The Rare Bird's Son
"If it wasn't for you…"
A peaceful afternoon at a sun-lit dōjō in 17th-century Japan. Kyū has just finished a sword-fighting lesson with his student, but the boy has some questions that need to be answered.
- One CG, one music track, and 997 words.
- Made in 7 days for the O2A2 2023 Queer Edition Jam.
- Download for best performance 👌 The web build is not optimized for mobile devices.
Check out my main game, too:
Download
Development log
- Plans for the future and additional artJun 10, 2023
Comments
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Wow, that hurt me more than I thought. It has to be the unfair situation everyone is in, especially poor Mahiro who is by all accounts innocent in this situation and is instead being used by his mother and avoided by his father. I'm sure if Kyu wasn't here then Mahiro really would have been used as a sort of puppet against Mairo himself. Mahiro's just a sweet kid who just wants the same thing all kids want, love and affection from their parent, but because of the political situation he was deprived of that.
It's a bitter thing having to read through and see how much Kyu is struggling because on one hand, it's a shitty situation, and on the other hand, he can't help but love this kid that Mairo has too many mixed feelings with. I haven't played the main game yet but I like how much time is spent to expand side characters and show their own stories that are independent from the main game.
Lovely sad thing I've read, good work was done here~!
Hello, thank you so much for playing! I'm happy you liked it 💕
I agree that the situation is good for no one and it just hurts everyone involved. Kyū especially is in a really tight spot, stuck between respecting his partner's wishes and caring for the kid he loves despite everything (and who looks up to him so much). But at the same time, he's also in the perfect position to try bringing them closer so they can maybe be a family??? 🥲
Also, just a side note: this is more of an AU to the main game, with a different story and setting, but it will be getting a separate big game sometime in the future so I hope that's something to look forward to if you're interested. ^^
Oh that's so cool! It's really fun as a writer to be able to expand on side characters and their stories to not just flesh out the character and world, but to also explore. I hope things go well!
I like this little piece of sweetness!
Congrats on the great quality of the game for a short gamejam! It makes me to wonder if you have extended this story with a larger one (?)
Aw, thank you so much for playing 🥰
I'm planning to expand it into a full game in the future! (it's currently at the planning/researching stage of development as I'm finishing my main game) I posted a devlog about it some time ago if you're interested. ^^
It's great as a prologue to something much bigger <3.
It makes you want to explore the world and the story of Kyu and Mairo and their relationship, how they ended up in this desperate situation, the mother's point of view (I know that this being a BL it is likely that she is an antagonist, but having considering how little agency women had at that time I feel more sorry for her), and how Mairo really feels for Mahiro (Call me naive but I refuse to believe that a father can hate such an adorable child) <3.
And knowing the future of this unhappy family, will they end up separating and each for their own while leaving the child in charge of everything? Or will they talk things out and come to a compromise to make life easier?
Honestly, I would have liked Kyu to scold Mairo, because it's not right to treat the child like this for something that isn't his fault lol.
Thank you for playing, I'm glad you liked it 🥰
Sorry to disappoint but this IS how Mairō feels about Mahiro. Sure, it's not that he actively hates him because he doesn't really know him. He does everything he can to avoid Mahiro but it's not out of spite; it's because just looking at him is painful for him. Because it reminds him of everything he couldn't have.
And so, I can't imagine a situation where Kyū, being his only ally, the only person who really understands what he's going through, would be so cruel to scold him or push him to have a relationship with Mahiro. He'd try to do it in very small steps. But anything more than that would feel like a betrayal and complete disregard for Mairō's feelings.
So it is a tight spot to be in, but I think that makes for an interesting dynamic. ^^
This was cute!!! I think you mentioned before that this was from your Quaint AU, right? So it's neat to see a sneak peek of that through this O2A2 entry!! I like how you distorted (bastardized? changed? can't think of the right word right now my bad ahhhhHHHH) the names like Q = Kyū (which i thought was clever haha)
You really got me interested in this AU though!! Sounds like Mahiro is having a rough time all around with his dad AND mom meanwhile poor Kyū is just trying his best to be nice while also kind of kicking the can down the road as to what the truth of everything is for the boy. The animations were also a suuuuuper nice touch (and it's too bad my current computer hates the downloaded version and keeps making the game flicker every time Mahiro blinks because it keeps me from seeing the animation you put in its full glory OTL. at least i can see them super well in the web version tho!!!) and I especially loved the fact you added a revert button to the ending because that felt like an especially neat touch that wasn't probably necessary to code in but kind of adds to the curiosity of the story just the same (if that makes sense haha).
