A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, and Linux

Buy Now$11.99 USD or more

Love Hues! is a university-based visual novel packed with both character and world secrets. You'll be playing as Skyler (changeable name and pronouns) and navigate your first few months at Falls West University, where you'll meet 5 romanceable - or befriendable! - characters who hide certain truths about themselves and the world around them. This is the full version of the game!

Love Hues! features 41 unique endings, 5 routes, 228,000+ words, and 32+ CGs.

TwitterLove Hues! Website - Lemmasoft - 2018 Demo

Characters


Every character's True ending can be unlocked whether you play their platonic or romantic route.

Toby: 19 years old, they/them. Toby's full of energy and keen to kick off their studies in post-secondary - and to join Falls' soccer team! They're troubled by their past with a certain other Falls student...

James: 20 years old, he/him. James is a flirty and cheerful student who is determined to become a doctor. He seems to be struggling with his academics and well-being lately. Loves archeology and is close with Devlin.

Nova: 18 years old, she/her. Nova's your neighbor in the dorms, and she's often out researching Falls' strange past. She's dedicated to and protective of her friends, especially Ava. She may be more entwined in Falls' secrets than she tells most folx. (Please note: Nova's route is only unlocked after 1+ ending(s) has been achieved!)

Devlin: 20 years old, he/him. Devlin is the students' union volunteer coordinator but tends to seem impersonal. He's passionate about the union's success and works tirelessly despite rumors of its financial troubles.

Ava: 18 years old, she/her. Ava rarely appears to be on campus and tends to be anxious and withdrawn. Knows more about Falls and the 'Curiosity' than most.
(Please note that Ava's route requires all True endings to be unlocked.)

Choose wisely... 

Certain choices in routes will add new scenes to other routes you've already experienced or will unlock secret content. Learn as much as you can about Falls' true origins by exploring the game from every angle, and see if you can understand what everyone means when they whisper the Curiosity's name...

Pick your appearance and pronouns!

Pick the main character appearance you like + your pronouns - you can romance or befriend anyone in the cast regardless of your choice!

Content Warnings

Love Hues! contains, but is not limited to, the following content. It has no NSFW content.

Flashing images - Mild language - Character deaths/illness/injury - Suggestive themes -  Alcohol mention - Discussions around mental health - Challenging relationships

Credits/QA/Sensitivity Readers

A game by Oneirocritica Games, with a soundtrack primarily made by 'Moode Myoozik, who can be found here and here!

Love Hues! also features music by Kevin MacLeod which was bought under his extended license. The CC-BY (4.0) license still applies otherwise.

In order to comply to Creative Commons' terms, there's a page on the Love Hues! website that describes where to download the full version of Kevin MacLeod's music and the modifications I've applied to the songs for the game.  Love Hues! also contains a copy of a Kevin-Macleod-Music-README file with the same information. Kevin Macleod does not endorse Oneirocritica Games or Love Hues!.

Some QA/sensitivity reader staff requested to have their name in-game only; please check out the credits for their info! Here are a few of my QA testers/sensitivity readers:

Rishi Barnwal - Ellie Sims - Keshia Storm - Kat K  - Isabel Marko - Angelo Encarnacion (QA,  website setup, project support)

Finally...

Specs: Love Hues! is a 32 bit program, and it'll take up about 580 MB of storage. Depending on your system setup, it can take up as little as 160 MB (16 GB RAM, Windows 10, 64 bit OS) of memory, or up to 640 MB of memory (4 GB RAM, Windows 8.1, 64 bit OS) while running.

Most newer computers with 4+ GB RAM, sufficient storage and processors comparable to the Intel Pentium CPU B960 should be able to run it, but if it doesn't work, please reach out to lovehuesgame@gmail.com for basic troubleshooting first, and if we can't resolve it, please reach out to itch's support for a refund.

Linux:  I identified a bug in the Linux build on the Raspberry Pi that prevented it from launching, and I've patched it. 

