super cute game, so glad i waited for the full release to play. havent properly finished either route yet, but ive got a playthrough up with my first thoughts.
Beautiful eye-catching visuals, clean UI, charming writing, and good length. If you're looking for something cute and silly, this is a great way to spend a couple of hours. It's just a fun time meant to make you smile and perhaps yearn over a cute boy or two, and it does that very well!
I do have a question, however. Is there any particular reason why Ren'py's built in "history" screen is cut from the game? It's a huge quality of life feature, and the lack of it did sadly hinder my experience with the game.
Thanks so much to everyone who worked hard to make this project come to life. I wish you all luck on your future endeavors! 🎉
For the missing history screen: honestly, it was a mix of reasons; UI clutter, it getting missed (by me) initially, and thinking most players would just use the rollback feature (scroll or right-click) to review past text. That said, we totally get how important it is, and we’ll be adding it back in a future update!
Thanks for playing <3
Edit:
I feel indebted to the long review haha. The typos in Knee Deep have been fixed a few days after release (you were an early victim, sorry about that!) Background art was limited to 5 only, given that the team was made up of volunteers and had just a month and a half to work on the game. We'll be trying to fix those soon~
I see. I was honestly under the impression there was no rollback, but that must've purely been a me issue since I play on a dying laptop with a wonky trackpad 😓 I apologize for including it as a negative in my review.
And I'm happy to hear those typos have been fixed for Knee Deep! I did notice text/visual inconsistencies in your first game as well (which I played right before this one), such as the young girl (Rin) being described as having silver hair despite her hair being brown. That is why I felt the need to mention it being a somewhat reoccurring thing in these games, and why I was happy to see that the character designs are consistent with in-game text here. While this game didn't have any inconsistencies in the text and character sprites, the backgrounds were sometimes distracting. (Ex: Julian's shopping spree was said to be in the city, but the background was a park.)
There are other inconsistencies that I mentioned in my review, such as some choices having unclickable buttons restating the question, or transitions between scenes being different without much rhyme or reason behind it. (Some were instant, some where quick fades to black, some required the player to click for the dialogue to start...) These are little things, but I found them personally difficult to ignore. (But I could also just be nitpicky 😓)
I do however completely understand that a lot of this game was volunteer work and you guys were on a time crunch due to it being for a game jam. I imagine game development and coordinating things with your team is far from easy. The fact that this was finished in not even two months is very impressive, and you guys should be proud of that!
I had no interest in dating julian or riku so I had to get the alone endings which are fine (if not a bit dramatic) but it would be cool if we could date jun, I thought he was the most interesting character
I never expected to fall for Julian, he's amazinggg! He got me giggling for someone who gets annoyed too easily. I adored his playfulness and the voice acting is impressive!
I said Id wait for the full game to come out and I did! And I am happy I did!!
The voice acting is so good, I love the humor in the story its very light hearted <3 Ill marry Riku and we'll adopt our Golden-Retriever Julian xD
The only thing I found a bit odd was the music choice for the "romantic" moments, it didn't feel very romantic and more melancholic or like sth bad is about to happen. Could be just me though xD
Anyway, I am sad it was so short D:Hope the next one is longer (I need more Riku ngl)
Loving Riku isn't a hobby, it's a full-time job with no benefits, no vacation days, and I have zero intentions of quitting. It’s a lifestyle, a daily ritual, a sacred calling. I don’t just wake up and think about Riku, I rise like a story written as bright as the stars. There hasn’t been a single day when this man hasn’t invaded my thoughts, tbh. It's like he owns the place. Honestly, at this point, I should start charging him rent because he constantly crosses my mind, every single minute, or even second. He’s the reason I get up in the morning because I need to check if there’s new fanarts, Chapters, or lore crumbs to obsess over with full interest. Riku is my motivation, my distraction, and honestly, my therapist at this point. Just remember Riku is my favourite character, which means that I'm somewhat uncomfortable at the thought of someone liking him more than me. Please remember he's mine, and only mine. Under no circumstances should ANYONE ever touch my glorious Riku without my honest, fully complete, approved consent (Note: I am a simp) ALSO I LOVE THIS GAME >3
this game tastes better than parental love. riku has my heart, soul, money, virginity, etc...the writers had me laughing like i'm watching kids fall on concrete. 10/10!!!
Hi again! I really liked Riku for this new route! Although I will say I enjoyed Julian's route a bit more, I did really like how wholesome this route was and how cute Riku is constantly. Great job with the art and voice acting, it makes the cute story even more enjoyable! Good luck on the game jams and have a great day!
