yo this games art style is so cartoony i like it, then the two different endings i think makes everyone satisfied with how different they are because ones wholesome while another ending is sad, the college students themselves i like how they react to everything and how they stick together kinda. their all pretty different and the music is nice, well done!
Thank you for this! I just finished the good ending, and I cried a few times. I plan to try for the bad ending soon! The characters are all relatable, and I especially love how Nano was written, logical but learning about feelings. I wanted to try out this game after also writing a game with a child robot character, and I was not disappointed.
Also, was Nano named for NaNoRenO? Cute name either way!
Thank you for your kind words! The bad ending is quite different, but I hope you will still enjoy it. I will definitely be checking out your game as well!
One of our writers suggested the name "Nano" based on "Nanotechnology" and only later realized it would fit "NaNoRenO" as well. So it was more of a coincidence haha
Nano also means "tiny" (one-billionth), which is cute for the character.
I got chills from the very end of the bad ending. I like that I finished the good ending first and cared about the characters before... all of that happened.
It's impressive that you made this within 30 days! I spent about a year on mine. Thanks for checking mine out too! Hope you like it.
Oh my god, I loved it SO MUCH! The good ending drowned me in warmth and wholesomeness, and the bad ending was painful both mentally and physically, and broke my heart a bit. Usually I don't care much for the horror of such kind, but Strelitzia, Lycoris and Oleander are so alive, human, relatable, lovable and adorkable, that it is impossible to feel indiffirent for their fate, even in what is perceived as a "non-canon" ending. To make matters worse (or, from another point of view, better), the bad ending feels justified within the story, and, by comparison with the string of events leading to the good ending, it is evident what exactly went different and why, and why it led to this.
All three human main characters are instantly likable, and I enjoyed their interactions immensily. I love how they are generally well-intentioned and decent human beings, but still possess familiar human flaws as hypocrisy, double standards, biases, difficulty in admitting one's mistakes and suchlike. So damn relatable, whoa. And I also love how they have different methods when addressing THE situation and take different stances, and no stance or method is ill-meaning and inherently plain wrong. Still, each one of them is not entirely right either, and the flaws and downsides in their reasoning are shown well. Actually, it made me to think over some of my views and go-to strategies regarding similar issues. Strelitzia's "I will talk about personal boundaries, and that only the person in question knows what is best for them, and that we shouldn't try to control their personal space, but the real reason I actually don't try to involve myself further is that I don't want to be involved" and Lycoris' "This IS a serious issue. We are not competent enough to deal with it. Professionally trained people should do it. *proceeds to do nothing to actually arrange meeting with said specialists and does not contact them when he is in a similar situation*" were especially... familiar. :D *self-deprecating sigh*
Nano in the good path is sweetheart. <3 And I really enjoyed how various philosophical/ethical concepts were brought up whenever possible and appropriate. You created an informationally intensive work of art and heart, which beautifully combines grave subjects, addressed with consideration, and light-hearted, heartwarming, quirky, amusing and adorable elements.
Thank you so much for creating Robot Daycare! I am SO looking forward to reading your other works and meeting your other characters! :3
Wow, I feel incredibly honored that you took the time to write such a heartfelt review!
It was very important to us to handle these topics with respect while not shying away from showing some of the more ugly parts, and it's a relief to hear we succeeded.
I'm glad our story resonated with you in such a way and made you rethink certain things. Responses like yours truly make our hard work worth it!
It is so very nice and sweet of you to respond to my comment! <3 And yes, you absolutely succeded to handle a delicate topic respectfully and with care (at least, in my opinion), and the characters' responses to the situation felt very realistic.
In this respect, there is something I'm curious about. I wondered if there was a deeper reason behind naming the characters as various plants/flowers, and googled their symbolical meaning. I'm not sure if I found some direct correlation (well, in the case of Strelitzia and Lycoris it kinda fits, but less so in the case of yellow oleander and lily?.. I guess?..), however, I noticed that all four plants have extremely beautiful flowers and all of them are to some extent poisonous. Which just cannot be a coincidence. :D And, as I see it, it fits the story perfectly, especially given how the main characters are capable of acting both constructively and destructively.
