i loved the demo so much! cant wait for the full game!! <3

been watching this game since 2020 !! so happy you guys are still at it and i'm so excited for this game : ) replayed the demo again today, cheered me up sm ! the characters are so fun and interesting, and the interactions make me smile. the art and designs are also fantastic! just such an all round fantastic game so far, definitely one of the best ive played in a while.
can i ask how much the game will be when its out? no worries if not

me when gary was introduced: oh no i love him

me when elliot was introduced: oh NO i love him!!

me when cain was introduced: OHHH NOOOO I LOVE HIMMMM

me when john was introduced: oHHHHHH NNNNNOOOOOOO

me when akio was introduced: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

and then of COURSE i was IMMEDIATELY ride or die for ava, wowowow i'm going to have such a hard time choosing which order to do routes in when the full game comes out!! INCREDIBLE voice acting work by all the vas, they really made the characters come to life!! and of course the art and the writing are great as well!!! very excited to play the full thing one day; thanks for all your hard work!

I loved the demo! This is so cute. All the characters are interesting(if a bit too dramatic and over the top but in a nice way) and well written. I love the CGs and the voice acting for those particular scenes is great. But the truly underrated character here is Gary's Friend, whom the MC narrates about in practically every scene. I don't know why I find that funny but I don't even know her name despite meeting her several times. I love the college setting and the backstories of each of the characters. There was a weird moment with that "Ameripan" thing which makes me wonder if there is like some sci-fi storyline in the full game. 

I'm looking forward to playing the full game, Hope you guys release it by the end of this year!

Edit: Cain reminds me so much of Caine from Tailor Tales, they are SOO similar

Do you have a rough idea of when the full game will be released? I'm so excited for it omg

As for the demo, I played it awhile ago but forgot to write a review lol. Anyways, I really loved all the characters. I'm stuck between Elliot and Gary though. The story was wonderful, and I can't wait to see where you take it. 

10/10! :))

WOW! I really enjoyed playing the demo and can't wait for more updates! Keep up the great work!!!

OK, to preface: my Itch comment-style is a live reaction where I take notes as I play, in hopes of giving the developers accurate and genuine feedback. This comment will run from the opening to the ending of the game in chronological order. 

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The demo opening enviably professional, and worth emulating. I spent some time examining the title screen UI and admiring the buttons, then I pressed "X" to see what it did.... and inadvertently quit the game lmfao.  It might be nice to have a tooltip to inform the player that it's a "Quit" button, much like the little tooltip ribbons on the righthand side during the game, but honestly I just did a dumb thing and it's not the game's/design's fault.

I enjoyed the nice, slow realization that the MC is running away from home, and how the narration never had to say it outright. It's a fantastic way of getting us quickly on board with the protagonist, and it's an experience I can empathize with if I've been lucky enough to not have lived it myself.
The "morning," "afternoon," and "evening" transition graphics are fantastic and I love them.
The "Ameripan" moment MC starts getting headaches, the effect wavy effect runs a bit too strong I think. Considering nothing really happens afterwards, I think the scene could be more subtle, but I do appreciate the indication that there's more going on here than meets the eye, and Ava might know more than she lets on. I think I'm going to actually boot up the game again and pursue her next, after I finish proofreading this comment, to see if there's any particularly weird moments with her.

That's a really nice educational joke with Mad Cow disease lol, I didn't know that.
The blue-haired weaboo manic pixie dream boy did creep me out when I first met him, admittedly. Kuudere glasses boy didn't appeal to me either, because he wouldn't be honest about wanting the cat... But then, maybe his living situation doesn't allow him to have a cat, and I did appreciate him chasing off Gary. ;;; He made me laugh though when he sent NOTHING BUT "?" when I accidentally made him wait later in the game.

Minimum wage worker Cain immediately got my heart with minimal effort. I think it's the disadvantaged position he starts off in, it makes him more immediately relatable -- though he turned me off a bit when he promised the glamor of college will fade and "you'll get there." I get that he's cynical, but it's a little rude. 

It's okay that he's not perfect though, I don't expect him to be. His flowery CG is a bit much, but after that I found him to be the most down to earth character of the bunch. I felt like he was the most normal, real human among a cast of quirky characters.

Robin: "Statistics can go jump off a cliff and die." sdkjfbdskfbk. Good line.

John's VA lines go kinda fast despite a relatively static CG, which was kinda weird for me, especially contrasted with Robin's more relaxed speech pattern.

The yawn when Robin says "I don't have any energy." is a fantastic touch though.

