Diffraction (Demo)
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
「 Is it selfish to follow my dreams? 」
Being a photography-based influencer was the goal, but everyone called it a pipe dream - and they were right. A "failed" career, no job, no money, and a mountain of debt, April ends up moving back to her rainy small town. But even a small town has some doors for opportunity if these two boys can give April her last shot at her dreams. She can use them.
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A quiet intimate story of how photography changed the lives of three people in a rainy small town and the paths in life they took with it.
- Characters -
- Demo Features -
- Approx. 1 hour of gameplay for a single play through
- ~27k words of total content
- 3 CGs and 11 mini CGs
- 12 original music tracks
- Team -
Mell - Project Lead, Writing , Coding
Shikama - Art (Characters, CGs, BGs, Promo), Writing
Renerie - GUI/Promo Assets, Coding
CYKoibee - Music Composition, SFX
Special Thanks To:
puchidesign - Logo Art
JunbugP - Trailer/Opening Song Composer
Rae - Trailer Video/Animation
CC SFX and BG Model Creators - Attributions and credits included in game text file
Download
Development log
- Development Delay Notice - Q3 202557 days ago
- Limited Merch Pre-Order Store Open! April 15-30Apr 15, 2024
- Diffraction Otome VN 2023 - Year End RoundupDec 29, 2023
Comments
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Loved the game! (especially Hendric...) How far along is the game now?And when is an estimated release? Been following since February (so excitedd!!)
giggling and kicking my feet over hendric rn 🤭 loved the demo, can't wait for the full game! 😁💖
Thank you for making him giggling and kicking feet worthy?! We know he is something of a polarizing character in the demo so this is a nice little surprise! We will keep working hard on the full game!
ohhh man i loved that!!!! i wonder how the story will unfold!
Thank you for playing the demo! Hopefully it's a fun unfolding when we finish!
we need chinese！！！
We unfortunately don't have any plans or resources to do translations right now, but we'll keep this in mind!
still in the middle of playing this game and wow,,, though I am not a creative, I am
in the hell calledjob hunting TvT this is hitting close to home ahaha.....Regardless of being a creative or not, job hunting is never easy, so we’re rooting for you!!!!
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo why did demo end at such a part? I need more i am loving it so far. Curse mr. 5000 phone guy. Just because he looks good he will not get pass😤 when is next update? I am already looking forward to it. Love the visuals, the rain, the characters and the choices, photography, oh did isay rain already? Overall design. An time for i guess the personal part that makes me like this game. This game reminds me of my brother who tried to pursue something but life hit him down hard. He used to be such a nice person but when life knocked him down he came back more colder. I have my fair share of troubles but im able to get the support i need unlike him. Guess that's why i like games like this. Where there can be a happy ending or hope in a situation that is kind of bad. Wish my brother can be fixed. Well enough of that, back to game. Love it and want more. When will the next part be available? Im here to stay. I give game 5/5 already😝
We are hoping to get a final/polished demo out later this year but unfortunately, that won't progress the story more than it currently stands. The rest will come with the full game, hopefully at the end of the year.
And thank you for sharing with us - life can certainly be hard on creatives and we wanted to talk about that in this game, so we're glad you are sticking around for the rest. We hope the best for your brother too!
Thank you for playing!!!!!
I will be here for the support this game needs. I love it😝
(Also ty 😊)
I finished the demo yesterday and OMG so good cant wait for more aaaa
Thank you for giving it a try! We are working hard on the full game so hopefully more polish will be updated in the demo as we continue.
oh my goosh i just finished the demo, very comforting game I must say! from the art, the music, the detailed backgrounds, and especially the realistic plot! it really captures the mc's thoughts realistically and also paints the people around her quite well too! I love how this is written, such a masterpiece. Can't wait for the full game to come out
Thank you for the kind words!!!! It really makes us warm and fuzzy when we see people enjoying our work. We definitely hope you enjoy the full game some day too!
I like this game very much!Will the key chain be sold again around?I love it!My English is not very good. This is machine translation English. Sorry!(o^^o)
Thank you for playing the game!
We might have a limited store opening in a few months where you can buy the keychains, but all purchases will be pre-orders and only shipped AFTER the game is released. Please check our Twitter for updates about this.
We hope this message is translated properly. If not, please ask about anything you don’t understand and we will try our best to answer!
Hi! I'm an indie Vtuber streamer and I stream on Twitch. I streamed your game last year and I love the story. Also, was inlove with the characters! Me and My friend did a voice acting as we play the game and oh boy how we can't wait for the full release! Manifesting for it to be release soon so we can play it yet again on stream!
Thank you for playing it and all the support! Definitely keep an eye on our Twitter for expected release dates. We are still a ways off, but that will be where we keep people updated about it!
And we wish you all the success in vtubing! If you do stream again, please be sure to tag us so we can try to swing by!
I need the full game or else I just might start screaming and crying
It’s on its way! - Just slowly 😂 The four of us are trying our best and we hope you enjoy it once we release in the future!
hello hi absolute love, art is gorgeous, storytelling is on point, characters are fun, everything !! do you have an approximate launch date by any chance?
