A downloadable visual novel for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android

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A drifting traveler boards a one-man space shuttle destined for Alpha Centauri. This shuttle is piloted by Budapest, an artificial intelligence program designed to serve humanity. She is a hardworking, diligent program, just a little naïve to the ways of the universe, and intensely dedicated to her directive. But when disaster unexpectedly befalls their ship, the two of them are sent careening through uncharted space, left with dire prospects for rescue. Stuck in a floating cockpit drifting through the empty ocean of stars, they have only each other to rely on. Between interesting discoveries both old and new, Budapest quickly develops new traits and quirks beyond her programming. As she attempts to navigate her own troubled seas, the passenger discovers that there is more to this program than previously expected.


Submission for the NaNoReNo 2015 Visual Novel Jam

StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux, Android
Rating
Rated 4.7 out of 5 stars
(18 total ratings)
AuthorWatercress
GenreVisual Novel
Made withRen'Py
Tagsai, drama, kinetic, Romance, Sci-fi, Space
Average sessionAbout a half-hour
LanguagesEnglish
InputsKeyboard, Mouse
AccessibilitySubtitles
LinksSteam

Download

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Click download now to get access to the following files:

Palinurus-1.0-android.apk 99 MB
Palinurus-1.1.rar 102 MB

Comments

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Big thanks to RenpyTom for his recommendation. This was a great read! :D

You guys did an amazing job on this!

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Ren'Py-Tom just recommended this in a video interview, so now I'll try it out... – I guess you'll get a lot of downloads currently because of that recommendation? ;)

Amazing story. Reminds me of "...For the Moon Never Beams" phantasy star fanfiction A LOT. Link to that story http://www.ripplinger.us/camineet/fanfic/ and a backup on the web archive https://web.archive.org/web/20230521235946/http://www.ripplinger.us/camineet/fanfic/

(+1)

I have finally completed my playthrough of this and.... wow.... just wow... this left me with so many feelings. It was beautifully written and brought tears to my eyes. I feel like the difficulty with any Kinetic novel is to write in a way that will hold the player captive and keep them intrigued, and you guys managed to do so! I got invested in the two characters and only wished them happiness that seemed impossible. I also really liked the choice of music, they all seemed properly placed. My only complaints would be minor... I noticed a few mistakes in the name being used when the passenger spoke and a couple lines showed as speaking but it was obviously narration.. this didn't really hinder the enjoyment too much nor did it totally eject me from immersion. I also feel a few sound effects would have been nice, but again, it didn't affect my immersion too much.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and you managed to make me a crying mess. It was beautiful and I will probably give it another playthrough soon because I loved the story that much!

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Thanks so much for playing! Palinurus was our first work, and we're super proud of it.  We do still occasionally make improvements to the game, so I'll keep an eye out.

Hey there!  I played Palinurus on Steam last night and I have to say, I enjoyed it!  I left a review there recommending it.  Space is a love of mine, and the premise of this story was great, as was its pacing and emotional ending.  I wish you luck with all your future endeavours!

Thank you so much for playing our game! Palinurus is one of our oldest ones but is possibly the most important of our initial releases. It's amazing to see it get love after all of these years!

~Wolf, Watercress Studio Director

(3 edits)

It was emotive, it got water running down my cheeks.


BUT.


This is not really realistic at all ? All the fact around the story feels kinda flimsy excuses to meet dramatic ends, it kinda show. SF is about making a few new rules, but there, it's like, "basic IA/computing stuff is now out, they are human-like with more limitation now".

Computer can sleep-mode or shutdown or hibernate since the start of computing X_X

Also she is waaaaay too human ! A voice for singing ? ONE VOICE ? She is an ultra self-aware computer and she gets to have one only voice ?

There is so much to say about how she only "sees" through her 3D representation also, or interrupt her though of process, or talk/think at the pace of the human >_<

I basically had a lot of problem with that all the way ! "Let's pretend buuuut. That doesn't make sense dammit !"


To me there was lot of "IA stuff" to try out, like personality splitting (she could split her memory and speak all night with other self for instance), creativity... Having to stuggle with the fact her memory isn't infinite and she'd have to forget/optimize stuff too. Lot of IA's lost on the space problems x)

(+1)

I'd consider this more "science fantasy" than straight science fiction, and we completed this game in a couple of weeks, so PLENTY of liberties were had for the sake of the story. I hope you'll forgive us!

~Wolf, Watercress Studio Director

(+1)

This definitely is one of the better vn's out there. A great story!

(+1)

Thank you so much! It's awesome to see people still playing our game from way back in 2015.  We appreciate the kind words, always :)


~Wolf, Watercress Studio Director

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No comments here? I'm surprised. I recently got into VNs and while this one is older, I really enjoyed it. For me, it took a little while for the story to develop but it's a beautiful story of "star-crossed lovers." Beautiful but sad. I was crying by the end.

Thank you for playing it! We had a blast making it oh so long ago. 

~Wolf, Watercress Studio Director