This game is aimed at ages 16 and up. It also has a EULA (covers usage, liability, warranty, persistent data, etc.) that'll either require you to be over the legal age of majority or to have a guardian sign it.  There's a copy of it on Love Hues!'s website as well.

If you need to reach me for questions, feedback or comments, I'm available at lovehuesgame@gmail.com!

Purchase

Buy Now$11.99 USD or more

In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $11.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:

Love_Hues_2020-win.zip 536 MB
Love_Hues_2020-mac.zip 535 MB
Love_Hues_2020-linux.tar.bz2 537 MB

Development log

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Comments

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I really had a wonderful time with this game! For some reason I'm unable to help leave a rating as I intended to do upon finishing the game, which I'm not sure if that's a setting for this game or an error, but I'll at least spread the good word in the comments <3 Basically I'm in love with games like this that aren't merely played and left static but react to the player and are changed as a result of your choices. It may be kind of at odds with my other desire to see ALL the dialogue possible, since it can be easy to miss out if you progress too fast, but on the other hand, it gives me an excuse to finish the game, revisit and reset progress at a later time, and try to see if I can catch what I missed the first time. I already was happy that upon completing a certain route (but not the intended final route), replaying an earlier route did in fact change a few things to reference it, and who knows what other little things you've put in for us to find that I'll have to go back for. I already loved the nod to having it acknowledged once you complete the final route successfully as well when you play it again, even if the line is calling the player out for not letting things be (though not as direct, it reminded me in a good way of post-Pacifist Undertale, which addresses your power as a player to disturb the peace just because you want to replay it). Truly a well-designed game with a fun balance between the slice-of-life and the supernatural!

The writing was so endearing, and you have no idea how quickly the characters grew on me. The intended final route having them all team up, seeing their different dynamics together, the various humor and obvious angst, and of course the satisfying conclusion was all so fun and cathartic! I also loved being free to switch it up between platonic and romantic routes (especially as someone who's ace and on the aro spectrum) depending on the characters' vibes. Admittedly I did get a little unlucky with my first romantic route attempt (not a bad end but a neutral end), because I'm 100% the type to tell people to go home if they're not well and did not want to ask James to stay in class for my sake, then was confused when I never got a choice between romantic and platonic like I did with Toby in my first route. But other than that, my blind playthroughs went very well. I am a little curious if there might be any other method to getting James's romantic route option, since I only got it by consulting the unofficial guide, but I could see how the scenes with Allie being different might be the only way.

Lastly, I want to give a quick shout-out to the awesome nonbinary rep! Not only getting to customize the MC that way (who was a good, relatable character too), but a whole route with Toby as a complex nb lead with fleshed out history with others and a sweet family, and especially the scene at their house with the flag that you can then compliment on?? Super heartwarming, I loved it!

Overall, I highly recommend this game, and I want to thank you for writing such a charming adventure!

Sorry for stopping by so late---I wanted to reply and let you know I appreciate the kind and thoughtful comment! Love Hues was a behemoth to put together haha, so I'm grateful to hear it that it was fun to play (side note: I unfortunately haven't looked at the code for so long that I can't remember if there's a different way to access James' romantic route---sorry about that!). Thank you for playing the game and for stopping by here!

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I simply must admit, despite not getting super deep into Love Hues with my time with it, the part that I read has stuck well with me. I really love the options on offer here, not only having a way to pick character appearance and pronouns, but also having both platonic and romantic routes available for every route must have meant a ton of writing on the part of the devs. That writing, might I point out? Stellar stuff. I know it's easy to stumble into nonsensical writing looking around for VNs, so finding something like this is especially nice. I really hope I get back around to the full game sometime, it really deserves to be played, and I've been needing a great visual novel in my life again!

