The Narrative Driven Jam #12 results came in, and LOVE BLOOMS placed 4th overall! I am super honoured and had so much fun participating in this jam – well done to everyone and their amazing entries!

As a follow-up post, I thought I'd write up a guide with some extra facts on the mythological inspiration behind LOVE BLOOMS.

WARNING: This post will be spoiling the entire game, so skip it for now if you want to play it for yourself first (and haven't done so already).

Here we go ...

1st date: HERACLES

Heracles prefers "Spring" dialogue options.

As with every character, you begin with 0 approval points with Heracles.

To romance him, you need at least 2 approval points by the end of the date.

To befriend him, you don't need any approval points at all  - he's happy to be your friend no matter what!

To have him reciprocate your desire, you need 3 approval points.

Dialogue options that add approval points:

• “Nice to meet you! I'm Persephone.” (+1)
• “I'm here to find love, hopefully!” (+1)
• “It sounded like fun.” (+1)
• “Take a walk through a garden.” (+1)

Dialogue options that subtract approval points:

• “Never heard of you. ” (-1)
• “Hang on … aren't we half-siblings?” (-1)

Heracles  - Extra Lore/Things You May Have Missed

• If you tell Heracles you've never heard of him, he mentions slaying a lion with his bare hands. This is a reference to one of his Twelve Labours: defeating the Nemean lion  - which Heracles accomplished by strangling it.

• The several mentions of golden apples relate to another of Heracles' Twelve Labours: stealing the golden apples from the Garden of the Hesperides.

• The Heracles of myth has a pretty dark backstory. I didn't want to dive too deep into it in LOVE BLOOMS, since it was meant to be a fairly light-hearted game. But I'll spill the deets here, for those of you who are curious and didn't already know the stories. Heracles, in a bout of madness (courtesy of Hera) actually killed his first wife, Megara, and their children. The aforementioned Twelve Labours were completed afterwards as penance. You can see why Disney left this out of their movie – and now you also know why Heracles in LOVE BLOOMS is too haunted to hold down a new relationship.

• If you suggest going clothes shopping, Heracles will talk about how his ex gave him a poisoned shirt. This is a reference to the story of Heracles's second (or third?) wife, Deianeira, and the centaur Nessus, who was killed by Heracles. Having been lied to by the centaur, Deianeira gave Heracles a shirt smeared with the centaur’s blood, thinking that it would win her husband's eternal love and loyalty. Of course, the blood had no such magical effect. Instead, it was tainted with Hydra venom. Upon putting on the poisoned shirt, Heracles was consumed with agony – so much so that he built himself a funeral pyre and lay on it until someone lit it, putting him out of his misery. (Heracles had a flair for drama, it seems ...) After his mortal death, he ascended to godhood.

2nd date: PHEMONOE

Phemonoe prefers "Winter" dialogue options.

To romance her, you need 2 approval points.

To befriend her, you need at least 1 approval point.

She cannot reciprocate your desire. (I imagined this character to be asexual.)

Dialogue options that add approval points:

• “Will my ambitions be fulfilled?” (+1)
• “I take your pale and icy hand, and hold it fast.” (+1)

Phemonoe  - Extra Lore/Things You May Have Missed

• Phemonoe was the first Oracle of Delphi. You might be familiar with the Oracle of Delphi figure from the story of Oedipus. (Although that was probably a different Oracle who came after Phemonoe?)

• Phemonoe also invented hexameter poetry, which has six feet (or "beats") per line. This is the type of poetry you compose with Phemonoe in the game.

• She was supposedly a daughter of the sun god Apollo – she mentions this in LOVE BLOOMS if you choose the poetry line about “sunlight’s fire”.

• Several of the poetry dialogue options in Phemonoe's date have references to the Underworld. (And yes, they were hints that Phemonoe knew exactly who Persephone was meant to end up with!) For example, the line "I sail with you upriver, through the meadows vast" implies the River Styx and Asphodel Meadows.

3rd date: CIRCE

Circe prefers "Spring" dialogue options.

To romance her, you need 2 approval points.

Circe cannot be befriended  - she didn’t come to a speed dating event to make friends!

To have her reciprocate your desire, you need at 2 approval points.

Dialogue options that add approval points:

• “You're Circe.” (+1)
• “He must have been truly awful to deserve that …” (+1)

Dialogue options that subtract approval points:

• “You're Athena.” (-1)

Circe  - Extra Lore/Things You May Have Missed

• Circe was the sorceress who turned the hero Odysseus's men into pigs. Apparently, she had a habit of transforming men into animals when they landed on her island.

• In LOVE BLOOMS, she mentions that she turned her last date into a pig because he bored her with talk of metaphysical philosophy – implying that her date-turned-pig was Aristotle, founder of metaphysical philosophy.

• If you guess incorrectly that Circe is Scylla, she is OUTRAGED. This is because Scylla was Circe's rival in love: Circe was enamoured with the immortal Glaucus, yet Glaucus loved Scylla. Out of jealous anger, Circe turned Scylla into a monster with six heads, snake-like necks, and dog heads on her thighs. (???)

• If you guess incorrectly that Circe is Athena, she is deeply unimpressed, citing that Athena is no fun. In Homer's Odyssey, it is Athena who protects Odysseus from Circe’s transforming spell.

4th date: HADES

To get the “true” epilogue with Hades, you will need to pick 1 "Spring" dialogue option and 1 "Winter" dialogue option. Any will do – you just need one of each.

Hades  - Extra Lore/Things You May Have Missed

• Most of Hades' section in the game is made up and not derived from myth. The original stories have Hades tricking and abducting Persephone, which isn’t really my idea of a romantic date, so … I took some creative liberties.

• The dialogue in LOVE BLOOMS about carrying a baby crow back to life was loosely inspired by the story of Orpheus, a hero who unsuccessfully tried to lead his dead wife Eurydice out of the Underworld. After winning Hades over with his amazing musical talent, Orpheus was given one chance – all he and Eurydice had to do was walk out of the Underworld and not look back. Of course, Orpheus just HAD to look back at the last moment and  – poof – his beloved was gone for good. In LOVE BLOOMS, Hades was a lot more lenient on Persephone in her rescue mission.

• All of the other dates (Heracles, Phemonoe, and Circe) are looking at the player. Hades is the only one looking back at Persephone.

• Hades is also the only one who comments when Persephone switches to Spring or Winter mode.

• During the "true" epilogue with Hades, Persephone’s crown turns into a crown of the asphodel flowers Hades gifted her.

Final Notes

I also took inspiration from other interpretations of Greek mythology, including:

• Lore Olympus: a lushly drawn, modernised comic about Hades and Persephone. In particular, I took inspiration from its striking one-colour-per-character look.

• Hades: a 10/10 rogue-like game – go play it!! I’m so excited for the sequel!

• Percy Jackson & the Olympians: one of my favourite book series in the world! Addictive and often hilarious to read.

My original draft of this game included two other dates – with a naiad and a satyr – but I had to cut back on content due to the game jam’s time constraints. If there is enough interest, I might return to this project and expand on it one day …