Crown & Cauldron
A downloadable visual novel for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Synopsis
Zerlinda was a child when she escaped the witch trials that robbed her of her mother. She has lived as a recluse ever since, enjoying her garden and the company of her familiar.
When an intruder manages to breach the barriers around her woods, Zerlinda realizes just how deep her scars run and how fragile her inner peace is.
Also, the intruder is a princess.
A strong-willed princess who refuses to be married off and wants to live just like Zerlinda does: freely.
Characters
Zerlinda
Zerlinda embraces being a witch of the wilds, and enjoys delicacies like moss infusions and pickled flower bulbs. She has a soft spot for owlets—her familiar regularly uses this fact to his advantage.
Eugenie
Eugenie Priscilla Raisa is the eleventh in line for the throne, but she thinks of her royal blood as an inconvenience. Her days in the palace were spent listening to wandering bards and minstrels while avoiding the etiquette intructor.
Spoon
Spoon has been Zerlinda's familiar for decades. He uses a glamour to make himself look like a tiny round owlet; his cute appearance lets him get away with almost anything.
Features
- A branching narrative of 20k words with 5 endings
- Manage Zerlinda's rage or watch her succumb to her nightmares
- A wlw slice-of-life story with a magic twist created in a month for Spooktober 2020
- Beautiful character art and CGs by sourFlowr
Team
foleso ▪ Project Lead, Graphic Designer (UI, Logo, promotional), Scripter
sourFlowr ▪ Character Design, Sprite Art, CG Art
Rascal ▪ Writer, Scripter
Download
Install instructions
Please download the latest build. Unzip the folder and double click on the executable/application to launch the game.
If you are playing the original jam build, turn SFX captions OFF to prevent crashes.
Development log
- Version 2.4.7 is ONLINE!Oct 04, 2020
Comments
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Really pretty artwork and music! I liked the bulk of the story a lot, the protagonist's personal trauma and anxiety is well-characterized and the princess is very cute and endearing in getting through her barriers. I was a bit confused at some points because of how the text boxes show the name of the speaker then don't, but I think that might have been intentional?
That said I found the endings themselves a bit abrupt, in that two of the good endings don't really resolve their current problems nor really discuss any future prospects, and one of them has an IMO unfitting CG that makes it look way happier than the protagonist was feeling. In fact I think you could take that CG and attach it to the "last stand works" ending by adding a transition fade and a "A few weeks later we held a ceremony" line to add a little bit of depth, maybe? The ending that felt the most complete was the escape ending, in terms of discussing the prospects of the characters and showing them conclusively following that path. Of course, I understand the time and development constraints for a game jam! I'm just trying to explain how I felt. Again, I really did like the bulk of this game, the interactions and themes were A+, and I love witches in general (even wrote a VN about them too) so this is definitely a big win for me.
Best wishes and great job!
Thank you for the lovely comment! The jam's impending deadline is indeed what made the endings abrupt.
I think CGs are not working (?). I've got the best ending (kiss) and 1 bad (right at the begenning) ending but none is unlocked.
Hello there! I believe that the two endings you unlocked are the only ones without a CG.
One of theses story where you don't really dare to trigger bad endings, because it sounds too cruel to trash a gift from someone liking you... Well done.
It's far to be the most emotionnaly charged VN I had to enjoy, but this particuliar feeling is a first for me ! Never had so much dialogue choices in a VN too, and they aren't (all) fillers. Super nice !
Thank you for the lovely comment!
We're really happy you liked our game :D
I enoyed the Game untill:
This Happens when you get to the point where the Spell fails and you cant get her to see your past (not enough trust propably)
Than you for the bug report! I pushed an updated build that should fix that crash.
Works! Thank you and holly Hell that was fast ^^
Really enjoyed this ^.^
Just so you know, the fire cg does not work properly. It does not appear in the story or in the cg gallery. Here is a screenshot of the error message it shows during the story.
Edit: Using version 2.4.6 btw. The other two cgs work fine and appear in gallery
Thank you for the bug report! It should be fixed in the new version we just pushed online.
We're happy you liked the game :D
Lovely game, I enjoyed it a lot. I didn't expect a psychological component. 2 things though: the gallery doesn't seem to unlock images and...does this have bad/tragic endings? Because I got 2 happy endings and don't want to ruin the fuzzy feeling.
Thank you for the comment! We're happy you liked the game :)
We just pushed an update with a gallery fix and some more improvements.
The game has one bad ending with a CG and one bad ending that can be triggered when rage is too high.
Ok. One last thing: the ending where the girls stay together in the woods after using the mega spell has no CG, correct?
Correct! :)
Hello,
I wrote a small review for Crown Cauldron here, but now it's gone... There was a reply from Foleso, but now I can't read it anymore. Have you merged some pages or deleted / re-created them?
Hello! Yes, we are going to use this page from now on. I put the old page online temporarily so you can read the reply.
Alright, I've read it! :) Thank you!