Beyond the Fairy Tale: a Dialogue with the Stars

I didn't leave a review! aghhhh! Annelise! 10000/10! 

I love the NVL style! You did a great job with this project and I love the narrative itself along with your own personal journey getting this project out and the changes that were made.

The CG's are so gorgeous, and the poetic story telling just sells it even more!

Annelise, Annelise, ANNELISE! Honestly (the prince too- but I am just like him, just floored by her heart and strength!)

I said everything in more that I could say in my playthrough, but goodness! For anyone other than Chim reading, play the game!

What a sweet and heartwarming story.

The music was just wonderful. I enjoyed every second. ☆🥿

This was so sweet and endearing!

I love the soft Prince with no self-confidence and the way he gains the determination to fight for Annelise. And I love how Annelise appreciates the Prince for what he is, even though he's not what she expected. 💕

I think you nailed the fairytale vibe with this, with how it looks, how they talk about love, and how you describe the scene.

Lovely little game. 🤧💕

This was a lovely introduction to the world of Annelise, brimming with tender heartfeltness. The music box is slightly melancholic and sentimental, suiting the game perfectly. The way the illustrations are set up is very storybook-like, but the illustrations themselves are incredibly vibrant, brimming with colors that are very "celestial," like a nebula. They really evoke a romantic, hopeful feeling, especially with the pink-tinged pictures against the dark, starry sky. I appreciated the use of NOVL mode as well, as it suited the game and lent more to the storybook-style. 

While the narrative stays true to the Cinderella tale, I think it builds on it in a meaningful manner, offering rich characterization to both leads. Instead of the prince saving Cinderella from her life of abuse, Cinderella (Annelise) recognizes the prince's own suffering - his own cage of responsibilities. Despite being on polar opposite ends of the social spectrum, they're both just people trapped by their circumstances. 

The phrasing "beyond the fairy tale" refers to how they both look beyond each other's "roles" to see each other for who they truly are - as humans, as people. They both start off "in the fairytale" (with Henri wondering what story Annelise is from, and Annelise likening Henri to a fairytale prince), before, at the end, wishing to go "beyond." Annelise imagines a fairytale prince, and she finds him, but at the same time she also recognizes his vulnerabilities, the parts of him that make him not very fairytale-like at all. Similarly, Henri wants to save Annelise, but not because she's a damsel, but because he recognizes her desire to be free. It's touching that, despite their own respective woes, they're both wholly focused on one another (Annelise especially gosh this girl does not have time to be worrying about the prince right now). 

The symbolism of the glass slipper was ESPECIALLY clever! The slipper, at the end of the day, is a symbol of Annelise's continued "captivity," a facade that she used to live out the fairytale that she wished for - a fragile shoe that is only suitable for doing a restrained dance in the ballroom, and nothing more. I like how, rather than wanting to fit the shoe to Annelise, Henri wants to break her free from it - to break her free from that limited, fairytale version so that she can finally do what she wishes. 

(Edit but I also thought that the development of Annelise's character that you mentioned in the postmortem was absolutely beautifully conveyed here, as she is able to recognize the cruelty of people but still struggles to accept it in the people that she calls her family.)

Overall this was a LOVELY and ABSOLUTELY ROMANTIC experience, and a perfect entry to a perfect jam!!!

This was a very sweet tale! The whole experience was very charming and had a perfect storybook feel!

This was such an adorable game! We loved the atmosphere and the art/animations so much! The way the Prince was characterized was refreshing and relatable. People are scary :’)

Awww, I love this line
"I didn't know princes could look so sorrowful"

The doodles on the side accompanying the illustrations are such a lovely touch, and so are the floating stars <3 I appreciate how you pulled a Prince Charming character down to life and showed his insecurities too

God this was beautiful!! 😭💕 I'm having a difficult time trying to word just how absolutely immaculate and ethereal it was. Like every single inch of it was doing something to add to that poignant fairy tale feeling, whether it was the GUI, the gorgeous paintings, the font, the page turning sounds, the music box-esque music, right down to the story itself and how magical and heartfelt and true it felt as it nestled its way straight into my heart. I think I said this on your Twt as well but I feel like this game is truly the quintessential fairy tale game. It literally embodies everything about this jam and just feels so magical and sweet SOB 🥺💕

WHERE DO I BEGIN??? Maybe the GUI because it was the first thing that I saw upon loading it up. It truly feels like opening up a virtual storybook right on your computer, I absolutely love it ahhhhh. From the subtle page textured BG, to the beautiful calligraphic font. And then the little page turning noises whenever the CG image changed!! I felt like I could have been all snuggled up with a bedtime story right in my bed. And along with that just the layout itself! How you used NVL mode without any borders or anything for the text so it really felt like it was right on the page. And how you used those pink borders for your images so they felt like old-fashioned storybook illustrations.

SPEAKING OF THE IMAGES GODDDDD THEY'RE SO BEAUTIFUL. Quite possibly my favorite part of the whole game and definitely a major highlight, as they're beyond gorgeous. Every single one of them looked like a hand-drawn painting, especially with the texture and the coloring and the watercolor gradients. I love how you chose which ones to include and how each one inspired a slightly new page layout, often kind of switching back and forth as the story itself switched back and forth between Henri and Annelise. And the subtle use of those soft floating lights was so magical!! I feel like you should really consider illustrating children's books HAHAHA they were so stunning. Heck, I'd be so intrigued to see what this story could look like if it were printed as a physical storybook 👀

The story was so sweet and touching. I loved how instead of only focusing on the "Cinderella" role character of Annelise we also see the prince's view -- and how you portrayed him practically broke my heart. To see him being crushed by the expectations of his family and peers, to never be seen as enough, to have all his interests and things that he loves mocked and looked down upon. But then only Annelise didn't care about any of that. Didn't care about who he was. Accepted him for who he was in that fleeting dance they shared. It was such a sweet and unique take on the Cinderella story and one where I felt like I could relate so much to both Henri and Annelise in different ways and how they constantly feel like they can't be loved for who they really are. I mentioned this a bit earlier but I really love the way you juxtaposed the two different POVs, going back and forth between them until they came together at the end on the same line -- and then juxtaposing the two final images along with the text. It was such a beautiful way to portray the story. And even though we don't see what happens after that, in my heart I feel like things will be better for both of them and they'll find each other again. (Also the little final sketch on the credits page was so cute lakdjfasld)

Sob sob sob just an absolutely wonderful and beautiful game. It was especially touching for me somehow as I've been having some rough days this last week and I found this to be incredibly comforting and calming to play. Thank you for sharing this game with the world (and for creating this jam in general!!! to have so many beautiful fairy tale games to experience). It was such a lovely experience and I'm definitely going to be replaying it more than once just to experience it all over again lkadfds

This was so beautifully written and a wonderful retelling of Cinderella! Henri was amazing and the art fit the fairytale themes perfectly!