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Two years ago, six heroes were tasked with saving the world.
So they did.
However, once again the world is under threat from an evil force,
and once again, these six heroes are called on by their Kingdom to stand up against it.

This is their story.
A story of action. A story of romance.
A story of a handful of idiots dawdling around and somehow managing to save the world.
Again.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Meet May, a young girl who wants nothing more than to become an adventurer. Nothing in life is free, however, and she's working her first job as a Barmaid in one of Castle City's many pubs. Imagine her shock when five of her customers are Legendary World-Class Heroes who had saved the world from destruction a couple of years ago!

Not only that, they seem to have taken an interest in her.

Guide May through five unique plotlines centred around five unique people in their journey to save the world, clear up the past, and maybe- just maybe-

Make out.

Some quick stats:
  • 56,000 words
  • 200+ busts
  • 68 CGs
  • 18 backgrounds
  • 11 endings

And this started as a joke project that was going to have terribad voice acting, rushed ultra deformed artwork, and not an ounce of seriousness... haha... ha.

Latest Blog

AwaF Design Contest Results

It’s time to announce the winners of the April was a Fool Design Contest!


In first place, is Winter’s design with a landslide of 57% of the votes. A huge, HUGE congrats to our winner! Your design will be featured in the game! I’m very excited~! It’s a great design.


In second place is Fictional01‘s design! It was a tight race between this and another design; watching them battle was pretty epic!


And Maki’s Pick goes to Gourd-clae I found the design to be really charming to work with!

So a huge applause for our winners! And another huge applause to everyone who entered. We got some wonderful designs all around and I was very excited to see them all. (I may just draw them all in the future just because) And yet another applause for everyone who voted. There’d be no winners without you.

To our winners, I’ll be contacting you personally soon to sort out your rewards and such. Don’t forget everyone who entered wins a free sketch of the AwaF character of their choice! So hit me up by email with which character you would like. :)

This contest was a lot of fun and I hope we can have more like it in the future. Thank you so much for all your support <3 <3 That we could have a contest like this with the turnout that we did means so much to me.

So one last round of applause. For everyone who played April was a Fool!

Posts

Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
you used it right. =)

I think people looking really similar is understandable. There are kids and co-workers from my summer job that have dopplegangers at the schools I've worked at. Like, more than just a few -- I dunno if there are only so many faces in the world or what, but I don't think it's unreasonable to say that May and April just look alike.

Some sort of "lost sister oooo" storyline would undermine a lot of what makes May special as an outsider, I think, so I'm hoping that doesn't happen in any future stories with these characters. We'll see though (hopefully).
No worries, Craze, it has never once even crossed my mind to make something more of May and April's connection. They are each other's doppelgangers and it begins and ends there.

@BraveTyphlosion: If we add a music player, we'll have all the music available for listening. :) In regards to Foxy, she's his loyal companion. They have been together for a long time and share a very close bond.

@RosaliaHearts: Thank you for playing and welcome to the site! Kent seems to be good at sneaking into people's hearts. I'm glad you noticed some of the dialogue about Kent; when you play other routes knowing about him, some of the things he says can be taken much differently. ;)
Also fanart is TOTALLY okay! I love it~

Thank you again! Just as Rach said, I can't even find proper words to fully express how proud and glad I am at all the positive feedback <3 <3
This is the best game I've played in ages. I'm not sure whose route is my favourite, Erwin's or Gunn's, but I certainly enjoyed all the routes!
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I downloaded this some time ago, but, I had a lame-self-joke going on that I MAY get around to APRIL in JUNE. So much for that, though!

With my first play, I saw a good number of scenes with Erwin, but that didn't turn out so well, given that...
...May fused with Evil, killed the heroes, and took over the world.

The next play I did was a tear-jerker with Blake. What I probably want to do next is try to steer towards a more positive Erwin-ending, then move on to somebody else.
RRReeeeeeeenpyyyy!
I love visual novels. I'll be sure to check this one out!
Hi, I wanted to comment on how much I adore this game, but...
Uh, I just got Gunn's bad ending, and frankly I need to go...lay down. For a long time. And weep. Loudly.

M-my heart... ;w;
GUNNS BEARD IS DEILLUMIATIE ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED!
author=Marrend
I downloaded this some time ago, but, I had a lame-self-joke going on that I MAY get around to APRIL in JUNE. So much for that, though!