There doesn't seem to be a history/logbook option? Is that an intentional design choice? Sometimes I click a bit too fast, and while I can press the button to "skip back," my personal preference is generally to look for the logbook instead. Again, not the game's/design's fault.

The weird library tie guy reminds me of Seth from High School Dreams lmao. He also has a moment with a ton of library books.

"I hope you find someone /exactly like you/ then." That's a really good line.

BRUH THESE GUYS ARE SO WEIRD THOUGH. Practically all of them have an "off" moment where they act like total weirdos, and I can't help wondering if this is because the game is made by a group called "NOTOME" LOL. Is this an anti-otome?? 

(This being said, Cain never has a weird moment in my entire playthrough, excluding the occasional cynical comment. Even then, it's not that weird. My dude's probably depressed from overwork.)

AW but I love that John's a reading jock. It's sweet, and he seems a little insecure about it. I'd love to reassure him and be his friend. :)

I'm surprised though that I got to choose whether or not I'd put up flyers with John, but then just got railroaded into selling plasma?? That felt like that escalated quickly. If I didn't put up flyers, would I not need to sell plasma? Lolol. I'll have to keep this in mind to test during the next playthrough.

The weeby manic pixie dream boy wants to be a forensic scientist... That's really nice actually, cool darker contrast for his bright personality. I'm still gratified every time Elliot calls him a creep or psychopath though. It's a little mean, sure, but the put downs makes me feel safe -- like I'm not crazy for thinking Gary is acting weird.

When Elliot sprints shirtless out of the plasma center, I feel like it would have been a good option to go after Elliot, then return to the plasma center to get his shirt for him and try to check on Gary/Gary's friend to see if they're okay...

(Just because I think someone is weird, doesn't mean I don't care about their well-being lol).

Akio... manspreading across three tables in a crowded coffee shop.... He's literally insane...... Game, where's my sweet underpaid boyfriend? My customer service prince? You keep giving me weird guys and all I wanna do is text my boy on the preferences menu. :'( He even gave me his number, and I haven't gotten to talk to him even once after that!!

I love the solution of telling John to get me something from outside as an alternative to snapping at him. That's a great tactic, and one that I might have to use in my real life.
... John did kinda sell me a little on the idea of dating him when we start talking about books in the infirmary... but my heart still longs for my food service slave of capitalism. I'm finding myself clicking through the narration to get it over with because I want to see Cain again.

Robin: "I wouldn't say they're my guy friends, exactly." Yeah, me either. <:|

Coming up with names for the cat with Elliot is fun though, it's a cute conversation. I like that he asks Robin questions to narrow down her preference, rather than just rattling off a list of names right away. Very thoughtful.

Then we go get food and there he is!!!! Cain, my boy!!!! Manic pixie had just asked if Elliot was my boyfriend and I said we were just friends. There should be a follow-up choice to immediately be like "See, THIS is my boyfriend" and freaking point at Cain. (I kid, I kid).

The octo-dog though.... Honestly I gaped at the sight of it. I like octopus and I like bread, but wh--what... What on earth.

I would have loved to donate to the Save Cain from Manual Labor Fund. :( We can go on low budget dates, Cain!! 
He left me with Elliot and Gary to go back to work... ;_; My kokoro brokoro. ----OH NO MY BOY'S IN TROUBLE
I HELP HIM. Fastest, easiest choice I ever made.
I squeal a little bit in real life when he rewards me with a hug over the counter. <3 Honestly I wanna make Elliot and Gary come help too lol, but I guess there's not enough room behind the stall.
Cain: "I bet you're the only one who volunteered here who has nothing at stake." 
...................... I mean. I wanna date him real bad, so I don't think that's quite accurate lololol.

Omg I have a full ride in college. If I get a part-time job I could support Cain and he could work less, and we could go on dates. I can see this relationship working out.

Robin: "I don't know, your passive-aggressive gibes were pretty great too." Shouldn't it be "jibes"? ((I looked it up later, apparently they're both valid!))

He gave me a keychain!!! I'll treasure it forever!!! ;_; Did he make it himself?? Is he a furry? Lol. I'm not judging, I've already decided he's my boyfriend and I'm ready to accept all his quirks and flaws.

... And so ends my first playthrough.

I'm reading the other comments here and I'm a little confused about the mention of a changing theater scene. Looks like I missed it? :\ Once I got my keychain, the credits scrolled and ended with a kickstarter link. Maybe this is a new game plus feature; I guess I'll find out.

