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irrelevantnostalgia · 4 months

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5. Cake Mania: Lights, Camera, Action (2011)

*Previously on Cake Mania: Main St*

It’s been a while! Throughout this entire cake mania saga I’ve applied, got accepted into, and started medical school. If I’m gonna be honest, this was not even the biggest contributor as to why the Lights, Camera, Action review took forever (I’ll get into another reason later). But I finally finished, and I’m ready to review!

🄿🄻🄾🅃: Pregnancy is the milestone in Jill’s life that is the center of this next Cake Mania game. A game that represents the entirety of her pregnancy would be pretty boring (I would still play it) and at this point they can honestly tack on literally any kind of plot to go along with Jill’s pregnancy. I mean, she’s been to the moon and in Antarctica in Cake Mania 2. She’s time traveled. There are no rules to contain Jill and her journeys. This time, we are going to be dealing with..

A movie being shot in Bakersfield. Directed by...Michele Be. It is going to be a Pride and Prejudice remake with martial arts starring Tiny as Mr Darcy. It will additionally feature: explosions, aliens, a yeti monster, angry dwarves, and ninjas. It’s very lol-so-random-xD, very in-tune with the time that the game was developed and released. Bakersfield is being overrun by all kinds of interesting characters associated with the shooting of the movie. Eventually, it turns out that Michele Be is an evil fraud of a director that treats has cast and crew like dogshit. Risha is the one who saves the day and directs the movie in her own way.

This game is also repeating the set-up that Cake Mania: Main St has, which is welcome by me. Risha has ditched her stepping stone plant nursery and is now running a business that is more in line with her passions--a boutique. Since Tiny is one of the leads of the movie, we aren’t following his sushi restaurant. Now, we get to go through Giorno’s Pizzeria.

🅆🄷🄰🅃'🅂 🄽🄴🅆

No drink station: The drink station did not make a return this time around. I’m not sure why, I didn’t mind the addition of it and thought it was a nice break when things got crazy. This is just a guess on my part, but there is a new addition to the cake-making process that made its debut, and maybe they got rid of this to make room for that.

Equipment breaking: Holy SHIT this is so annoying. The first time this happened was when I finally had enough money to upgrade my snail green oven to the slightly faster purple one. Literally the worst feeling on the planet……which is a welcome addition by me. This introduces conflict that breaks the monotony of the game once you become ultra mega gold standard equipment, where the angry and/or Blue Bubble customers become a minor nuisance instead of ruining the whole level. This also does not occur randomly, as it always occurs once you finish a certain level and the opening screen for the next level is Jack admitting to causing it. Speaking of Jack...

Fruit Station: Jill cannot run around like she usually does and now has let Jack take control of operations, which was a risky move, but what business runs without risks? So while Jack is wreaking havoc around the bakery, Jill is sitting in a corner running the fruit decoration station. This game is not going to let you get away with clicking one button to add fruit to the cake, no. Instead, to add fruit to the cake you have click on the cake in a set pattern.

The equipment: There really isn’t much to say about them, just that I don’t know how I feel about the designs. They feel friendlier and more approachable, but they have less swag than the ones from Cake Mania 3 and Main St.

Here is the final set up for everything ^_^

Risha’s Boutique has a similar “fruit station” where customers can request their clothes to be put in a box with a pretty bow

Risha’s Boutique and Giorno’s Pizzeria have the same general format of the Burger Barn and Sushi Restaurant from the previous game. But let me tell y’all...I could do just about anything and beat a Cake Mania level with the superstar goal. I could move as slow as that damn green equipment and make a surplus of like $400. These two games? If I do not sit in the right position, move my arm 0.00005 m/s slower than what is ideal, and pause for 0.0007 seconds to look at the screen to figure out where to click next I am not even going to make the bare minimum goal to get to the next level. Every move has to be perfectly choreographed in order to beat the level. At least with Giorno’s Pizzeria the ingredients are splayed out so you can easily click on what you need. In Risha’s Boutique, the clothes the customers want will be the tiniest little “shirt” hidden between the jackets that are puffier than the average New Yorker’s and you will just have to angle your cursor just right to click on it. So you would think that Giorno’s Pizzeria was a breeze, huh?

Right?

Well, wrong.

