I was so young when this happened, wondering why we were ushered to a cramped hotel with many, many relatives. It had the vibe of a CNY gathering for the kids, and the adults let us play all day as long as we promised we wouldn’t go outside. The streets were crowded, and dad didn’t come with us. We couldn’t afford to flee the country, and I never did understand why I should circle “non-pribumi” on school forms. Not until I was much older.
I learned about the incident at in my early 20s when a visual novel brought this subject matter up and it was just a strange experience for me. I felt embarrassed that I didn’t know this much earlier, so I guess this was a way to write a game revisiting these locked-off memories for me.
I'm glad I looked through this ... you've packed a lot of individuality and general thoughts into 500 words! While I don't think I can add enough to usefully review this on IFDB.org, it's entries like this that helped reenforce that, yes, it was worth going through the Neo-Twiny Jam entrants well after it was over.
The fact that you were able to weave so many separate scenes and pieces of information together with such a short wordcount shows such a mastery of writing. Fantastic work 🌸
I think you have a real knack for this kind of minimalism, and at least for me the tones you mentioned in the dev log you were going for came through perfectly
I actually teared up reading this. I'm not Chinese nor did I live through the 1998 incident, but my heart hurts just from imagining what the main character had to go through, and fitting it in less than 500 words requires mad skill. Great work!!
It's a really heartbreaking and evocative story. I was impressed with how much you got out of the 500 word limit.
I didn't know some of the relevant history, and looking up the meaning of the Indonesian phrases mentioned in the story and learning the context made it hit a lot harder.
I like all the nods at greater happenings beyond the bounds of the story. Paints a specific portrait of time and place in few words. A localized, wistful melancholy. Nice work.
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I was so young when this happened, wondering why we were ushered to a cramped hotel with many, many relatives. It had the vibe of a CNY gathering for the kids, and the adults let us play all day as long as we promised we wouldn’t go outside. The streets were crowded, and dad didn’t come with us. We couldn’t afford to flee the country, and I never did understand why I should circle “non-pribumi” on school forms. Not until I was much older.
Thank you for writing this.
I learned about the incident at in my early 20s when a visual novel brought this subject matter up and it was just a strange experience for me. I felt embarrassed that I didn’t know this much earlier, so I guess this was a way to write a game revisiting these locked-off memories for me.
Thank you for reading this too.
I'm glad I looked through this ... you've packed a lot of individuality and general thoughts into 500 words! While I don't think I can add enough to usefully review this on IFDB.org, it's entries like this that helped reenforce that, yes, it was worth going through the Neo-Twiny Jam entrants well after it was over.
Thank you for revisiting the jam and playing this game :-)
The fact that you were able to weave so many separate scenes and pieces of information together with such a short wordcount shows such a mastery of writing. Fantastic work 🌸
Thank you, it was fun figuring out how to work with the limitations.
nice < 500 word gut punch
I think you have a real knack for this kind of minimalism, and at least for me the tones you mentioned in the dev log you were going for came through perfectly
Thank you, and I hope I’ll do something similar when I embark on my next bigger project.
I actually teared up reading this. I'm not Chinese nor did I live through the 1998 incident, but my heart hurts just from imagining what the main character had to go through, and fitting it in less than 500 words requires mad skill. Great work!!
Thank you :-)
very good... tightly wound, like gauze
ouch. why must you aim straight to my heart bones like this.
It's a really heartbreaking and evocative story. I was impressed with how much you got out of the 500 word limit.
I didn't know some of the relevant history, and looking up the meaning of the Indonesian phrases mentioned in the story and learning the context made it hit a lot harder.
I like all the nods at greater happenings beyond the bounds of the story. Paints a specific portrait of time and place in few words. A localized, wistful melancholy. Nice work.
Small but effective. The mentions of period-era gadgets make it feel even more real.
a beautiful picture of a goodbye
Works beautifully within the themes and restrictions of the jams, great job.
God, that was chilling. Good stuff.