songs and flowers (otome, romance, free)

[cowboy starshine]

You know how dating sims usually have an eccentric friend character with information on the love interests who helps you date people?

This is a game where you play as one.

Songs and Flowers is a game about befriending people and learning more about them, all from the perspective of an eccentric, foul-mouthed, glasses-wearing high school girl whom I literally cannot post screenshots of because of her swearing.

The game is 100% complete and released! You can download it at https://cowboy-starshine.itch.io/songs-and-flowers!
I hope you enjoy it!

[Zelan]

The premise reminds me a bit of the episode in Gekkan Soujo Nokazi-kun where the title character's friend has him play a dating sim and he spends more time with the best friend than with any of the dateable girls lmao. This game sounds cute, I hope I can get the chance to play it soon. (:

[cowboy starshine]

Gotta admit, that was one of the inspirations behind the game. Hope you like it! Please me what you think afterwards!

[Plotline_Progenitor]

That does sound like an interesting concept, I might check it out

Also interesting to hear about the inspiration from nozaki kun, I kinda wondered but probably wouldn't have asked so thanks Zelan

[cowboy starshine]

I hope you have fun!

[Zelan]

HI THIS LITERALLY MADE ME CRY AND THERE'S ONLY LIKE 2 OTHER VISUAL NOVELS THAT HAVE DONE THAT SO GOOD JOB

I just played Noct's route and like I'm trying to give you coherent feedback about how much I loved this game but like. shit dude I went in expecting a Funney Zany Comedy Game and while it definitely started out that way and the humor stayed that way the serious parts of the game were so legitimately moving like reading about Jas's parents and their story I just started crying and I was texting my fiancee that I love her and sending her pictures from the game (she likes the art and Noct's design by the way). All of the children are so precious but I especially love Raptillion Erstwhile Minuet III he is so wise and I also cried when he said his bit about the first step to recovery is admitting you're not okay like actually thanks for the reminder sir I really needed that.

Also this is kind of a whole separate thing from how much I love the story and characters but like... I really like how this VN has queer vibes even though it's an otome. Like there's that line about straight pride and International Clown Week (which is comedy gold and I sent that to my fiancee) but also like Noct as a character? I texted my fiancee like a whole essay about this but like I love that he's a feminine guy who is a love interest for a girl but he's not a "trap" or a "femboi" or "uwu soft" which I guess is my way of saying he's a feminine guy without it feeling really really fetishy. I dunno if that makes sense but I just really love that he's a guy who loves his family and wears cute feminine clothing and has bright pink nails but is also physically strong and beats people up on the regular (obviously this is Not Healthy and it's good that he works to change this by the end but like it makes his character so so so different and refreshing compared to other feminine guys I've seen in otome games). And then ofc there's Rap's unlockable epilogue story which just made me love him even more and it's a good thing Bolero adopted him because if she hadn't I would have.

Hgkdadgkkg sorry for the wall of text behind that spoiler OTL but I really liked this game a lot and I'm so glad I had the chance to play it before going back to school. Hoping to play Carol's route soon!

(also just the bit about you being inspired somewhat by Nozaki-kun is SO FUNNY because my roommate showed it to me just this year and I've watched like exactly six animes in my life while my fiancee, who has seen Many, had never heard of it before. I have two episodes left to show her and she loved the episode with the dating sim lmao.)

[cowboy starshine]

I'm glad you like it!

Making funny stories that delve into emotions is my specialty, apparently
Please tell your fiancee that I said thanks by the way! I'm glad you like Rap, too. He's a good kid.

Oh yeah the queer vibes were definitely intentional. You're gonna have fun on Carol's route if that's a thing you like. But yeah, it was important not to make anything about Noct weird, both because he's a high schooler and because it's not good to make anything that weird. He's a guy who likes plushies and makeup and painting his nails and frilly clothes, but he's also stoic, snarky, and sweet to those he's close to. And yes, Rap is good. There's more on this if you unlock all the extras, so be sure to get both the friendship endings and the romance endings of each route.

Thank you so much for your comment and I hope you enjoy Carol's route!