『Dear Rosalia』is now available!

With a massive game still in development, I only allow myself to work on a different project if it's tiny and self contained—that's why I like the O2A2 VN jam so much!

The acronym stands for Only One of Any Asset: only one sound effect is allowed, and only one background, only one thousand words etc. The strict asset limitations are a self-imposed challenge: I need to make something respecting them and be happy enough with it to publish it.

I wanted to join the Queer Edition of the jam earlier this year but I was not happy with the idea, and scrapped it after writing 200 words or so.

When the 2023 edition rolled out, I was ready to stare longingly at the jam page, wishing I could make a little something, too... then I stumbled upon this painting by Eugene de Blaas, and well. I fired up GIMP and started moving that poor woman's mouth around to see if she could have multiple expressions.

Dear Rosalia is a small scene of sapphic longing, a memory unearthed by that beautiful painting and fictionalized for the jam. 

It was finished in three days, completely solo, and yes, I'm surprised about it, too—but when I saw Rosalia's cherry lips, I knew what to do.

Coming up with the UI was the most time-consuming task; I wanted it to convey the time period, fit the theme and be, if not pretty, at least cute. I'm pretty happy with it, even if the credits screen broke (it was supposed to have links, but instead of opening in a new tab, they popped up directly on the web player, 'trapping' it).

Now, the web player might not have any links, but that doesn't mean I won't include them anywhere! Here they are:

• The public domain paintings featured in the game are The Eavesdropper (main menu) and The Rose, both by Eugene the Blaas
• The music track playing is Photograph by TK Projects
• All sound effects are from the Pro Sound Collection
• The Morning Glori and Harlaw fonts are by Eldamar Studio; the game also includes the OpenDyslexic font
• The UI has been collaged together using materials from Pexels, Pixabay, Free Vintage Illustrations and Krachware
• Made in Unity with the wonderful Naninovel engine!

I'd also like to thank Fable & Clover, doubleh, LittleMissLeeStories and zejbo32 for their feedback on the beta version!

I hope Dear Rosalia will stir something with you.

Thank you for playing!