This Life Escapes Me
Revamp Complete! + Epilogue Story + Queer Halloween Stories Bundle
IT'S FINALLY HERE! A huge thank you to my team for pulling through with this revamp, and for you, dear reader, for showing your support! Here's the pay-off:
Asset Update & Bug Fixes
- Coda has updated the writing. Includes edits for clarity, continuity of facts made in the upcoming prequel, and a change in the final line
- Coda has updated and refined Gad's character sprite. Includes adjustments to certain facial expressions and updated appearance
- Coda and BaiYu have updated sounds. There are now new sound cues, an ambient track during the story, and a short title track
- Coda and BaiYu have updated VFX. Includes particle effects and a new title card
- Coda and BaiYu have updated GUI elements and improved menu organization
- Coda and BaiYu have refined scene direction and timing of certain elements
- BaiYu has corrected a skipped line of dialogue
- NiAsobu has fully-rendered the background art
- Special thanks to Amidst None for audio editing, and Ingthing and Katy133 for UI assistance
- The desktop web build has been retired. Functionality and quality issues led to the decision to only offer the desktop downloadables
All of the major changes have been implemented! We hope you enjoy this update, as from here on out, any further changes will be to address bugs found in the downloadable desktop app builds.
Now, for an extra treat...
"This Life Escapes Me: Afterstory"
Gad's voice lost its quiver. "Please. Don't stop me from righting my wrong." He knelt down on one knee and gazed up into those fearful eyes. "I don't want to kill you.
"Do you understand?"
I wrote a brief (1,500-word) epilogue taking place immediately after the events of This Life Escapes Me, written in pure prose in a Google Doc. Unlike the first-person viewpoint in This Life Escapes Me, this epilogue is narrated in third-person after your spirit "returns beyond the veil", and focuses on Gad's actions thereafter.
While I have the game page updated with the document, I will share the link below! I encourage you to read it, and if you feel compelled to comment, you can leave them here in the comments section of this announcement, or on the main game page!
Content Warning:
Death (Non-graphic), Bereavement, Graphic violence, Blood
Read the epilogue:
➡ https://bit.ly/3Cq0Uze ⬅
Queer Halloween Stories Bundle
This Life Escapes Me is in the Queer Halloween Stories Bundle, an Itch bundle featuring narrative-driven games written by queer indie developers! That's us! So if you're in the mood for a smorgasbord of spooky stories from 14 different indie studios for the Halloween season, why not treat yourself?
The bundle is 20 USD and runs until the end of October. If you want to support us, please think about purchasing! All proceeds go right back into helping our community tell more of the stories we want to make in the game dev space.
Please view the page for a list of content warnings for each game. Some content is very heavy, so be advised.
Buy the bundle:
➡ https://bit.ly/QueerHalloweenStories2022 ⬅
Final Words
And with that, This Life Escapes Me has concluded! The team will now be moving forward with The Corpse Lieutenant, a full prequel that has reached about 15,000 words now in its second draft.
If you would like to follow development on The Corpse Lieutenant, my free and public devlog is available on my Patreon. If you like what we do, I encourage you to become a patron! The extra 5 USD a month from your patronage goes into helping pay for my freelancers, tools, and other resources to make this next visual novel come to life. You'll also have exclusive access to behind-the-scenes WIPs as a treat for your continuous support of this production.
Every bit counts! Otherwise, if you enjoyed what we made here today, please share it with folks who you think would too. We're so proud of this little gem, and we want you to feel the same love we do when we see this gem shine!
Now: please be well, be safe, and remember to be kind to yourself. Your happiness matters. Thank you for reading.
- Coda
Comments
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The following is machine translation
After I finished this game,I felt very Sad.Because Gad is pathetic.But what makes me feel even worse is that I live in China,SO I CAN'T OPEN THE FOLLOW-UP LINK.So can someone help me send this follow-up document to my email? Or you can reply to me directly if you want.