Now...I pride myself on being a good Cake Mania player. I pride myself on being a tenacious one too. I am willing to play a level 60 times in a row to ensure that I do not leave the game without a 100% rate of achieving superstar goals. This time though.....I had to raise my white flag :(

Here is Level 18 of Giorno’s Pizzeria. Broke my streak and everything. This shit literally killed a large part of my soul. Had me tweaking and shaking and crying all at once. Once I hit $473 mark I just couldn’t do it anymore. I’m not sure how I pulled this off besides rapidly clicking on the TVs to keep all customers with a maximum number of hearts (thus, maximum number of tips) AND IT STILL WASN’T ENOUGH.

Level 18 is the reason why it took me so long to upload this review. This time last year, I was well on the way to finishing this game until I got to this level. I just couldn’t beat it, I would be like $20-30 off from the superstar goal most times, which is fairly significant in these two businesses, and when I was still $7 off after giving it my all I was seething. I will not bullshit y’all, the sheer butthurt I felt at not being able to achieve the superstar goal made me take a long, loooooong hiatus from finishing it. And of course, life stuff. However, towards the end of this past semester I picked the game up again, and decided to clear all my progress and restart the entire game. I still didn’t get the superstar goal on day 18 of Giorno’s Pizzeria, but I was able to get it for the rest of the levels. I’m fine with this, I guess (no I’m not).

But in all honesty, even with me being a dramatic sore loser (just guess my zodiac sign from this) one of the biggest factors I look for in these games is ways to keep it engaging and create some challenges. So I really cannot be that mad that Giorno’s Pizzeria made me work for that Superstar goal. With the cake-baking portion of the game, the monotony is inevitable even if it gets delayed with some new approaches to the recipe of the game. The kooky customers are annoying and do create troubles, but what will a Yeti that pisses everyone off really do when you have gold-standard equipment, high-speed TV, and unlimited distraction cookies? With Risha and Giorno’s games....YOU are the oven and the cake froster. Each new upgrade you get is just keeping track of more and more possibilities that customers can throw at you. Especially Giorno’s! With Risha, only the most recent clothes collections get featured while old ones are thrown out. By the end of Giorno’s Pizzeria, you will have an entire produce aisle to keep track of, the customers will want every leafy green on their pizza, AND you will have to put that shit on them in order. Your cursor will be forced to move all around the screen.

Another factor that had me seeing red during Giorno’s is that some of the dishes (like the pizza) would STILL have to bake after you compile all the ingredients

I know, strange thing to complain about, but hear me out. In all of these games, you want the customers to get their orders and gtfo as soon as possible so you can fit in the maximum # of customers and thus get the maximum number of funds. It’s why strategically upgrading equipment is so important in the cake-baking parts of these games. When it comes to Giorno’s Pizzeria, it already feels like an eternity gathering all the ingredients for an order. Longer than clicking a few buttons to make a cake. But then, on top of that for a pizza or lasagna you have to wait additional time for it to bake, and then have to wait on the damn customer to do their stupid emote before leaving!! After all of this, what do you get for an order? $40, maximum

Anyways, here are the low paying cheapskates themselves.

🄲🅄🅂🅃🄾🄼🄴🅁🅂

♥Ballerina♥

Favorite TV Show: ANTM

Omg this is so Lana Black Swan Coquette ^_^

♥Lola Fierezza♥

Favorite TV Show: World Cup

She is That Girl. Because she is That Girl, the moment she steps in and reveals her order, every other customer changes their order to match hers. The Regina George effect. There would be whole levels dedicated to her recurring appearance, and it was fun figuring out how long I should delay handing the menu to her. There is an art to it!

Farmer

Favorite TV Show: ANTM

Average Customer over the age of 50

Favorite TV Show: The Orange channel. I couldn’t think of a witty name for it so I’m just referring it by the button color on the TV

He comes in with a stank attitude, so we’re already off to a great start. It takes maybe a few seconds and then he starts swinging his axe around, which causes customers to leave. Ruining your business in the process. They should have AXED him from this game!