With my first play, I saw a good number of scenes with Erwin, but that didn't turn out so well, given that...
...May fused with Evil, killed the heroes, and took over the world.

The next play I did was a tear-jerker with Blake. What I probably want to do next is try to steer towards a more positive Erwin-ending, then move on to somebody else.

This is so not my game. Three routes in, and yeaaah. Well-written but really not happy with the general set-up and predictability.
So wait .. the good ending with Erwin is that crappy one?!
I thought I was doing something wrong. That's just .. ugh. Okay. Would've preferred taking over the world by far!


A saint, a fool, and filling holes all day. Nopers. I feel defeated.
Sorry you didn't enjoy it, but thanks for giving it a try.

I've received a lot of positive feedback in regards to Erwin's good ending, so I wouldn't change it.
There's no good way to have a romantic ending between those two at the current point in the timeline. Erwin was never looking at May for May, but looking at her AS April. Any romantic relationship between him and May would have that hang over it.


I can see where someone might be disappointed by that, and I was admittedly worried about negative backlash for having an ending like that - but I stand by my decision, and so far, the positive has out weighed the negative in its regards.

Again, thanks for trying it out :)
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
Erwin has the cutest good ending outside of Gunn bad ending i don't know what you're saying
Gunn's bad ending is the most adorable thing I've ever written in my entire life to be fair.
Sorry, someone sacrificing their identity and possibly happiness to "fix" someone else doesn't count as cute to me, really.


I certainly wasn't "disappointed", I could see it coming. But I find it pretty.. disturbing to watch unfold. Same as the idea of people broken beyond repair.
Really, there was no way to make it "right", unless you skipped the romance completely. So I accept that as it is.

At least it was seen in a fairly .. negative light as she admits herself being a fool. But taking this as the route determing the title of the game gives it a greater weight than other routes. That confused me. It does sum up the core theme of the game in strong .. so I guess it works for that.


Hence my problems lies with the general setup and core idea/theme of this whole adventure rather than the execution. The beginning was a real blast, and I like crazy quirky characters (altho I think a lil subtlety works for drama possibly even better, but makes for a difference and definitely good practice to explore a more negative approach). The writing is indeed well, diverse, and you can see the characters' personalities seeping out in their tiny actions on other routes as well. Since the characters come off as .. well "strong", the main conflict was fairly obvious to anticipate, though. On anything I've seen so far, at least.
For the romance part, I really would've liked to see a real give-and-take, as in May actually being addressed and supported as she does the other characters. Which is my other main concern (well, linked with her only ever being a shadow and saint), which makes it frankly very hard to care for other characters and makes the romance seem dull. I find it a very unhealthy approach to romance, however common a trope it is in dating sims.

I think I'll plow through the bad endings and missing routes and write a review if you'd care, but it seems I'm in the clear minority with my standpoint, so eh.
As I said, the execution is good. But I find the whole concept very appalling.

Sorry about being the only mopey voice here. I love your guys' work and visual novels as a genre a lot, so it hit me.
Indra
YOU ARE BEING TOO AGGRO
11514
author=MakioKuta
Gunn's bad ending is the most adorable thing I've ever written in my entire life to be fair.

You people are all sick ;-; *hugs poor Gunn to protect him from the crazies*

@Kylalia: pretty sure Craze mentioned the GOOD ending? Where the thing you mention doesn't happen (thats the BAD end). Are you maybe confusing the two? if so:
Erwin and April ending as just friends, is the GOOD end. April "becoming someone else" is the BAD end. In fact, any endings that are overall enabling bad behaviors on any characters are the BAD ones.


Tho I agree from a "dating game" perspective Erwin's Good end was kinda lowkey, I didn't protest too much becuase I didn't like who he was for most of the game. Let me tell you slamming the bastard with my fists was JOYFUL XD As far as his character goes, I agree with his endings, even if the good one doesn't tickle my "I want romance!" bone.

Kent is where my money is at anyway. And Gunn and Gabby. Erwin is a piece of trash~ (said lovingly joking, but really, what a hoe XD Being able to bash him is the best thing about him)
Gotcha. Thanks for pointing that out. There's still the "super-bad" end, so that got me a lil confused. 'cause if that's supposed to be good .. yeah, no. Didn't adjust the class selection, silly me. Loaded the place decision after.

