Hello,

Happy New Year! We can’t believe it’s a new year―how unreal! How did the year 2024 turn out for you? We hope it was a great year for everyone!

Year 2024 was a wild ride for us. Here is the first part to the roundup of our progress in making our free otome game MY DEAR☆LOVE, inspired by old-school shoujo manga and stat-raising games such as Princess Maker! We will be revealing art and documents that were never posted before so we hope you enjoy! [Image heavy post below]

2022 September: First conceptions

The game was first conceived in a document titled “SukiSukiSukiSuki!” (すきすきすきすき！) which literally means “Love Love Love Love!”. The basis of the story and the game system remain largely unchanged. The first document dates back to September of 2022. First concept sketch of Megumi, the playable main character.

2023 January: First game design documents

We wrote the first game design documents which detailed the game system and the story. Hinata Yoyo, our project lead and game artist, made concept art of the three major characters.

The premise of MY DEAR☆LOVE is simple with a focus on relationship between characters, and stands as a blend of slice-of-life and romantic comedy. We were inspired by old-school shoujo manga such as Baby & Me and Aishiteruze Baby, stat-raising simulation games, and mini games from the Adobe Flash era. (Sakuraba Oki)

Megumi was the most difficult to design as we wanted a heroine with a soft appearance yet strong on the inside. I first sketched her on paper and started fiddling around digitally. She is probably the only character that had different hairstyles to go through. Personally, I prefer her hair down, but the final design was a better fit. (Hinata Yoyo)

Atsuya, the love interest of the game, was unexpectedly simple to design. We were able to finish his design in one shot. It almost felt like Atsuya was guiding my pen, telling me how to visualize and realize him.

Katsuya was the first to be completed digitally, so his original sprite looked slightly different from other characters. I worked on him first because he is a child character that plays a very important role in the story―Katsuya has to be expressive, conveying his emotions frequently to help other characters show their feelings on a surface level as well. (Hinata Yoyo)

2024 June: Kickstarter Launch

We launched our Kickstarter campaign on June 25th, 2024. Every pledge was celebratory, and we were very grateful for the support we saw!
A visual progression of the cover of our Kickstarter campaign. The Japanese logo was swapped out in the last iteration. Hinata made multiple promo art during our campaign. From left to right: celebrating Atsuya’s birthday, celebrating 10 backers, celebrating Tanabata (Japanese star festival).

2024 July: Extended Demo Released

On July 21, we released the extended demo which is the current playable file. This demo replaces the mini demo released previously; it features the whole prologue and introduces the love interest Atsuya along with his best friend Hayato. Download and play now from our game page!
Screenshots from the extended demo.

2024 Aug: Kickstarter ends

Our Kickstarter campaign ended on August 9th, 2024, with a total of $1,706 CAD pledged. Although we did not reach our funding goal, we are determined to continue development and deliver the game.

Thank you to every backer who chose to place their trust in us, and thank you to everyone in the community for showing support! We truly believe this experience has allowed us to learn and grow, and we hope to come back stronger next time.

To be continued in Part 2…

That is it for part 1 of the roundup! Part 2 will be a look at our progress after our KS campaign ended, which includes the polishing of character sprites, the completed key visual, and more. Stay tuned and see you very soon!

If you like our work, please consider supporting us on Ko-fi! There are monthly subscription ranging from $3~$50 CAD! (about $2 ~ $37 USD)

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Thank you for supporting an indie studio like us; it makes a big difference as we would be able to create freeware and budget-friendly games for everyone! Stay tuned and stay hydrated!