I thought to make a Postmortem now that it has passed a few but let us get started. This was a memory to my past where a friend told me I should try making one. So yeah! Note: You are highly recommended to finish the game before reading this postmortem to get an idea what I was doing when making the game.

ORIGINAL CONCEPT

Now, originally when making the RPG Maker game, I was making a visual novel out for the month but the problem is RIGHT AGAIN. I was being too ambitious and the plugins are very limited when it comes to these types of games. I should've ran with Ren'py but I don't have time to switch programs so it was scrapped immediately.

So the actual assets where I got Mary's idea was from an original character of mine named Seraphim. Seraphim's a demonic humanoid sheep so the main point for the original game is to heavily use storytelling and unsettling body horror. The game is originally going to be called 'The Monster I Wished To Kill'. Of course, didn't fly.

Reminder,,, I had the full idea of the game after that when I was about to sleep. That's when I got to start sketching the next day to get some design ideas. Microorganisms have different shapes and sizes in this universe but all protagonist and partners run with the same body types with different appearances that allow even the child or adult to identify with the character.

PLANNING

This was the original concepts when I was designing. While this would have been a good idea at the time, I don't see how that fits into the theme. These are all inspired by Silent Hill monster analysis by people who made in-depth research on the designs and Mary could have been even more small! She would technically be a child that you have to be running away from the monsters with your weird cat! This concept will come back later in a future game but for now, this was the original Mary design.

I did another concept when I was remembering what I was thinking during my sleep. I quickly drafted a few designs.

Now, originally Mary is named Maria because of a 'HOHOHO SILENT HILL 2 REFERENCE MARY AND MARIA SAME PERSON ALL ALONG'. But last minute change to Marie is because it sounds much better. Mary's design was very much all around the same structure body as most microorganism (female line) with their dress type bodies. I definitely kept the eyes during the 3 sketch phases but in the end I had to decide whether I should give her pigtails or not just as some of them.

Lamby wasn't even referred to as Lamby either! Their name was Lamb only and their actual name is Aries like the zodiac sign for sheep (yeah why did I think it was clever?). Making Lamby is already difficult because I still want people to acknowledge its a sheep but microorganism version and not just some horror body creature from the unknown being called as a 'sheep' despite not looking like one. So yes, the Lamby you see now has nubbies and just a mouth.

The Mary you currently see in-game is the final version being used where I used the idea from my original character earlier (Seraphim) by the ear design and brought it to Mary. Making her different from Rudy from the previous game as a protagonist knowing that Rudy VERY well has his iconic scarf, Mary had a red hood and a different personality to make up the difference.

THE INSPIRATIONS (GAMEPLAY & MUSIC)

I think I said it quite frequently through out my replies, my itch.io and my game but my fascination with Silent Hill games and JP era horror is something that made me super happy and the reasons to my making of more horror aesthetic games by 'quiet horror'. I will recommend about a few videos what I use for inspirations.

Izzy's video on the Path is the huge inspiration on what I made minimal into this game. Despite not being fully 'The Path' game by teaching the lessons of growing up, I use this opportunity to use the path as a choice what Mary's fragmented memories are considered to be as. If you ask me are the paths canon or not? I let you draw your own conclusion as I like to hear people's thoughts. I recommend watching this video and another of hers that additionally adds a deep dive to this video.

TotallyPointlessTV's video on Silent Hill series is what I use constantly when having to revisit memory lane on how good this game is. Though, to be honest,,, if you know very well how Silent Hill 2 works, then you should probably get a gist where I am getting at with the 'Microorganism' world. I'm not the best or first person for trying to make a game similar to Silent Hill so I know that's why I leave it as a core inspiration for most of my designs and game ideas. I highly recommend watching Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 4 (also known as Silent Hill: The Room) by them as they become the base line of my ideas.

Connor McGrath's video on quiet horror is another baseline idea where the idea of why I think jumpscares are not my thing. I feel like the idea of 'horror' has become a staple to scaring people by jumpscaring or chasing them because I am TIRED. I tell you, TIRED of horror games that do that to me that. I wanted something that scares me by the unknown. Something that isn't going to hurt me but terrifies me. Psychological horror is what I want to achieve the most out of all my ideas and games and I want people to be frighten by relatability or something that they cannot control.

In Defence of Walking Simulators by Pixel A Day gave a wonder insight on 'walking simulators' or well, that is what my game did. This is a justification to where I think, if you put things to do, does it have relevancy to the plot? That's what I was thinking for a bit because if I didn't watch this video, I would have immediately go out to do the same thing I did with Borrowed Book with some fetch and pick up quests. Realising it won't be relevant to Mary to do a fetch quest as she is the ONLY character other than Lamby to exist in the current place, I only made it walking related. Please watch the video I highly recommend it!

Survival Spheres has always been the reason why I started learning how to make atmospheric music. I couldn't achieve similarly as them but they make great alternative music to Silent Hill and Resident Evil which is why I listen to their songs on stream and even during my designing process to get into the mood. I wanted Mary to express the same feelings how I felt along the way. 

Not just that, Avith Ortega's songs are also another reason I wanted to learn music inspired in Silent Hill aspects. Atmosphere and melancholy is something very common to what I've done so many times in my games and I use that as an effect to people. I want people to feel that heavy expression. I want people to feel that heavy weight on their backs dreading. This is what Mary had A Lost Lamb ran with some inspirations for some of the songs per say? I mean,,, well if you seen on Discord in the RPG Maker Game Jam server, I shared my process that only two of the songs were made for the game. 4 of the other songs were adjusted from my previous music album/singles as I have a time limited but it works well.

