THIS GAME IS SO GOOD?!?! My friend told me about it, thought why not, decided to play, and now it's been an hour and I'm obsessed. The art style is really good, the endings I've gotten so far are so interesting, and the 3 characters are so well-fleshed out it's scary. Genuinely a super good visual novel!
thank you so much!! :D and a big thanks to your friend for thinking to recommend this game haha ;; that's super sweet of them to do! i'm so glad that you're enjoying it, and i hope you have fun with the rest of the endings!
if you mean the sounds themselves, they were created by Sam Tudor, who made all of the music and sfx for HIKEBACK!
if you're asking how i made them play while dialogue showed, i'd recommend going through the Ren'Py cookbook to try out some of the programming techniques there to help answer your question. i used this page as reference, although it's now out of date, so you'd have to adjust it to modern ren'py haha
Man, I didn't even NOTICE that the clock was changing on the main screen.
But this was a fascinating experience, influenced by previous works but not quite like anything I have ever played or watched. It played with perspective, with choice, with both the meta-knowledge of the player and the knowledge the characters have. No one knows what they think they know in the way they think they know it at any point, including you. And I don't mean "you."
Most of all, this game plays with the idea of "endings," perhaps with more creativity than I've ever seen before. It reminds me a little of "No-One Has to Die," but whereas that game touches on the idea, this game takes it and sails off into the stratosphere.
this is an incredibly sweet and well-thought-out comment ;; thank you so much for playing, as well as for taking the time to share your thoughts. i'm so glad that you enjoyed HIKEBACK !! ^^
Okay, I just have to say, this is amazing! It was interesting and I couldn't stop playing until I made sure that I unlocked all the ending. Although I do have a question. Spoiler alert, btw. Who exactly wasshe? Was the place like a research center or something? Did he get that power or was it caused my experimentation?
thank you so much for playing HIKEBACK!! i'm really happy that you enjoyed it, and even spent the time getting all the endings! :D
as for your questions, i wanted to leave some things up to interpretation, so i recommend drawing your own conclusions. ^^ it seems like you're on the right track, though!
What a fantastic game! Perfectly polished in aesthetic and sound design, brilliantly written with some deep philosophical themes, and a plot that unfolds in a way that I didn't expect (especially considering that looping scenarios are a part of the gameplay) but which fits regardless. I loved how you balanced the reveals about both characters involved so that in the end they really were both on equal footing in terms of how the player may view them.
A lot of times when visual novels rely on "Groundhog Day" plots like this it can get a little tedious with trial and error gameplay, but the little and big changes you get as the game goes on kept me thinking about each choice I made even when I was in essence just trying to get to the true ending. Even after getting the true ending, I'm wondering about the choices I made in the end... Similarly, while at first I was a little put off at not being able to skip dialogue I've already seen before or roll back in case I missed something, even this really serviced the plot of the game in obvious ways later (no spoilers but I loved that mechanic btw.)
It blows my mind that you guys were able to put this together in ten days. Really amazing job!
every single comment has meant so much to me, but i'll admit, i keep coming back to this one just because of how much thought and care you put into it. this is incredibly sweet of you to say, and i really appreciate that you not only took the time to play the game, but also to let me know what you thought of it!
thank you so, so much ;; this was really lovely to hear, especially from a fellow visual novel fan!
I cant even begin to describe how amazing this game was. Besides from the amazing writing, to the visuals, to even the atmospheric music that complemented both of these, all together this game brought me on an exciting adventure to try to find all of the endings.
This game... I haven't even beaten it. I only got... maybe five endings? It's trippy, it's violent, it messes with my head. I feel like I'm seeing a part of reality I'm not supposed to, yet it's completely sensical and based loosely around reality. I don't fully understand it, or what any of the endings mean, or how to even unlock other endings.
