Summer Session

[papillon]

I did promise I wasn't working on a high school dating sim... because this game is set at university.

It's the summer after your freshman year, and you're stuck at school taking a short-term class. Use the dayplanner to organise your schedule and raise your stats while trying to score points with the girls. You've only got six weeks and you have to pass the final exam or all your efforts will be in vain! (And I like making tricky games full of hidden events, so expect that it will take some work to unlock all the endings...)

Game webpage with many screenshots and demo download (PC or Mac - probably Linux eventually but not at the moment) is here

Or my page which includes the full character list is here (I only link to the Windows demo because my site is generally Windows-focused)

There are five girls to catch. It is not set in Japan. As mentioned, this was a collaborative effort. Please do let me know if you encounter any bugs!

[Mistik]

Skaaaa. I played through the game only to find out it was a demo. Sorry I don't have money to buy the full game, but I thought whole interface felt very professional and clean. It's a good thing it was a demo though, because I would have probably over reached my stress meter and died.

Girl I was going for = midori

[Midnighticequeen]

Your character graphics are awesome, did you make them yourself?

[papillon]

nope, that's all commissioned art from this artist

[Aashtarsrain]

Ah ! Excellent ! E3 is over and I needed something to avoid nervous breakdown
A new Ren'Py game is the sweetest surprise I could think of ! I'm trying the demo in a sec. Thanks !

Ten minutes later : Wow ! Nice indeed !!! I love the gameplay and your characters are funny and interesting. I really enjoy the liking bars and special events Highly entertaining ! I may even consider buying it but how long is full version actually when you play for the first time ( 1H -1H30 I guess) ?

[papillon]

Depends on your reading speed? I don't know, I've played it SO many times for testing purposes that I can't estimate anymore. But yeah, probably something like that. Then the obsessive replay begins!

[PyTom]

(Note: I was given a complementary copy of this game, as it uses Ren'Py. So I'm now hopelessly biased, or something.)

There are 5 girls, and I think it would take about an hour, on average, to clear each one. Maybe a bit longer for your first play-through, I'd say that the 1 - 1.5 hours estimate is about right. The hour per girl includes multiple play-throughs, as the chance that you'll clear a girl's route on the first try is relatively small.

One nice thing is that the game does seem to play fair, as it tells you what you did wrong. So even when you fail to clear a route, it's pretty obvious what to do next. (Note: I've only really played the routes of the "obvious" girls --- Midori, Jenny, and Rachel. I haven't tried for the other two yet, they may be harder.)

For $20, I'd say that the full version is worth the relatively modest investment.

[DaFool]

Even the demo potentially has more text than at first thought (around the length of Starlight methinks), but the whole dating-sim structure pretty much assures that you skip most of it during first play-through. Or it could be the diary thing, I like that.

Also, wow Ren'Py. Does this mean Hanako Games will be using Ren'Py from now on for all games that don't require custom gameplay that needs an engine coded from scratch?

[papillon]

I did not code the game! That's what minions are for. *ducks*

You might see more joint projects between me and other people using RenPy... but that depends on the other people. I'm too lazy to be keen on learning a new programming system when I can generally do whatever I imagine in the one that I have.

Mac compatibility was a requirement for this project, and using RenPy made a lot more sense than trying to get someone else to build a custom mac engine. I still don't entirely know what's easy (or possible) in RenPy, I just issue orders.

(Selling for Mac is good. If minions are sufficiently obedient, there may be more renpy games. But the cute knight sequel underway is not.)

[aya_lyka]

wow great game... i wish i had the full game though... i don't have money but it's s0o0o totally great...

[BellosTheMighty]

You have minions now? Do they call you "mistress"? Or maybe just "Great Papillion-sama"? ^_^

Nitpick: You don't get the price on the game until you hit the shopping cart. Don't do that, please. I always feel like I'm being scammed into something. >_<

[papillon]

Nothing I can do about that, since I'm not running the sales - all the sales are going through the other company involved in the project, I only get a cut of the profits. The games I sell directly I generally list a price for, but I can't do that for affiliate games because I don't control the price and it could change without my knowledge - people would be pretty upset if I said it was one price and they clicked through and it was another.

[jack_norton]

Hello there,
I'm the guy that did the game with Hanako the price should remain fixed at $19.95!
Just want to say thanks again to papillon for letting me discover all those forums of dating sim games. I remember I played it many when was younger (even on Amiga, possible ?) and thought about possible stories to write, but never had the time or the will to attempt it. Is cool to see that there are lot of potential fans out there, I am definitely going to make more games like this in future

[mikey]

So I've played the demo and if you want a number - and for retail games it makes sense - it's pretty much spot-on 5/10.

As a game, with gameplay, there is nothing to complain about from my side. It's clear what to do, how the game works, very intuitive. It will feel great for people new to the genre, and it also minimizes the repetitive tasks in having you select the week's activities in advance. The gameplay, as mentioned is fair and honest, which is also a big plus, having lots of potential for replaying.

Now for the bits of criticism, personally the character designs especially the girls feel very masculine (and strangely, not really anime either - not that they would have to feel anime, but just as an observation). Obviously I had to go for the teacher, but to be honest she had no feminine charm at all - and neither did the other girls. Also, I haven't spotted any underlaying story, so it's just the characters left to be creating the charisma of the game, and well... it comes out a bit uninspired.

I like the hand-drawn backgrounds, the colors are nice and warm. I do wonder why the player's door in his room is always open, even in the night, but this actually gives the game a bit of character. The graphics (including the sprites - regardless of my opinion about the girls) are good work, and original which I really like. The MIDI is, well... much like the rest of the game,... "okay" is probably the word.

All in all, you get what you expect, and I suppose asking $20 is not outrageous, so if the demo is representative of the game, I guess in sum this is a good product. I just wish there was a little bit more to say about the game than that.

[Watercolorheart]

:raises eyebrow: With art like that, why do the sprites look so poor compared to it?