Thank you for giving the demo a try! We are currently aiming for a release in Q4 of this year. However, we are currently reviewing due to a few health delays. If there are firm delays, we will be communicating that on our Twitter, so please keep up to date there.
I'm so in love with this novel already and I can't wait to play/read through more.
Thank you for enjoying and sticking around! Even if it takes us a bit of time, we hope you enjoy the end result as well!
I just played the demo! I really loved it- and I loved that April and everyone around me is so reasonable, and that my choices don't feel like wildly polar opposites without space for neutral decisions. And of course, the artwork and writing are stellar. Anyways, will absolutely be getting this when it comes out.
We love the grey area of decisions as well - which is probably why we have them in the game. But thank you for playing and for the very kind words!
Is there no way to back the game anymore??? T^T
The keychains and stickers are reallyyy cute
We've been listening to everyone and we are actually hoping to put out an interest check for the merch this month! You might want to follow our twitter for information on that.
I NEED THE WHOLE GAME I AM GOING TO EXPLODE INTO A MILLION TINY LITTLE PEICES :’( the demo was so good i cannot wait for the whole gameeee :3
Thank you for giving the demo a try and we hope you will enjoy the whole game just as much! Also... please don't explode, we quite like people not in tiny pieces lol
one of the best demos ive ever played, cant wait for the full version :)
ill even pay for the full game
this game is just that good
Thank you so much for the support! Lots of work still ahead of us development wise, but we hope it’s worth the wait!
Can't wait the full version!!!! :DDDDDD
it’s still quite a ways off but we hope you enjoy you enjoy the full version when it comes out!
I can't believe this is an indie?? The visuals are amazing, I can't wait until it gets released ! Much love to the team!
Thank you for the kind compliment! The four of us are really proud with how far we’ve gotten so far and will keep working hard!
For the past 3-4 months this game has been living rent-free in my head - and it's even "just" the demo!
The moment I saw the header image I knew it can only be good! Slice of life, photography, light colors and, most importantly, rain! Can't wait for the full release, keep up the good work!
SHDJCISNFN Us just huddling in a little corner in your head is what we imagine from this.
Thank you for the support and for playing the demo! The four of us will keep trying our best!
I love it! Would you consider making a Spanish version of the full game?
We're glad you enjoyed it! As of right now, we don't have any plans to make a Spanish version, but we will keep the interest for it in mind!
Everything are so solid here, especially the visuals. The story hits a little too close to home :')
Was slightly sad initially that it's a demo from last year but it seems you guys gonna release on Steam? Would be nice to at least link the Steam page so people from itch can also find it easily. Best of luck!
The life of a creative, right? :')
But yes, we are hoping to eventually release on Steam as well so linking it here is a great idea, thank you for the suggestion!!
i love this game, it's so interesting, i can't wait for the full release, thank you !
Thank you for giving it a try! We're still working away at it slowly and we hope to have a year-end devlog at some point to share our progress so far!
Mannn this was so good and nice to play Hen cool fr, also the music and cast. Ms. Kim is a real one too
Ms. Kim is very much a real one, she entirely deserves ALL of the love <3
I honestly don't even know how to begin to describe how I feel about this game. I'm still trying to recover from being absolutely punched in the gut with how relatable I found this. It really speaks to so many things that I have felt and gone through and stuff that I am currently feeling and going through. Everything is absolutely beautiful and the everything is just so cozy.
The parents were extremely relatable and there were quite a few moments that nearly made me cry. This game just makes me emotional all around.
I love Hen.....he is disgustingly adorable
I love Faine too....he is also disgustingly adorable.
I'm going to watch this game like a hawk and I cant wait to yell for you to take my money at the commercial release.
I had two disgustingly cozy, emotional, and relatable nights of streaming this game on YouTube. I hope that's okay! ^.^;
Bless you all for this wonderful game!
We're so glad you enjoyed the demo and characters!!! There's definitely a story here that we want to tell and people being able to relate to it makes us glad we are telling it.
We also really enjoyed your streams! The whole team took some time to sit down and watch the vods and they were so much fun! If you ever stream more in the future, please be sure to tag our twitter account. We always do our best to swing by streams and support people when we can! (p.s. if you want to hide the UI to screenshot a certain built-in sparkling man, you can hit the "h" button on your keyboard to do so.)
Wow!! I'm really happy you all enjoyed watching! ^////^;; When I play it again I will be sure to keep you guys in the loop! :3
Omg thanks for the tip. Sparkling man is now officially my Discord profile picture XD
Thanks again!
Thank you for the wonderful demo! I can't wait for its official release. I will keep track of your updates in Twitter.
I love how the story revolves around the protagonist's career and passion. I also love the quirky interaction between the characters. Really makes me curious where this is heading to from their relationship to the girl's career. The story is so relatable and my heart really melts for the family's support. I also love the art and graphics. The fashion styles are so cool and chic. It's also really user-friendly. The game was so smooth until the end. Music and sound effects also really helped a lot in the story immersion. Job well done! Can't wait for more. <3
Thank you! Careers, passion, and families are topics near and dear to our hearts so we are really glad you find it relatable!