Got them now (altho I had Gunn's already). Definitely better.
And calling Gunn's bad ending adorable ... yeaah.. no.
Yeah, it's become clear to me that you are confusing Erwin's good and bad endings. Because what you are describing is his bad ending.

The breaking point in Erwin's route for good vs bad ending is where May decides between accepting the fact that she can only help him as April or realizing that May has the power to help him as well in her own way.
Bad ending is the Kiss CG in Perk Lab
Good ending is the Hug CG in Castle Garden, where they are leaving it as friends. With a slight air of the fact that they do have the possibility to start this friendship over with Erwin being able to see her as May and not April

The take over the world ending is the Evil Ending - and it's accessible through all the routes but one if your affection(trust) is really low.



And I'm not saying your opinion isn't valuable, I enjoy all opinions on the game. Negative reviews of the game are just as important. Just that if I were to weigh the idea of changing Erwin's Good ending into something actually romantic, versus leaving it as it is now, I would stick with leaving it as it is, from all the good feedback we've received.

That aside, if you do play more of the game, I hope you can see that the game is trying to take the idea of the 'replacement' character and have the character herself grow OVER those feelings and fill the hole in the group in her own way and NOT by just acting the same way April would have. Deliberating playing on tropes while trying to subvert them can be a dangerous road, maybe I missed that mark with the writing, but maybe not o3o

I'm curious which other routes you've played though, as Erwin's is the hardest to swallow in terms of his 'relationship' towards May. Blake's is a little nicer if you're looking for something where the two bond deeper, Gabby's if you want to be smooth talked. Though, I don't disagree that they could all do more to support May better, bunch of selfish Heroes.

EDIT
author=Kylaila
Got them now (altho I had Gunn's already). Definitely better.
And calling Gunn's bad ending adorable ... yeaah.. no.
Don't worry, we're being sarcastic about Gunn's bad ending. Very sarcastic. (It's one of two endings that made me cringe to write.)
I wouldn't ever want it to be romantic. I thought I mentioned that. Wouldn't work. I am still confused why that one is the one closely tied to the game's title of all things, though.

I'm filling in the rest of the ending, for that's what you gotta do.
Blake's two endings left, not that I care for him much.
It's decent, but I don't find myself curious (nor surprised), nor liking anyone. I really don't see any point where I could see the protagonist falling for them - there are actions of affection, but no build-up (but hey, I'm an advocate of liking people who care about and like you, and just listening to and helping people doesn't do that).
But at least it's lost that nasty focus, because it comes up a couple of times (like Gunn's route, wanting to support him since noone else does - what about Mary, then. Gabby's bad end ends with something along the lines of "I couldn't save her"), and stuff like that. Seeing the others, I probably got the worst in that line of thought. Pretty much all I got. And it happens a lot in dating sims, sadly. A lot.

With the mix of it all, it's somewhere inbetween. But thankfully surpassing that, sorry for speaking up before having played it all as I should. Won't be a favorite or something to stick, but that's okay.

Edit: And all done.

haha Yeah, sorry I was still commenting on when you thought his Good ending was his Bad ending. I think that's all been clarified now - I agree that his bad ending being the good ending would have been very bad.

And, now worries! First impressions are important. I wonder if we should find a way to make it more clear when something is a bad ending, to avoid other incidents of people thinking Erwin's bad is the good. (I was hoping most of the bad endings would speak for themselves)

That's the real clincher with VNs, if you don't like the cast, it's hard to be invested. Thanks for giving it all the time you have though. :)
I FINALLY PLAYED THIS AND HOLY SHIT IT WAS SO FRICKIN GOOD <3333333

i just... really messed up parties with hella interpersonal issues... good shit good shit that's some good shit right there right there riGHT THERE
ALSO THE FACT MOST OF THEM ARE JUST AWFUL PEOPLE????? I love that, i love terrible people games, i love them this is great

good game real good game nice game brb having emOTIONS

EDIT: And then I got all the endings! Augh... augh...... ;____;
I'm really impressed at how many AUs you guys got outta one concept, here? Since YEESH that was a lot of ways that same story of Party Processing Grief could go. Augh, what a neat game. I really dug it. ;__; <3
Thanks for playing!! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I love terrible people games too, thus... so many terrible people came together. haha

Grats on getting all the endings too! (it was interesting thinking how everyone would react to what happened. I mean, we'll be seeing more first hand how they reacted when it first happens too in the expanded version o3o )