• Add Review
  • Subscribe
  • Nominate
  • Submit Media
  • RSS

When a party for a wealthy family’s ten-year-old daughter ends with the birthday girl dead, her older sister missing, and the father refusing to call the police, the detective isn’t exactly conventional. She finds herself at the site of the crime – a rented out old mansion – without any trace of memory. It’s the landlady who tells her that she is a private investigator who’s been hired to catch the culprit and bring them to justice.

But how can she solve a murder when she can’t even deduce her own name? Was it one of the party-goers who did the young guest of honor in? …Or was it the ghost said to wander the haunted halls? Can she manage to find the missing girl before another tragedy takes place?

…And will she be able to sleuth out her own memories and the meaning behind their disappearance at the same time?


♦ Interview suspects, present items, and scour the mansion for clues!

♦ A story-driven title – solve a classic but tragic murder mystery

♦ Choose between two variations of the ending – decide the culprit’s fate!

♦ Atmospheric soundtrack

♦ A custom evented menu, lighting effects, and other enhancements

♦ Approximately 60 - 120 minutes of gameplay


More information is available at DawnSeeker Studio.

Latest Blog

Version 2.2 Update + Steam Workshop

Happy Birthday is now available on Ace's shiny new Steam Workshop!
I also took the opportunity to finally update the game to Version 2.2.

The overdo updates are mostly minor, consisting largely of fixes for bugs and typos that players pointed out or that I've noticed while watching Let's Plays, with just a little bit of general editing and polish thrown in. The most notable addition is some new optional dialogue shown when presenting certain important clues to NPCs, for instance:
you can get some new comments by passing around the Threatening Card, Landlady's Identity?, and Ghost Stories towards the end of the game.
There's nothing that would make it worth it for a previous player to give it another go, but hopefully the updates will offer future players a slightly more polished experience.

Full change list:
♦ Fixed various passability errors
♦ Fixed various typos
♦ Fixed a bug that forced clues to be selected in a specific order during a certain scene
♦ Fixed a bug that wouldn't let the player re-enter the 2nd Floor Bathroom
♦ Clarified the names and descriptions of some clues
♦ Made menu full-screen and fixed color artifact errors
♦ Shortened some pauses
♦ Changed or lowered the volume on some SEs.
♦ Added more optional, unique dialogue when presenting certain clues
♦ Slightly expanded the dialogue during the intro and a few other minor scenes
♦ Some very minor, miscellaneous text and dialogue edits

Baring some unexpected disaster, this is the final update. Any further improvements will have to wait on potential sequels.

With over 8,000 downloads across all its mirrors, lots of Let's Plays and videos, a handful of reviews, and tons of comments on various sites, Happy Birthday certainly ended up garnering far more attention than I ever expected. I'll definitely take the motivation and feedback with me to future projects. Heartfelt thanks to everyone who's played.

And to new players, enjoy!

Posts

This was a really awesome history, i enjoyed a lot, please continue making rpgs like this one
I quite liked it ! Looking forward to more titles !
If this game was food, it would taste good
Registered just to say this: That was EXCELLENT, TearsOfNightfall!

I was looking for good examples of visual novels possible with the Ace engine and yours certainly fit the bill. The writer and editor in me was so happy by the story :D

The only thing that stood out was the minor spelling errors ("hier" and "devasted") but those are rare. Obviously lovingly crafted. Thank you so much for this gem. Keep up the great work! :)
I liked it. Totally didn't see the plot twist coming at the end. And I liked the length, but I probably wouldn't have made it without the walk-thru (not very good at solving crimes '>.< ). Definitely gets a Misao vote from me.
author=Jammy
I just finished playing the game. I think you did a great job, and I love the story! I also made a gameplay of it on youtube: [/q
author=huy
This game is very difficult, to discourage a little:(
can anyone help me?


huh... this game was so easy, wait why is this game difficult to you why what did you do?
WOw!!!
epic birthday!
can't wait to play~! :D
A fun, short game. I have a complaint, though: near the start of the game, it is impossible to proceed without randomly presenting clues to everyone. How was I supposed to know that the boots belonged to the uncle and the gloves to the nanny?

Also, I managed to deduce the big plot twist very early in the game. This might or might not be a bad thing, because I wanted to keep playing in order to see if I was right.
Great game. Just played it through. I'll take a look at the reviews and see if I should write another one.
This was such a good game,I hope I can see more of these kinds of games from you more in the future!

Good luck on all the other games you make!

:)
I really enjoyed this game! I hope you will make (you are making...) a sequel. It would be nice if you could make a collections of Ann's Detective games :)
We will need more of whodoneit games!
@cinithehylian: Thanks for the comment, and glad you enjoyed it! Will do :)

@cloud4ever: Definitely - feedback is always appreciated!
I wrote a review- I hope that's okay :) x
I wrote a review- I hope that's okay :) x
This game was so good that I made an account on here just to tell you how good it was. I loved it :D Keep up the good work!!!
Yeah, gameplay videos and such are definitely fine! Glad you enjoyed it!
shayoko
We do not condone harassing other members by PM.
515
yeah up loading it to youtube is the best bet its a safe stable dependable site
you can post the link in a comment but if you want it like it is above then click on the little youtube button above the text
An amazing game~ I enjoyed it so much. Hope you can make more interesting games!
I made a gameplay in Chinese , could I put it on websites?
I'd like to introduce this game to others!