Overall, I enjoyed the game! It was surprisingly complete, given its status as a jam game; while it could have used an editor to smooth out sentences and replace some awkward phrasing, I could easily understand it and it didn't really detract from the overall experience. There were only two places where the language usage caused actual confusion: Once during Dan and Lee's argument on the roof, when it almost sounded as if Dan were accusing Lee of being the murderer, and during Moon's interrogation, when some of the speaker's names and in-dialogue names were switched around. Again, nothing an editor/proofreader couldn't fix.
The art was clean and set the mood well, and it was clear that particular care was taken with Moon's sprite. The concept of the Half Moon is a fun one and could probably be expanded into a larger work, with this game serving as a prequel or sidestory. The endings made sense and I liked that being honest about his grudge got Moon's "best" ending, illustrating how destructive it can be to suppress your emotions, even if it was a little ambiguous at the end. As for critiques, I recommend making Dan's death appear in all routes: I went Let Him Talk -> Yes first and didn't see Dan's death, so while I assumed that Moon had dreamed of it, I wasn't sure because I the player hadn't seen it happen. I was also a little taken aback when Half Moon suddenly had speakers and a bear trap and everything, even though they disappeared when Half Moon did; the knives that killed Jun were fine but the gear that was used on Lee felt jarring, especially given that Dan was killed with a very real butcher's knife.
I enjoyed it a lot for what it was, and most of its flaws could be fixed with a little extra time and some proofreading. Good job, and thanks for uploading!
An interesting idea, held back by the one month development time. It was clear to me through playing, that thought had been put into what the story would be, but the writing and grammar fell flat. Majority of my time reading, or speaking out loud for my video, was spent having to decode how sentences were supposed to be read. It took me out of the moment almost constantly, which is a big disappointment for a game that's supposed to be psychological. I want to be immersed, but it will take more development time to get the game there.
My other criticism would be with the characters. No one stood out to me. Our MC being named Moon felt out of place, considering the game is called Half Moon. I understand you could interpret this as a literal Half Moon, or of the killer being half of him, but it was stated that there are other cases like this. I would've gone with another name, but perhaps it works.
I have more points, but I will leave it at this. Can I really complain too much about a Visual Novel that was only made in a month? I want this game to be truly great. It might be in the future. For now it is not, and I want my critique to serve as fuel to continue improving upon the idea of the "Half Moon Phenomenon" and making changes that will benefit the game going forward.
Thank you for the feedbacks, and yeah considering one month development, it is not enough time to polish the writing. We will put your input into consideration in our future works
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Overall, I enjoyed the game! It was surprisingly complete, given its status as a jam game; while it could have used an editor to smooth out sentences and replace some awkward phrasing, I could easily understand it and it didn't really detract from the overall experience. There were only two places where the language usage caused actual confusion: Once during Dan and Lee's argument on the roof, when it almost sounded as if Dan were accusing Lee of being the murderer, and during Moon's interrogation, when some of the speaker's names and in-dialogue names were switched around. Again, nothing an editor/proofreader couldn't fix.
The art was clean and set the mood well, and it was clear that particular care was taken with Moon's sprite. The concept of the Half Moon is a fun one and could probably be expanded into a larger work, with this game serving as a prequel or sidestory. The endings made sense and I liked that being honest about his grudge got Moon's "best" ending, illustrating how destructive it can be to suppress your emotions, even if it was a little ambiguous at the end. As for critiques, I recommend making Dan's death appear in all routes: I went Let Him Talk -> Yes first and didn't see Dan's death, so while I assumed that Moon had dreamed of it, I wasn't sure because I the player hadn't seen it happen. I was also a little taken aback when Half Moon suddenly had speakers and a bear trap and everything, even though they disappeared when Half Moon did; the knives that killed Jun were fine but the gear that was used on Lee felt jarring, especially given that Dan was killed with a very real butcher's knife.
I enjoyed it a lot for what it was, and most of its flaws could be fixed with a little extra time and some proofreading. Good job, and thanks for uploading!
An interesting idea, held back by the one month development time. It was clear to me through playing, that thought had been put into what the story would be, but the writing and grammar fell flat. Majority of my time reading, or speaking out loud for my video, was spent having to decode how sentences were supposed to be read. It took me out of the moment almost constantly, which is a big disappointment for a game that's supposed to be psychological. I want to be immersed, but it will take more development time to get the game there.
My other criticism would be with the characters. No one stood out to me. Our MC being named Moon felt out of place, considering the game is called Half Moon. I understand you could interpret this as a literal Half Moon, or of the killer being half of him, but it was stated that there are other cases like this. I would've gone with another name, but perhaps it works.
I have more points, but I will leave it at this. Can I really complain too much about a Visual Novel that was only made in a month? I want this game to be truly great. It might be in the future. For now it is not, and I want my critique to serve as fuel to continue improving upon the idea of the "Half Moon Phenomenon" and making changes that will benefit the game going forward.
Thank you for the feedbacks, and yeah considering one month development, it is not enough time to polish the writing. We will put your input into consideration in our future works