Petricake Games

a devlog | solo indie dev | artist & writer | she/her | queer

[petricakegames]

Another Round

"Another Round" is a 25k word, interactive fiction, urban fantasy game made with Twine for the Single Choice Game Jam.

PLAY THE GAME | REVIEW | KOFI

Written and coded for the Single Choice Game Jam! The Jam where you only give one choice to the player!

STORY

You play as Maddie, a woman in love with a woman named Agnes. Actually, she hates her. Actually, it's complicated. You definitely broke things off with her. And you don't regret it. At least once.

Yes. At least once per day, you don't regret ending it with Agnes. Except tonight. You definitely regret it tonight.

Those are the facts you can't change. How any of those things came to be is up to your imagination. It's not part of the story, anyway. The story is about tonight. The night you save Agnes...or not. You don't get a lot of say in what happens.

Well, you get a say. Once.

So maybe you save her. Maybe you save yourself. Maybe the "fuck it" train you're on derails and takes the whole nightclub with you. The story is a bit unhinged. But, then again, so are you.

FEATURES

gender-locked; name-locked; appearance-locked, sexuality-locked (congrats! you're a lesbian) protagonist. No customization available--free yourself from the burden of choice!

bad life choices come pre-made! Never fear. I'm sure you'll be able to make some more of them. Or, hmm, I guess just one more bad life choice, technically

adult language the author has already used in this description without warning...dang

hundreds of endings, but only one place the story stops. Lots of things can end, you know. The breath you just took ended

set in a world with demons and half-demons because why not?

unhealthy coping strategies! Co-dependent former relationships!

a demon who calls himself Seven because he liked that movie and tends to shout "WHAT'S IN THE BOX?" at inappropriate moments

a single choice in the entire game. Make it a good one

"Another Round" is intended for an adult audience. Content warnings are available in the game menu before the story begins.

[petricakegames]

day twenty-three: 30 days to alpha

I wish I could say it's resilience that keeps me coming back, chipping away at this task. On days when I'm heartbroken and my head hurts and it feels like the world is nothing but one awful, hate-fueled event after another. But I don't really know why I keep trying anymore (which I don't mean in a fatalistic sense, but in a curious sense--the toddler why not the mid-life crisis why).

I could say it's to have a sense of purpose. To stare at this little thing and think 'look what my two hands have wrought.' But it's not like I made the laptop i'm using. I didn't develop the code or anything that made this possible. I'm not figuring out on my own--I'm following a tutorial. I didn't even make Koriko. Or tarot. This feels more like construction than creation. Derivative from every possible angle. Derivative with a bow on it.

Maybe it's the abstraction from the creative process. I don't have to think about the details and the way forward is clear. Maybe I like the simplicity of that. Maybe resilience is just doing the Thing and the fuck the reason why.

To argue with myself: I took a walk in the park by my apartment on monday (june 1). And not thinking much of it, I wore a tshirt with a rainbow on it because it was clean and comfortable. A lady maybe in her 60s or so waved at me to tell me that my shirt was beautiful and that she wished she'd worn her rainbow shirt because it's that time of year again, isn't it? And I smiled back and clapped in ASL and said "happy pride"

so maybe it's not all hate-fueled.

[petricakegames]

day twenty-two: 30 days to alpha

Kinda looks like a gameboard, huh? I'm still working on some of the coding things, so no demonstration today. I think the building of the volume deck will be tricky to figure out. Not sure if it's in scope for the tutorial series I'm watching. Conceptually, I don't think it's too challenging--a dictionary for each suit deck, randomized and added to the volume deck and removed from the suit deck when clicked. But the theory of using a bandsaw isn't all that complex either. Turn it on, shove the wood through, don't lose a finger.

I'm too tired to figure out the digit<-->digital/byte joke, so you'll have to do that on your own.

Alright, a week left. Where am I at? -Digital, interactive playing board; Still don't feel like I can cross this one off. I need something other than the grey background -4 suit decks and confidant decks that can be drawn from; well, the suit decks are there. they don't do anything, but they're there. -a hand deck from which cards can be played; Check! -full card roster with placeholder art for each; Check! -a season turn cycle; -list of cards played within each season; hrmm.. -primitive UI; closer....close enough? maybe once the End Season button does something

[petricakegames]

day twenty-one: 30 days to alpha

we've entered days with hyphens, y'all. who knows what happens next

Didn't have a ton of available time today, so quickly sketched out the final three major arcana cards which brings us to the grandiose sixteen placeholder cards for the major arcana plus four base suit placeholder cards, a placeholder card back asset and the card slot asset. Short of a quick and dirty background asset (which at this point will probably be color blocks), the assets for the alpha are complete. Go me.

[petricakegames]

day twenty: 30 days to alpha

Only three placeholder cards remaining and then I can check another alpha item off the list! I mean, it's not one of the more crucial elements of the alpha, but still...it's what I had the energy for this weekend.