Thank you so much for your kind comment, and sorry for my late reply! I'm glad you've enjoyed the game so far. I'll add your playthrough here to my to-watch list!

gosh this is such a good game , i keep finding myself replaying it every couple months or somfin, i just keep coming back to these great characters and story! like, the one bad thing about it imo is that you cant have all the endings marked off at once which like , in the context of the endings that dont let u,, it makes sense but it just annoys my dumb completionist brain a lil... but then again i could just be wrong and there was some sort of other way out of those two? anyway, aside from that this is a heccin wonderful game hehe

I'm sorry for spotting your comment so late - thank you for stopping by! I'm totally with you on the endings thing; it always kind of bothered me that players whom completed all the endings would never see the 41/41 marker. Unfortunately, I was unable to think of a way to code the game so that the 41/41 would show, and there's no way to achieve it.

If I make another game with similar mechanics in the future, I'll try to find a way to have the game acknowledge that a player has seen all the endings. :) Thanks for playing the game!!

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Hi, yes, this game got me feeling SOFT, Devlin and Nova are my favorites. I'm a lil sad because i want to complete the game 100% but i almost cried at the cute moments- so im for sure going to cry in the sad moments. not much i can do than get through it. Excellent game though!!!!

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Thank you for dropping by!! I'm really glad to hear you've been enjoying the game so far. :-D

I'm really loving this game and I'm trying to 100% everything as I go.  I have been having no issues with the True or Best endings even without the unofficial guide, but for the life of me I can't get ANY of Toby's bad endings.  I don't know what I'm doing or not doing!

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Thank you for playing the game! I'm happy to hear it's been fun so far.  One of Toby's bad endings require the player to have a low number of affection points, another requires the player to fight with them during the charity walk,  and one can be accessed after making a certain choice when you don't offer to help with their sister's move. I hope this helps!

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I don't know how I missed the last two!  After trying it again it seemed really obvious lol.  Thank you!

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I need some help getting Nova's final CG...

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Hello! Nova's last CG can be found if you pick a certain choice when you encounter the strange shadow in the school's waterways. Let me know if you still have trouble finding it!

That did it, thank you!

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they date each other if you don't date them that is SO CUTE!!!
(I'm on the third route and I'm pretty sure I know who Toby's ex is but it hasn't been like, said yet... I'm curious.)

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okay, I did James, Devlin and Toby (true ends for all), but I'm having some trouble even getting on Nova's route. since who you have lunch with seems to put you on the route for one of the above three, so I'm not sure what to do to hang out with Nova more? :(

edit: I found the guide! duh, I didn't think of just... leaving the fair...

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:-D Cool! And no problem at all haha, I didn't do a great job with letting players know how to select different routes/which actions start which routes. Don't hesitate to let me know if you get stuck elsewhere, though!

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I just finished Ava's true end! <3 now I just have the bad and neutral ends left, but I'll probably take those slower. (MC/James/Devlin is my ot3) 

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Perfect! The neutral and bad ends can be kinda tricky to achieve in that route, but if you have saves from previous routes, those'll def help out. :) Thank you for giving the game a try!!

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Is it bad I actually sort of like that? It's fun to see what my choices stumble in to instead of it being more projected.

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*Thank you* for those platonic routes, ohmigosh. Dating sims are usually a bit of a mixed bag for me—I love the character-focused format but the dating aspect is very not my thing, so being able to enjoy one without having to make myself sit through the other was fantastic. The characters are all very compelling, and I really appreciate the thoughtfulness you put in handling their issues.

Also, I don’t want to spoil any of it in a comment just in case, but I had a lot of fun piecing together the overarching plot & how the different routes fed into each other :p Will keep an eye out for future games!

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Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, I really appreciate it! :-D I agree with you, I haven't played that many VNs, but sometimes you just don't want to do a romantic route with (a) character(s). I wanted the platonic option to be available to make sure that players had the option to choose what they wanted. I'm hoping to improve with my storytelling in the future, too. And I'm glad you discovered the secrets and how they linked together, I did try my best to make sure they were consistent throughout so it's great to hear that that worked out!