Thank you very much if you can help me!!!!!
Hello! Thank you for reading our visual novel! I'm sorry to hear that you can't access the epilogue Google Doc. I can convert it into a PDF and upload the file on Itch with the rest of the game, so that you and others in need of alternative access can be able to download it and read it on your local device! I can do this and make an announcement in the next couple of days when it is up; if you Follow my account, you will receive the notification in your Feed, or in a notification email by Itch if you have that setting enabled on your Itch account.
Please be careful about posting your email address out in public spaces like this; I suggest you edit your comment to remove it out of concern for your safety and privacy. I am not responsible for anyone who contacts your email claiming to act on behalf of me or my work, as I only answer Itch comments here and make solutions public on the platform. Thank you for understanding, and thank you for bringing your concern to me so that I can try to help!
Thank you for replying to this comment!
I'm sorry I didn't see your reply until one day late. It would be great if you could do this! I'm glad to see this postscript!
Your work is exquisite! So I probably paid attention to your account when I just played the game! I am also looking forward to your next work!
Of course, I'm sorry, I don't use email very much, so I didn't take into account such problems as security, and I lacked the sense of crisis I should have! I'm sorry, thank you for reminding me!
It's okay, no need to be sorry! I'm very glad to help, and thank you so much for the compliments and encouragement!
Omg I'm going to cry more after reading that epilogue, I'm sure somehow he'll meet his love in the afterlife but for now he needs to rest his aching bones and remember that he'll meet them again some day, at least that's what I want to believe :"(
You don't know how happy your reaction has made me, like 🥲 I'm so glad you played through, read the afterstory, and shared how the whole experience has touched you! Thank you so, so much! I hope for you The Corpse Lieutenant will be even more gripping!
I'm so so happy my comment made you happy! Thank you for having courage to post your content, it may seem like something small but it's amazing how you shared your art and stories with us! I know I wouldn't be able to! Thank you for this beautiful game, characters, and story/writing, you're absolutely amazing :)
Hey, I'm really excited to play and have been following the production for a while, so congratulations !!!! Unfortunately, I'm having some issues with playing as every time I open the game it immediately closes. I played the demo in browser before and I worked, so I was wondering if you were planning to implement that again?
Thank you, kindly!
I'm sorry you're having trouble. Can you tell me what your desktop operating system is? Without knowing anything, my usual suggestions are:
- Delete all game files and then reinstall them from our game page, in the event your files were somehow corrupted upon execution.
- If you are getting a warning pop-up from your system that mentions a "virus" or "potentially unwanted software", Ren'Py games can sometimes trigger this, so try right-clicking the game application and running as an administrator.
- If neither of the above work or are applicable, downloading/launching the game instead through the Itch app (https://itch.io/app), which executes files in its virtual sandbox tends to solve this problem every time I encounter this with other games.
I hope these help! For the foreseeable future, we will not have the desktop browser version of the game. Ren'Py web builds have been in an experimental beta for several years now, and screen modes and responsiveness in the updated game created errors that we are not capable of fixing at this time. So for now, in the interest of quality, we are only offering the desktop app builds. When Ren'Py improves their web build, or should we find a safe and alternate solution, we may see about revisiting the desktop browser option. Very sorry for the inconvenience!
Thanks for answering, but I think it's just because I have an older computer haha. I tried in the itchio app and it still closed so I don't think it's anything that can be fixed.
I'm sorry these solutions weren't right for you. But in asking, you've drawn my attention to the fact that I may need to make a note on the game page about minimum system requirements and installation instructions. Maybe it's a graphics driver issue at its heart, but I'm unsure. MSR may make that more clear to you if you would need to—and can—update.
My only other suggestion for now is... have a friend stream it with you, lol. I know it's not the same as having personal, private access to it anytime, but for a free game, it's a nice experience to share with someone else too, I hope!
Wishing you the best, and thank you for bringing your concern to me.