THE STUPID INSPIRATIONS FOR THE ENDINGS [EASTER EGGS]

You probably didn't know this but all the endings are not only open ended, they are a huge easter egg to the horrors I love as a kid. They are not going to affect or be relevant to the story plot but it'll be nostalgic to those who have seen it before.

ENDING 1 EASTER REFERENCE:

Missing Halloween is an animation made in 2015 that runs a cute and macabre theme. A story where a boy gains a new friend. If you watch the full video, you'll get where the easter egg referenced at.

ENDING 2 EASTER REFERENCE:

Zombie Cat Evolution is a game made by CAT ALPACA GAMES made in 2016. Now if you remember my Microorganism world having an evolution line from Borrowed Book, then this is a HUGE homage to my actual inspiration when creating the microorganisms (originally known as Microrot) as a kid. Evolution games were like a thing where I liked as a kid specifically the horror ones like these. Evolution is part of the universe as well like Tamagotchi but at the time, I wasn't thinking of Tamagotchi that much. I just like how the cats devour their enemies and become even weird!

ENDING 3 EASTER REFERENCE:

There is nothing much with this other than if you look into Mary had a Little Lamb Wikipedia, you can see a parody section that describes the father shooting the lamb and making the lamb into a sandwich. This one is more twisted.

THOUGHTS

I... didn't expect this game to blew up on the horror tag. It was just a simple game like the other one so I was surprised it's popular and trended along with the other horror games which I'm smiling in a good way. It's not the best work I admit, there are still grammatical errors when I was rushing to get this game done and weird words being written because of how I understood from my brain but blowing up like this?

It's actually insane. It surpassed my previous game that I know very well that Borrowed Book is MUCH longer and had a lot more things to do based on task but Mary who don't have a task other than finding her lamb? It's insane and I hope to keep doing this again in the future. I want to make stories out of my universe when I was a kid. That same universe made in 2016 where I just want to make an evolution game now becomes an actual thing.

TIPS FOR NEW GAME JAM USERS WHO PLAN TO MAKE RPG MAKER HORROR ORIENTED GAMES LIKE MY STYLE

I know many people may have been wondering as the bonus room didn't have that much but, I can answer it here.

1. Watch a lot of psychological horror by people who made videos on it in-depth. 

Psychological horror is very popular now with trends of digital horror, mandela catalogue... and sorts. If you want people to be interested, I want you to also ask yourself, what are you afraid of? If you cannot be scared when making your own game, then it would bound to fail in the first place. (Not really, but it be considered a weak horror.)

I highly recommend watching Lextorias' video on how some games no longer are scary by big titles you probably acknowledge existing!

2. Please do NOT rely on jumpscares or chase mechanics for your games. If you want an impact, get your story straight to the point and don't add game mechanics that are not going to be relevant to your game.

If you recap from the video I gave regarding 'In Defence of Walking Simulator' and 'I Want More Quiet Horror', my point still stands. If you're going to add those either way, you have to reconsider again if it's going to help or force the player to go to a direction or you're technically just doing that to get a cheap scare from someone. Some will be fun and some be boring but at some point, you will have to come back to remember this.

3. AMBIENCE GET SOME NOISE AND SOUNDS PLEASE-

Sounds are literally the best thing to be set in horror. I want you to close your eyes and try listening to random music. You'd feel different despite not having sight in the first place. If you can set the ambience of the place correctly to your horror game, not only you'll achieve the visuals of horror, you can let them be scared of the 'unknown' that probably would reach out to them. Please do not literally add or remove music without experiencing it yourself to see if it impacts the scene more.

4. Visuals

Please be very aware what colours you use. I have seen people who made horror failed to actually set the tone of the environment. Now there is nothing wrong with like failing the environment. It's just that if you REALLY want people to feel unsettled and you aren't good at art, find a way to make the environment fit what your game is meant to represent. 

Making an environment dark is great for those who fear the dark but do not be afraid to use things I do like for the setting I did for Mary had Lost Her Lamb and Borrowed Book, both start off with a cutesy environment. Only by the ends, it becomes much darker by using darker appearances of the environment.

Do keep in mind, this is how I do my horror. Other people may have different ideas of horror and visuals which is why I recommend a lot of videos in this postmortem so others can watch what inspired me so deeply. There is no right or wrong in horror however there is always a 'impactful' horror that you will realise sooner holds you better than weaker ones.

THE FUTURE FOR THE MICROORGANISM WORLD

To be honest, I had a lot of things planned last year but Mary was not meant to exist part of the world until this year. Every microorganism had a reason existing in that world and they all have different stories to begin with however, they all connect with ONE thing. I won't say too much but again, my inspiration is Silent Hill! If you know Silent Hill enough to look into the whole series, then you can see where I'm going for.

We don't talk about Silent Hill Ascension... it's... god awful.

Anyway, who knows when I'll make a game again. I don't draw my microorganism OCs on my Twitter that much but you can watch me improve my art in the mean time. Who knows, I may be collaborating with a friend on a game! We'll just wait and see in the future. Thank you so much for anyone playing the game and I hope this postmortem will give you an insightful impact on what I have been doing so far with the stuff and how to end up like me who just... does things for experimental fun!