♥Cameraman♥

Favorite TV Show: ANTM

Before you hand him a menu, he’ll film the customers in line which will increase their hearts. I feel like something like that may produce the opposite effect, but I suppose I am living in a post-TikTok world where the sight of someone filming me without my permission would turn me into the above customer

Little Kid

Favorite TV Show: Food Network

That’s so Raven

Favorite TV Show: Food network

In a world filled with Blue Bubble Demons....the game devs decided to give us a character who is actually going to see the pearly gates. Psychic Sheila will use her crystal ball to automatically reveal the order of subsequent customers. It’s like Medieval-level power-up in Cake Mania 3, except we get an entire character who performs this task. I thank her for her service

Me in the Future if I Become a Superhero

Favorite TV Show: World Cup

Meet Super Cat Lady. She turns people into mimes. Kinda lame, would be better if she turned them into cats. Maybe that’s not actually me in the future...

Mime

Favorite TV Show: Food network

Mimes pair up together in a line.

Biblically Accurate Naruto

Favorite TV Show: ANTM

Another Blue Bubble repeat customer. Ninja does exactly what he did last time make your job harder attack people with smokebombs and make them freeze in line.

Firefighter and Stuntman

Favorite TV Shows: ANTM and Food Network

I putting these two together because it is pretty funny. This doesn’t have much consequence for the gameplay or anything, but a stuntman and firefighter being in line together causes the firefighter to hose him lmao.

Sad Sack: Chicken Edition

Favorite TV Show: Orange Channel

Only the most Noble Knight

Favorite TV Show: ANTM

He’s such a good and noble knight. Such a gentleman. He demands to be served before everyone else so that the other customers can have more time looking at the menu ♥ such admirable behavior

Yeti

Favorite TV Show: Orange Channel

He is a double whammy. Not only does he piss people off, but his ass has the nerve to freeze people so they are stuck in place. Pick *one*, jackass!

Klepto Kelly

Favorite TV Show: ANTM

You Know, she looks really nice and snazzy. Her outfit must cost a lot *and* she’s ordering expensive cake. I wonder how she makes a living? Oh yeah, she steals from you, that’s how.

Tiny: Our Leading Man!

Favorite TV Channel: Orange Channel

Another customer who helps you out instead of making you wanna tear your hair out. He orders multiple times, just like he has been doing in the past games!

Risha: Our Debut Director!

Favorite TV Channel: World Cup

Jack: The dumbfuck

He is typically an endearing Himbo, but in these games......🙄........so you already know that in Risha and Giorno’s games you need to be ON IT! Well, when he walks in, the momentum that I would build up throughout the level would be thrown off because now I would need to use my peripheral vision and WAIT on the proper item to show up in his bubble before I could hand it to him and clear out another space for a proper customer. What’s more infuriating is that in Giorno’s level he would only “order” a single ingredient so I had to expend energy looking out for him only to receive $17 in return. And YES, he appeared in Level 18. Ugh!!!

♥Jill: La Reina del pastel♥

I hope the Duolingo lessons are paying off.

Also I never figured out their favorite tv shows. Probably because I didn’t need to haha.

🄼🅈 🄾🄿🄸🄽🄸🄾🄽: I mean hey, what can I say? I can’t get too mad about them repeating a good recipe a second time in a row. I really enjoyed the Main St formatting, and think repeating it one more time to experiment with different kinds of secondary games is alongside adding more “Jill lore” is not a bad idea. Cake baking game is a classic and they basically maintained the formula that everyone knows and loves. The equipment breaking was a nice touch to create more “conflict.” Even if the secondary games (especially the damn pizzeria) made me cope and seethe, I didn’t hate them. In Main St, the Burger Barn and Sushi Restaurant were easy as shit and I beat them with very little struggle. These games, on the other hand, made me work a little bit more for the superstar goals. I don’t mind the more relaxed environment in some of Main St’s secondary games, but as I expressed many times before, I appreciate a good challenge that keeps my on my toes (disregard the long stretch of temper tantrum I had about level 18 of the pizzeria).

I give this game a ⓕⓡⓔⓢⓗ rating on the tomatometer!

Now onto the choice screenshots!

When I saw this shit, I actually keeled over. Jack predicted family vlogging in 2011.

*sighs*

I love Risha talking about “high couture” and then the collection of clothes we are introduced to look like they are from JC Penny.

Look at all of them slayinggggggg. The artstyle here is so pretty I love it.