I played this two times, only got two endings- One for each. GODDDD THIS WAS SO IMMERSIVE!!! I LOVE Julian, Riku is cute, MAN THEY ARE SO.... UGGGHHHH I WANT THEM IN REAL LIFE!! i love your games, i cant wait to look back on this later!
I DON'T WRITE COMMENTS BUT I HAVE TO. THIS GAME HAS ME ON A CHOKEHOLD AND PLEASEEEE I LOVE THEM BOTH SO MUCH AESTHETICALLY AND PERSONALITY WISE, ESPECIALLY RIKU AND KUMA! I LOVE YOU CREATOR, AND YOUR TEAM!!
This is the first ever comment I make for a game, so, today I am coming in a week bad luck, and me and my boyfriend broke up like 5 hours ago, so as any sane gay guy would do, I came looking for Visual Novels, this one at first glance only captured me by the art, and as soon as I started playing by everything else, I felt very immersed in the story from the start, given I felt identified with the protagonist in both his thoughts on various stuff, his going along with things, heck, even his plans to go home and cry, and the fact I also collect stuff from mascots (Goofy and PonPonPurin) My favorite route was Riku ofc, but both were awesome, I honestly thought this was a paid game at first or just a demo, given how good it is and that it's fully voice acted. I guess, in short what I'm trying to say is, thanks for cheering up my week, my day and my life with a game, I think it is now one of my favorites, Good Job Team!!
Thank you so much for sharing this: it truly means the world that you took the time to leave your comment here! I'm truly sorry you're going through such a tough time, but I'm honored that the game could be a small source of comfort. (I'm also a huge fan of Goofy and PomPomPurin 🥹💛).
after this first meeting with Riku when you get to the options you can't pick the option that says 'what should i do' but otherwise everything else is running smoothly and the art is really pretty!
I have not played the game myself, so I cannot say anything regarding its contents, but I am BEGGING you to rethink how you've designed this game page.
By making everything an image with no alt text, you have made it completely inaccessible for people who require screen readers. And even without that, the screenshots and smaller images within are nearly impossible to read with the incredibly small text size. Plus, including links in the credits is pointless when they cannot be clicked on.
I understand wanting to stand out and have a cute page, but I don't think it's worth it when it sacrifices the ability to actually... read it. While I don't know the ins and outs of coding a page myself, I DO know that it is possible to make a page that stands out, as I've seen other games on this site with fancier-than-average pages without resorting to exclusively using images for formatting.
TL;DR: Please reconsider how you have designed this page. It can really turn people away, as it makes your game inaccessible.
Hi, thanks for reaching out! This is just a temporary page design and will be updated soon! We appreciate the feedback and aim to make the page as accessible as possible :)
I appreciate the quick response and clarification. I was worried for a moment that the wording in my comment could've been misinterpreted (the actual design of the page, i.e. visuals, are perfectly fine in my opinion; it's just the inaccessibility that is a turn-off), so I'm relieved to see it wasn't taken the wrong way.
My only other critique is that the font used in the actual text part (links to socials) is a bit too low of contrast against the pastel BG, especially with most of it being empty space and the lines being very thin. (Whether you want to change that or not is entirely up to you, though. It's your game, so do what you want! A screen reader will still pick it up just fine.) But the "placeholder" images for the rest of the page have great text/background contrast and would be very readable on paper. (And from what I can gather from the screenshots, the game itself looks wonderfully designed visually!)
I really do appreciate your willingness to listen. Like I said in my initial comment, I hold no ill will toward you or anyone involved in this game. I wish for your success and for more people to enjoy the hard work you've all poured into this!
of course! All feedback is appreciated, especially if it relates to creating a better experience for others! I’ll pass on your message to the page designer and see what they think about what you have mentioned. Thanks again for helping us improve! :)
If my criticism was something petty or unreasonable, then I could see why there'd be an issue. It should be noted that I made this comment when the page was ONLY an image. There was no text outside the links to their socials. (Not even the credits were made with text - that and all those links were in image form, therefore unable to be clicked on.)
The original issue I had is that the accessibility was nonexistent. Because there was no alt text provided at the time, there was no way for people who require screen readers to learn about the game.
Despite the name, visual novels, namely ones made in Ren'py, are incredibly accessible to the visually impaired due to the built-in self-voicing feature present by default in its games. (Not to mention the several add-ons to help aid the visually/auditorily impaired better enjoy the games created for free by the community.)
