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Estória   12-19-2025, 04:04 AM  
#1
Hello everyone and Happy Holidays! I'm new to this community and looking forward to getting to know you and your games. Smile

I'm a solo dev and just released my first game, Estória, on Steam and the Apple Store. It's a 2D point-and-click adventure game in the style of Sierra games like King's Quest and Quest for Glory, which I grew up on and love dearly.

If you're interested, please check it out, wishlist it, give it a try, or spread the word to someone you think might like it. It's a coming-of-age story where you explore and uncover the history and mysteries of the Kingdom of Estória. Thanks a lot! - Jonathan

Steam for PC & MAC

Apple Store for MAC, iPad, & iPhone

Trailer on Youtube

[Image: ?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Lett...rbox=false]
This post was last modified: 12-19-2025, 04:40 AM by Estória.
Baron Blubba   12-19-2025, 02:46 PM  
#2
Looks good, just bought it!
Estória   12-19-2025, 11:31 PM  
#3
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy playing it, and if you've got any questions, comments, feedback, etc, I'd love to hear them. I'm always looking for ways to improve it. (And I'm starting to think about Parts 2 and 3)
This post was last modified: 12-19-2025, 11:38 PM by Estória.
sjmpoo   12-21-2025, 07:49 PM  
#4
Congratulations on releasing the game.

I'm somewhat curios to what makes it "Sierra style" though. The graphic style and interface is clearly nothing like Sierra, so I can only assume that the game let's you die every 5 minutes? Or do you simply mean that it's an old-school adventure game with puzzles?
chrissie   12-21-2025, 09:33 PM  
#5
Hi Estoria (forgive me for the lack of accents) but I'm interested so I've just bought your game - I'm not an old-schooler though.
Estória   12-22-2025, 10:26 AM  
#6

(12-19-2025, 02:46 PM)Baron Blubba Wrote: Looks good, just bought it!

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy playing it, and if you've got any questions, comments, feedback, etc, I'd love to hear them. I'm always looking for ways to improve it. (And I'm starting to think about Parts 2 and 3)
This post was last modified: 12-19-2025, 11:38 PM by Estória.

(12-21-2025, 07:49 PM)sjmpoo Wrote: Congratulations on releasing the game.

I'm somewhat curios to what makes it "Sierra style" though. The graphic style and interface is clearly nothing like Sierra, so I can only assume that the game let's you die every 5 minutes? Or do you simply mean that it's an old-school adventure game with puzzles?

Hi sjmpoo, thanks so much!

Good question, and now that I think about it, maybe I should word it differently. I meant an old-school adventure game with puzzles, designed for all ages and experience levels, families, etc, kind of like a lot of Sierra games. There are no ways to die, and no ways to lock yourself out, so it's way more forgiving than Sierra. There's also a built-in hint system. Story-wise, it's similar to Sierra in that it's pretty linear.

I grew up on Sierra but haven't really played many modern games, so I guess that's the blueprint I fell back on when making Estória. I always loved the atmosphere and worlds that those games created, and tried to recapture some of that magic.

Anyway, I hope you like it! If you give it a try, let me know what you think! I'm a first time solo dev, so I'm very hungry for feedback and ways to improve it ;-)

(12-21-2025, 09:33 PM)chrissie Wrote: Hi Estoria (forgive me for the lack of accents) but I'm interested so I've just bought your game - I'm not an old-schooler though.

Hi chrissie,

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the support and hope you like it.

There's no need to be an old-school gamer for Estória. I designed it for all levels of experience and ages. It was inspired by old-school games because that's what I grew up on, and the sort of blueprint for how those games work is etched into my DNA at this point, but I want anyone and everyone to be able to enjoy this game.

I really hope you like it! Let me know what you think.
This post was last modified: 12-22-2025, 10:39 AM by Estória.
Boxblue Studios   12-22-2025, 06:37 PM  
#7
Hi there!
Your game looks great, some lovely animations there.
Added to my wishlist!
Wishing you the best of luck!

Creators of 'The Adventures of R.Sole'
Wishlist on Steam Now!
WARNING: May Contain Nuts.
Estória   12-22-2025, 07:00 PM  
#8
(12-22-2025, 06:37 PM)Boxblue Studios Wrote: Hi there!
Your game looks great, some lovely animations there.
Added to my wishlist!
Wishing you the best of luck!


Thanks so much! 

I just wishlisted The Adventures of R. Sole too. It looks right up my alley. I'm looking forward to it.
Baron Blubba   12-23-2025, 05:14 PM  
#9
I finished the game a couple of days ago. Overall, I enjoyed it. My favorite part is definitely the evil minister guy, Kreel. He's adorable!

I also enjoyed all the cute little optional stuff, like feeding the animals in the forest and others that were a little more challenging.

The puzzle difficulty is good. Not challenging enough to hold up your progression for very long, but there's enough there for a pleasant little chew before moving on. The game doesn't treat the player like an idiot and tell them what to do all the time, which is nice. You know, that typical "Oh, a red key! I can use this to unlock the red door in this room!"

The story is well paced --it's a satisfying yarn that somehow manages to feel big, even within the confines of what it a short game. I finished it in 3ish hours, and some of that time included me getting up to make a cup of tea or go to the loo or do a small chore.