It also feels strange that we're just strangers every time, that things always reset. Wish there were a way to make friends with.. myself. That's odd to say. But I wonder if there is a non-violent/friendly ending? There must be a true ending. But how many iterations must I go through?
thank you so much for commenting! there are definitely the "true" endings you seek; if you're stuck, i recommend trying to see what happens when the clock on the main menu passes 12
As of this second I just got the "true ending." I just... wow. I won't spoil it but I really didn't see this coming. It's well worth playing through to get all the endings, even if you have to replay old ones to get them. The game seems to kind of loop on itself and repeat, and sometimes it will feel as though it's looping the exact same thing without change. Trust me, just keep going. Make a different choice here, play a couple more times there, and the truth will finally reveal itself. And when it does... you'll likely feel as stunned as I do now.
This is a brilliant game from an even more brilliant mind. All I can say is a massive thank you to the creator for this masterpiece I experienced. This... this isn't a game. It's a full psychological experience that F*ks with your head and leaves you breathless. I'm not sure how to rate it, sadly, but it would get 10 stars if I could. In short, thank you, CLOWN, for your amazing gameplay
oh my god. This is definitely one of my favorite games now.... i'm so so glad i stuck with it instead of giving up when i thought i was stuck. please keep creating, i think the world needs art like this
thank you so much for your kind words! you'll know when you've gotten a true ending once you've seen the credits. if you're feeling stuck, try to see what happens when the clock on the main menu passes 12 ^^ i can also post a guide to all the endings within the next few days!
this comment almost brought me to tears haha ;; thank you so much for taking the time to play it, and for leaving such a sweet message too! i'm really glad that you enjoyed it ^^
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F I N A L L Y
IT IS DONE UNLESS... THERE IS A TRUE ENDING I AM NOT SEEING???!!
is there a secret ending im not seeing? because if there is then i will spend another of my whole entire school day finding it
NOPE you got them all!! amazing job! :D thank you so much for playing HIKEBACK and getting all of the endings omg
Y A Y
THIS GAME IS SO GOOD?!?! My friend told me about it, thought why not, decided to play, and now it's been an hour and I'm obsessed. The art style is really good, the endings I've gotten so far are so interesting, and the 3 characters are so well-fleshed out it's scary. Genuinely a super good visual novel!
thank you so much!! :D and a big thanks to your friend for thinking to recommend this game haha ;; that's super sweet of them to do! i'm so glad that you're enjoying it, and i hope you have fun with the rest of the endings!
How did you make the text's sound?
if you mean the sounds themselves, they were created by Sam Tudor, who made all of the music and sfx for HIKEBACK!
if you're asking how i made them play while dialogue showed, i'd recommend going through the Ren'Py cookbook to try out some of the programming techniques there to help answer your question. i used this page as reference, although it's now out of date, so you'd have to adjust it to modern ren'py haha
Thank you, the link helps!
https://youtu.be/ZY2A5ky7-ls
Guys go like and subscribe and check the video out 💯😎🙌🏾
thank you so much for making a video on HIKEBACK !!! :D if you'd like to play the other endings, i'd love to hear your thoughts on them ^^
yea i do some more brother no worries i let you know
Man, I didn't even NOTICE that the clock was changing on the main screen.
But this was a fascinating experience, influenced by previous works but not quite like anything I have ever played or watched. It played with perspective, with choice, with both the meta-knowledge of the player and the knowledge the characters have. No one knows what they think they know in the way they think they know it at any point, including you. And I don't mean "you."
Most of all, this game plays with the idea of "endings," perhaps with more creativity than I've ever seen before. It reminds me a little of "No-One Has to Die," but whereas that game touches on the idea, this game takes it and sails off into the stratosphere.
this is an incredibly sweet and well-thought-out comment ;; thank you so much for playing, as well as for taking the time to share your thoughts. i'm so glad that you enjoyed HIKEBACK !! ^^
Okay, I just have to say, this is amazing! It was interesting and I couldn't stop playing until I made sure that I unlocked all the ending. Although I do have a question. Spoiler alert, btw. Who exactly was she? Was the place like a research center or something? Did he get that power or was it caused my experimentation?
thank you so much for playing HIKEBACK!! i'm really happy that you enjoyed it, and even spent the time getting all the endings! :D
as for your questions, i wanted to leave some things up to interpretation, so i recommend drawing your own conclusions. ^^ it seems like you're on the right track, though!
