Shepherd's Flock
Escape the Shepherd's Flock, or lose your mind trying.
Features:
- Explore a hypnotic dungeon
- Collect mesmerizing items
- Four NPCs to zonk (or be zonked by~)
- Fifteen mind-bending endings
- Morally irredeemable quantities of hypno smut
...oh, and a couple spirals~
Questions? Concerns? Bugs? Contact me at @aetherbreeze.bsky.social! (If you find a bug/typo, I'll put you in the credits!)
Shoutout to
Submitted as part of Strawberry Jam 9. The first 15,000 words were drafted before February, with the remaining 60,000 words, all programming, all sound design, and all visuals being completed in February.
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VERY nice.
Spoilers below, for those who haven't played.
The advantage of mostly pure text, once again, is that you can get a lot closer to the actual hypnosis experience. This one does a very good job of leaving you reeling. Iana's a lot of fun too, I never get tired of that twist with hypno doms. Very cute.
I see there's been talk of continuing on with a further domination of the facility, and I understand why that wasn't done: this is already MASSIVE, and it mostly feels like a complete narrative arc that makes sense as-is. That said though, my soul ACHES to be able to enjoy Iana more post-defeat. You gave me a sports car but never a chance to drive it (outside of the one false escape scene)! Or even better, him AND his superior. Two cute little thought-they-were-doms, neatly kneeling in a row, looking up with that stupid, blank expression, limp smiles and empty eyes, looking up at their REAL shepherd. Ooops.
Regardless though, enjoyed it a lot, and definitely hope for some expansion or a sequel eventually (Perhaps the individuals from the "ending" decide to let you "prove" yourself by returning you to a different area of the organization to do some RE-organizing? Layers and layers and layers of control, overlapping, undermining, twisting ever inward, like spirals in your eyes.
On the bughunt front, I will note that if you get to Iana with NO items, the game doesn't know what to do with that state. At least on my playthrough, it lets you try, and then just...deadends. Not a proper end, failure, or loopout to escape, there are just no options to use.
I'll also say that playing this, the vibe it gave off, especially in the way certain areas were described, felt VERY 90s 3d pre-rendered puzzle game, a la Myst. The Midnight Office especially; I can picture almost exactly what that would look like, and I can absolutely see the "ending" area as a pre-rendered background with people in goofy costumes greenscreened against it. Something to consider if you ever win the lottery (or befriend a 3d artist; FMV aside, I suppose somewhat low poly prerendered stuff wouldn't be THAT crazy with some assistance.) Maybe instead of live actors you could slap some 2d drawn versions of the characters into the environment for key "cutscenes", in a buch of different reusable poses like the png-tubers use? Still a bit of a pipe-dream, and you'd still need to accommodate/make room for quite a bit of text in the interface, but maybe an idea someday with the right time and budget.
太强了朋友！这是我见过最符合我设想中催眠游戏的模样，各种各样的结局，行动路线，排列组合，视听结合，棒极了！循序渐进的方式值得每一个人学习，赞美！
This is absolutely terrific, and an incredible feat of writing. Really well designed, very sexy endings, and very, very well written. Been slowly working my way through all the endings, and they're all great. Your stories are always top notch, and this is just awesome. Thank you for sharing this.
I loved the domesticated ending especially. <///<;, but the blackboard, static, and topped by a bottom endings were really good too.
If you ever feel like expanding this, I would love to have more to do with the heroes after acquiring them. A good/bad result of domming each (one where you continue, one where you lose yourself in the moment and fail) would be really hot. Similar setup with the cat would also be sexy.
An alternative escape ending would also be neat.
Yoo your writing style is great, this was a treat to read and click through :D
such kind words
thank you, blizeatos. so much time was spent on the writing; hearing that you appreciated it means the world ^w^
This was such a wonderful experience and all the ends felt so great to read...
I would really love to see this game get some kind of expansion. A midnight office end related to not turning off the mist would be great and I'd really like to see an end related to the jockstrap you can find. The main villain is SO hot and absolutely steals the show, I cannot express enough how much I love him however, it is interesting how so many ends finish up with him as the star. It'd be nice if the other 3 NPC's had more time to shine and zonk the player. Sorry to drop so many suggestions because I really really really do love everything here, It was just so good that I can't help but crave moooooore.
hearing people simp for iana must be what crack cocaine feels like
i'm so glad you liked my gay lil cat aaaaaaaaaaaaaa
he's VERY self-indulgent, and knowing that he hits all those little spots for others too is a genuine delight ^w^
i'm considering an expansion for much later this year. if one happens -- first off, it'll absolutely have an ending for the mist, and second, it'll be largely due to kind words from people like you. seeing people come across this game so many months later, knowing they're still finding something to enjoy, warms my batto heart.
