Draft:Love Choice
| Love Choice | |
|---|---|
| Developer | Akaba Studio |
| Publishers |
|
| Producer | Ya Heng |
| Designers | Ya Heng, ec |
| Programmer | Ya Heng |
| Artists | ec, linglu, Zhao Yangxing |
| Composers | MidiPanda, Ya Heng |
| Engine | Unity |
| Platforms | Microsoft Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| Release |
|
| Genre | Visual novel |
| Mode | Single-player |
Love Choice (Chinese: 拣爱; pinyin: Jiǎn ài) is a 2021 romantic indie visual novel developed by Akaba Studio. The game features three standalone love stories in which players make interactive choices that influence the narrative's progression and lead to multiple possible endings. It originated from a prototype titled Choose Love, which was created during a Game Jam event. The game first became available in early access on Steam in September 2018. Its full release arrived in May 2021 for Android and iOS, followed by console versions in September 2021 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, and finally a Microsoft Windows and macOS release in November 2021.
Love Choice received generally positive reviews. Critics praised its storytelling and artistic style, though some criticized the translated text for lacking emotional depth.
Gameplay
[edit]Love Choice explores themes of romantic relationships through three self-contained narratives,[1] with the mobile version published by Aurora Project including an additional bonus episode.[2] The title follows the conventions of the visual novel and gal games,[1] in which players make interactive choices during key scenes. Each decision affects the course of the narrative and may lead to different outcomes.[1][3]
Plot
[edit]The first story, "Love and Game", depicts a man and a woman who meet at a Game Jam event and gradually develop a romantic relationship. As they become more familiar with one another, their personal flaws and differences begin to surface, resulting in conflicts. The second story, "Love and Distance", follows a boy and a girl who grow up together in a small town but are later separated by family circumstances and personal aspirations, maintaining their relationship only through phone calls over the years. The third story, "Love and Detective", centers on a woman who, after discovering a suspicious phone call on her husband’s mobile phone, suspects him of hiding something; she later learns that he was preparing a surprise for their wedding anniversary. The bonus episode, "Family and Photo", focuses on the protagonist's interactions with his family members at different stages of his life.
Development
[edit]Ya Heng, an independent game developer from Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, began his career in Japan following his university graduation,[2] where he was employed as an embedded systems programmer.[2][4] In his spare time, he learned to use game engines to create minigames and released several titles on the Chinese platform 4399.[5] In 2016, after watching documentaries such as Indie Game: The Movie that introduced the culture of independent game development, Ya Heng became interested in pursuing the field himself.[2] In March 2017, he resigned from his job to become a full-time independent developer.[2][4] Before creating Love Choice, he had participated in a Steam-oriented game project that was ultimately unsuccessful.[5] During this period, he also took part in several Game Jam events, through which he met other developers.[4]
In June 2018, Ya Heng formed Akaba Studio together with two artists, ec and Zhao Yangxing, during a Game Jam competition in Guangzhou. Ya Heng served as producer, while the other two members were responsible for art and illustration. The team developed a prototype titled Choose Love (Chinese: 选择爱; pinyin: Xuǎnzé ài), which later evolved into Love Choice.[4] Although the prototype did not receive any awards during the event, a publisher expressed interest in releasing it as a free title on Steam. Ya Heng initially accepted the offer but later chose to terminate the partnership in order to expand the concept into a more comprehensive work.[2]
Gameplay and story
[edit]The core gameplay concept of Love Choice was derived from an idea Ya Heng had formulated in his earlier development experiments, which later found an opportunity for realization when the theme of the Game Jam competition coincidentally aligned with his idea.[4] The competition's theme—an optical illusion image that could be interpreted differently depending on perspective, depicting either a man, a woman, or the two embracing—inspired the game's thematic focus on dual perspectives in romantic relationships. Ya Heng associated this with the notion that "love, like all things, has two sides," and that "different choices lead to different outcomes."[2] This concept informed both the title and design philosophy of the game, with the Chinese word "拣" (jiǎn), meaning "to choose carefully," symbolizing the idea of deliberate decision-making in love.[6]
The game's interactive narrative design drew inspiration from Florence. Ya Heng felt that while Florence offered an emotional experience, it lacked player agency, as choices did not affect the story’s progression. In Love Choice, he aimed to ensure that every player action had meaningful consequences. Before developing the storylines, the team first determined the core values and messages they wished to convey to players, and subsequently designed the plots around these themes. The narrative was written primarily by Ya Heng, with input from the team's female artist ec, whose perspectives influenced certain storylines. Ya Heng described the writing as balanced between male and female viewpoints, as both he and ec were satisfied with the final result.[4] To enhance immersion, the text was kept concise and avoided elaborate world-building; most protagonists were left unnamed to allow players to project themselves onto the characters.[7] As Ya Heng disliked conventional tutorial sequences in online games, Love Choice provides minimal guidance within its story.[8] Each chapter also introduces distinct gameplay mechanics and narrative techniques to maintain freshness throughout the experience.[2]
Art and music
[edit]The game's art style, also inspired by Florence, adopts a hand-drawn, storybook aesthetic.[6][8] Initially, ec and Zhao Yangxing were responsible for visual design and illustrations, respectively. Before joining the game industry, ec had drawn webcomics for two years. Her visual concept emphasized the idea that "in moments of deep affection, one sees only the other person." Early versions of the game used mostly monochromatic backgrounds in shades of black, white, and gray, while the characters themselves were rendered in distinct color tones—blue for the male protagonist and pink for the female. Because the story is largely presented from the male perspective, later builds adjusted the user interface and environment toward a bluish-gray palette. Zhao Yangxing used warm, pure tones for happy endings to convey a sense of joy, while tragic outcomes were depicted with cooler purple hues to evoke melancholy.[4]
During development of the second chapter, progress slowed due to limited art resources. To address this, Ya Heng recruited a third artist, linglu, whom he found through a forum post on Baidu Tieba.[2]
In the prototype stage, Ya Heng personally selected temporary background music to test narrative synchronization. During full development, he collaborated with composer MidiPanda, providing emotional direction and tempo guidelines, along with several musical references to establish the intended mood.[4][8] Because Love Choice features a simple, hand-drawn aesthetic and focuses on intimate storytelling, its soundtrack was kept minimalist, relying primarily on gentle piano melodies rather than elaborate orchestration.[8]
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