Lemma Soft Forums

edit: the England Exchange webpage is now up, with screenshots and demo!



Coming soon, from the Hanabira line. The protagonists:

Default names Flynn and Malia, though you can change their names if you like. They are nineteen-year-old university students from New York City who don't know what they want out of life, or even what there is to want. To broaden their horizons and learn more about the world, they sign up for a semester abroad in London. Which one gets there, of course, depends on who you choose to play.

When you arrive in England, you will be staying at a student hostel as part of a work-study program. Along with classes, you have a part-time job assigned, most of which goes to pay for your lodging, but will still give you enough spending money to have fun and get to know the other students living with you. There are eight possible love interests in this game:

Datable by male or female protagonists:
Danny
While he is a student too, he also acts as sort of an unofficial dorm-father in the hostel the PC is staying in. Helpful, handy, not afraid of some manual labor, and generally a bit more rugged than the male LIs I usually create.

Peggy
An excitable first-year uni student and a bit of a tomboy. Quite short, but she makes up for it in SHEER DETERMINATION. Also prone to very colorful language.

Mark
Appears to be a bit of a nerd. He reads a lot, and he doesn't always know how to act in a social situation. His honesty may be offputting to the people around him, but he just wants to help...

Ji Hyo
An artist from South Korea staying at the hostel. Serious about her work, though it may not make any sense if she tries to explain it to others.


Datable only by male protgaonists:
Aasi
A London-born girl who loves the nightlife and will drag the male PC around to dance clubs.

Ashley
A sweet and bubbly girl who works as a bartender and is very talented.


Datable only by female protagonists:
Angelo
An Italian student with a baby face and a sense of old-fashioned chivalry.

Brendon
A fellow American exchange student. Brendon is from Florida and used to life on the beach.


And that's really most of what you need to know! It's a light comedy romance/slice-of-life game about an American exchange student going to England for a semester, trying to reinvent themselves and learn a little more about the world while hopefully landing a boyfriend/girlfriend. Of course, there will be some bumps along the road, and not everything is guaranteed to end happily, but such is life.

Current status: the written script is complete and in the process of being coded. The sprites and backgrounds are finished. CGs and other extra art touches are currently in progress. The game should be out in the spring, unless life gets in the way.

Q&A:

1. Are both protagonist characters present in the game?

No, only the one you choose to play. They take each other's place (you'll have the same 'friends back home' regardless). You can't meet or interact with the other character, the other one doesn't exist in your world.

2. How much does the protagonist choice matter?

It affects which characters you can date, because some will be off limits for each option. It affects what job you get in England, who your rival is, and all scenes relating to either of those elements. There are many small changes to dialog and interactions based on which character you're playing. However, the overall plot is the same. You're not missing out on big secrets if you only want to play one side or the other.

Expect both protagonists to comment on the attractiveness of both male and female characters while trying to figure themselves out.

3. What's the age rating and content like?

There is alcohol use, some occasional (generally mild) swearing, and the relationship routes do include sex, but not with explicit images. Characters will appear in their underwear, there are some suggestive CGs, and then things fade to black. For partying university kids it's really quite tame, but I know some people need a headsup in case they're playing these games with their parents looking. So here's your warning: THERE WILL BE MALE NIPPLES.

4. What's the gameplay like?

It's a visual novel, no extra gameplay elements. You'll choose how to respond to people, and your choices will determine whose route (if any) you end up on, and whether you get a good/neutral/bad ending to the route. You CAN complete the game without romancing anyone, but you'll have long stretches of time with no events so I wouldn't recommend it.

5. What does Hanabira mean?

'Hanabira' titles, as opposed to 'Hanako Games' titles, mean that I didn't personally write the whole script. In this case, the original script was created by another writer, but I took the project on board to complete it, and I have edited and added elements. I actually am an American who moved to England, I know a little about the subject! However, since the original design isn't mine, if you're looking out specifically for my hallmarks and the weird way my mind works, you may find this game to be rather different.

Oooh, this is Adyrn's art, yeah? Good choice. ^_^

This looks awesome, I'm pretty excited for it! I'm looking forward to getting to know all of the characters.

papillon wrote:THERE WILL BE MALE NIPPLES.

Excellent. Pet peeve averted. More visual novels need male nipples.

papillon wrote:However, since the original design isn't mine, if you're looking out specifically for my hallmarks and the weird way my mind works, you may find this game to be rather different.

Aww. But I love the weird way your mind works. (Specifically it tends to parallel my own weird way of thinking!)

Doesn't seem like it would be that hard to get a date as a foreign exchange student due to the "accent effect" - or does that not apply for Americans in England? I just know from my own experience that foreign exchange students in America tend to get mobbed with date offers. I dated a German exchange student briefly in high school, where my life lesson was that since she spoke better English than I spoke German, I could avoid her pained looks if I just stopped trying to butcher her language.

I'm guessing the language barrier isn't a significant relationship factor between Americans and the British.

Heh, I'm afraid dating is not something I have much personal experience with. I was already married when I got to England. Though after all these years we still make fun of each other for words/pronunciations that vary between the countries.

Definitely remember foreign exchange students being popular in America, though.

The art looks amazing!!
Danny and Peggy are sure my favorites already:P I really like Ashley and Brandon too, too bad they are straight choices:(

I loveeeee the artstyle and set up, although i'm a bit sad Aasi and Ashley are male protagonist only T.T

Still will be very excited to play!

Well, if a game is successful enough, I can often be talked into adding bonus content updates, but that's getting a bit ahead of myself at this point.

The full game script has been implemented now, but the art is not yet complete. Still filling out a couple of features (achievements, galleries, etc) before it will be time for beta.

In the meantime, a little bit of beach fun.

Ardyn's art is lovely as always, however from the screenshot above I think that "background pattern" in the dialogue window is a bit hard on the eyes. I think would be better without it? my 2cents

This looked very good game, I like characters in the game. I look forward plenty to play this game.
Both you and jack_norton make amazing games.
I love both of your games very much.
Are you going to get this game on Steam?

LateWhiteRabbit wrote:Doesn't seem like it would be that hard to get a date as a foreign exchange student due to the "accent effect" - or does that not apply for Americans in England?

Gonna answer this as a British person.
Ha, no. The southerner's make fun of my accent (as a northern), and vice versa. We have a tendency to take the mick out of accents different from our own. My own parents take the piss of me, cause I picked up a slight twinge of a chesterfield accent, even though we only live 25 miles away. So no, having an American accent won't make you a dating magnet, sorry to disappoint XD

I'm still tinkering a bit with dialog settings. The box is based on a British Rail ticket, though in less eye-bleeding colors
because the originals are ORANGE and GREEN and just uggh.

The current box+font is readable at full game resolution but looks terrible thumbnailed because of the way the outline+dropshadows blend when size is reduced.

Given that I hate both fully-solid boxes (hides too much screen) and overly-simple black gradients (dull, no theme) I do tend to faff about a bit with these things.

Other menus have different references....
but I don't want to be looking at that for a dialog box all the time.

another thing that bothered me is the complete lack of gay/lesbian characters, all i see is straight and bisexual choices:(

MARVEL at the wonders of cross-cultural confusion! (Also, the protagonists have work uniforms.)