I will not lie, there were way more screenshots I could have gotten. I couldn’t though, because for some reason this game only works in full-screen. I tried changing my desktop resolution and everything, and the game still wouldn’t budge and I had to play this game full-screen. Which meant. One screenshot per every time I had the chance to play. Let me tell you, each and every screenshot featured in this review I got was very, very strategic. I never put so much brain power in determining when I want to get a screenshot of the customers in my life.

After everything, here is my trophy room.

Well, at least it doesn’t look like I’m missing a trophy from not being able to achieve superstar goals for all the levels in Giorno’s Pizzeria!

#cake mania #cake mania lights camera action #2000s nostalgia #early 2010s #old web #pc game #time management #childhood nostalgia #childhood game #nostalgia

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irrelevantnostalgia · 2 years

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4. Cake Mania: Main St (2010)

I remember describing Cake Mania’s games’ progress as exponential once, but I think that the perfect graph to describe the progression of Cake Mania’s games with regards to quality is a sigmoidal curve.

The first three games can be represented by the bottom of the curve. They’re a steady rise in terms of overall quality and then bam, the graph shoots up and levels off near the top. What is it about Cake Mania: Main St that I’m really loving?

The plot is similar to the original Cake Mania. Evil MegaCorp, worse than the one before, is coming to Bakersfield. This time they are introducing a soulless new shopping mall which will push out the vibrant mom and pop shops. In response to this, Jill is going to get out her magic equipment and use cake to save Bakersfield, again. Only this time, she is going to be fighting the good fight alongside her friends and players are going to be able to play 4 different games. We get to play in Jill’s bakery, but also Jack’s burger joint, Risha’s plant nursery, and Tiny’s sushi restaurant. No need for Jill to defeat the evil by herself, she will now fight alongside her comrades.

𝓦𝓱𝓪𝓽'𝓼 𝓝𝓮𝔀

No More Animation: No more uncanny and incomplete animation. The cutscenes have returned to the normal comic format, but kept the voice-acting. Thank fuck.

Tiny as a part of the main gang: As the number of Cake Mania games increase, Jill’s inner circle does as well. In Cake Mania 2, we were introduced to Jack and Risha as people of importance in Jill’s life while Tiny was just another customer. He didn’t even have a name, he was just the sumo wrestler customer. In Cake Mania 3, he was a member of Jill’s entourage that got transported back in time. There was somewhat of an indication that Tiny has a bigger role in the game than some of the other members that got transported back, such as her grandpa and “Agent Bundt”/Deliveryman from Cake Mania, but not enough so I did not bother pointing it out. However, in this game Tiny is featured as one of the main characters in this game with his own stage so it is safe to say he has officially joined Jill’s inner circle.

This Entire Game: After 3 games of basically the Same Thing (except maybe some game-equivalent facelifts, haircuts, and manicures to give the game a new look), the game had to try something new. It would be foolish to radically change up the classic formula of Jill + Baking, because it works well. It is just getting old at this point. Instead of changing up Jill + Baking, why not just add more to do?

Unlock It (Charli XCX ft. Kim Petras & Jay Park): We have the four businesses that we are going to operate and various flags around town that represent attractions. We can unlock these attractions through through gameplay. Once an attraction is unlocked the flag turns blue and we have the option to buy it, and we can even earn a small amount of money from the attraction for each level/”day” we complete.

Split the Bill: Since this game has the new objective of buying attractions around town, the money that you earn from the levels gets split--half of it goes to the fund to upgrade the equipment in the stage you are working in, like how it was for the rest of the games. The other half goes to the town fund (pictured above with the cash amount in the green sign).

Upgrade U (Beyonce ft. Jay-Z): You can upgrade each location which makes it bigger and more elaborate on the town map, while changing the decoration a bit when you play the levels. This set up allows for each location to be a speed-run version of the previous games since you can experiences various “stages” across 25 levels.

This aspect is the “fluff that I was okay with doing but ultimately don’t give a shit about” that was present all throughout Cake Mania 3. I understand why we are purchasing attractions and making the town pretty, but I didn’t feel anything while doing it. Not excitement, not irritation. I suppose this trying to be a more “interactive” way of saving the town compared to Cake Mania where you just played levels and got the happy ending. However, this is not something that needs fixing. The entire game is just clicking buttons, but clicking buttons in a level provides you with some kind of excitement. Buying the attractions felt like opening up a new word document, it just didn’t add anything.