How do I feel now that there's only ten days left of this challenge I set myself? In the thinking part of my brain, I'm quite proud of myself. I've tackled a bunch of things I wanted to learn and have practically applied them; made a lot of progress with learning to make the types of games I want to make with godot; and, it's looking like I might actually achieve the goal I set out to--pretty close to it, at least. If I compare against the ledger I invited which points towards my worth being tied to my production, those are all positive things.

Emotionally? It's a bit like visiting a Feelings Zoo and looking at empty enclosures. I know there's a Feeling in there--the helpful placard tells me so and all these interesting facts about the Feeling. But I can't see any of them. My therapist says that's the depression and I nod because that seems right. There is a vast nothingness within me. But I go to the Zoo, believing the Feelings are in there somewhere. They've been there at the Zoo before. Maybe if I just keep coming back, I'll see them again.

[neo-twiny-jam]

Neo-Twiny Jam 2026

Neo-Twiny Jam

A game jam from 2026-05-31 to 2026-06-30 hosted by manonamora, Autumn Chen & Lapin Lunaire Games. Create a tiny Interactive Fiction piece in

Returning for a 4th edition!

The Neo-Twiny Jam is an interactive fiction game jam with one primary rule:

Don't write more than 500 words.

Any type of Interactive Fiction is welcome, from any kind of IF system/format, regardless of genre/theme.

Other rules:

Unlike the original Twiny Jam, you can use any program/medium, as long as the piece can be considered Interactive Fiction (i.e. the game is interactive, and its focus is on the text).

The Jam is open to any language, as long as the word count is respected.

Sounds, graphics and code are not included in the word count.

Entries can have NSFW content, as long as you indicate it in your submission.

You must credit any asset used.

No AI/LLM generated content, incl. game cover/title card.

No Hate/Spam submissions.

The Neo Twiny Jam will run from June 1st 2026 (3:00 PM PDT) to June 30th 2026 (11:59 PM PDT).

The inspiration for this jam comes from Porpentine's Twiny jam, which ran in 2015. During the original three-week jam, creators were asked to submit a Twine game with no more than 300 words.

As in previous years, we will be matching the number of entries into a donation to an LGBTQ+ charity. This year's chosen organisations include Point of Pride, Campaign for Southern Equality, and Transgender Law Center. Please contact us if you would like to donate as well.

Join the Jam!

We will track entries on Tumblr with the #neotwinyjam, but you can also tag @neointeractives/@neo-twiny-jam!

Join the Neo-Interactive Discord 

[petricakegames]

Always a good jam!

[petricakegames]

day nineteen: 30 days to alpha

Another day of no progress. I got too wrapped up in When Stars Collide and City Council of Darkness. I'm sure I'll make up for it tomorrow....

[petricakegames]

day eighteen: 30 days to alpha

a quieter day today, one of sorrow and contemplation. the placeholder art for the Hermit seemed fitting.

[petricakegames]

day seventeen: 30 days to alpha

Only a little bit of progress on the game project today. Too busy watching critical role to watch tutorial videos. Now we've got a card flip animation! Look how fancy that is. Though I think I may be leaving the tutorial behind from here (scary!). I can see the shape of using the code I have to build the functionality I want the alpha to have. I think. I'll finish out the tutorial series, but it goes into multiplayer/opponent mechanics which, while common for deckbuilder games, not something my cozy little Koriko tarot thing. I bet I can learn turns or rounds, though and I could make that work for the season change?

Did get some placeholder card art done, though! The base for the minor arcana cards (and the game engine will handle the text woohoo!) and the Hierophant, the Empress and the Hanged One. There's 16 of the major arcana cards that I want to have place holders for by the end of the 30 days. Once I have those 13 done, the placeholder art will be complete! Maybe this weekend? I kinda like that look like little weirdos.

Where do I stand then? -Digital, interactive playing board; Technically yes, but I'm not counting it yet because it's just blank, I gotta have something pretty! -4 suit decks and confidant decks that can be drawn from; made a Deck scene that I can build these off of (fingers crossed) -a hand deck from which cards can be played; Check! -full card roster with placeholder art for each; partway there! -a season turn cycle; -list of cards played within each season; -primitive UI; not going to count the deck counter, even though that technically counts.

It still seems like a lot, but I think I have a lot of the intensive backend work complete? The ball is rolling up!

[petricakegames]

day sixteen: 30 days to alpha

Really happy with where I'm at today. I know she doesn't look much different than she did yesterday, but there's more going on behind closed doors. (is it a project bench mark when the project gets pronouns? i dunno, that's her business)

The cards in the deck (yes, all three of them) are randomised, so each time I start it up they come out in a different order--except when I went to show off to my dearest friend because of course they didn't. The text is dynamically generated from the dictionary, so I don't have to design it on to each card. And the card image is pulled when the card is drawn so it can also respond dynamically.