Greetings. Love the game. How does one get Ava's best ending?

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Hello, thank you for dropping by!  I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it! :) Ava's best ending can be unlocked by selecting anyone but yourself at the final choice of her route. Please let me know if you get stuck anywhere else!

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.

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By the way, when you get to that final choice, there is an option to type the name of a character who isn't present. I am curious if any other name other than "Allie" will work?

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Yes, that's correct! :) Spoiler:

////////////////////////////////////////////



It's possible to type Ruby's name there.

(2 edits) (+1)

Ah, that revealed quite the unexpected surprise, thanks for the tip.


Now that I've gotten the best and true endings for all five characters, does it unlock the possibility to have an ending with any of the other NPCs? That is, is it possible to in Devlin's route to instead befriend/date Allie, or in Toby's route to instead befriend/date Ruby? Or any other of the named characters?

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Happy to help! It's my favorite (and only iirc, haha) easter egg in the game.

Good question; unfortunately it's not possible to date or befriend any of the named NPCs. I'd personally love to write an Allie route, but it's not in the works at this point in time. Even a mini story with the other NPCs would be pretty cool...

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Love the game so far! It’s very heartwarming and mysterious. I haven’t finished all the routes or unlocked Ava yet, but I’m excited to! I am having trouble getting Devlin’s Best Ending even though I’ve got his True Ending and have 100/100 AP, so I’m not sure what else to try :o 

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Thank you for stopping by, I'm really happy to hear you're enjoying it so far! :) To get Devlin's Best ending, do everything that you would in the True ending but when you go grocery shopping together, you'll want to ask him about last year's party instead. Please don't hesitate to let me know if you get stuck anywhere else!

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Well, I was pretty excited to try this, spent 12 chapters only to learn that my interest.... had a crush on someone else. And wouldn't stop telling me about it. Not even sure where I went wrong. I hope the other routes are a bit more rewarding, because it was a pretty big let down.

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When you get the phone call from him, do NOT do the option where you ask him if he'll run back to Allie,  because that sticks you in the platonic arc :) Just say that you're tired and will talk later, or whatever the other option is.

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Hi DancingHare! Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts, I do appreciate it. :) I'm sorry that happened, especially since you'd gone through so many chapters; that's really frustrating and might mean that I need to tweak that story. Which character's route did this occur in? I'd love to help you get a better ending.


edit 4: Also! Thank you for the tip regarding James' route, airam06. :) If this did occur in James' route, that scene does indeed set the story to a platonic path.

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Hi! Im so addicted to your game! Thank you so much for putting all this effort in. It's endlessly exciting! I'm so invested int he characters, and doing anything to hurt them is so so crushing, so trying to unlock negative and neutral endings are sooooo hard. I'm currently heart broken after just causing a nautral end with James. I'm also having trouble getting Nova's True ending though! I have the other 3 but i keep getting Best ending with her. T.T Do you have any guidance there? There's clearly something i'm missing but i can't figure it out. Im so anxious to know what happens!

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Thank you for stopping by, I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying the game so far!! :-D Nova's True ending is pretty tricky to get. Early on in the route, she'll ask you if you think Ava's acting out of sorts; if you agree with her, this should open up some more options for you. There's a couple of other key choices later on in the route right after the stargazing event that determine if you'll get the True ending. Let me know if you're still stuck after trying these hints!

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Thank you! I'll keep an eye out for after the star gazing. is it by chance a particular option amongst the many questions you can ask Allie?

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The questions you can ask Allie don't contribute to the True ending, but one of the questions does have a potential implication for a future route. :)

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I got it!

THANK YOU THANK YOU

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The unofficial love hues true ending guide is now complete! If you are stuck at any point in the game, feel free to consult it. I will keep it updated with any in-game changes and updates, and will do my best to prevent there being any mistakes. I had a blast with Love Hues' story and characters, so hopefully this will help other people have an easier time experiencing everything the game has to offer :)

https://unofficiallhguide.carrd.co

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( Thank you for all your hard work on this guide! It looks solid so far and it makes obtaining the True endings much more accessible. :) Using the in-game buttons and highlighting them is a great idea too! )

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Thanks, it's a very good idea and useful :)

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Thanks so much for putting together this guide! It's really helpful.

