YURI OF ABSENCE
Yuri of Absence, made for Yurijam 2023, is a text-heavy, possibly point-and-click qualifying, abandoned-website-deep-dive simulator. It's about the lives of a group of game developers in the early 2000s, and the game they never made.
HOW TO PLAY: You can view it in itchio, or you can view it as a regular website on your browser, starting here: https://kmkmkmkmkm.neocities.org/yuriofabsence/framingdevice.tumblr.com
Desktop is preferable!!
CLARITY NOTE: this is entirely a piece of original fiction, and not in any way a retelling of real events. All characters here including the "real people" are my OCs, and I am writing/drawing/editing my own photos for their parts in the story I am telling.
SOUND: There is almost no sound in this game, save for one applause sound effect that plays automatically if you click the 'click here' button on the home page. I am warning you to prevent a jumpscare. I can say I've done my duty.
RATING: this game contains a little bit of suggestive art, though nothing explicit. like it's not something id put behind a hard 18+ barrier but maybe don't play it at work just in case. or do. I'm not the boss of you.
OTHER: Several of the links in my credits page don't seem to work from itchio window, it should be fine in your main browser.
Thank you for playing! I really hope you enjoy it!
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
This is seriously one of the most beautiful things I have come across on this site.
If it wasn't already impressive for its originality (Unless, actually, the web is full of '00s-style fake sites and I never found them-), it's really well done, both in its construction and in its storytelling!
As someone else also said, even though I knew how it was going to end, I read the News section in one go. The "secret" post that reveals everything, both in terms of how you have to unlock it
No, of course, it's not that I had to read other comments to find out despite it being obvious, of course, no-and for the way it sheds new light on the whole story is really well done.I had noticed how Kiwi was taking up more and more space in the News section, but I thought the drama was more about the fact that The Newcomer seemed to be sort of stepping over one of the founders. On re-reading the posts, the truth seems almost obvious, yet I had not thought of it-
Again as already mentioned by others, a special note for Lemon's absence until the end, despite being the founder and writer. It was really effective, especially her way of expressing herself at the antipodes of what one had read up to that point from the others.
Having finished exploring the site, I re-read the post set in the present. Of course, at first you don't know who O, L and M are, but once you've read it all, it plays its role very well as an epilogue - For everyone, not just the three of them!
I wasn't part of early 00s online life, but I have years of experience (?) as a lurker, so you've smashed the door of nostalgia feels. Also, I find the description "A love letter to the people who like to show up after it's over." truly wonderful.
Really good job, my compliments!
aaaaaaaaa thank you thank you!!! Ive been rereading your comment all day <3
I'm so happy the lurking feeling resonated with you!!!!!! the love letter was recieved.....
And it's really great to hear that the delivery of information felt good, that's something I really tried to work on but i'd still consider myself inexperienced in doing. there were some late edits/decisions to the framingdevice tumblr, kiwi's voice, etc that im glad worked well for you!!!!
What a wonderful time capsule of the internet in the early 2000s!! From the choice in language, to the background choices, and even the explanation of the drama, I felt like I was transported to my Gaia Online forum days. I especially love the layers of meta at times, such as OCs RPing themselves with their own OCs. REAAAAAALLY brings me back--the way you captured exactly how people spoke/acted online in this sort of environment breathes life into all of the characters involved. I also spent a good chunk of time trying to figure out the password, to no avail. I love these layers of interactivity!
Waaaa thank you so so much for a lovely comment!!!! I'm so happy the atmosphere felt authentic- i wasnt part of any online community really till about 2011 so i was a bit worried the Vibes were a strictly "you had to be there" thing, or i hadnt researched enough, etc- so im really happy to hear it felt true to your time in the waybackwhen!
I can give it away if youd like, but just in case- the password can be found on any of the fake error pages! You can find it in the story section,the news section, and the shop section. Im happy to give more details if youd like :]
OMG I can't believe I missed that! Thank you so much T_T LOVE the extra post!!!!!! And one last thing--I really enjoy the lack of Lemon's voice compared to nearly everyone else in the News page until the end, and even then she's clearly there to keep it brief. I think that that was an excellent choice, we have so little to go off of with her when she's the main force driving the narrative. I love every one of these characters!
Thank you!!! Towards the end i was sort of wondering that myself, she's a Writer why is she not all over the news page? and came to the conclusion that she really doesnt want to interact with a wide range of people unless she has to, particularly without the barrier of writing a story. social to her circle, but resistant to wider social situations....
This is an AWESOME recreation of the ghosts of internet past... Everything looks crunchy and amazing.
I love, first of all, the very concept of this game. Going through old websites and realizing *touches screen* something terrible happened here... As a game!
Second, it feels very real to me. All of the little details that make it look like a relic of a bygone era, they're perfect. I can tell you put a LOT of work into this. It's amazing. I had a lot of fun poking around the website and making sure I saw everything.
(Funny enough, this game is making me want to make my own game)
This is honestly one of my favorite projects of yours. You did a great job!
im so so so happy you feel like it looks authentic!!! Crunchy, even!!!! Munchable!! Thank you so much for commenting and im so happy you enjoyed taking your time exploring!!!!!!!!!
(please do make your own game!! Fishkill was great and I want to see more ggamesand stories from you!!! :3)
Okay, this is my favorite game in this entire jam so far, and I've played almost all of them.
It's hard to overstate what I felt when I got into it and realized what the game would be, when I saw the fidelity to what the web was like back then, and what the people were like too, drama and everything. God, the character interviews/impressions of other characters, the emojis, the way of speaking... I'd describe it as taking psychic damage but in the best way possible. You have no idea the feeling of painful nostalgia that struck me while playing this.
In a way it makes me laugh at the silliness we had back then, but it also makes me sad at what the web became, and how simple and nice things were back then, even if we were too young and dumb to realize.
Besides that, this game and the site itself is so... well made. Everything strikes a chod with my memories of back then, and the story of the "game" inside the game and the people who worked on it is so wonderfully presented, especially in that 'News' page. I found myself scrolling down with actual dread.
Honestly, kudos. This is one of my favorite pieces of storytelling I've seen on Itch.io yet, and I'll make sure to follow you and recommend this game to the people I know, because it deserves to be played by us who were around the web back then. Congrats!!!!
what an unbelievably sweet comment!!!!!! Thank you for taking the time to post it!!!!!!!
this was my first time doing neocities, im so happy you think it looks good!!! Honestly, like i said on another comment, i actually was not really part of any online community back then so im thrilled that my vibes-based recreation-speculation hit the bullseye. Im really happy i was able to create something that rings true for the people who lived it!!!! It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....
Im glad i inspired dread in you with the news page lol. There were definitely parts that made me sad to write, like... THEY HAD THE BEST OF INTENTIONS WAAHHH.... THEY WERE FRIENDS ONCE.....HOW DID THEY LOSE THEIR WAYYYYY.....WAHH...
Again, thank you so much!!! I cant even fully communicate how touched i am by this comment!!!!! ;;;w;;;;