Please Be Happy

Please Be Happy
Developer(s)	Studio Élan
Publisher(s)	Studio Élan
Director(s)	adirosa
Producer(s)
Designer(s)
Programmer(s)
Artist(s)
Writer(s)	adirosa, Josh Kaplan
Composer(s)	Sarah Mancuso
Series
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Linux macOS Microsoft Windows
Release	21 November 2022
Genre(s)	Visual novel
Mode(s)	Single-player
Cabinet
Arcade system
CPU
Sound
Display

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Please Be Happy is a 2022 yuri romance visual novel developed and published by Studio Élan. The game follows Miho, who comes to Wellington in search of a person who showed her kindness in the past.

Gameplay

Please Be Happy is a visual novel, with the primary means of interaction being the progression through text by clicking. The game features a branching narrative, with a total of four possible endings.

Alongside traditional decision prompts, Please Be Happy makes use of map segments, allowing the player to spend time in different areas and with different characters without substantially affecting the main plot.

Please Be Happy uses several presentation styles for different purposes throughout. Miho's internal monologues are often presented as full-screen prose, whereas conversations between characters make use of speech bubbles.

Plot

In a forest in a historical Korea, an human known only as the Traveller befriends a fox. Their brief time together leaves an impression on the fox, previously wary of humans.

Many years later, the fox, now a gumiho in human form and having adopted the name Miho, arrives in Wellington, on the floating island of New Zealand. It is revealed that she has spent many years searching for "her person", wishing to reunite with the Traveller who showed her kindness.

With no money or possessions, Miho builds and lives in a den, and lives off stolen food. Stealing is made easy for Miho by both her ability to transform into a fox at will, and by the fact that anyone she meets will forget about her after 24 hours of no face to face contact.

After a few days of clear weather, Miho is caught off guard by heavy rain. She takes shelter in a library, at which she encounters a human named Aspen, engrossed in a book. After discovering Miho sleeping, the owner of the library, a vampire by the name of Juliet, takes pity on her and offers her a room to sleep in. Miho rejects this offer out of distrust.

Miho visits the Bellhouse, a local café, where Aspen works as a barista. Later, Miho returns and steals a valuable-looking painting from the library. She is quickly caught by Juliet, who to Miho's surprise, reiterates her offer of a place to stay. Miho reluctantly accepts.

During her time in Wellington, Miho resolves herself to "learn how to be a person" and integrate into society, starting a job at the library and learning to read and write, while also continuing her search for her person. As the story progresses, Miho develops a romantic relationship with either Aspen or Juliet, depending on the player's choices.

Development

Development on Please Be Happy began in 2018. Initially developed using the Ren'Py visual novel engine, and announced to release in 2020 on both PC and Nintendo Switch, the game was postponed due to the team's preoccupation with the upcoming release of Highway Blossoms: Next Exit, as well as complications arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2021, Studio Élan moved the development of Please Be Happy from Ren'Py to Unity, using the NaniNovel engine.

A PC-only demo consisting of the first chapter was released in June 2021, the full PC release coming the following year in November 2022. As of October 2023, Studio Élan is looking for a publisher for the console release of Please Be Happy.

Reception

Please Be Happy received critical praise for its narrative, presentation style and soundtrack. Writing for NookGaming, Daniel Joseph described the story as "heartfelt and impactful" with "strong character writing", and the soundtrack as "put together beautifully", rating the game 8/10 points. David Erickson of Geek to Geek Media rated the game 4.5/5 points, commenting that it "goes beyond normal expectations to make its story a visual treat", and describing the characters as "charming".

Reviewers also praised the game's voice acting, with Audra Bowling of RPGFan describing it as "phenomenal". Joseph particularly noted the energy of Dottovu's performance as Miho, while expressing slight disappointment at the delivery of some lines of dialogue, commenting on an occasional mismatch in tone as compared to the characters' expressions on screen.

References

This article "Please Be Happy" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Please Be Happy. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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