My point is the game page was initially inaccessible, especially toward the disabled. It's a very valid critique, and if the game developers are open to listening, I don't see the issue in pointing it out.
I really want to comment on this because the game is beautiful, heartwarming, and lifts your spirits like Comfort Kuma does. ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ
I really liked Julian's route. He's very Golden Retriever-like, full of energy, optimistic, and absolutely lovable. He's so awkward in a comical and charming way, and you end up really enjoying his character and the interactions he has with MC. Riku is my favorite; he's super awkward when it comes to socializing, but ends up being endearing because of that. He's honest, sarcastic, and always does his best because he genuinely cares about others much more than himself. I think there's a lot of personality underneath all that shyness!
I really enjoyed both routes. The art is absolutely beautiful, the voices were spot on for both characters, and Comfort Kuma is super cute! Congrats on the game! Definitely one of my favorite visual novels. ♡
![Heartstop Tour [FULL GAME]](https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzIxOTA5NjA3LnBuZw==/original/Af8FAa.png)
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super cute game, so glad i waited for the full release to play. havent properly finished either route yet, but ive got a playthrough up with my first thoughts.
loving it!
banana...fishing magazine..?? b-b-b--b-bbanana fish..mentioned.... (starting today i may be a julian glazer)
I’m gonna cry this is SO CUTE.
Beautiful eye-catching visuals, clean UI, charming writing, and good length. If you're looking for something cute and silly, this is a great way to spend a couple of hours. It's just a fun time meant to make you smile and perhaps yearn over a cute boy or two, and it does that very well!
I do have a question, however. Is there any particular reason why Ren'py's built in "history" screen is cut from the game? It's a huge quality of life feature, and the lack of it did sadly hinder my experience with the game.
Thanks so much to everyone who worked hard to make this project come to life. I wish you all luck on your future endeavors! 🎉
For the missing history screen: honestly, it was a mix of reasons; UI clutter, it getting missed (by me) initially, and thinking most players would just use the rollback feature (scroll or right-click) to review past text. That said, we totally get how important it is, and we’ll be adding it back in a future update!
Thanks for playing <3
Edit:
I feel indebted to the long review haha. The typos in Knee Deep have been fixed a few days after release (you were an early victim, sorry about that!) Background art was limited to 5 only, given that the team was made up of volunteers and had just a month and a half to work on the game. We'll be trying to fix those soon~
Could you mention the inconsistencies you had? ^^
I see. I was honestly under the impression there was no rollback, but that must've purely been a me issue since I play on a dying laptop with a wonky trackpad 😓 I apologize for including it as a negative in my review.
And I'm happy to hear those typos have been fixed for Knee Deep! I did notice text/visual inconsistencies in your first game as well (which I played right before this one), such as the young girl (Rin) being described as having silver hair despite her hair being brown. That is why I felt the need to mention it being a somewhat reoccurring thing in these games, and why I was happy to see that the character designs are consistent with in-game text here.
While this game didn't have any inconsistencies in the text and character sprites, the backgrounds were sometimes distracting. (Ex: Julian's shopping spree was said to be in the city, but the background was a park.)
There are other inconsistencies that I mentioned in my review, such as some choices having unclickable buttons restating the question, or transitions between scenes being different without much rhyme or reason behind it. (Some were instant, some where quick fades to black, some required the player to click for the dialogue to start...) These are little things, but I found them personally difficult to ignore. (But I could also just be nitpicky 😓)
I do however completely understand that a lot of this game was volunteer work and you guys were on a time crunch due to it being for a game jam. I imagine game development and coordinating things with your team is far from easy.
The fact that this was finished in not even two months is very impressive, and you guys should be proud of that!
pls make it an option to date Jun I love his energy lol
what browser can you play this on?? i only have microsoft edge and it wont let me play:(
I was able to play on Chrome
You should be able to play on Microsoft edge, what’s the error?
I love Julian.. such a cute game! <3
Riku is how I imagined Sebby to be and sound like LOL.
This was such a cute game.
