The Spider and the Bride
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
There once was a large, old house that sat atop an equally large hill.
Within the old house’s attic there lived a spider.
Small and unassuming.
And every full moon, the house had a very special guest.
A short fairytale-esque story about a smitten little spider and the woman it loved.
Featuring approximately 3.5k words with 3 endings. 10-15 minutes for full completion.
Created as a submission for the 2021 Spooktober 3rd Annual Visual Novel Jam By DevTalk
Credits:
- Made with Ren'Py
- Music by Kevin MacLeod
- Background Art by Isabloo
- Visual Overlay from https://www.myfreetextures.com
- Special thanks to both Hollowmend and Brittany for their continued support!
Download
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Comments
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This was such an emotionally captivating game, and very beautifully written. It was a privilage to play such an endearing game.
What the hellll, I'm crying so much in my soul as I read through this beautiful story. I love how pure and innocent the spider's love is towards the bride, and how he/it/they(?) were so humble and content in just watching the bride's happiness and joy as she discovered the gifts. Not only that but to see the insects you spare help you in return really just, oof, hit you in the feels! And when the bride finds out who gave her the gifts and gets her happy ending after so long of being trapped-- PLEASE I'M GONNA GO CRY THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL AND WELL-WRITTEN!
Thank you so much! ;A; I'd always wanted to try my hand at something whimsical and fairytale-esque so it's very humbling to see it resonating strongly with people!
Looking forward to see more of your writing! Excitedly looking forward to any happy endings hehehe
stopppp im actually crying lol i loved it! it was so sweet, thank you for making it <3
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)
I liked the fairytale inspiration in regard to the tone and length.
(spoilers)
The narrative felt odd until I finished both endings and realized that it was an interesting parallel involving sacrifices made in the name of love, which comes up as both routes touch upon the subject of passing away.
The woman receives the dress in both scenarios, but it was the twist about her situation that made me ponder which outcome would make the spider happier.
This felt magical! I just love the atmosphere. It's so cinematic and magical. The story feels like an animated short I would have loved to have seen as a kid.
I'm not the biggest fan of old school fairytales, but this has just the right amount of darkness (or I guess gothicness?) to suit my taste. Not to mention that it's wonderfully told! The tone kinda reminds me of the live action Peter Pan movie from 2003, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. I even imagined the story as being narrated by the same narrator as that movie lol!
You're writing is really amazing. It makes me wonder what you're history is in terms of writing.
Thank you again for your kind words! I've always enjoyed old school fairy-tales, personally, so always wanted to try my hand at writing something that had that kind of cadence and classic feel to it.
And unfortunately I don't have a very exciting portfolio when it comes to writing. It's just something I've always enjoyed doing as a hobby but never really had the nerve to share outside my immediate friend group until now. The response from the community has been so heartening!
As an Australian and a spider apologist, this game was very touching and one of my favourite stories in what I've read so far in the Spooktober entries this year! The atmospheric art and whimsical, fairy-tale story really drew me in.
All of the endings are really interesting and left me feeling satisfied with their conclusions.
SPOILERS:
The spider and spider ending route... does he eventually get eaten if she's also a spider? :( I am worried for him. Please survive my friend
I'm so happy you enjoyed it, and thank you so much, fellow spider apologist!
In response to the spoilers; I assure you, there is no need to worry about our little friend in that ending. :) It still gets its well-earned 'happily ever after' without any caveats.
Thank goodness!
I will also add I was so worried about the spider when I was not feeding him, so I even looked up how long spiders last without food. The average is 30-60 days from the first result Google showed me. I have never fretted so much for the well-being of a protagonist, hahaha!
Really enjoyed your VN! I was hesitant because I'm not the biggest fan of spiders, but after reading the description and seeing the beautiful art I just HAD to play it. All three endings were wonderful <3
Thank you very much! I personally love spiders so I wanted to make sure it was approachable enough for people who aren't so fond of them
Thank you and I'm glad you enjoyed it! Unfortunately I don't have the free time to support implementing any new features like translations right now :(
I loved this, from the illustrations to the music to the lovely writing, this was a wonderful fairy tale, a little spooky but first and foremost incredibly magical, just a gorgeously woven (see, what I did there) story and I loved the spider (not so sure about the bride, though).
What a lovely playthrough and comment! Thank you!
Admittedly I'm pretty happy things like the rule of three and the deliberate obfuscation of the spider's gender was noticed!
I do understand the lack of love for the bride, though, haha. I didn't want to over-characterize them and take away from the fairytale simplicity, which resulted in the bride coming off as a bit of an airhead.
The other main ending does elaborate a SLIGHT bit more on her and her kindness to the other critters, though. (Don't worry, it won't make you feel bad for doing what a spider does!)
Oh, I might have to play the other ending to see it after all, that sounds interesting.
Yes, I figured there was reason for the shadowy spider figure which I really loved. And yes, fairy tale princesses quite often tend to want the moon and nothing less but it's part of the genre, so my outrage was of course not as serious (which hopefully came through, haha) since I know they can't help themselves.
Honestly, I loved that this story really felt like from my old fairy tale books. Really brought back good memories, thank you so much.
Show post...
LOVED IT GOOD JOB DEV
Thank you very much for the support!
I loved this a lot! You really got down pat on how to make a fairy tale! I went for all three endings and thought they all worked so well, but of course, I have a favorite: the good end, hahah!
The entire style of the GUI and the art was fantastic and went hand in hand with the story telling. Thanks for working so hard on this! <3
I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thank you!
I personally like to consider both 'full' ends good ends, haha. Just in different ways! The 'spare' ending is definitely meant to be the happiest and most classic fairy-tale of the three, though!
This game is so sweet and sad, with an ending that pleasantly surprised me. (I picked the route to spare every creature)
It really does feel like a fairytale in the best way possible, the writing and atmosphere fit together beautifully. Awesome work!
Thank you for your kind words! I'm glad I was able to convey that fairytale vibe!
hello Brii :) a bit of dream and a bit of sadness in a halloween theme , really amazing :) and this time i don't have tears in my eyes like i had with sunrise on the moon ..i'm too sensitive.
the art and soundtrack are great too :)
Thank you so much! And I understand, I confess that I usually avoid 'bad' ends when playing games, haha. I don't have the heart to be mean to fictional characters (unless they're my own, apparently).
just finished the two other endings :) it's really done well either path we choose :)
I didn't want to punish a spider for... well... behaving like a spider, haha. That one deserves a happy ending as well!
indeed :)