OUR FIRST DATE
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux
"Tonight I'll be at the bar next to campus. Feel free to come."
Luke. Same campus, a few classes together.
The kind of conversations that always end too soon, because one of you has somewhere else to be.
Lately, you've been talking more than usual.
It's just a drink. Just one evening.
Answer his questions. Tell him a little about yourself.
He's a good listener.
He'll remember what you like.
♥ Around 10 minutes of playtime for each ruote
♥ Gender-neutral, no pronoun options : Luke only ever talks to you as "you"
♥ More than one way for the night to end
Please read the content notes at the bottom of the page before playing.
CREDITS
Story, writing & direction: cierith
Character art: cierith
Background: clip studio paint assets - id 2027475
Programming:cierith
Music and Sound effects: VelarioMusic , Jam FX , Myles Moss , GFX Sounds , Kenney, TheMinkman
Made with Ren'Py
Created as the practical project for my thesis at New Art Technologies.
Thank you for playing.
▼ CONTENT NOTES
May contain spoilers. Read only if you need them.
- Flashing lights and glitch effects (photosensitivity warning)
- Screen shaking and sudden loud sounds
- Strong language
- Themes some players may find unsettling: loss of control, fourth-wall breaking, and the collection of personal information
Download
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Development log
- OUR FIRST DATE RELEASE1 day ago
Comments
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You know, it's kind of funny how you added a meta element by complete accident as far as I can tell. I really like dating sims, but I usually feel kind of frustrated by how hard it is to find ones with pronoun/gender options, much more ones specifically aimed at queer men.
When I find a game that seems cool, I scour the page to see if it mentions the MC's gender, but a lot of the time it doesn't, and most of the time that winds up meaning locked fem MC. (You'd think that having the otome tag would already mean that, but a lot of games apparently just use it to mean dating sims with male LIs.)
Quite a few shorter games say that they don't have pronoun options but the protag is only referred to in first or second person, to make them gender neutral. Case in point, it was really interesting to have the "regular" run keep my PC gender neutral, only for the meta elements to roll in, with all the previous players having women's names, Luke mentioning how he was made to give women comfort and company, how the players' experience is meant to feel personal while being mass produced, how the answer options are often not what the player wants to say... I wonder what he would have said if he could notice that I'd given myself a male name.
thank you sooo much for playing and for taking the time to write this! i really hope you enjoyed it <3
and honestly, you're not completely wrong, it's a bit of both.
in my thesis i use "otome" in its traditional sense: a game mainly aimed at women, usually with a female protagonist.
so i knew who the game expects to be playing. what i didn't expect was how well that gap would end up working. so im glad someone was able to notice it.
at first i did think about adding a gender choice at the start, but that would've meant handing luke one more piece of information about you, and in a game about how much he collects, that felt a bit off.
(also it's my first time programming a game, and i was breaking the code every three lines, so pronouns and extra dialogue branches would've been my death sentence lol)so i kept the dialogues gender-neutral on purpose: luke just talks to you.
it's only when things start breaking that you see the assumptions he's been running on the whole time: the previous players, who he was "made for", the answers that never quite fit what you actually want to say.
reading how that part landed for you really means a lot. it's kind of wild that the thing luke goes through at the end (realizing who he was made for) is something you deal with every time you look for a new dating sim. that sounds exhausting, and i'm glad the game made some space for that.
as for your name: he'd say it, but he'd never really notice it. the game never checks who you are, it just assumes. to it, and for luke, you're just player_name.
also u made me realize i should mention that the game refers to you in a gender-neutral way so i'm adding it to the description now, thank you for that too!
thank you again for playing and for writing this, i reallyyyy appreciate it!! :)
THIS WAS SO GOOD BUT SO SHORTTTTT FUCKKKKK so i was wondering, its there any chance to see more of him in the future? i already love this guy
i dont think so sigh. but maybe he will get a cameo in another game! but for now he was created just for this lil project
thank you for playing!! im glad u enjoyed 🤍
im sure he's happy toofound this game randomly and i wasnt expecting that lol 😭 this is so cool, love the concept! and good luck on your thesis <3
aaaa thank you!! glad u liked it :)