heaviness - it is a bit of a hard sell!
Perhaps as the author I should not extend my bias to the audience, and give my opinions on the characters at all, but I think HL is quite easy to detest. She has a very particular way in which she justifies and navigates her own actions, mainly to herself, that manifests in a sort of way where you ‘get it’ but it doesn't make it any less shitty or awful. X2-0 unfortunately buys into all of it, and jumps through countless mental hoops to sort of rationalize what she's done to ‘deserve it’ when there really isn't a validation for it. As the relationship isn't completely devoid of anything, X2-0 clings on to the smallest crumb of affection and highlights that above everything else. I think it is quite heartbreaking, personally. LYNDA is... She is trying her best. She is trying so hard and doesn't have a bad bone in her body. She is earnest in everything she does, even if X2-0 refuses to see it.
I'm also a huge fan of that sort of palpable tension and curiosity to really see where it goes in visual novels - I feel it’s a uniquely wonderful medium to tell certain kinds of much more difficult narratives without restraint. Everything comes together to deliver a one two punch as it all unfolds!
It will take quite a while for the full VN to be finished but I want to try to get out the next big part in a kind of timely manner if I can. I don't want to give any definitives but fingers crossed maybe around March!