The girl I dreamed about is real?!

You dreamed of her.

You drew her.

And now… she’s here.

You're a game art student.

Drawing comes easily to you. Imagining even more so.

Framing scenes. Studying light. Turning fleeting ideas into something real.

But one morning, a new student walks into your classroom.

And she looks exactly like the girl you dreamed about.

Exactly like the one you drew.

That shouldn’t be possible.

🌙 About the Game

Reflections: Beyond the Canvas is a short, story-driven yuri visual novel about dreams, memory, and the fragile line between imagination and reality.

Created for the Nanoreno 2026 game jam, this demo focuses on atmosphere, pacing, and delivering a strong first impression of a larger story.

🎮 Features

• ✨ A narrative where dreams begin to bleed into reality
• 🎨 An atmosphere-driven presentation
• 🌙 A focus on mood and mystery
• 📖 Currently a kinetic visual novel experience
• ⏳ 10 to 15 minutes length

🔮 Future Plans

Right now, the game is fully kinetic, with no choices… mostly because time said no 😅

But I do already have a branching choice system planned, with multiple paths and outcomes. This demo is more like the foundation I wanted to build everything on.

The soundtrack and audio are also in production. The original plan was to have a fully immersive soundscape with music, ambience, and effects… but yeah, same story, time constraints got in the way.

Future updates will include original music and audio to really bring the atmosphere to life.

Also… the character sprites are placeholders 👀 They actually started as quick concept sketches, and then… they just became the final sprites for the demo because I ran out of time. I definitely plan to redo all character sprites.

⚠️ Game Jam & Development Process

This project was created for the Nanoreno 2026 game jam as a personal challenge: make a visual novel demo from scratch, solo, within a limited time… and survive the process.

The goal was less about making something perfect, and more about learning by actually finishing something.

During development, I focused on:

• Building a strong hook
• Creating a (somewhat) cinematic opening and ending
• Establishing the core tone and identity of the story

The original plan was… a lot bigger:

• More scenes
• More character moments
• A branching choice system
• Full audio implementation
• Proper character sprites (sorry about that 😅)
• Custom UI and menus

Then life happened.

Due to an unexpected personal emergency during the jam, I had to cut down the scope quite a bit just to be able to submit on time.

That said, this demo still represents the heart of what I wanted this project to be and the beginning of a much bigger story I fully plan to continue.

If you’d like to see more behind the scenes, you can check the devlog here: Nanoreno 2026 Game Jam - Devlog 1 - A Dream Of You by SoftHeartsStudio

❤️ Feedback

If you decide to play, I’d really love to hear your thoughts.

This project is still growing, and your feedback will genuinely help shape where it goes next.

Thank you so much for taking the time to experience this story ✨