Overall I had fun, and I'd recommend this game to my friends! Even though a lot of the guys weirded me out, I do consider them friends and care for them. I'm curious about how Gary's friend appeared on-screen just once, and then just started silently skulking around in the background in the narration. I noticed the conversation about "nonlinear storytelling" and figure that's what you guys are gonna be playing with as you continue working on the game.

This is one of the more polished demos I've played, and I'm glad I gave it a chance after randomly hearing John's voice reel on twitter. Thank you for the love and hard work you guys have put into it so far, I'm excited to support the game and see where it goes. :)

god I love this so far!! It's awesome and the character designs are cool ashell. the only thing is that I can't seem to find a text log? sometimes I click too quickly and I lose what was said :((

While the dev may not officially support it I can verify for those interested that there is a Linux version that gets downloaded with the Windows version of the demo and it runs fine for me so far. Just have to run the .sh file.

I played this and I'm literally in love! 

The characters are so well made and developed while also being the typical dating sim, I don't know how you managed to make them so individual!

Literally was surprised when the demo ended, I was so unbelievably invested.

I'm normally very picky when it comes to dating sims because they are all the same to me usually, and those I do like don't give me the sucker punch I felt with this one, not that the cliche's are bad but I only have very few dating sims that have felt personal!

I can't wait to learn more about each character's background and even Robin's as well! 

10/10 for me!

I'm screaming!!! I thought this project was dead! I'm so happy there's an update! I'm downloading it right now.

I loved the first demo so much, and I'm really glad to hear there's still work being done on this! I'm sure it'll turn out to be an amazing game!

It's very nice ! Keep o the good work.

miss this game, please tell us about dates of updates or releases !!! thank you so much <33

How is the game coming along?

spoliers

I really like it. Very good early version :)

The arstyle is very good... Well... backgroungs could be better but... Sprites and CGs looks very good.

I like the characters. Each of them has their own style, personality and adventages. My favourite is Ava. She is very sunny, cute, adorable, funny, charming and pretty girl. And Robin's best friend. I just  wonder why it is so hard to spend some time with her and why usually she already has something planned :( . But date with her was very good... even if they haven't seen a movie. She should spend more time with Robin during plot - they are roomies, besties and she's romance interest... so she should have a bit bigger role.

The game has a lot of meaningful choices. The SMS system is very interesting idea but I think Robin should recive more of them. It's good that sometimes player can choose if/how will she reply. The dialogues are funny and I like that each character is interested in different things. 

The plot is full of interestng events. And the game has few endings. Of course I've got Ava's ending. And I had started her not existing route... 

I really think you should write guide. Sometimes it can be hard to choose good option, especially if you are interested in one person

I'd love to see full game :)

I played through the demo many times- and I've noticed the movie scene changes regarding max affection- so far I've manged to get these max affection scenes for all the characters (I think) apart from John. I feel like I should be choosing the right answers, unless his are a bit odd? I really can't figure out what I'm doing wrong...  I've even answered his text at the game, too, since that's what I though I was missing the first time, but- apparently not? I really want to see the scene, so if you could help pont out where I might be going wrong that would be a huge help ^^

That aside, I love the demo! All the LIs are intriguing and cute in their own ways and the GUI is really cute! My only fault here is that for saving/loading, all the pages look the same since they're labeled 1-2-3 on every page, but it's only a minor thing and doesn't really need replacing. All the art is really good and consistent too! I can't wait to see how this develops. 

I've gone through the demo so many times. I'm astonished at how many little (and big) details come out of the woodwork the closer I look at the game. There's so much depth here; I'm so lucky to be able to play a game--a demo, I know, but still--that has this much thought in it. The characters feel so raw compared to the characters I usually encounter in otome. Even though there were definitely tropes and cliches as mentioned in the description (it's said to be a parody, after all), the characters all seemed oddly realistic because of the honest and candid ways in which they reacted to the consequences of the tropes. I was amazed at how little changes in the sprite animations completely changed the tone of the dialogue I was reading, and how I reacted to the changes in tone. It almost didn't feel like I was reading, sometimes; instead, it felt as though I were just experiencing this story firsthand, merely interjecting every once in a while--like a dream, rather than a visual novel. It was a really fascinating experience, and I'm suuuuper glad that you're making such a cool game :D But it also leads me to a question: why is Robin not re-nameable? Is she supposed to have a personality separate from the player's? It feels odd to be able to make decisions that seem to completely change the personality of the main character while her name remains pre-set.

