I found myself getting weirdly attached to the voice. Maybe it's because I was clicking the dialogue options for it? But I hope that things will be okay for it in the future. It was cruel, but in a way where it didn't understand it was being cruel or really what it meant to be cruel, because it was never taught that. And its fear is real, too. I'm glad Garbage held onto it instead of giving it away - it feels like a metaphor for not letting your trauma control you, but also not burying it or trying to remove it. It's still a part of you, after all - trying to get rid of it is neither feasible nor healthy.
just finished reading this and the post-mortem! had a very good time reading this. i have fairly little experience with doll stuff (enough to understand mantras at least) so i enjoyed learning more with this very dolly story! the perspective character being garbage's inner voice was cool. i also really liked the art and the little jokes. thank you for sharing this!
[click to reveal spoilers! talking a little about the ending!]
i liked the ending being pretty sweet like that (omg and the end cg was sooo cute!). i'm personally a fan of leaving things somewhat open-ended. does garbage become better? worse? maybe beautiful and mouse friend team up to try and steer garbage. it's fun to think about. wishing every doll the best!
Just finished the demo, and I thought it was pretty good. The idea of being "uncleanable" is something that disturbs me very much as someone with a compulsory disorder, and being stuck in a dumpster sounds pretty bad too. Are the dolls human-size? I'm not really sure since they're unable to lift a dumpster lid with two of them, and fit inside a wheelbarrow, but in the cg they seems to be the size of a garbage can.
This really is the modern Frankenstein, which was the modern Prometheus.
Yeah the dolls are human size! I needed them to be trapped in there and there's no good explanation for why the lid is too heavy for them, if i had more time i might go back and rework that!
And don't worry, in the second chapter garbage doll is able to clean up for the most part it, just takes some effort.
You might feel a bit lost at the start as you get used to the unique narration, lack of personal pronouns and the colorful art, but once you're tuned in to the game's wavelength, it's a joy to go through it.
First impressions might lead you to believe it's going to be a gloomy, philosophical tale about what it means to be free, but even when the story does get dark and asks you to engage with more serious topics, there's some absurd line of dialogue waiting right around the corner to catch you off guard. It's the moment you realize that you're actually playing a dark comedy that it clicks.
The art might seem crude, but I wouldn't have it any other way. These characters live in an ugly world, and the visuals are there to help reinforce that.
Garbage Dolls is a game that is proud to be WEIRD, and if you learn to be weird with it, you'll have a good time.
this happened in real life to my friend. you will instantly remember all of the characters FOREVER. garbage doll will be there at your GRAVE.
click for some comments that are major spoilersi really like the part where garbage doll shows up with the wand and gets caught, and the doll-witch relation suddenly starts to be about negotiation and neon cat starts defending herself that she had (dubious) consent. (i dont know if she was telling the truth but it kind of felt like she was?) so like, the first part of the game gives you a world where you just get thrown in the dumpster forever if someone gets bored of you, but a lot of it turns out to be garbage doll personally feeling like shit and being mean to herself. she has these external people telling her to be in the garbage but not actually forcing her to be there. is how it felt to me
This VN is a wildly creative mix of immensely uncomfortable, very funny, and surprisingly real. The whole doll system is freaky and frankly, a concept I personally find absolutely horrific. At the same time though, the game is very consistently funny, which I feel adds enough levity for its exploration of very real toxic relationship dynamics to hit hard even within its hellish nightmare reality of dolls and witches. Garbage Doll and her funny head voice are my kinda my goats also. Very fun characters to watch evolve throughout And I would be remiss not to mention the wonderful art and music. The art especially was really good, I loved the aesthetic. It was both cute at times while also adding to the disturbing nature of the world and events.
