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How do you see the world when nothing is real?

Each character was assigned to give a statement to be posted on this store page. Their responses are below:

CHRIS: Hello! I’m so excited that you’re considering playing our game! I'll tell you as much as I can. So we're actually not the full game. We're the demo! No one knows if the real game is out yet or not, or what genre we're really supposed to be....it's kind of confusing. But that's just fine, I guess! Anyway, I suppose it's already been determined where you'll be going and what kinds of things you might be doing? I hope I get to actually meet you later. I've really been looking forward to it! Have a nice day!

HOPE: hey if u get any choices that lead u to a mochi store go there thats where the cool ppl in the game r if you dont youll probably lose ok bye

ASPEN: Hey YOU! Yeah, YOU! Wanna chat it up with some cute girls? (And a super cute non-binary person?) Then you've definitely found the right game! We're not like those other inferior dating simulators. We have the advantage of knowing who, how, why, and what we truly are! Well, uh...mostly. That's where you come in! You can be the one to tell us once and for all what we're really doing here! And with the help of your good buddy Aspen, we'll ensure that this game gets its best ending! Our fate rests upon your shoulders, O wise player!

NARI: [Declined to give a statement.]

ISADORA: WHAT?!??! MY QUOTE IS GOING TO BE LAST????? THAT'S NO FAIR!!! YOU SHOULD CHANGE IT SO THAT I'M, LIKE, AT LEAST SECOND? OR THIRD?!?!!? LAST IS SO STUPID!!!!!! NARI DIDN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING AND SHE'S NOT EVEN LAST!!!!! UUUUUGGGGGGGGGGG (...wait so what exactly should I say then? ...oh, ok.) Hi! I'm Isadora, and...uh... (Oh, whatever, this is so stupid! Was that enough? Can I go now?)


A NOTE FROM THE CREATOR

Hello. I am the Creator. I created this Visual Novel's script, code, and music.

The game runs in the RenPy engine.

It takes around two hours give or take to complete everything.

It is recommended that players are at least 12 years or older.
The game contains no jump scares or shock imagery.

The complete soundtrack is also available. It contains a little over an hour of music.

Thank you to SparkBag, Keeby, and Alexander A. McDonald for creating the majority of the visual assets.

Please enjoy, free of charge.

-The Creator.

--------UPDATE-----------

MetaWare High School (Demo) Special Features is now available. It is a collection of behind the scenes content for MetaWare High School (Demo), offering a glimpse into the development of the game. You can obtain this extra package by purchasing the game for $9.99 or more.

Includes:

  • An artbook (45 pages) with extensive developer commentary, unreleased/in-progress art, and more.
  • A collection of unused music and sounds.
  • A playable unfinished early prototype of the game. (~10 minutes playtime) It is playable on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
  • A warm thank you from Not Fun Games.
Not Fun Games
StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows, macOS
Publisher
Release date Apr 02, 2020
Rating
Rated 4.7 out of 5 stars
(72 total ratings)
AuthorNot Fun Games
GenreVisual Novel
Made withRen'Py
TagsAltgame, Anime, artgame, Experimental, Funny, Meaningful Choices, Narrative, Nonlinear, Ren'Py, Story Rich
Average sessionA few hours
LanguagesEnglish
LinksSteam

Download

Get this game and 372 more for $8.00 USD
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Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

MetaWare High School (Demo) 124 MB
MetaWare High School (Demo) Original Soundtrack - MP3 190 MB
if you pay $1 USD or more
MetaWare High School (Demo) Original Soundtrack - FLAC 370 MB
if you pay $1 USD or more
MetaWare High School (Demo) Special Features 143 MB
if you pay $9.99 USD or more

Development log

Comments

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I love the game, but I think there are too many pauses. Especially when completing multiple routes. Though I wouldn't mind as much if pressing Left Click / Space skipped the wait (like with textboxes).

is this still being developped?

is/when will story be complete?

(10 edits)

SPOILER

I can't decide whether you're an extremely creative metafiction nerd, or (please don't take this at first degree) sick for making character emulate awareness and relive such long and lucid sufferings.

Wait a second. How comes Aspen can sometimes see things?
Where mochi stick, reading the visual note from the creator, and asking the player to close their "eyes". I underestimated the implication of that. And of Chris loosing her m while eating mochi (in fact wasn't it in her hair)?

I can't be sure that we're our own kind of Cthulhu, or if there is ready some depth in these metaphor about the game being visual and characters not having eyes and their sprites and background disappearing first, but the their text as well.
Am I supposed to save and restore the sprites manually to unlock the true ending? Because the "true ending I got was...
I mean, from the little I had understood, uncomplete (kidding, but maybe that actually explains it).
Compared to the rest of the game, the "true" ending doesn't seem so ultimate and great. 
Maybe if I start the game again, the characters will have eyes, or will understand what eyes are at least. (Also, how comes Aspen know what eyes are already? and how comes Nori and Hope can remembers alternate timelines before the ending?" 
Could someone give me a clue? I've read Nari's messages and restored them.  

But I know one thing; that I would pay big for a full game where you are a character in the script and you are present for the final show ("it'd only be fair"). n and a would be so happy to finally meet the real person behind this.

(+3)

Came here expecting funny weird shenanigans.

