#zephyo

[rie-kay]

I just played “missed messages.” I saw this game mentioned in NeverKnowsBest’s video on Romance in Video Games. And thought I check it out.

missed messages. by angela he

‘goth gf’s iPhone’ airdrops you - accept or decline? A love/horror story about life, death, & memes.

Someone in the comments perfectly summed it up as “being there for a friend with depression.”

I got the “hope” ending on my second play-through (I think you are kinda meant to fail the first attempt). It all hit so hard and brought me to tears. The illustrations are gorgeous and expressive. I love the choice of music. It gave the whole game such a fresh feel.

I decided agains trying to get the other endings. In my second attempt I already felt the gamer mindset settle in, when picking speech options. But the options provided where still immersive, even after this small immersion break happend. As they aligned with what I think I would have done/said, if I was in the protagonist’s place. I was reminded of conversations I had, where I felt a needed to balance leaving space, talking around the topic, and being direct. I also love how directly those two jsut say nice things to each other. I think I’m still learning this. Because sometimes saying something like “you’re a good friend” seems like I need to add so many asterisks. But I’m starting to learning that this is not true. The asterisks don’t need to be spelled out everytime. And just being positive to each other is so much more fulfilling than following every critical hunch I might have.

In recent years I find it more and more difficult to play games. I might play 1–2 hours per week, but there are also a lot of weeks where I don’t play anything at all. Commiting to a game on those days seems like too big a hurdle. So, I’m really happy I took the time to play this game this evening—I was planning to do so almost all week (Where did all the time go?).

It’s a short game and you can play it for free. Would recommend : )

[azisicons]

May Icons and 1 matching icons for May and the main protagonist (August). (Art by Angela He/Zephyo.)

✩｡:•.───── ❁ - ❁ ─────.•:｡✩

❝𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘻𝘢𝘳𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦. 𝘔𝘺 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘯𝘰𝘸. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳.❞

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: - :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: - :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧✧･ﾟ:

[xenetala]

Found an app called live portrait maker and thought I’d share it. It’s a good way to help get some creative juices flowing if you need help visualizing an OC.

Edit: Just found out the artist is @zephyo so please go check out their blog and give them lots of love!

[evns]

I woke up next to you again. is a short visual novel by @zephyo that I can only describe as an experience that everyone should have.

You can see above some examples of the gorgeous art that it has, but this is not the only reason that it’s so phenomenal. The storyline is symbolic of addiction, which is portrayed masterfully through a combination of simple but brilliant writing and clever auditory and visual effects.

The game itself has a seamlessly dreamlike feel, and can easily be replayed to get all four endings. If you’ve played visual novels before and know how they work, you can probably get all four endings in 10 or 15 minutes - and let me tell you, those endings are worth getting.

Honestly, I’ve been trying to keep this post professional and informative, but what I really want to do is just gush. This game is beautiful, tragic, and has a deeply personal feeling to it that makes it all the more meaningful.

It can be downloaded on itch.io for free (although there is a pay-what-you-want option if you are willing and able to support the creator).

[zephyo]

fashion doodles~

[zephyo]

girl fashion doodles~

[zephyo]

[zephyo]

experiment; tried to create unique atmospheres!