𝓛𝓸𝓬𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼

Evans’ Bakery

The old formula we all know and love is back with some minor tweaks. A lot of the stuff I thought was useless fluff in Cake Mania 3, such as the mini-games and stage-specific power ups, did not make a return in this game. However, the sugar rush power-up, drink station, and overnight fridge stayed!

Since these different locations have compressed an entire game’s experience into 25 levels, equipment and upgrades are cheaper again. You also have the option to sell your equipment if you are in a bind to get some money back.

Risha’s Flower Shop

This is legit the only location where I found it to be difficult to play at times, which is a good thing because every other location is fairly easy to play in my opinion.

Risha’s flower shop has the same set-up as Jill’s bakery. You have the flower “oven” with the wrapping “froster.” I’m not sure what it is, but they feel slower or the location goals are much more difficult to achieve. Literally the first time I played this game I rage-quit (lmao) this location because I was struggling to get the super goals, which eventually turned into struggling to get the bare minimum goal. Sometimes getting the super goals required replaying a level and hoping that the random amount of money each customer gave to you was a little higher because I would be $5 off. I would attempt to get either of the two “topping” machines to get some extra money tacked on to each order, but this would be during the snail-speed machine stages which ended up biting me in the ass since each order just took longer and you couldn’t get as many customers in.

Eventually, I decided to just change the location of the “oven” and “froster” to be closer to each other and voila. Now, I wasn’t making Risha slow-walk across the stage constantly which saved time. It is odd because while adjusting the location of the oven+froster to be closer in any of the Cake Mania games helped a lot, but was not necessary for me to achieve the superstar goal. For Risha’s location it is practically necessary for me after the first few stages.

Also, Risha’s flower shop has two “decorators.” You can add the bouquet equivalent of a topping, ribbon, or both. I honestly recommend fully upgrading one before purchasing the other. By the time you fully upgrade one, you will have the funds to purchase all the upgrades for the other.

Jack’s Burger Barn and Tiny’s Sumo Sushi

These games have the same formula, similar to the relationship that Jill and Risha’s locations have. Jill and Risha’s locations are based around upgrading equipment. The orders are important, but the main objective is how you are going to invest the money you earn into making your establishment run more efficiently and churn out more money. Jack and Tiny’s locations have a set up where you have various ingredients spread out and have to make the orders yourself instead of only clicking buttons on an oven, kind of like the Burger Island games. The way to progress through their locations is to unlock and buy more recipes, and the only equipment you can buy is the distraction cookie machine and the TV. The recipes are also unlocked in order, so you can’t skip around with which recipes you purchase.

Another interesting aspect to note about these games is that the rules for making the food are lenient. Throwing away a cake or a flower comes with a penalty, but with Jack and Tiny’s locations you can prepare as many burger patties or fried salmon as you want to make preparing orders more convenient. I found them to be much easier to play than Jill and Risha’s locations due to this reason.

Here is the completed town, with all of the attractions unlocked and all the locations fully upgraded!

Here are all the trophies you can earn as well. For each location, (minus Evans’ Bakery) you can earn a trophy for unlocking it, fully upgrading it finishing all the levels, and finishing all the levels with the superstar baking goal. The balloons are for unlocking and purchasing all the local attractions, and of course the ribbon for completing the entire game. This is a much better approach to achievements than Cake Mania 3, which gave you a trophy for breathing.

Now it is time to introduce the stars of this game

𝓒𝓾𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓻𝓼

*Deep Sigh*

Favorite TV Station: Penguin Documentary

They look like the result of several generations of Nekogirl inbreeding for the worst traits. The pugs of Nekogirls.

Me in the Future

Favorite TV Station: Penguin documentary

Throwback from Cake Mania 2! Love to see her and her cat still thriving

Happy Lady

Favorite TV Station: Cartoons

Sad Sack: Hotdog Edition

Favorite TV Station: X-Files

A Cake Mania staple character

Chef Gordon

Favorite TV Station: News

One of many Blue Bubble customers

Marquis

Favorite TV Show: X-Files

Throwback from Cake Mania 3! He provides you with a sugar rush when he arrives

Super Matt

Favorite TV Show: News

Another beloved Blue Bubble customer. What’s great about this guy is that, unlike Napoleon and the Emperor from Cake Mania 3, this guy only immobilizes one customer adjacent to him. He does this by freezing them, so they are immobilized for a while. Gotta love it.

