It begins as every Japan-set dating sim, which is worth its salt-with a transfer student.
This is the first day of Ayya, whose name is ‘Love-Lav All-Girls High School’, and they (wisely) are a bit nervous. Shy and socially concerned, they hope they will manage to make a friend or two. It is revealed that his classmates are curious – perhaps a little bit eager – to be familiar. Aya is set by a stampede of young women surrounded, but Aya does not have romance on the brain itself. “I just want to be single!” They shout. Q Chirpi Akapela Theme Music.
I just want to be single !!: Season one, recently released On steam in initial accessThere is a sport that will be forgiven to ignore you at a steam store which is packed with the visual novels of Western Indie gods today. A handful of reverence and understanding of the medium (excellent VA-11 Hall-A, for example), but many people take a joke, irony approach, or mainly to titilate, such as fans have become careful. Start Tsundre Studio, I just want to be single !! Standing out of this crowd.
Bill as ‘aromatic, asexual, and nonbinary’, I just want to be single !! ‘Khiladi Nayak, Aya, its memorial lead developer’ M ‘is a reflection. “I am still finding out things about myself and this game is an extension of that,” M. Tells me on discord. “The story in this game is largely about finding yourself and who you want to be.”
Aya’s potentially aromatic identity is reflected in the mechanics and presentation of the player’s interaction with his classmates. Snazi of the game but Vineet UI’s top left, two meters can be found. The first of these, ‘compatibility’ meter, fills a total of five hearts. Each heroine has a separate meter, color-coded for their monochrome paper-cutout designs. Choose ‘right’ (ie emotionally intelligent) reaction from your dialogue options and a heart will be added to the adaptability meter, light with your conversation partner’s face heat and recognition.
Dating Sims is often malnourished for their main mechanics – to get romance ‘right’ is a philosophy to say that sits uncomfortable with many people. I just want to feel more realistic in pushing and pushing single’s conversation, and fast writing recognizes everyone’s wishes and desires that are three-dimensional. “I really like the idea that in this story, you are playing as a noticeable side-character, and everyone around you has a hero or main character in their story,” M says M. “Each of them are undergoing and adventurous. You are simply with the ride.”
This is not to say that the beloved character of the style arcatypes is not well represented. Your tutorial is with Verbal Spar ‘Random Girl’ (Pink), which is a sexually-invasive stagker type that really wants to know you. Next, you are introduced to Kaid, class rape (orange), which adjusts his glasses and shows you around school. Classroom doors open, we encounter: Katsumi, The Idol; Akane, athlete; Micah, Gyaru girl; Shizuka, artist; Cloe, robot; And, silent, nozomin, illusory ‘Chunibyou’ character.
“I wanted to make them look different as possible, but still appealed,” the character designer Tsungelic. “I gave Akane a more muscular body. She is a sporty girl, so with her body type. With Kaid, I wanted a soft shape. It is rare in anime for a round, or not-the girl should be seen as a attractive.
Aya can only handle this. The other meter is their ‘tension level’, which fills up to a total of ten skulls. Whenever your conversation partner gets slightly aggressively, combative or angry, a skull is added. This is a smart way to translate social anxiety in a game mechanic, threatening the player with a situation by crafting sympathy that they want to avoid equally.
For the debut game made by a small team, I just want to be single !! It is notable polish. The menu are responsible, and are packed with entertaining wordplays and vision gags. Conversations are broken by Maga panel interludes that serve as the cutting of the game. Sports humor is self-reflective and winking, reminiscent of an outer indie hit such as Understal. Its composition and aesthetic approaches take obvious signs from Dangeronpa. Nothing seems to be very derivative here, but the parts of the game fit closely and confidently, considering the genre of style instead of copying them.
Visual novel dating sims are usually clearly divided and divided by the gender and sexuality of their characters. Traditional categories include Bishozo (which includes a male hero courts women), Otom (which includes a female hero courts man), and Yuri (which includes courts to a female hero). Here, vibes are unclear with joy, I just want to be single !! “Most dating sims are specifically targeted towards female or male gazes and I wanted something that could work for both,” M says M. “Making the hero to nonbinary allows too many people to imagine themselves inside the character shoes, including which they do not feel comfortable with their identity.”
It is a remarkable nutritious and is considered a result for a project that he started as a joke that he made in a discord server during an epidemic-“What if there was a dating sim, but the goal was not to date anyone”-a title completion with a tongue-in-chur The marketing of the game in the form of ‘Anti-Detting SIM’ is a lover lift pitch to attract the attention of players, but it outlines the nuances of Tsundre Studio’s style intervention. “It is simple to make a game that is ‘anti-romance’, but it is not that kind of game,” they say. “There are still some mechanics that have not yet been fully revealed. I am interested in the aspect of our game relationship. What does it mean what is in a relationship? What is love without love? I want players to find out the answers to those questions and test myself.”
The game was successfully funded through a kickstarter in March 2022 and the community has since attached and excited to the discord server of Tsundre Studio. “I was shifted from the volume of those who said that the game somehow helped them feel represented,” reflects M. “This game is the culmination of my self -discovery in the last few years, in terms of story and characters and how much I have changed during development. We have faced many challenges. I am happy that we have come so far.”
In the current release of the game, only the preamble and the first chapters are available, their total platforms extend for a few hours. The two major material updates are currently in development, each being adding a new chapter. Tsundere Studio expects to complete season one within the year, but they are willing to do a solid date on it. The initial access approach feels fitting. I just want to be single !! It is still finding out what it wants to become and how it fits into the world. Those of us who are going through a similar journey, the game of Tsundere Studio is a welcome mirror of sympathy and probability.