We'll do our best and we hope you will enjoy what's to come!
I like this game!!!
Thank you for playing!!
ok i downloaded the game but it isnt working for me. I clicked the ZIP Archive but it just gives me a folder???
Hi there! To find the game, you need to click into the folder you showed in the screenshot and find the file that has the raindrop icon and is titled “Diffraction”.
OHHHH OK NVM I SEE IT TYSM!!
The visuals. oh my lord the visuals. The whole thing just feels like a playable anime!! I really hope you continue the project!
Thank you for playing, and we’re definitely continuing! If you want to check out our progress once in a while, please make sure to follow our team’s twitter.
i cant even begin to start... this game is SO GOOD. the visuals are crazy professional and adding the blinking animation is a small attention to detail that's really different than most vn's on itchio. from the buttons to the overal aesthetic, i give it an 11/10!!! the story is also very relatable and a nice escape for anyone who wishes for some spontaneous fun in a boring world. hope to see the full release soon~~~
I FORGOT TO MENTION ADDING THE PHONE TOO... seriously the visuals + attention to detail is insane n rlly elevates the player's experience of the game ^^
You’ve caught us red-handed ahaha - we really love how games detail their worlds, and there are so many ones with amazing details out there, so we did our best to put in what we could to detail ours!
Thank you for appreciating the art and story as well! We’re on the simpler side of story and concept, so it’s really nice to meet fellow enjoyers of those types of stories <3 We’re definitely working hard on the full release!
I fell in love with the art and the characters. I couldn't take my eyes off the girl for a long time. And then I saw the guys and just... *sigh*
Can't wait for the full release, I am very interested in the story)
Thank you for such a charming demo<3
We’re really glad you like all of the characters! We’ve put a lot of love into the female characters as well, so it’s always nice to hear about them.
Thank you for playing our demo! <3
I really liked the art style and characters in this game. When would the next major update and game release?
Thank you!
As for major updates - we wanted to get a remastered demo out mid-late next year (something that is closer to the final game), and hopefully, if everything goes to plan, a full release at the end of next year. But please make sure to follow our twitter as we will announce any change to our plans there.
as someone in a fairly similar situation to the april, i really connected with this story, even as a demo!
the art is absolutely gorgeous and even the game's hud is wonderfully thought out! really sets this game apart from others!
i'll definitely be keeping an eye out! amazing work, looking forward to the full release, however far away that may be!
There definitely are a lot of people in April’s shoes, and we are rooting for every single one of you!!! <3
And thank you for the support! We’ve put a lot of heart and thought into this, so we’re really happy it shows!
Truly a fantastic experience!! The art is terrific <333 I can't wait for the full release!
Is it okay to ask about the price range? I want to support your project but I have to plan my budget :pThank you for giving the demo a try and we’re really glad you enjoyed it!!
And of course it’s okay to ask! Our best guess at a release price is somewhere around $15 USD. We unfortunately don’t have an exact number since we are still a ways out from release, but we hope that helps?
Yes it does!! Thanks! :D
the ui in this game is absolutely breathtaking!! everything feels so clean and professional. i love the effects when you hover over buttons (both visual and audio). the art style is also gorgeous! the writing is smooth and casual, feels super nice to read. im excited for the full game!! keep up the great work!
Ahahaha, we honestly had so much fun with the buttons even though they aren't often a central part in games - thank you!! We really appreciate the support and will keep trying our best!
Just played the demo on steam as part of the storyteller's festival. I'm looking forward to the full game. The characters are interesting and have me intrigued. Getting ready to go back for a second playthrough and make different choices. The music is lovely and the artstyle is beautiful. Looking forward to it!
Thank you for giving the demo a try and for supporting the event! <3
We definitely recommend to keep an eye out for their “relationship affecting markers”, as what content you get from those can have short or very long reaching effects.
will this be a commercial one?
Hi there! Yes, the full game will be a commercial release.
Being an aspirant photographer myself, the way I connected and related to so many of the interactions and topics being displayed here really made me love this game so much, especially with the music, ambiance, and art style. Idk why but it hit pretty close to home when the argument between our mc and her parents occurred, either way, this if I could say, is one of the best demo games I have ever played and I can't wait for more!!!
We're really glad you were able to connect with this game! We made this project with creatives in mind and your feedback really validates that we're doing this correctly. Hopefully you enjoy the full release just as much!
Amazing game for sure <3 Can't wait for the full release, totally love Henbae though, can't say the same with Fa- Fane or whtv his name is.
Thank you! And no worries, to each their own; we know our boys are two extremes on the personality and type scale.
The whole story is detailed and realistic whether it is about the character or the storyline. I can immerse myself in the story when I talk with the characters. I hope the game has a version with a Chinese translation.
We’re glad you could immerse yourself in the story! It makes us very happy to hear!
We also currently don’t have an translations planned, but we always keep comments like this in mind!