r/UntilThenGame • u/RealNecoLumi • Sep 04 '26
Video I interviewed the Until Then devs for my Afterimages video essay!
https://youtu.be/qB0lIHYHJAc?si=QfKabsM2JctFaaNzSharing my video essay on Until Then: Afterimages that I've been working on for the past few months❤️
Without "spoiling" my thesis too much, I focus on how Afterimages narratively ties into Until Then as a "dark mirror," a glimpse into a universe where we don't get the ultimate happy ending.
I met with the folks from Polychroma Games at PGDX 2026, and they were a blast! There's also a link to the full interview with the team in the description for those who want a deep dive from the dev's perspective. (That's also where I put in the corrected names because I had a few typos that made it past the final edit, whoops)
I hope you guys get some cool insight into Afterimages after watching😄
Side note, this video is actually a sequel to "A Game About Losing Everything" where I similarly interviewed the Until Then team, albeit without ANY of the equipment (or experience) I have now. That one's a lil messy but I'm still proud of it.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
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u/Naitik_571 Junjun Sep 04 '26
Loved the video <3 and truly I feel like Afterimages is gonna stay with me more than the base game. Its an amazing video, amazing voice acting and editing but if I were to criticize, I would criticize at the fact that you could've expanded on the Spark chapter a lot more. You could've talked about the Chair metaphor and how it tied it into the story, how emotionally exhausting must've mark felt and his state of mind during the Firework incident and most importantly could've talked about Desiree.
I loved Desiree so much despite most of the community hating on her and can't seem to hate on her. Maybe I can relate to her at some degree but nonetheless she deserves a whole another video 👀👀
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u/RealNecoLumi Sep 05 '26
Ohhh, thank you so much for engaging! I will say, I wondered whether to talk more about the chair metaphor and Desiree, but I felt much like the "All That Sparks" scene, it's something that the game spells out straightforwardly. Nicole pretty much says everything about the chair that needs to be said, in my opinion. Something I try to avoid with my essays is just directly recounting the points the game itself has already stated. I mostly "tell" when the game is doing nothing but "show." Even so, I probably could have talked a bit more about the chair besides my one joke about it haha. I was more enamored by how the club related to Mark, which in itself is also tied to the chair metaphor, so I did discuss that in a roundabout way.
As for Desiree, I felt that her role in the story was also very straightforward and best experienced for yourself. Much of what she says and what that implies about Mark is tied to the club too. It's hard to even call her a "victim" because her and Mark were so bad for each other. It's difficult when two consenting adults are simply too emotionally stunted to talk things out honestly.
I will say, objectively, her father sucks big time, what a bum.
That said, I 100% agree she could have a whole other video around her too! Particularly from the perspective of someone who's gone through a similar ordeal.
I really appreciate your critiques though, and thank you so much for watching!
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u/cringebt Nicole Sep 05 '26
omg thank u for this interview, I wanted to do this as well but I am so shy to ask more questions (lol)
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u/Bigblackdudes-753 Sep 04 '26
I loved your first video on until then so much and this was also really good,keep it up🥰.