Still. I can't help but wonder, if the degree of their namesakes' toxicity matters. :P It was difficult to place lily on that scale, but concerning the other three plants, it looked kinda like "strelitzia < lycoris < yellow oleander", where strelitzia is only mildly dangerous and oleander is nearly lethal. At first I thought that it was kinda fitting, given that Strelitzia's course of (non-)actions seemed to be the most safe option (at least he won't cause any further harm "for the person's own good", making false assumptions about what would be good for the said person), buuuut then I thought that it unlikely was what creator(s) meant and intended to convey. Am I looking TOO deep? :D
(On an unrelated note, one of the other commenters said that their favourite character was Lycoris, and another commenter said that they found Oleander to be the most relatable. With me, you've got all three main characters covered, because my favourite (and one I find the most relatable) is Strelitzia. :'3 Although I like all of them really, really much).
Anyway, thank you again for your awesome work! I started to read Artificial Selection and I LOVE IT so far too. And I also keep Google around while reading it, because I feel I need it. :D
It makes me really happy that our game affected you enough to make you look into it that much!
To be completely honest, our main focus was on the flowers' colors, and that their names at least remotely sound like human names. The cool thing about flower meanings are is that they can be interpreted in multiple ways! So even if they weren't our main objective, we still made them work somehow:
Lycoris flowers are frequently used at funerals and are connected to various tragic legends. This is a nod at the fact that he was most affected by Lilium's death, and had the biggest inner turmoil when it came to figuring out how to help him.
(Yellow) Oleander's high toxicity represents his aggressive/proactive approach when it comes to helping Lilium, and the fact that he seems like the least friendly one out of the three. (It is, however, not meant to rate his approach as more or less valid. One of the main morals of the story is that there isn't "one right thing to do".)
Strelitzia is probably the prettiest and most extravagant out of the three, and so is the flower. Other than that we didn't think much deeper. :'D
Lilies are also frequently used at funerals and symbolically represent innocence. "Innocence" may be used in a more negative sense to signify "naivety" or "cowardice", which are probably Lilium's greatest flaws.
But of course all of this doesn't mean your interpretations were wrong! Technically, their meanings are whatever resonates with you most.
Thank YOU for your kind words, and I look forward to hearing what you think of Artificial Selection once you complete the demo!
Thank you so much for sparing the time to respond me and to explain in depth the reason and meaning behind the characters’ names! *0* It helped me to understand them better, and it was very fascinating to see some of my assumptions and theories confirmed, and some of them proved false. (I don’t care much for my interpretation. It is only valuable as a mean to uncover and understand the author(s)’s intent, and the second I learn that I’ve got something wrong, I change it accordingly).
BTW, I can’t help but think how, during the bad path, the characters spectacularly failed to uphold the same values/standpoints they professed. :D Dealing with Lilium, Strelitzia asserted that they mustn’t break personal boundaries and make assumptions about what is best for the person. And dealing with Nano, he said something along the lines of “Hey, I know you want to look like a human, let’s get rid of these antennae”. He also had similar issues in the good path (concerning Nano’s clothes), just not to the same degree and then showed guilty conscience about it. And Oleander, who argued that they should learn as much as possible to deal with the situation, refused to look up the information when there was a possibility that he was wrong, because he didn’t want to ascertain it for sure. :D I don’t remember anything specific right now, but I have a feeling that in Lycoris’ case there was something similar (and, well, he clearly struggled with depression and didn’t try to contact professionals, even though he advised to do so in Lilium’s case). I don’t know if it was intentional, but the irony is delicious. :’3
I also proceed to play Artificial Selection, and proceed to love it immensely. <3 I will write soon in more detail.
In the bad path, they never got around to viewing Nano as a friend or family member, but merely as a tool to complete their assignment. This is why Lycoris uses Nano's dependency on him to boost his own ego, why Oleander didn't bother properly explaining to Nano how bodies work and made it figure things out on its own, and why Strelitzia didn't respect its boundaries or bodily autonomy. So yes, the irony was definitely intentional. :D
Great job on this game! I love robots so I was looking forward to this one after seeing the forum thread, and it turned out really cool!
I liked the characters a lot, I don't think I can even pick a favorite (...maybe Lycoris?). I enjoyed the dialogue between the college students a lot, I like when friends kind of make fun of each other/fake fight so that was fun. And it was super interesting seeing their dynamic (and Nano) change depending on the choices you make.