Such a good read!! This game is so cute, sad, and funny at all the right times. The art seriously was so cute I wanted to die. I love how the 'good vs bad' actions get recontextualized through the disembodied voice. There's truly something enticing about the dolls, and Garbage's wants and needs being something that's ignored, played with, and sometimes accepted was all interesting to watch.
this was brilliant. whenever i thought i could predict where this was going i was delightfully wrong. my heart dropped to my stomach during chapter 2. i was completely enamored with the world of dolls and witches you gave life to. the mechanic of the 'player' being the inside, super critical voice of garbage; the back and forth between the sprite, narrator, and garbage doll was SO fun. what a fantastic use of the VN medium.
there was a tenderness to the toxicity between bleeding heart and neon cat; it's obvious they both cared for each other but in ways that were unsustainable without someone getting hurt. that core of 'realism' in this more fantastic world made their relationships even more cutting; specifically speaking on how neon cat was looking for something and someone to fix her, and threw bleeding heart away when bleeding heart couldn't fulfill that role. this was elevated and enhanced by your *extremely* funny sense of humor. the reveal of what mother had done in the last chapter was. god. god!!!!!
loved that it was open-ended, that they had the potential to be better (or worse) after the credits rolled, that these characters could still heal despite going through things terribly traumatic. some of which was done onto each other. it still made me feel hopeful; these characters had the potential to move away from that. together, maybe. incredible, incredible VN. thank you so much for making it. this is something that will stick with me beyond the game jam.
wow, i'm going to preface this by saying i am someone who is not familiar with the concept of "dolls" and "dollhood", so this is coming from an outsider just trying their best to understand by looking into a window. i went into this with an open mind, trying to learn the nuances of it all but i was confused, jarred at first, even. i loved how humanistic garbage was even as a doll. and even when the subject matter became abhorrent and dark, you still captured each character realistically and flawed. i don't know how but i didn't 100% condemn multiple bad actors by the end of the story, but maybe i am just speaking as someone who has experienced the pain as well, and as someone who believes in redemption, as someone who was caught in the cycle and almost perpetuated it. thank you so much for making this. it is very provocative, and while i don't completely get it. i'm writing this in tears but also laughter. feeling both joy and pain, and reclaiming a sense of myself. thank you garbage doll.
oh i dreaded each chapter more and more in the best way possible. dollhood and the cycle of abuse are gonna be swimming around in my head for the rest of the week. thank you for cursing me with this. great work!!
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I found myself getting weirdly attached to the voice. Maybe it's because I was clicking the dialogue options for it? But I hope that things will be okay for it in the future. It was cruel, but in a way where it didn't understand it was being cruel or really what it meant to be cruel, because it was never taught that. And its fear is real, too. I'm glad Garbage held onto it instead of giving it away - it feels like a metaphor for not letting your trauma control you, but also not burying it or trying to remove it. It's still a part of you, after all - trying to get rid of it is neither feasible nor healthy.
thank you. this is so good to hear :)
just finished reading this and the post-mortem! had a very good time reading this. i have fairly little experience with doll stuff (enough to understand mantras at least) so i enjoyed learning more with this very dolly story! the perspective character being garbage's inner voice was cool. i also really liked the art and the little jokes. thank you for sharing this!
[click to reveal spoilers! talking a little about the ending!]
i liked the ending being pretty sweet like that (omg and the end cg was sooo cute!). i'm personally a fan of leaving things somewhat open-ended. does garbage become better? worse? maybe beautiful and mouse friend team up to try and steer garbage. it's fun to think about. wishing every doll the best!Just finished the demo, and I thought it was pretty good. The idea of being "uncleanable" is something that disturbs me very much as someone with a compulsory disorder, and being stuck in a dumpster sounds pretty bad too. Are the dolls human-size? I'm not really sure since they're unable to lift a dumpster lid with two of them, and fit inside a wheelbarrow, but in the cg they seems to be the size of a garbage can.
This really is the modern Frankenstein, which was the modern Prometheus.
Yeah the dolls are human size! I needed them to be trapped in there and there's no good explanation for why the lid is too heavy for them, if i had more time i might go back and rework that!
And don't worry, in the second chapter garbage doll is able to clean up for the most part it, just takes some effort.
Thanks for reading!
It's a very unique and charming experience!
You might feel a bit lost at the start as you get used to the unique narration, lack of personal pronouns and the colorful art, but once you're tuned in to the game's wavelength, it's a joy to go through it.
First impressions might lead you to believe it's going to be a gloomy, philosophical tale about what it means to be free, but even when the story does get dark and asks you to engage with more serious topics, there's some absurd line of dialogue waiting right around the corner to catch you off guard. It's the moment you realize that you're actually playing a dark comedy that it clicks.