Now, here's the part I'm proud of:

I diverted from the tutorial! And it still works, which is actually the part I'm proud of. If the card is a minor arcana card, the text will display Name of Suit with the corresponding name and suit. But for major arcana cards it will display the name only. I've taken what I've been following and repurposed it to suit my own needs.

I have:

Learned.

[petricakegames]

day fifteen: 30 days to alpha

It took a few days of floundering, but I rallied. Went back to the original tutorial--it's closest to the current godot version and it's a better fit for my end goal than other tutorials. Now I've got a deck that cards can be drawn from. And with a bit of distance, some of the things that didn't make sense are starting to make sense. I also rewatched the tutorial video at 0.75 speed--which helped tremendously.

What this means is that my alpha version now has: - a hand deck from which cards can be drawn & played (there's even a tiny bit of UI!)

Halfway through and that's one complete checklist item! In progress: - coding framework for the suit decks to feed into the hand deck - placeholder assets for card back - coding framework for a "played card" area - sketch of play area design

I'm not in as dire a position as I thought. On some, conceptual level I knew that Grief Would Be Hard. I guess I didn't realize that meant grief makes the rest of living hard. So much of my energy gets wrapped up in being as normal/functional as I can that I'm often tapped out of resilience and every emotion is a fire hose. I want to rest but I'm afraid rest is death

Name your hopelessness a quiet hollow, a place you go to heal, a den you dug, Sweetheart, instead of a grave. -Andrea Gibson, Instead of Depression

[petricakegames]

day thirteen & fourteen: 30 days to alpha

delayed a day because I got caught up playing slay the spire with friends and suddenly it was 2am yesterday.

Nothing too concrete to share today(s). I found a new tutorial that is easier to follow and more designed to Educate, but the video is 6 years old and using a much older version of Godot, so there's some figuring out of what things are called now. I'm not sure I like the approach to a deck builder game, but it does feel more like I'm learning how to use the engine, which was part of the point of this exercise.

i am discouraged, a bit. it's not like I'm starting from scratch--I've still got the assets I made and a lot of the idea of the functionality is worked out. and there's a lot of places where I've managed to persist despite my self-doubt. Proud of myself for that at least.

[petricakegames]

day twelve: 30 days to alpha

In fiction, the long dark night of the soul comes at about the 2/3 mark so you'd think I have another 8 days. And yet. I've followed the tutorial faithfully and I have a fatal error he didn't and I don't know why because I don't know why I've written all the functions I have other than I was instructed to do so.

I find myself face-to-face with my greatest nemesis: my fear that I cannot figure this out. Like, any of this.

And the tutorial series I started following was clearly meant for someone more familiar with game design than I. And made by someone without education skills/intent. And it's a lot easier to find platformer tutorials. And part of the point of this endeavor is to build skills. And in the last two years I've learned SO much. And--

--part of me is always that teenage girl, who believes that computers are for boys and she's not capable of being good at them.

So, shit, man. What do I do now? Go back and try to figure out what I did wrong? Start over with a different tutorial? Face my own fear and discomfort?

I was listening to an episode of Worlds Beyond Number today on a walk. And I don't remember the exact wording, but something Brennan/Grandmother Wren said has percolated into my head as "Failure is the currency with which you buy the future." And currency is neutral--you can buy shitty things or nice things or nothing at all.

[petricakegames]

day eleven: 30 days to alpha

Behold, gdscript. I didn't manage to accomplish anything with a visual component today, but I got some more scripting done and am starting to develop the draw deck which will be useful to me.

It's a holiday weekend for me and I blessedly don't have any plans. I'll be getting a lot done on this project and hopefully have some time to think some thinking thoughts about the process.

[petricakegames]

day ten: 30 days to alpha

Some sketches today of the play area, both for the alpha and a more decorated version of the final project. Cause why not think ahead?

It feels impossible to finish. Isn't that odd for such a little project of no obvious significance. But what else could it mean to be human other than to strive for impossible things?

[petricakegames]

day nine: 30 days to alpha

Didn't work on a gott dang thing today. Watched the pwhl game (poor ottawa 😭) and then went and saw Is God Is.

21 more days is plenty of time...right? Those aren't famous last words or anything

[petricakegames]

day eight: 30 days to alpha

Continuing with the tutorial series has produced this! There is now a player hand with base card positions that will adjust as cards are played.

I'm not sure this functionality is what my project needs, unfortunately. Which is one of the inherent problems with tutorials. It's great at teaching me how to make a replica of the tutorial, but not so great at teaching the underlying principle behind the choices made. Its focus in on setting the functions and code for a deckbuilder card game (ala slay the spire) and that's not not what I'm trying to do, but it also isn't quite is what I'm trying to do.

Feeling a bit hopeless about a project is also part of the process. Will I be able to figure out how to use Godot to make what I want? Am I not as confident and comfortable as I thought I was with programming? Will any of this even satisfy me? Am I wasting my time?

All of these questions are here. I'll pass 'em a beer and keep on keepin' on.