Got funny weird shenanigans with existential crisis.

As someone who's 100% into metafictional inde game/visual novel, this one definitely goes in my top 10.


And in the chance that you would see this comment: would you be interested by a french translation?

(+1)

This game was so cool! I really like hope :).

(+1)

got rickrolled in 2021

(+1)

I've found a pretty funny bug when Nari says "Fine. Do you want more. I will give you more." and the game raises NameError exception on a screen. Unintentional jumpscare, so to speak =P

Fixed!

(+2)

A really good game! I didnt get all the endings because as far as I can tell getting the last 2 require saying some pretty bad things and I finished the game on a dancing note so Im just gonna stop there. I hope theres more because id love to see more of these characters but im happy if this is all we get to see.

Played it through, I think? Avoiding spoilers, I fulfilled the apparent requirement to get to the end, but the final interaction was very similar to the ones earlier in the game, so I am unsure if there was some other requirement to trigger an ending scene. I liked what I experienced, but the confusion about whether or not I have reached the end is leaving me a bit ambivalent.

Love the dancing.

(+1)

Open the game.

Thanks!

(+1)

J'ai beaucoup aimé ce jeu découvert grâce au bundle.

Il m'a fait réfléchir sur des question philosophique ^^

Les personnages sont bien écrit, les musiques se démarque.

Je conseil ce jeu très fortement c'est une expérience à vivre.

beaucoup d'autre personne ont bien mieux commenté le jeu, qui sait un jour peut être une traduction de Metaware pour ceux qui n'arrive pas à lire Anglais. ^o^

Just a commentaire Fr.

(+1)

Someone might have a use for this...

https://gist.github.com/Skirmisher/568534bc917e45ea06eaf3b8b9d451f7

I think I've decided to...change the ending? We'll see. It just feels like...well, that would be spoiling things.

Have a nice day!

(btw chris is really cute)

Haha thanks for calling me a nerd :')

Hi! Sorry for bothering you about a 2 year old comment LOL, but what does this code exactly do, and how do you implement it into the game, if that's possible at all? Apologies if you don't remember either! ʕ ᵔᴥᵔ ʔ

(1 edit)

Wait a second; is this game this level of complex: do I have to learn Ren'py to unlock the true ending, or is it just something you made to get a self-tailored Closure for yourself ? If the code integrates Nari's comments into the game, then I guess I can copy-paste and adjust however I please without learning Ren'py...?

(+2)

perfection

a good friend told me to try

that not my best friend for nothing

(1 edit) (+2)

Take Doki Doki Literature Club. Make an antithesis out of it.

Take Stanley Parable. Make a narration derived from it.

Take Undertale. Make a remix soundtrack out of it.

Mix it all together. And you get this game. 

Unfortunate though that this demo is like the Stanley Parable demo. Self-contained. Still good.

(+1)

Quite intriguing. Going into it I had my expectations for the narrative, though its angle was thought provoking. Will provide further comments after finishing the game. 

The "placeholders" are solid, would prefer that to something "fully rendered."

(1 edit) (+1)

I completed the demo.

I look forwards to any interactive creative endeavor you undertake in the future.

(+2)

Solid game where a lot of the fun can come from getting too invested into ruining these characters lives for a single piece of dialogue...totally didnt name my character Nari once to see if she would call her own name forgettable/stupid in that one scene....

Definitely gives me that undertale vibe of retrying endlessly all sorts of different playthoughs with one or more changes somewhere to see some new dialogue, a lot more convenient due to the skip button though. A little ddlc too, but it still maintains its own style and humor, in a colorful way, the musics great too. i want to write a lot more, but there arent any spoiler tags so i dont want to be an ass

Looking forward to the full release! got this game as apart of the giant pack for charity, and after playing the game im a certified monster, so thats cool. 













P.S Currently buying truckloads of gummy bears to bargain these heavy sins i hold. Nari pls dont beat me up

(+2)

When's the full version coming out? This looked pretty great. 

(2 edits) (+3)

IT WAS SO GOOD! I am happy with life. Nice Work Creator! A True Masterpiece.


Edit : I Finished The Game........ not really happy of what I've done.

But Good Game Though!

(3 edits)

It Was Amazing

A somewhat deep game about... well, i don't even sure what is the game all about anymore, but i can't recommend this game enough, this game deserve more attention, i think the only reason why this game didn't take off is the demo in the title when it actually a plot device lol, but hopefully i could help this game to get more attention that it deserve

Just in case you are a wandering player checking the comment to see what is the game is all about,this game is a visual novel game( you would understand why i bold the word visual when you finish the game ), when you started the game they would greet you with some quote, it might seems out of place at first, but you will understand along the way

I named my self pussy slayer and it's so funny how they react to your name lmao

(+1)

Most underrated game ive ever seen

(+2)

You, my friend, Have created an absolute masterpiece, I adored every second of it. Charming, meaningful, and impactful, Even the soundtrack was amazing, I loved every second, You are a genius at the least, revolutionary at best.

(+4)

hi! i just wanted to say that i played through your game and loved it—it hit a great balance between being funny and introspective/emotional (and i definitely teared up so many times) thank you for making this!

(+1)

Completely insane just like I was hoping, love it.