The art might seem crude, but I wouldn't have it any other way. These characters live in an ugly world, and the visuals are there to help reinforce that.
Garbage Dolls is a game that is proud to be WEIRD, and if you learn to be weird with it, you'll have a good time.
this happened in real life to my friend. you will instantly remember all of the characters FOREVER. garbage doll will be there at your GRAVE.
click for some comments that are major spoilers
i really like the part where garbage doll shows up with the wand and gets caught, and the doll-witch relation suddenly starts to be about negotiation and neon cat starts defending herself that she had (dubious) consent. (i dont know if she was telling the truth but it kind of felt like she was?) so like, the first part of the game gives you a world where you just get thrown in the dumpster forever if someone gets bored of you, but a lot of it turns out to be garbage doll personally feeling like shit and being mean to herself. she has these external people telling her to be in the garbage but not actually forcing her to be there. is how it felt to meThis VN is a wildly creative mix of immensely uncomfortable, very funny, and surprisingly real.
The whole doll system is freaky and frankly, a concept I personally find absolutely horrific. At the same time though, the game is very consistently funny, which I feel adds enough levity for its exploration of very real toxic relationship dynamics to hit hard even within its hellish nightmare reality of dolls and witches.
Garbage Doll and her funny head voice are my kinda my goats also. Very fun characters to watch evolve throughout
And I would be remiss not to mention the wonderful art and music. The art especially was really good, I loved the aesthetic. It was both cute at times while also adding to the disturbing nature of the world and events.
thank you! we really appreciate this comment
Such a good read!! This game is so cute, sad, and funny at all the right times. The art seriously was so cute I wanted to die. I love how the 'good vs bad' actions get recontextualized through the disembodied voice. There's truly something enticing about the dolls, and Garbage's wants and needs being something that's ignored, played with, and sometimes accepted was all interesting to watch.
thanks! glad you enjoyed!
this was brilliant. whenever i thought i could predict where this was going i was delightfully wrong. my heart dropped to my stomach during chapter 2. i was completely enamored with the world of dolls and witches you gave life to. the mechanic of the 'player' being the inside, super critical voice of garbage; the back and forth between the sprite, narrator, and garbage doll was SO fun. what a fantastic use of the VN medium.
there was a tenderness to the toxicity between bleeding heart and neon cat; it's obvious they both cared for each other but in ways that were unsustainable without someone getting hurt. that core of 'realism' in this more fantastic world made their relationships even more cutting; specifically speaking on how neon cat was looking for something and someone to fix her, and threw bleeding heart away when bleeding heart couldn't fulfill that role. this was elevated and enhanced by your *extremely* funny sense of humor. the reveal of what mother had done in the last chapter was. god. god!!!!!
loved that it was open-ended, that they had the potential to be better (or worse) after the credits rolled, that these characters could still heal despite going through things terribly traumatic. some of which was done onto each other. it still made me feel hopeful; these characters had the potential to move away from that. together, maybe. incredible, incredible VN. thank you so much for making it. this is something that will stick with me beyond the game jam.
thanks for reading, thanks for this comment!
wow, i'm going to preface this by saying i am someone who is not familiar with the concept of "dolls" and "dollhood", so this is coming from an outsider just trying their best to understand by looking into a window. i went into this with an open mind, trying to learn the nuances of it all but i was confused, jarred at first, even. i loved how humanistic garbage was even as a doll. and even when the subject matter became abhorrent and dark, you still captured each character realistically and flawed. i don't know how but i didn't 100% condemn multiple bad actors by the end of the story, but maybe i am just speaking as someone who has experienced the pain as well, and as someone who believes in redemption, as someone who was caught in the cycle and almost perpetuated it. thank you so much for making this. it is very provocative, and while i don't completely get it. i'm writing this in tears but also laughter. feeling both joy and pain, and reclaiming a sense of myself. thank you garbage doll.
aw you're welcome. thanks for reading
oh i dreaded each chapter more and more in the best way possible. dollhood and the cycle of abuse are gonna be swimming around in my head for the rest of the week. thank you for cursing me with this. great work!!
Thank you for reading!