The dialogue and script are well written --the story beats are expressed concisely but clearly, and each character that needs a distinct personality has one. I *love* not having to click through oodles of superfluous dialogue when playing an adventure game! 

What I didn't like:

I get the whole 'Men's name's start with R, women's names start with L', but having the first two females you meet be named Lily and Lila is confusing. After hearing their names but before meeting them I thought 'Are these the same person? Is Lily a nickname for Lila?' 
There are similar instances throughout the game, but Lily/Lila is the most egregious. 

There's an optional part of the game toward the end that I don't think should be optional: Let the player find the 'down' button in the upper room, and problem solved.

'Fare' is the word for payment to the ferryman, not 'fair'. There are also a couple of typos elsewhere and in the library, but overall the spelling and grammar are well above average for an independent adventure game.

The scenery seems to be AI generated. I understand that this game might not exist without AI generated scenery, as it's largely a one-person creation and not everyone (myself included for sure) are capable of drawing well enough to illustrate a point and click adventure game. Still, while the environments are pleasantly colorful, they lack the personality and charm of human made pixel art or hand drawn backgrounds. There are random details here and there that have me thinking 'what is that? why is that there?'

Overall:

I paid $5 for this game and easily got my money's worth. Solid stand-alone story with solid puzzle design. I look forward to purchasing and playing your future games.
This post was last modified: 12-23-2025, 05:15 PM by Baron Blubba.
Estória   12-23-2025, 07:21 PM  
#10
(12-23-2025, 05:14 PM)Baron Blubba Wrote: I finished the game a couple of days ago. Overall, I enjoyed it. My favorite part is definitely the evil minister guy, Kreel. He's adorable!

I also enjoyed all the cute little optional stuff, like feeding the animals in the forest and others that were a little more challenging.

The puzzle difficulty is good. Not challenging enough to hold up your progression for very long, but there's enough there for a pleasant little chew before moving on. The game doesn't treat the player like an idiot and tell them what to do all the time, which is nice. You know, that typical "Oh, a red key! I can use this to unlock the red door in this room!"

The story is well paced --it's a satisfying yarn that somehow manages to feel big, even within the confines of what it a short game. I finished it in 3ish hours, and some of that time included me getting up to make a cup of tea or go to the loo or do a small chore.

The dialogue and script are well written --the story beats are expressed concisely but clearly, and each character that needs a distinct personality has one. I *love* not having to click through oodles of superfluous dialogue when playing an adventure game! 

What I didn't like:

I get the whole 'Men's name's start with R, women's names start with L', but having the first two females you meet be named Lily and Lila is confusing. After hearing their names but before meeting them I thought 'Are these the same person? Is Lily a nickname for Lila?' 
There are similar instances throughout the game, but Lily/Lila is the most egregious. 

There's an optional part of the game toward the end that I don't think should be optional: Let the player find the 'down' button in the upper room, and problem solved.

'Fare' is the word for payment to the ferryman, not 'fair'. There are also a couple of typos elsewhere and in the library, but overall the spelling and grammar are well above average for an independent adventure game.

The scenery seems to be AI generated. I understand that this game might not exist without AI generated scenery, as it's largely a one-person creation and not everyone (myself included for sure) are capable of drawing well enough to illustrate a point and click adventure game. Still, while the environments are pleasantly colorful, they lack the personality and charm of human made pixel art or hand drawn backgrounds. There are random details here and there that have me thinking 'what is that? why is that there?'

Overall:

I paid $5 for this game and easily got my money's worth. Solid stand-alone story with solid puzzle design. I look forward to purchasing and playing your future games.

Hi Baron Blubba,

Thank you so much for your feedback, and for your support. This is really helpful.

I can't believe I misspelled "Fare!" Good catch. I'll look for the other typos. I spent a long time trying to find them all, but after months and months my eyes have glazed past them. I tried catching them with Excel, Google, etc, but they all give varying results and weren't consistent enough to be reliable. If you can remember any more, I'd love to know.

Good points about the L and R names. I've gotten Lila and Lily mixed up a few times myself. If I make a Part 2, it will expand to other parts of the kingdom, where not all the names are like that. The L and R thing was also a nightmare for the Japanese translations, because there's no distinction in Japanese between those letters. 

As for the use of AI for artwork, yeah, I'm definitely not going to try to defend it too hard. I totally get why people are against it. I've always thought of myself as a fairly competent artist, and I tried to do as much as possible by hand, but in the end I settled for using a combination of AI, based on my original sketches, and refined by hand over and over until it looked like how I saw it in my head. 

Anyway, I wish I could have done it all by hand, but I never would have been able to finish this game that way. I saw it as "I'm the director and AI was a tool that I used to get my vision out" but I know that's going to turn a lot of people off, and I see their point completely. Going forward I may try to replace it piecemeal, if possible.

Good point, too, about not wanting the library/temple to be optional. I think that might be an interesting change. 

Thanks again, so much, for the feedback. Estória is a work in progress and this helps me so much. I'm glad you felt you got your money's worth!
Happy Holidays,
Jonathan
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