THEYRE BOTH SO SILLY i love
YESSS THE ENTIRE GAME CAME OUT LESSGOOO
so wholesome and adorable it fixed me
I had no interest in dating julian or riku so I had to get the alone endings which are fine (if not a bit dramatic) but it would be cool if we could date jun, I thought he was the most interesting character
so cute...I like this!!!!
artstyle is cutesy! love it
I never expected to fall for Julian, he's amazinggg! He got me giggling for someone who gets annoyed too easily. I adored his playfulness and the voice acting is impressive!
i got whtis at julians ruote too umm is it just mw wha do ido help
a secound later*** i hit "ignorwe" LOLOL IT CONTINUED BUT STILL;;
This error has already been fixed ^^. Your game is most likely the older version from a few days ago. Thank you for the notice!
I said Id wait for the full game to come out and I did! And I am happy I did!!
The voice acting is so good, I love the humor in the story its very light hearted <3
Ill marry Riku and we'll adopt our Golden-Retriever Julian xD
The only thing I found a bit odd was the music choice for the "romantic" moments, it didn't feel very romantic and more melancholic or like sth bad is about to happen. Could be just me though xD
Anyway, I am sad it was so short D:Hope the next one is longer (I need more Riku ngl)
AAAH I cant belive the full game is here, i just played the demo some days ago!!
Is there a delete your file option?
You can overwrite your save files if that's what you mean?
Loving Riku isn't a hobby, it's a full-time job with no benefits, no vacation days, and I have zero intentions of quitting. It’s a lifestyle, a daily ritual, a sacred calling. I don’t just wake up and think about Riku, I rise like a story written as bright as the stars. There hasn’t been a single day when this man hasn’t invaded my thoughts, tbh. It's like he owns the place. Honestly, at this point, I should start charging him rent because he constantly crosses my mind, every single minute, or even second. He’s the reason I get up in the morning because I need to check if there’s new fanarts, Chapters, or lore crumbs to obsess over with full interest. Riku is my motivation, my distraction, and honestly, my therapist at this point. Just remember Riku is my favourite character, which means that I'm somewhat uncomfortable at the thought of someone liking him more than me. Please remember he's mine, and only mine. Under no circumstances should ANYONE ever touch my glorious Riku without my honest, fully complete, approved consent (Note: I am a simp) ALSO I LOVE THIS GAME >3
this game tastes better than parental love. riku has my heart, soul, money, virginity, etc...the writers had me laughing like i'm watching kids fall on concrete. 10/10!!!
I laughed LOL
YOU GET ME NARUTOSFIANCE
HELLO???
hello! 🙂
hi :3
hope you enjoy the game! 😁
PEAK
I hate dejected Julian and Riku:(((( They're so cute, I can't hurt them
🤍GREAT GAME🖤
STOP I LOVE THIS GAME I CRIED AT THE END OF ONE OF THE JULIAN ROUTES
MAN THIS GAME IS SO CUTE RIKU IS SO ADORABLE I LOVED IT
thank you so much for your feedback! So glad you liked the game! 😁
I LOVEYOU RIKU OMMGMGGG
thsois IS SO AWESOMe
I played this two times, only got two endings- One for each. GODDDD THIS WAS SO IMMERSIVE!!! I LOVE Julian, Riku is cute, MAN THEY ARE SO.... UGGGHHHH I WANT THEM IN REAL LIFE!! i love your games, i cant wait to look back on this later!
Sooo where can you get your own Riku irl? Asking for a friend ;;;
Seriously tho, this was such a sweet and silly experience T_T Good job is an understatement of the year, I loved this so much, thank you for this sm
I DON'T WRITE COMMENTS BUT I HAVE TO. THIS GAME HAS ME ON A CHOKEHOLD AND PLEASEEEE I LOVE THEM BOTH SO MUCH AESTHETICALLY AND PERSONALITY WISE, ESPECIALLY RIKU AND KUMA! I LOVE YOU CREATOR, AND YOUR TEAM!!
This is the first ever comment I make for a game, so, today I am coming in a week bad luck, and me and my boyfriend broke up like 5 hours ago, so as any sane gay guy would do, I came looking for Visual Novels, this one at first glance only captured me by the art, and as soon as I started playing by everything else, I felt very immersed in the story from the start, given I felt identified with the protagonist in both his thoughts on various stuff, his going along with things, heck, even his plans to go home and cry, and the fact I also collect stuff from mascots (Goofy and PonPonPurin) My favorite route was Riku ofc, but both were awesome, I honestly thought this was a paid game at first or just a demo, given how good it is and that it's fully voice acted. I guess, in short what I'm trying to say is, thanks for cheering up my week, my day and my life with a game, I think it is now one of my favorites, Good Job Team!!
