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Date, create, and share!

Assuming the role of a male high school student in Japan, the player will meet, interact with, and date a number of female characters with the goal of winding up with one of them at the end of a 101-day calendar. Yeah, you've seen this all before...or have you?

In other romance sims, there's little reason to replay the game again once you've pursued all the characters you're interested in. But Heartache 101 allows for a variable female cast. The number of characters in the game is completely open-ended!

You can create new characters and add them to the game, share them with other users, and add characters created by other users. You can create the images for custom characters from a template, or use images you created yourself, or images from any source. (only "standing" images of characters can be imported; there is no event CG in the game) A simple scripting language is provided for writing story events. You can also customize some of the music.

The game system itself is in part a visual novel interface with gameplay that include conversational decision-making, board game-like mechanics, stat management, financial management, and more.

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New game forthcoming, some might like to know



Since I've been asked many times if I would ever make a sequel to Heartache....

Well this is not a sequel. In very many ways it's radically different. But some might find that it partially retains a bit of the same feel?

So I'm posting the first public screenshot here, and whoever is interested, look for a game page up in the next week or two with the title "Where One Citizen". Game is not complete yet, but after 10 years of development it's about time to start showing it!

Posts

watermark
Got me my shiny new MZ
3283
It’s a RPG Maker fanfic! And a love story! Yay!

This is a fanfic of the super fun RPG Maker date sim “Heartache 101 ~Sour into Sweet~” by flowerthief, which you can find, well, here. XD

This story came to be as a result of RMN’s 2016 Secret Santa event. It’s my gift to Zakariya. Writing this took a lot longer than I expected so it didn’t get published till now. Plus it’s Valentine’s Day so I thought it would be nice to publish a love story now.

As it’s somewhat long (~21000 words), I couldn’t post it directly here. Instead, to read the story please follow this link:

http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1222986/heartache-101-sour-into-sweet-comedy-game-highschool-japanese-romance-fanfic-youngadult

Hope you find some enjoyment from this story and Happy Valentines!
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
This is a side-thought, but, would you consider submitting that fanfic (or a link to it) as media?
watermark
Got me my shiny new MZ
3283
Sure thing! I've never used that feature before. Let me figure it out...
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I've received an e-mail asking if I can bring this game to Steam. My initial reaction was to say no. Mostly because I would feel inclined to have flowerthief's okay, and I've no contact information outside of RMN.

I dunno. What do you guys think?
author=Marrend
I've received an e-mail asking if I can bring this game to Steam. My initial reaction was to say no. Mostly because I would feel inclined to have flowerthief's okay, and I've no contact information outside of RMN.

I dunno. What do you guys think?
I have at least two reasons not to bring it to steam. But those are my personal considerations.

Firstly I agree that this would require at least flowerthief's OK, since he's the author. The custom content makes this even more complicated. There's plenty of authors there, many of whom aren't all that active anymore.
So it would either require to ask all of them too. Or leave custom content out of it. Or ignore their wishes.
Maybe there are even some age or content classification issues with the "custom content" for a platform like steam.


The other point is privacy. This page only requires a browser. Steam would require an account and a client program.
OK - call me German, but for me this is an valid issue.

That said. There sure are advantages of being on steam - like an extended audience and visibility ...

This - of course - is only my humble oppinion. I'm not the author nor the caretaker of this project.

PS: If you decide to "go steam" ... as far as my contribution is concerned you do hereby have the permission to take it along, if you decide to do so.
I'm pretty sure the answer to this is buried somewhere in the 35 pages, but will there be a sequel? This is one of my favorite games ever and I would hate for it to stop at one. Me, and probably many others, would be willing to pay for a sequel. Kickstarter?
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I seem to recall flowertheif making comments about a making a sequel, or maybe a kind of spiritual successor, to this game some time during it's early stages. However, the idea must have fallen on the wayside somewhere along the line. The "how" or the "why" are not entirely known by me, and I have no desire to theorize.

As for doing a Kickstarter, I dunno. I've been of the opinion that the game is flowertheif's intellectual property. So, if the game does go commercial in any way, shape, or form, it should not be without his say-so.

Yeah, I would pass on the idea of bringing the game to Steam.

On the question of a sequel, I never developed plans for a direct sequel, which might be a shame, but it is true that a spiritual successor was in the works for a fair while. Then the pressure to get a "real" job ("real" meaning of course relatively unexciting yet providing stable income) led to the project unfortunately being left buried under a pile of life's stinky laundry, forsaken if not forgotten. I do sometimes think about returning to it.

Marrend, thanks as always for your very grounded remarks. Are there other questions that have been asked around here that beg answering before I go on another 2-year leave? :P
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
The legend liiiiiives!!

Kidding aside, there may have been some bug reports. I never wrote anything down, of course. That, and and the queries about going to Steam (or whatever), I... really can't think of anything?
I had reported a few bugs. ... I'd might have a few feature requests.

But nothing too bad to work around.
Very well then. Please carry on without me!
If you brought the game to Steam, I would of course allow my content (as light ,as it may be) to be used. I would of course have to finish it first...
This is pretty good, good work with the characters.
Hey, quick question.

Is there a way to edit the introduction, or events like the "Takuya invites you somewhere" instances?
author=ScarbucksCoffee
Hey, quick question.

Is there a way to edit the introduction, or events like the "Takuya invites you somewhere" instances?

There's no way to do so.

Those texts are hardcoded into the game itself, so nobody but the owner of the sources (flowerthief) could modify them.

(Other then reverse engineering or similar techniques)
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
The introduction where Miki challenges <player> to have a significant other within 101 days is not stored in a story-file. I'm pretty sure you'd have to have to open the game through RPG Maker XP to edit that.

I'm pretty sure it's the same thing with landing on a "Takuya" space. Those have no associated story file with them, and would probably take opening up the game through RPG Maker XP to edit them/that.

Saying that, I cannot, in good faith, support content that edits the game via RPG Maker XP. The data was encrypted by the author either so that it would not be so easily edited, or stolen. I'm not saying you're trying to steal anything, but,in the author's absence, it's my job to support that decision.
Thank you both for the quick responses to my first question. I did see the responses soon after you posted them, and I do not intend to edit the game in such a fashion.

There was one other thing I noticed about the game - it doesn't open up if the folder is inside a flash drive. The error message states that the story files aren't in .txt format. I presume it must be an error in reading the files, since they ARE in a .txt format.

That said, it might be something on my part as I'm using a Mac and Wine to open up the game.
author=ScarbucksCoffee
Thank you both for the quick responses to my first question. I did see the responses soon after you posted them, and I do not intend to edit the game in such a fashion.

There was one other thing I noticed about the game - it doesn't open up if the folder is inside a flash drive. The error message states that the story files aren't in .txt format. I presume it must be an error in reading the files, since they ARE in a .txt format.

That said, it might be something on my part as I'm using a Mac and Wine to open up the game.

Hmm. I'm using wine, too. Never had this specific problem, tho.

Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I did a quick test of copying the game files with no extra content on a flash drive, and it seemed to load fine for me. I apologize for not being able to test anything in regards to Mac issues, as I don't have access to one.

I don't believe it would make any difference, but, I would like to note that with my test, Heartache was in a sub-directory on the flash drive, and the directory structure was retained otherwise.