What a fantastic game! Perfectly polished in aesthetic and sound design, brilliantly written with some deep philosophical themes, and a plot that unfolds in a way that I didn't expect (especially considering that looping scenarios are a part of the gameplay) but which fits regardless. I loved how you balanced the reveals about both characters involved so that in the end they really were both on equal footing in terms of how the player may view them.
A lot of times when visual novels rely on "Groundhog Day" plots like this it can get a little tedious with trial and error gameplay, but the little and big changes you get as the game goes on kept me thinking about each choice I made even when I was in essence just trying to get to the true ending. Even after getting the true ending, I'm wondering about the choices I made in the end... Similarly, while at first I was a little put off at not being able to skip dialogue I've already seen before or roll back in case I missed something, even this really serviced the plot of the game in obvious ways later (no spoilers but I loved that mechanic btw.)
It blows my mind that you guys were able to put this together in ten days. Really amazing job!
I agree! I like the whole atmosphere and that the clock changes too. I can tell a lot of programming went into this!
every single comment has meant so much to me, but i'll admit, i keep coming back to this one just because of how much thought and care you put into it. this is incredibly sweet of you to say, and i really appreciate that you not only took the time to play the game, but also to let me know what you thought of it!
thank you so, so much ;; this was really lovely to hear, especially from a fellow visual novel fan!
I cant even begin to describe how amazing this game was. Besides from the amazing writing, to the visuals, to even the atmospheric music that complemented both of these, all together this game brought me on an exciting adventure to try to find all of the endings.
thank you so much for playing and taking the time to comment!! i'm so glad that you enjoyed it ^^
This game... I haven't even beaten it. I only got... maybe five endings? It's trippy, it's violent, it messes with my head. I feel like I'm seeing a part of reality I'm not supposed to, yet it's completely sensical and based loosely around reality. I don't fully understand it, or what any of the endings mean, or how to even unlock other endings.
It also feels strange that we're just strangers every time, that things always reset. Wish there were a way to make friends with.. myself. That's odd to say. But I wonder if there is a non-violent/friendly ending? There must be a true ending. But how many iterations must I go through?
thank you so much for commenting! there are definitely the "true" endings you seek; if you're stuck, i recommend trying to see what happens when the clock on the main menu passes 12
As of this second I just got the "true ending." I just... wow. I won't spoil it but I really didn't see this coming. It's well worth playing through to get all the endings, even if you have to replay old ones to get them. The game seems to kind of loop on itself and repeat, and sometimes it will feel as though it's looping the exact same thing without change. Trust me, just keep going. Make a different choice here, play a couple more times there, and the truth will finally reveal itself. And when it does... you'll likely feel as stunned as I do now.
This is a brilliant game from an even more brilliant mind. All I can say is a massive thank you to the creator for this masterpiece I experienced. This... this isn't a game. It's a full psychological experience that F*ks with your head and leaves you breathless. I'm not sure how to rate it, sadly, but it would get 10 stars if I could. In short, thank you, CLOWN, for your amazing gameplay
I think there is a true ending. I think you have to go through the other endings until the clock passes 12
oh my god. This is definitely one of my favorite games now.... i'm so so glad i stuck with it instead of giving up when i thought i was stuck. please keep creating, i think the world needs art like this
thank you very much for commenting; it means so much to me that i was able to create something that brought you happiness! <3
this game is amazing.... are the endings im allowed to get based on what i've done so far? am i not able to get the true ending?
thank you so much for your kind words! you'll know when you've gotten a true ending once you've seen the credits. if you're feeling stuck, try to see what happens when the clock on the main menu passes 12 ^^ i can also post a guide to all the endings within the next few days!
This game left me feeling vulnerable. It’s brilliant.
this comment almost brought me to tears haha ;; thank you so much for taking the time to play it, and for leaving such a sweet message too! i'm really glad that you enjoyed it ^^