Thank you so much for sharing this: it truly means the world that you took the time to leave your comment here! I'm truly sorry you're going through such a tough time, but I'm honored that the game could be a small source of comfort. (I'm also a huge fan of Goofy and PomPomPurin 🥹💛).
Sending you LOTS of love and strength this week.
AHHHHHHHH RIKU ROUTE TIME IM FINALLY GONNA PLAY THIS
after this first meeting with Riku when you get to the options you can't pick the option that says 'what should i do' but otherwise everything else is running smoothly and the art is really pretty!
What should I do was the question! It wasn’t an option haha, you were supposed to pick based off that
I have not played the game myself, so I cannot say anything regarding its contents, but I am BEGGING you to rethink how you've designed this game page.
By making everything an image with no alt text, you have made it completely inaccessible for people who require screen readers. And even without that, the screenshots and smaller images within are nearly impossible to read with the incredibly small text size. Plus, including links in the credits is pointless when they cannot be clicked on.
I understand wanting to stand out and have a cute page, but I don't think it's worth it when it sacrifices the ability to actually... read it. While I don't know the ins and outs of coding a page myself, I DO know that it is possible to make a page that stands out, as I've seen other games on this site with fancier-than-average pages without resorting to exclusively using images for formatting.
TL;DR:
Please reconsider how you have designed this page. It can really turn people away, as it makes your game inaccessible.
I wish you all the best.
Hi, thanks for reaching out! This is just a temporary page design and will be updated soon! We appreciate the feedback and aim to make the page as accessible as possible :)
I appreciate the quick response and clarification. I was worried for a moment that the wording in my comment could've been misinterpreted (the actual design of the page, i.e. visuals, are perfectly fine in my opinion; it's just the inaccessibility that is a turn-off), so I'm relieved to see it wasn't taken the wrong way.
My only other critique is that the font used in the actual text part (links to socials) is a bit too low of contrast against the pastel BG, especially with most of it being empty space and the lines being very thin. (Whether you want to change that or not is entirely up to you, though. It's your game, so do what you want! A screen reader will still pick it up just fine.)
But the "placeholder" images for the rest of the page have great text/background contrast and would be very readable on paper. (And from what I can gather from the screenshots, the game itself looks wonderfully designed visually!)
I really do appreciate your willingness to listen. Like I said in my initial comment, I hold no ill will toward you or anyone involved in this game. I wish for your success and for more people to enjoy the hard work you've all poured into this!
of course! All feedback is appreciated, especially if it relates to creating a better experience for others! I’ll pass on your message to the page designer and see what they think about what you have mentioned. Thanks again for helping us improve! :)
I think you mean the best but aren’t you being overly dramatic? Making an account to make an essay criticizing someone’s page lmao.
If my criticism was something petty or unreasonable, then I could see why there'd be an issue. It should be noted that I made this comment when the page was ONLY an image. There was no text outside the links to their socials. (Not even the credits were made with text - that and all those links were in image form, therefore unable to be clicked on.)
The original issue I had is that the accessibility was nonexistent. Because there was no alt text provided at the time, there was no way for people who require screen readers to learn about the game.
Despite the name, visual novels, namely ones made in Ren'py, are incredibly accessible to the visually impaired due to the built-in self-voicing feature present by default in its games. (Not to mention the several add-ons to help aid the visually/auditorily impaired better enjoy the games created for free by the community.)
My point is the game page was initially inaccessible, especially toward the disabled. It's a very valid critique, and if the game developers are open to listening, I don't see the issue in pointing it out.
I really want to comment on this because the game is beautiful, heartwarming, and lifts your spirits like Comfort Kuma does. ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ
I really liked Julian's route. He's very Golden Retriever-like, full of energy, optimistic, and absolutely lovable. He's so awkward in a comical and charming way, and you end up really enjoying his character and the interactions he has with MC.
Riku is my favorite; he's super awkward when it comes to socializing, but ends up being endearing because of that. He's honest, sarcastic, and always does his best because he genuinely cares about others much more than himself. I think there's a lot of personality underneath all that shyness!
I really enjoyed both routes. The art is absolutely beautiful, the voices were spot on for both characters, and Comfort Kuma is super cute! Congrats on the game! Definitely one of my favorite visual novels. ♡
this is the cutest game ever - i love julian and riku sm and this game is just so cozy and the colour scheme as well as music is just chefs kiss!
flaming hot lemon,i love u FOREVER👰
I literally NEVER waited for an otome game update, but I guess there's a first time for everything.
Honestly? Same.