Also the art!! In general!! I love??? You really have a way with drawing characters in a style that's pure ~aesthetic~ to me (im WEAK for the colors and shapes you use in your designs ngl) and i felt like you once again popped off in this short thing (I especially like how you used the one sprite, others=silhouette rule to shift all the focus to Mahiro while Kyū still being a predominant presence/the viewer's lens so to speak)
But anyways!! Good job with this it was a very enjoyable quick game to play through ^0^
Thank you, that's so sweet 🥹💕
It's not so much that I distorted the names, I just wrote them down as if they were Japanese names to fit the setting. ^^ (I still wanted them to sound close enough to their counterparts from Quaint)
But I'm glad you liked it! This story is very dear to my heart and I'd love to make it into a full game sometime in the future. I think the whole dynamic between the three of them entwined with bits and pieces of Kyū and Mairō's past would make for an interesting plot. ^^ (it'll have to wait for Quaint to be done tho, because it's kinda long 😅)
Im preparing myself after seeing jts a bittersweet. Ngh, I love it! (´；ω；｀)
I'm glad! I wanted it to end on a positive note, even though the story itself is pretty sad ^^
Oh my gosh, this was so adorable!!! (┳Д┳)
The CG was beautiful, especially with all the little variations on Mahiro, and the music track was really fitting and heartwarming!! ⋆˙⟡♡✧˖°
I really love the way the conversation went and how Kyu makes sure to tell Mahiro enough so that he knows part of the truth but not the full truth, so as not to make him sad. The dialogue felt super natural and the narration is really well done! It was a bittersweet story, but definitely an unforgettable one.
I need to try out Quaint soon too!
Awesome job! ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა
Thank you so much for the kind words, it means a lot 🥹💕
Ngl, Kyū was in a pretty tight spot there and it was a bit of a challenge to write a balanced answer to Mahiro's questions. ^^ But I'm happy you liked how it turned out! I'm not at all confident in my writing skills so this is very reassuring 🥰
GODDDDDD THIS WAS BEAUTIFUL FROM THE SECOND I STARTED IT UP. Just the sound of the amazing music?? GUHH. Gorgeous. I'm continuing to listen to it now as I write this hahaha.
Like. Literally the best word I have to describe this is beautiful. Everything about it feels so gorgeously refined and polished, from the art, to the GUI, to the music--it all comes together to form this wonderfully poignant and almost nostalgic vibe that then adds to the story itself.
The CG is so wonderfully done!! Mahiro is fifty shades of adorable?? I'm in love with all the animations of his expressions and the blinking... just fantastic. ALSO I COULDN'T STOP LOOKING AT THE SHININESS OF THE FLOOR, IT LOOKS PRACTICALLY PHOTO-REALISTIC??? It's so good HELPPPP.
Oh gosh and the story of course!! I'm left so curious and intrigued and wanting more more more LKJDALFKDS so I definitely hope that you'll keep working on this little AU story in the future?? Because I love everything about it!! It left my eyes moist thinking about Kyu with Mahiro's father and what they must have shared and all the history behind them. I really want to dive into this world and explore the chars and story more lakdjflakds
OH I AND I LOVE THAT KYU SHOWS UP ON THE TITLE SCREEN AT THE END. What a lovely little treat after finishing GUHHHH.
ANYWAY.
THIS WAS A DELIGHT. I'm left with such softly melancholy yet pleasant vibes after playing it. Thank you for making this!! And such a feat, too, in just seven days laksdjfalkd I love what you did even within the constraints of the jam!! 💕
I needed a moment to recover from this comment, thank you so much for all the sweet words 🥹💕
I'm very very VERY tempted to make the whole thing into a game.
The main focus of the story is on Kyū and Mairō (just like in Quaint, haha…), but I wanted to frame it as a series of tales that Kyū would tell Mahiro (with this little game being the beginning). The ending has not crystalized for me yet, though. 😅 I'm not sure what would have to happen for Mairō to let go of all the resentment that piled up throughout the years, and I don't think he'd be pleased with Kyū trying to make it go away. I'd also have to do a TON of research, too. I've got a general understanding of how things were in this period but I don't think that's enough…? 😅
Once I'm done with Quaint, though, who knows? ^^
(also, that floor is literally just a few layers thrown together, I'm surprised it turned out so well 🤭)
This was so lovely! Mahiro (not to be mistaken with Milo!!!!) is a very endearing character and I really loved his relationship with Kyu (not to be mistaken with Q!!!!!).
Joke aside, I also really appreciated the commentary on heteronormative social norms and how, in the end, they just make people unhappy (both Mahiro and his father).
The GUI was also really great! And the illustration was lovely, I really love this fathering perspective you chose, it works very well with the story.
So, congrats on having created such a nice project in a week only!!! That's impressive!!!
Thank you so much for the sweet comment, this makes me very happy 🥰
Haha, this story did spring up as an AU to Quaint, so the similarities are not coincidental. ^^ (it's not 1 to 1 though, and it made sense to use the alternate spellings in this context)
And you're right about the social norms! I also feel they'd be especially hard to fight against in this setting and I'd definitely want to delve into it more if I decided to make this into a bigger project. ^^
I would love to see it as a bigger project!
(Yeah, I kinda guessed the similarities were not coincidental, haha!)