(spoilers I guess?) Wow those endings were extremely different! I definitely liked the good ending better since I just want them all to be happy, but I think you did a great job on making the horror horrifying. I played this game like a week ago but some of the horror bits have still been popping into my brain once in a while (that bit with Nano trying to open the wound more really got to me...). It was really cool how you managed to blend together a mix of different tones. Even within the good route, it got surprisingly serious but it was mixed together with the students being dumb idiots (you forgot... to include the 3 laws of robotics?? That was so funny to me, no wonder the bad end happened haha).
Anyway, I really enjoyed this game, great job on your NaNoRenO project!
I just finished this and thought it was pretty good! I enjoyed the character interactions the most; I thought all three main characters had really unique personalities and their banter was fun (though sometimes stressful). Of course I'm a sap so I loved the good ending...and I thought the development and changes in their friendship was cute as well. Thanks for creating this game!
I've finished this last night and it was such a blast! I need a Nano in my life, maybe I should find friends //slapped.
Anyway, the characters are really lovable and relatable! Especially Oleander! Ah, cute things <3 Their dialogues are really natural and funny too.
For the story, I was actually interested of what grade will they be getting for this project, but apparently I was in for something else--- It's really well written overall!
Overall, it was worth it<3
Thank you for creating this wonderful game <3
PS the bad end didn't need CGs to send chills to my spine. The descriptions are spot on scary, kudos TwT.
I'm really happy to hear you liked the bad route, since this was my first attempt at writing horror! Hopefully I'll get another chance to write darker stuff in the future. Thank you very much!
I just finished the game - went for the good ending and then tried a few of the other dialogue options, but they broke my heart before even getting to the end. I got really, really attached to the "family." ; v;
Absolutely loved the entire experience; especially the humor, the characters and small things like the dialogue blips and UI design. Nano is the most wholesome thing in the world, becoming a robot parent for this journey made my day.
Thanks so much for this wonderful submission to NaNoRenO!
Thank you for your kind words! I'm glad we managed to get you invested in the "family" and that you enjoyed our game! It's also interesting to hear how the order of the routes influences the experience... B)
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yo this games art style is so cartoony i like it, then the two different endings i think makes everyone satisfied with how different they are because ones wholesome while another ending is sad, the college students themselves i like how they react to everything and how they stick together kinda. their all pretty different and the music is nice, well done!
What a lovely story, Had me in tears several times. Thank you
"Roboy will answer to whatever name you see fit. Except Roboy."
Are you sure about that?
Thank you for this! I just finished the good ending, and I cried a few times. I plan to try for the bad ending soon! The characters are all relatable, and I especially love how Nano was written, logical but learning about feelings. I wanted to try out this game after also writing a game with a child robot character, and I was not disappointed.
Also, was Nano named for NaNoRenO? Cute name either way!
Thank you for your kind words! The bad ending is quite different, but I hope you will still enjoy it. I will definitely be checking out your game as well!
One of our writers suggested the name "Nano" based on "Nanotechnology" and only later realized it would fit "NaNoRenO" as well. So it was more of a coincidence haha
Nano also means "tiny" (one-billionth), which is cute for the character.
I got chills from the very end of the bad ending. I like that I finished the good ending first and cared about the characters before... all of that happened.
It's impressive that you made this within 30 days! I spent about a year on mine. Thanks for checking mine out too! Hope you like it.
Oh my god, I loved it SO MUCH! The good ending drowned me in warmth and wholesomeness, and the bad ending was painful both mentally and physically, and broke my heart a bit. Usually I don't care much for the horror of such kind, but Strelitzia, Lycoris and Oleander are so alive, human, relatable, lovable and adorkable, that it is impossible to feel indiffirent for their fate, even in what is perceived as a "non-canon" ending. To make matters worse (or, from another point of view, better), the bad ending feels justified within the story, and, by comparison with the string of events leading to the good ending, it is evident what exactly went different and why, and why it led to this.