curious if you have ideas for other ways the NPCs could zonk you -- in my mind, they're brainwashed drones who only really have one thing going for them, but if you have ideas for other stuff they could do i'm more than open 👀
I'm not sure if this makes sense but for me, good hypno is all about the setup. That's why things like spirals and pocket watches stay fun no matter how many times I read about them. For the drones I don't really think they have to do anything drastically different so long as there is a unique setup leading to the hypno. For example, iirc the deer actually does have a second scene where he zonks the player because he will betray you against iana. Even tho he's just doing the same drone with hypno plants thing, It feels fresh and super hot because there is new context to the zonk.
As for more ideas I think it'd be great if there were just more options for using the items on more of the cast. Not every item needs to work on every NPC (like the deer betrayal scene) It also adds depth to the logs you can find while exploring that tell you things like the deer is weak to flashlight etc. A zonk based off lullaby/music or something like that could also be hot. This is also getting into like big changes but even seeing things like more NPCs could be cool (maybe the guy from the "good" ending or just another brainwashed hero roaming the dungeon). you are a truly exceptional hypno writer, and honestly probably my favorite to read atm. I have full faith that any content you come up with to add to this game will be wonderful and I can't thank you enough for making it.
This game is amazing, as someone who has been hypnotized before, the game is 10/10, the characters, choices, and exploration were great. The writing was top notch! Very good job! Hope there will be a expansion someday.
okay this is REALLY good to hear
tying the real-life experience of hypnosis into my fiction is one of my highest goals, and hearing these sorts of affirmations from such educated sources warms my soul
i'm so glad my silly game gave you a taste of that experience. anything you'd like to see in such an expansion? 👀
Yeah, it got me in trance through some of the endings :) it was really really nice, a continuation of the escape ending or of the story would be nice,I like the worldbuilding, maybe more endings like a tentacle room of some sort?👀Iana as a character is really hot, the countdowns are very effective in the endings as well as the descriptive wording really helped me go under. Reminds me of someone who used to hypnotize me, top notch. P.S. I think theres a minor error in the web version where if you choose "get out of here" on the exit and move forward a slight error occurs saying "undefined teaser" does not exist, but still allows you to continue the game.
scribbles notes tentacle... room...
many thanks. i'd definitely like to patch in more rooms at some point; if i do, i'll see how i can make such things canon within this universe. magic goo that forms tentacles to restrain heroes, perhaps?
also adfhgjdkfg i'm glad you liked the cat
he was VERY self-indulgent
so uh
yeah >//>
also thanks for the bug report, will see what i can do, adfjghdkfg
Found this game a few days ago, and I'm absolutely loving it so far!! I've had some intermittent issues with the audio not working or the inventory and willpower not showing up, but these usually seem to resolve when I reload the game.
if you don't mind sharing -- any screens or sequences where the inventory/audio bugs out more frequently?
this MAY be twine being annoying, but it also might be me being a dumbass, so if it's the latter, i'd like to catch it
thank you for the kind words though, aaaaaaaaaaaa
would love to hear any scenes or sequences you particularly enjoyed :>
Just found this game, absolutely in love. I tried to get all the endings (right now the immediate submissive #1 and the one with the scarves (#7) are my favorite. I can't figure out how to get to #11, though. Can I get a hint of where to look for that?
At first I thought it was the purple mist, but then that didn't get me anywhere.
scribbles notes another scarf enjoyer, goodgoodgood
ahem
i belieeeeve ending #11 is losing to paragon? if you'd like, i could give you a full list 👀
(also sorry for the delay i was at fwa ahfjgkdfhjgkdf)
Love the writing in this. Audio design is much appreciated. My only gripe is that the metronome isn't a perfect loop and sometimes falls on its count
ACK DOES THE METRONOME NOT LOOP CORRECTLY
DAMMIT
dfjghdkfgd
thank u for catching this, it's on my list of things to patch when possible, aaaaaaaaaa
truly flattered you enjoy the writing, though. in an internet where it's very hard to feel like your writing means anything, words like yours are part of what sustains me through the drought ^w^
About the only thing I would ask for is a screen where I could access the endings I've unlocked.
this is a really good idea, actually
shouldn't be that difficult, so if my schedule allows for a patch, consider this on the list ^w^
I played through all of this in two days, seeking out as many endings as I could. Ending 14 is so wonderfully written (though the 53 mention had me restarting a few times trying to win in less than 53 turns to see if that changed anything)
This concept and world are very interesting, and I would love to see more from it, or just more hypno content from you since this was written so beautifully
I hope you place in SJ9!