Ninja

Favorite TV Show: Cartoons

There can never be too many Blue Bubble customers. He’s like Super Matt, except he uses a smoke attack against customers instead of freezing them. Residents of Bakersfield get to truly pick their poison while waiting for cake or a burger.

1 Adult Customer

Favorite TV Show: Penguin documentary

This customer is just a SINGLE ADULT in a cute little coat. One individual in a coat. Only one. And they are grown, and definitely don’t need to be in school instead of waiting in line for flowers or sushi.

Alien

Favorite TV Show: X-Files

Throwback from Cake Mania 2! And yes, they still change the channel to their favorite one.

Pirate

Favorite TV Show: Penguin Documentary

Yep, this is customer goes from 0 to Blue Bubble if you anger him. He’s kinda like the Dinosaur from Cake Mania 3 in that regard.

Tiny

Favorite TV Show: Penguin Documentary

Throwback to Cake Mania 2!

Don Carlos

Favorite TV Show: X-Files

ANOTHER Blue Bubble customer, this time he is pulling a Robin Hood and trying to take your profits from you

Mr. Jack Jill-Evans

Favorite TV Show: News

Our favorite Himbo actually gets to be a customer

Dracula

Favorite TV Show: News

Throwback to Cake Mania! And also the Blue Bubble-customerification of Dracula.

420 Blaze It

Favorite TV Show: You know what? Throughout the entire game I never learned his TV preference, because I didn’t have to. Because, yes, he will take literally ANYTHING. Also yeah he is high.

♥This Guy♥

Favorite TV Show: X-files

I don’t know why he would make anyone happy. He’s just a guy. But he is the people’s guy because he lifts their spirits.

Risha

What’s great about her is you don’t even have to hand her a menu, she is ready to order the moment she walks in.

...and finally

♥La Reina, Queen of Cakes, the Malika of Marzipan....Jill Evans♥

Favorite TV Show: Cartoons

The division of customers either being neutral or affecting other customers with their mere presence has been reduced heavily in this game in favor of Blue Bubble customers. I don’t like this decision because I did like the chaos that customers like the mummy or witch provided. At the same time, it is not like having your customers frozen or changed to hot dogs makes for smooth gameplay, and it was still fun navigating the nonsense that came with this batch of Blue Bubble customers. Still, I prefer Cake Mania 3′s approach more since it allowed for both kinds of customers.

𝓜𝔂 𝓞𝓹𝓲𝓷𝓲𝓸𝓷

You can gauge what I think of this game from the entirety of this blogpost. I really, really like this as a next step for the Cake Mania series. It keeps the recipe that we all know and love and adds on to it instead of creating a completely unrecognizable game. The changes this game provided weren’t as fluffy as Cake Mania 3. There is maybe one aspect that was changed that I didn’t like, and even that was not an issue that made the game unplayable. I really think this is the furthest this series can go before the game gets too ridiculous and deviates from the main draw of the game.

I give this game a 4/4. As in, all 4 locations are fun!

Anyways, here are the choice screenshots

Self aware game is self aware

Comrade Jill?

Throwback to Cake Mania 2!

The series portrays Jack to be a massive Himbo who has some interesting business ideas, which he basically is, but the dude is highkey very clever. This is hilarious.

I think this would be really a nice really poster at a dispensary.

Risha’s “thing” in this game is that she is a city slicker who is a fish out of water in this small town. This aspect about her gets contradicted in a later game when we find out that [spoiler].

Oh yeah, Jill is pregnant btw.

Comrade Don

Nightmare fuel. Also can you tell this is from the late 2000s/early 2010s?

Grimes and Elon Musk is that you?

I’d imagine this is a normal day working in food service during the Bush-era

#cake mania main st #cake mania #pc games #time management game #old web #time management #childhood game #nostaligiacore #nostalgia #childhood nostalgia #faced the same problem w the text editor smhhh #also this took wayyyy longer than usual like i finished this game in july #its cause i was filling out med school secondary apps T-T #but i left that flop era and will be entering a new one soon #i wont stop cakeblogging tho

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