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Do you have a guide I could follow

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Hello! I'm sorry, I don't have a guide available at this point in time but I'm always happy to share hints. :)

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I just completed one of Ava's endings, and without spoiling, I'd say being a completionist with the other routes lead to a very interesting outcome. I was just looking for a light dating sim type game and I was definitely not expecting something this intriguing and multi layered I love it! I can't wait to experience it all again without trying every possible response.

Also, I love how inclusive it is of sexuality, gender pronouns and racial diversity! I adore James and I don't think I've ever played a game with a South Asian character before, and when I realized his cousin had the same name as me I was shocked as I'd never expected to share a name with a video game character!!!

Anyway, fantastic job! If you're considering getting this game I 100% recommend

Thank you very much for playing through Love Hues, and for stopping by to leave your kind feedback on the game! Sorry it took me a while to get back to you. I might need to see about tweaking the script so that there's a reward for completionists as well...  I'll do my best to make future games even more inclusive, and am always open to suggestions! :) (Super cool that you two have the same name btw, that made me smile!)

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No problem! Thanks for getting back to me!!! Honestly, I think the approach to the ending was really creative and immersive, though rewarding completionists might be nice I don't see any issues with the way the game is set up currently as it makes a lot of sense!

 I've officially finished it as of now , and can say for sure the characters, plot world building and score are fantastic. (At the end I entered Ruby's name for fun and was not expecting anything to actually happen!) 

The only suggestion I can think of is it would've been cool to see more CGs or stills for future games. Thanks again for your amazing talent and for taking the time to respond to comments! I hope this game gets more recognition :)

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I really love the game and the worldbuilding! I'm a little bit stuck right now..I kept getting Devlin's 3rd BE (trying for platonic route rn)... but I'm thinking maybe if I go to the completionist route I'll be able to figure something out. That's not really a setback though, I like how you added little features that can be unlocked by getting certain endings, so it's not necessarily the same sequence of events every single playthrough. Hopefully I'll be able to navigate this and continue the awesome story!!

Edit: oh my god I think I did it?? YEAH!!!!!

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Very happy to hear you're enjoying it so far! :D Please let me know if you continue to be stuck on that bad ending, I definitely don't want the game to be a frustrating experience and I'd be happy to share a hint.

Edit: Just spotted your response - super, I'm glad you're got past that point! Don't be afraid to post again if you run into any more tricky points though!

Hello! I've been playing and absolutely loving it so far! I'm having the same issue getting stuck on Devlin's bad endings (I've gotten all 3 but no good/neutral ones.) Would you by any chance mind sharing a hint? No worries if not–I'm having a blast! :)

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Thank you for stopping by, and for giving Love Hues a try! :D I'd be happy to share a few hints. 

 If you've only seen bad endings so far, it's likely an issue with his affection points. Devlin's route's tricky in that there are several checkpoints where not having enough points will lead to a bad ending + his choices are more grey than most of the other characters.  Selecting 'Fine Arts' as a field of study at the start of the game will give you a little boost to help you in this regard; check the affection points meter often as you navigate through the game and this should help you.

 Another critical event is that Devlin should mention a gala after the ice fest, and the final scene in his route also has several key choices.

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you get stuck anywhere else!

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It worked! Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it. :)

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I just wanted to stop by and tell you what an amazing job you did on this. I got it as part of the bundle benefiting the BLM movement and it's my favorite of all the games. You've done a fantastic job building a world and in-depth, memorable characters. Thank you for sharing this with the world!