All three human main characters are instantly likable, and I enjoyed their interactions immensily. I love how they are generally well-intentioned and decent human beings, but still possess familiar human flaws as hypocrisy, double standards, biases, difficulty in admitting one's mistakes and suchlike. So damn relatable, whoa. And I also love how they have different methods when addressing THE situation and take different stances, and no stance or method is ill-meaning and inherently plain wrong. Still, each one of them is not entirely right either, and the flaws and downsides in their reasoning are shown well. Actually, it made me to think over some of my views and go-to strategies regarding similar issues. Strelitzia's "I will talk about personal boundaries, and that only the person in question knows what is best for them, and that we shouldn't try to control their personal space, but the real reason I actually don't try to involve myself further is that I don't want to be involved" and Lycoris' "This IS a serious issue. We are not competent enough to deal with it. Professionally trained people should do it. *proceeds to do nothing to actually arrange meeting with said specialists and does not contact them when he is in a similar situation*" were especially... familiar. :D *self-deprecating sigh*
Nano in the good path is sweetheart. <3 And I really enjoyed how various philosophical/ethical concepts were brought up whenever possible and appropriate. You created an informationally intensive work of art and heart, which beautifully combines grave subjects, addressed with consideration, and light-hearted, heartwarming, quirky, amusing and adorable elements.
Thank you so much for creating Robot Daycare! I am SO looking forward to reading your other works and meeting your other characters! :3
Wow, I feel incredibly honored that you took the time to write such a heartfelt review!
It was very important to us to handle these topics with respect while not shying away from showing some of the more ugly parts, and it's a relief to hear we succeeded.
I'm glad our story resonated with you in such a way and made you rethink certain things. Responses like yours truly make our hard work worth it!
It is so very nice and sweet of you to respond to my comment! <3 And yes, you absolutely succeded to handle a delicate topic respectfully and with care (at least, in my opinion), and the characters' responses to the situation felt very realistic.
In this respect, there is something I'm curious about. I wondered if there was a deeper reason behind naming the characters as various plants/flowers, and googled their symbolical meaning. I'm not sure if I found some direct correlation (well, in the case of Strelitzia and Lycoris it kinda fits, but less so in the case of yellow oleander and lily?.. I guess?..), however, I noticed that all four plants have extremely beautiful flowers and all of them are to some extent poisonous. Which just cannot be a coincidence. :D And, as I see it, it fits the story perfectly, especially given how the main characters are capable of acting both constructively and destructively.
Still. I can't help but wonder, if the degree of their namesakes' toxicity matters. :P It was difficult to place lily on that scale, but concerning the other three plants, it looked kinda like "strelitzia < lycoris < yellow oleander", where strelitzia is only mildly dangerous and oleander is nearly lethal. At first I thought that it was kinda fitting, given that Strelitzia's course of (non-)actions seemed to be the most safe option (at least he won't cause any further harm "for the person's own good", making false assumptions about what would be good for the said person), buuuut then I thought that it unlikely was what creator(s) meant and intended to convey. Am I looking TOO deep? :D
(On an unrelated note, one of the other commenters said that their favourite character was Lycoris, and another commenter said that they found Oleander to be the most relatable. With me, you've got all three main characters covered, because my favourite (and one I find the most relatable) is Strelitzia. :'3 Although I like all of them really, really much).
Anyway, thank you again for your awesome work! I started to read Artificial Selection and I LOVE IT so far too. And I also keep Google around while reading it, because I feel I need it. :D
It makes me really happy that our game affected you enough to make you look into it that much!
To be completely honest, our main focus was on the flowers' colors, and that their names at least remotely sound like human names. The cool thing about flower meanings are is that they can be interpreted in multiple ways! So even if they weren't our main objective, we still made them work somehow:
Lycoris flowers are frequently used at funerals and are connected to various tragic legends. This is a nod at the fact that he was most affected by Lilium's death, and had the biggest inner turmoil when it came to figuring out how to help him.
(Yellow) Oleander's high toxicity represents his aggressive/proactive approach when it comes to helping Lilium, and the fact that he seems like the least friendly one out of the three. (It is, however, not meant to rate his approach as more or less valid. One of the main morals of the story is that there isn't "one right thing to do".)
Strelitzia is probably the prettiest and most extravagant out of the three, and so is the flower. Other than that we didn't think much deeper. :'D
Lilies are also frequently used at funerals and symbolically represent innocence. "Innocence" may be used in a more negative sense to signify "naivety" or "cowardice", which are probably Lilium's greatest flaws.
But of course all of this doesn't mean your interpretations were wrong! Technically, their meanings are whatever resonates with you most.