There were a few things that bugged me, but ultimately I think my irritation was caused by my own expectations rather than the demo itself. Sometimes it seemed that the player had to be really mean to some characters in order to open additional favorable dialogues with other characters. For example, when I chose the options that caused Ava to say that Cain was really REALLY interested in Robin, those also happened to be the choices that hurt Akio the most. But maybe that's the point: I have to compromise my own values so that Robin can earn his affection... Was this a conscious design choice? If so, it makes sense, and I respect it because to be honest it's a pretty genuine representation of how some people relate to each other by being mean. However, I'm much less interested in Cain's route now. (Or maybe I'm completely overthinking this and the options I chose didn't affect the game in the way that I thought they did!)

I love this game so much, the common route itself is amazing and I'm really looking forward to the whole thing! Also the art style is so so cute and the chibis in the different menu screens are one of my favourite things <3 Thank you for putting this out there and for all your hard work, I'm so excited for the release!! I hope everything goes smoothly and you guys take care and have a lovely rest of the day <3

There are so many qualities in this vn that I am almost left speechless. The absence of BGM (even if it's a demo) often bother me, but its flowing narration and the characterization of the cast has been earlier on enraptured me; as they touch delicately the issues of choosing and living your own path away from strict rules (here, by the parents), which I think becoming many problems in young generation (I experience it myself, at least :') ). 

As for the topic of the cast, the demo has a good range of introducing the environment and the nature of each characters, and but still leave many vague parts to intrigue the player for the final version. ( SPOILER : heck, I am so curios about the coffee shop bill/coupon from Gary, Cain's sister figure, John's reason regarding his sudden freakness in the lights-out incident and who-what-why the incident happens, Elliot's reason for cancelling his plasma charity donation but soooo much thanks for the fanservice, Akio's background whether he is also rebelling from his parents like Robin, and of course Ava's history with Robin; all leaves me to overthinking and daydreaming xD ).

(beware slight spoiler, again) A flirt-but-reliable best friend who once a nemesis of our big-heart-can-be-sarcastic protagonist? a happy-go-lucky guy but secretly has a great dedication to medical education who seems be a frenemies to an animal lover who has the series of unfortunate events in his life? a popular-but-somehow-easily-forgotten sport idol? a sweet-but-sleep-deprived workaholic who doesn't get paid enough for encountering a silver-spoon jerk who actually doesn't understand a manner of socializing and can be easily distracted? They are all a bit cliche in otome but somehow it's reborn in new entertaining light in this story, and it is an exquisite touch how each choice affect the detail of narration in Robin's encouter with them again. And don't say I don't notice that the more compatible her action to the Love Interest; the choice bubble just disappear  in the Movie scene and subtely tell that Robin has confidence and knows him well enough that she doesn't hesitate to act or not bother to ask the player what she has to do anymore (in Akio's route, spesifically, how amusing she can handle that brat :'v )

The art style is also chosen beautifully, the chibi especially ;) (I don't know if it's intentional or because it's still a work in progress, but the sketch style for the background gives room and focus to the colorful figure of the cast, make them more alive)

However, there are two parts to reconsider : (1) I notice that the message on the phone for Cain's route which appropriately show on "I guess" option precisely keep appears no matter the choice I made before it. (2) It's more likely a personal wariness regarding the first sentence of the  synopsis, honestly... I already see the parody and cliche of romcom in this story, but the "cautionary tale" part intrigues me. I don't have enough knowledge about that genre, but what I know is that the story are basically telling three parts of warning;  in short, the first act will be about the prohibition or the taboo is stated, then the act of  violating the prohibition (Robin breaks loose from her controlling mother and lives in her ideal campus), and the last is the consequence of said rebellion. If this vn really follows that plot... well.... I had achieved the Bad Ending in Akio's Route and it's likely expected that there will be same misfortune in other route, as said that "Careful though, not everyone has her best interests at heart. Buried beneath the mass of anime tropes lies some pretty heavy and not always easy to recognize issues." ...... PLEASE GIVE ME TIME TO PREPARE MYSELF FOR THE CHANCE OF BROKEN HEART IF SUCH SCENARIO WILL COME T^T

Oh, and the university gate for the background, I think Cambridge's one had been a fine choice, but I also recommend Van Wickle Gates at Brown University, or fairy-tale-like gate of Indiana University Bloomington, or the Harvard (well, they are my preferences, a bit better that those European university gate.... no offense, their type of gates just remind me and kind of resemble a cemetery's gate :'D ).

Overall, I am so hype for this!!! Take your time and keep the good work (>w<)/

N.B. thank you for reading my endless mumbling :'D

did a playthrough, thanks 

I just went through the whole thing and I'm so excited for the full game!! The story and art are so lovely, and the chARACTERS oh my gosh I love them all and I want them to be happy. I can't wait to see the finished product!!