oh fuck having an easter egg if you finish in less than X turns would be fun
maybe i'll steal that idea sometime
thank you so much for your kind words. after spending so much time in the writing mines for this, comments like yours mean the world ^w^
The classroom ending was devious. >:3
You're such a good writer, and now you're going to be a good game designer. I am so ready for this timeline! ^^
exceptionally kind fox :>
"game design" is an incredibly kind way to describe what i've done here, but i will fold ears and smile wide and accept the compliment ^w^
Holy crap this is an amazing game! I got to the exit and was not expecting that ending. I really hope you make more games because that was one of the best ones I've played in a while!
thank you aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
really really glad the escape ending landed well, that was literally written like 24 hours before the deadline and i was afraid it would be too far out of left field fgdhjfg
no it actually made sense to me after I had explored a bit and read some emails at least character-wise. The environment was very interesting but seems like a good innocent place for a facility like that
First off, I would like to say that I am enjoying this game. I have only played for a few minutes so far, but I'm already having fun!
That said, I wanted to point out that some scenes, such as the one with the jackal (Ending 13: "Seen the Light"), don't use the right body part terms for the character's species. I've only played as a bird so far, but sometimes the game mentions my character's "muzzle/snout/nose" and "'ears' falling backward." There is also a typo in that same ending where it is written "the poke of your tip against your belly brings back a hazy image of the world."
As I continued to play, I noticed that many parts in the game make that mistake.
Edit: I just finished playing, getting Ending 15 (as well as Iana's ending). This was an amazing game! Possibly one of the best text-based hypno games I've played! All the different ways you can get hypnotized, as well as hypnotizing the others, are very well written.
As a few have already mentioned, adding a "Good Ending" or even writing a variation to Ending 15 would be a great idea if you ever have the time and motivation to continue working on this.
VERY good catch on the bird/fur inconsistency. I'll do a pass before the next hotfix to catch as much of that as possible. Thanks for the heads-up -- will be crediting you in the next patch for that attention to detail!
As for other text-based hypno games: please please please give me recommendations, because I deadass only made this because I desperately wanted it to exist and couldn't find anything like it fdgjhdfjgd
And yessss, a true Good Ending variant of Ending 15 is most definitely in the cards. If I ever revisit this, the current docket of expansions is looking like:
- Bad end for the lavender mist in Iana's office
If there's anything else you'd like to see, I'd love to hear it! No guarantees that any of this will happen, but I will at the very least admit that I'm intrigued by the idea :>
I got ending 3, this game is worth checking out!
ehehehehe
very glad you enjoyed~
this is really cool, i really hope this wins the jam my 1 critique, is that the settings reset whenever you reset the run, which is really annoying as someone who’d rather not see spirals or get audio, but i’m sure that it’ll be fixed if you keep working on this game afterwards (which i’d love, because again this is a really cool one)
this is absolutely a valid point
will fix it as soon as my smol brain can figure out a good way to do so
is there actually a good ending? or just a variety of "bad" endings?
There is an escape ending!
That said, it's... ambiguous. There's no ending where you ride off into the sunset, unfortunately.
I had originally intended such an ending, but time constraints be what they do. Maybe in a future patch I'll add a good ending for full-stealth runs?
yeah, i got the "escape" ending. i think it'd be great if there was an additional *real* escape ending, and maybe an ending where you actually take charge of the place after domming the cat, silly as that might be, hahaha
You've got good instincts! Both of those WERE initially planned, but had to be cut to make the deadline. To give you a feeling of how tight it was, the current escape ending was literally the last thing I wrote (48 hours before the deadline), and the game was not fully functional until about 3 hours before the deadline. That time crunch forced some things to go on the chopping block, and a good ending, unfortunately, was one of them.
I *would* be interested in expanding on this in a future patch, though. Taking charge of the facility would be complicated, lore-wise (since Iana is basically just the VP of one division, and the CEO might not take kindly to you zonking his boyfriend and taking over his department), but a true escape ending should very much be doable. Maybe I could tie it to the safe..?
Is there a hint to the safe in the Midnight Office? I've checked the shelves, emails, and notebook for something that sounds like a 7 digit code and come up with nothing.
You're looking in the right places!
You're looking for seven numbers. If you peruse those areas enough, you might find a couple strings of numbers that stand out. What could happen if you put them together?
(For the record, the safe doesn't contain anything that you can't get somewhere else. That choice was deliberately made to make it less of a problem if my dumb ass made the puzzle too obtuse)