Thank YOU for your kind words, and I look forward to hearing what you think of Artificial Selection once you complete the demo!
Thank you so much for sparing the time to respond me and to explain in depth the reason and meaning behind the characters’ names! *0* It helped me to understand them better, and it was very fascinating to see some of my assumptions and theories confirmed, and some of them proved false. (I don’t care much for my interpretation. It is only valuable as a mean to uncover and understand the author(s)’s intent, and the second I learn that I’ve got something wrong, I change it accordingly).
BTW, I can’t help but think how, during the bad path, the characters spectacularly failed to uphold the same values/standpoints they professed. :D Dealing with Lilium, Strelitzia asserted that they mustn’t break personal boundaries and make assumptions about what is best for the person. And dealing with Nano, he said something along the lines of “Hey, I know you want to look like a human, let’s get rid of these antennae”. He also had similar issues in the good path (concerning Nano’s clothes), just not to the same degree and then showed guilty conscience about it. And Oleander, who argued that they should learn as much as possible to deal with the situation, refused to look up the information when there was a possibility that he was wrong, because he didn’t want to ascertain it for sure. :D I don’t remember anything specific right now, but I have a feeling that in Lycoris’ case there was something similar (and, well, he clearly struggled with depression and didn’t try to contact professionals, even though he advised to do so in Lilium’s case). I don’t know if it was intentional, but the irony is delicious. :’3
I also proceed to play Artificial Selection, and proceed to love it immensely. <3 I will write soon in more detail.
In the bad path, they never got around to viewing Nano as a friend or family member, but merely as a tool to complete their assignment.
This is why Lycoris uses Nano's dependency on him to boost his own ego, why Oleander didn't bother properly explaining to Nano how bodies work and made it figure things out on its own, and why Strelitzia didn't respect its boundaries or bodily autonomy. So yes, the irony was definitely intentional. :D
Great job on this game! I love robots so I was looking forward to this one after seeing the forum thread, and it turned out really cool!
I liked the characters a lot, I don't think I can even pick a favorite (...maybe Lycoris?). I enjoyed the dialogue between the college students a lot, I like when friends kind of make fun of each other/fake fight so that was fun. And it was super interesting seeing their dynamic (and Nano) change depending on the choices you make.
(spoilers I guess?)
Wow those endings were extremely different! I definitely liked the good ending better since I just want them all to be happy, but I think you did a great job on making the horror horrifying. I played this game like a week ago but some of the horror bits have still been popping into my brain once in a while (that bit with Nano trying to open the wound more really got to me...). It was really cool how you managed to blend together a mix of different tones. Even within the good route, it got surprisingly serious but it was mixed together with the students being dumb idiots (you forgot... to include the 3 laws of robotics?? That was so funny to me, no wonder the bad end happened haha).
Anyway, I really enjoyed this game, great job on your NaNoRenO project!
I just finished this and thought it was pretty good! I enjoyed the character interactions the most; I thought all three main characters had really unique personalities and their banter was fun (though sometimes stressful). Of course I'm a sap so I loved the good ending...and I thought the development and changes in their friendship was cute as well. Thanks for creating this game!
I've finished this last night and it was such a blast! I need a Nano in my life, maybe I should find friends //slapped.
Anyway, the characters are really lovable and relatable! Especially Oleander! Ah, cute things <3 Their dialogues are really natural and funny too.
For the story, I was actually interested of what grade will they be getting for this project, but apparently I was in for something else--- It's really well written overall!
Overall, it was worth it<3
Thank you for creating this wonderful game <3
PS the bad end didn't need CGs to send chills to my spine. The descriptions are spot on scary, kudos TwT.I'm really happy to hear you liked the bad route, since this was my first attempt at writing horror! Hopefully I'll get another chance to write darker stuff in the future. Thank you very much!
I just finished the game - went for the good ending and then tried a few of the other dialogue options, but they broke my heart before even getting to the end. I got really, really attached to the "family." ; v;
Absolutely loved the entire experience; especially the humor, the characters and small things like the dialogue blips and UI design. Nano is the most wholesome thing in the world, becoming a robot parent for this journey made my day.
Thanks so much for this wonderful submission to NaNoRenO!
Thank you for your kind words! I'm glad we managed to get you invested in the "family" and that you enjoyed our game! It's also interesting to hear how the order of the routes influences the experience... B)