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave your comment! It's amazing to hear that it's currently your favorite game in the bundle, there's so much talent in there that that truly means a lot to me. :)

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I was finally able to get the full game! After playing the demo I was absolutely enthralled with the game and now that I have the full game those feelings have only been increased. I haven't gotten super far, but I'm really enjoying it so far! One question though: Is there/will there be a walkthrough for the game? 

I'm so happy to hear it, I really hope you enjoy the full story! :-) I'm always excited to hear feedback. There's no official walkthrough in the works... yet, but if there's sufficient interest, I could put one together. In the meantime, if you get stuck on anything, I'm always around here or on Twitter to provide hints.

I also messaged you on twitter but I am currently stuck! I don't want to ask my question here because it is pretty spoiler-y but I was not sure which way was best to contact you

Hey, thanks for reaching out! :) I'll check out your DM on Twitter now.

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This comment/question contains spoilers.


This is a fun game and I really enjoyed playing it, but I came across a bug? during James's route. I did Devlin's route, Nova's, and Toby's (in that order) before I did James's. At the end of the route, it said we were dating, even though we weren't, and then said I unlocked his True Platonic End. Also I was never asked if I was interested in him romantically, like I was in the other routes, the MC just put him in the friend-only category. Does that mean you can't actually date James?

Thank you for playing Love Hues, and for taking the time to leave feedback! It really does mean a lot to me. :) I'm happy you enjoyed the game.

That does sound like a potential bug and I'll be happy to fix it. If you'd like me to investigate it further, please feel free to reply or email me with details of the in-game choices you made - if not, that's okay and I'll dig into the script to see what the cause was.

I will add that there is a specific in-game branch that locks you into a platonic path with James only, with no romantic option. It occurs when he calls in Chapter 6, you pick up, and Skyler notes that they feel that he's struggling too much with defining friendship vs. romance. He'll only be available platonically for that branch specifically onward. You'll also know if you've reached this branch if you meet Allie in the cafeteria in Chapter 3, where James mentions the exhibition. If this series of events didn't occur and you still didn't get a chance to play his romantic path, that would be a bug that needs fixing.

However, the mention of dating during the platonic path is a definitive error and I'll try to narrow that down and patch it out as soon as possible. Thank you again for sharing and stay safe!

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I did meet Allie in the cafeteria in Chapter 3 and I got that phone call in Chapter 6, so I was on the platonic branch.

For the dating line bug, I don't remember all my choices, but he was at 90 affection, had told me about his mom, lived with me for a week, and changed his major to archeology. Right after he got the job at the museum, the script was talking about him hearing from his cousins and then it said since we were dating, his family had contacted me too. I made the remark about his dad, he told me the news about switching majors, and the route ended.

If you need more information, I can replay James's route and write down my exact choices.


EDITED: I found another bug at the end of Ava's route. If you make Allie the new record keeper, the scene repeats itself over and over.

Sorry for the late reply, and gotcha! Sounds like that's running as intended (minus the dating note). If you did want to try James' romantic path still, the easiest way to get it is to ask him to stay on the day that he's tired, and to drop by the garden - and to accept the phone call, later. :) The game should allow you to choose his platonic or romantic path then. Please let me know if this doesn't work (if you want to try it) and I'll investigate further!

And thank you for those additional details, that should be enough for me to narrow down and resolve the issue of the dating note on the platonic path. The bug at the end of Ava's route sounds like a nuisance so I'll see if I can identify it and patch it - I'll upload the patch tonight at the earliest, and by Friday at the latest. Please don't hesitate to let me know if anything else comes up!

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Just finished playing through James's route again and am happy to report his romantic path works just fine.

So happy to hear it! :-D Also - thank you for finishing all 5 routes, that's phenomenal!

Update: I pushed the new build! Thank you again for sharing the bugs.

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Love Hues is an adorable, wholesome visual novel with a cast of interesting characters and oddly enough, a LOT of drama. I'm really excited to see how the mechanics are going to play out over the course of multiple routes. 

I can't wait to watch the rest of your playthrough!!