Cupid's Arrow
Please note: recommended to be played on computer for maximum functionality, or else with a gamepad or keyboard. Music will not work on Android devices, and one stage is only passable if you can press the "open menu" button.
The world needs more love!
A bite-sized in-browser game made in a month for YanJam 2025! This is a light, breezy sliding block puzzler (or Sokoban), where you control a cupid. Lead a woman to the man she loves - by placing your arrows in the right place, showing her a path!
Development story
This was made with encouragement from a friend who joined the jam with me. The basic idea's been in my head for a few years now, and this was a great opportunity to work on it.
I was inspired by Chip's Challenge - the heroine here sort of looks like Chip, and seeks love like Chip, doesn't she? But I was even more inspired by the Lego Alpha Team game. I played it on PC, but seeing videos of how they translated its gameplay to GBC inspired me! Because of that, I initially wanted to build this in GB Studio, but its limitations on sprites you could have onscreen and collisions with NPCs made it unfeasible at my skill level. It still helped me figure out a lot about the graphical style I wanted, though!
Building this in RPG Maker with events was fun, but I hope this can be a teensy step towards me making more code-heavy games!
Technical Bits and Bobs:
Estimated time to beat: between 30 minutes to an hour
Known glitches: pressing "x" on the reset stage dialogue reopens it. Until I find a way to fix it, just hover over "Cancel" and press "Z".
Please don't hesitate to give feedback or criticism!
Resources used:
Message Script: https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/galvs-message-styles.59724/
font: https://www.dafont.com/i-hate-comic-sans.font
Music: Thinking and Tinkering by FableFly Music https://fablefly-music.itch.io/thinking-and-tinkering
Graphics and sound effects: edited from RPG Maker defaults
Content warnings (contains spoilers):
Stylized death, forced straight romance, possible player death in a bad ending, loss of bodily autonomy, artistically nude cupid
Trigger warnings (contains spoilers):
Knocking people out, pushing off buildings, death, threats of violence, shifting blame, forced relationship involving someone uninterested in romance, jealousy, mentions of blood/knives/vampires, slight religious references, people ignoring their duties, arrows as a weapon, forced control of someone else's body
Comments
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This is a very fun little stealth horror game! The puzzles start out simple and get progressively harder until you need to reset multiple times to get through a level. I had the most trouble with the level where the sides warp back into each other. Eventually managed it, but it took a while to figure out what I needed to do.
The dialogue is fun and snappy, the slow-dawning dread as it becomes clear what the actual yandere here is willing to do for love is excellent, and poor Gerry can't pronounce 'nakama' correctly for the life of him. I love it. This was a very fun experience and I'm glad I got a chance to play it.
fun brain-workout puzzles and some funny, ridiculous references/dialogues, i think this just needs like an automatic reset event triggered and confirmed if you were to hit a wall for convenience of those playing on Android through browser like I did.
im currently stuck on this area, since you can't pass the person in road even as Cupid to sort out the arrows on other/Gery's side, and y'know, proceed up, how to solve?
Thanks for giving it a go! It your Android has two-point tap enabled, you may be able to open up the reset menu by holding down both buttons (can't confirm, mine doesn't have that enabled). Until I make a more permanent compatibility fix, I've added a notice in the description that keyboard is recommended. Really appreciate your testing!
EDIT: solving that one relies on resetting, so you're probably stuck if you're playing on a device that can't do that