This is such a delightful gem of a game! You really caught the spirit of Undertale. I loved all the little details included and the attention paid to the supporting characters. One of my very favorite moments was Toriel's reassurance after the player confesses their nightmare - so touching! Like Undertale, the thing that takes the most determination with this game is putting it down after a happy ending. <3
Thank you so much for playing!! I'm glad you could feel the Undertale spirit! That's something I really strived for! And the Act Two Toriel scenes were one of my favorite moments, too. :) I wanted to make sure the supporting cast also got their moments!
I wasn't able to go through the Genocide route in Undertale -I was feeling sooo guilty when I tried, I swear It's so difficult for me to be mean in games XD -but somehow I did it for your game, I was too damn curious. I did a True love -> Secret ending -> True LOVE -> True love ( =) ) run. And it was so good.
I mean, yeah I may have possibly been on the verge of crying a little in the end of the second True love Run, who knows, YOU DON'T HAVE ANY PROOF OKAY. It hit hard, guiltiness was all over my kokoro and it's exactly why you have done a wonderful job !
Thank you for making this game, I'm sure everybody who played it can tell how much passion you put into it <3
PS : I was wondering how much time it took you to make it ? Also I'm sorry if I made any mistakes with my english ~
Thank you for playing and for commenting! And don't be sorry! Your English is perfect! Also, I won't tell anyone if you almost cried with True love =) It makes me happy to know you felt the emotions I had while making it.
And I'm so happy you could sense the passion I poured into it. It took me 2 years to make this visual novel! :)
I downloaded it. I played it. I got the True Love route. I love it. I love you for making it. Oh my god. I'm crying about it and I love it. I love you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I made an account just for this. I love it. Thank you.
I'm so glad that you enjoyed it and that the emotions reached you! And it means a lot that you made an account just to comment! Thank you so much for playing! Stay determined 🤍
I think this contains minor SPOILERS? So just a heads-up???
So I finished playing through the True LOVE route and then replayed the good sh*t™ route again last night to feel better after and like...
You're so thurough?? And I applaud you!!
But oh my god--- My heart-----
I've never seen a fan game that goes to this extent and I didn't expect it at all when getting into it so I was very scared to find out just how much impact my decisions made.......... (I never played genocide in Undertale cus I have big problems with consequences like these in games so I only watch playthroughs cus I'm way too curious for my own good--- OTL
I would've liked a bigger warning of just how impactful the choices are but I also have myself to blame for not keeping as open a mind when playing these types of games as I will in the future)
g o d . . .
I don't regret playing through every single route at all but I'm gonna need to get to my next therapy session FAST now kjsfhskjdfhksjdg
Thank you for all the hard work you put into it, I bet it's given a lot of people a really enjoyable experience (like it has me) and it's so thurough it feels like a stand-alone game!! which is INSANE with it being FREE!!!
It's clear how much you care about the project and gave it your all and I'm really happy to have gotten to experience something like this!!!
Thank you so much!! I'm sorry that a certain part caught you off guard. But I'm very happy that you enjoyed the experience all the same! And I'm glad that the emotions reached you! I just wanted to share this story and my love for the characters. And I'm always so happy to see others have enjoyed it so much!
Thank you again for playing and for taking the time to share your thoughts! Take care and stay determined!
🚫Spoilers for like this whole thing, you've been warned🚫
AAAAHHH This game was really amazing, I loved playing it and the resetting to progress feature is really cool. Tbh I was surprised in the first part that I couldn't get sans but on the second one GOD, it hit me like a truck when sans finally became my soulmate...the scene was so cute and I was literally so happy.....then I remembered the knife and me being the curious person/completionist I am wanted to try out everything....I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. After fighting sans and winning, I faced Chara, mind you I knew what was gonna happen BUT AFTER I TRIED TO GET A TRUE LOVE ENDING AGAIN....I really yelled NO when I saw the red text appear and now....I'm really sad I did genocide and I tried to follow the steps to fully reset and start off blank but It doesn't seem to be working for me, did something change or is it no longer possible to get rid of Chara?
Thank you sooooo much for playing and for your kind words! I'm really happy that you enjoyed it! Also, regarding that certain part at the end, I'm glad it caught you off guard >:)
In regards to resetting, it is still possible to clean slate the game. I only have the instructions for Windows, however. Did you make sure to delete both "DatingStartVN-1.0.2-pc" and "DatingStartVN-102" folders? After that you'll need a new copy of the VN.
okay. okay. let me try to collect my thoughts. okay. okay. take a deep breathe, floralska. get it together.
before i get into my spoiler review: to anybody whose reading this right now stop what you're doing and go download the game. treat it like you did with undertale: absolutely do not read anything about it, don't go on tumblr, twitter, youtube, and especially don't scroll further down this comment section since you will be spoiled. just download it right now and PLAY. THIS. GAME.
EVEN IF YOU AREN'T A FANGIRL/FANBOY OF SANS OR EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY ROMANTIC INTEREST IN HIM AT ALL PLAY. THE GAME. ANYWAY. TRUST ME. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.
PLAY THIS GAME. IT IS AMAZING, HEARTWARMING, WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH AND CRY, WILL MAKE YOU FEEL NOSTALGIC, WILL GIVE YOU ALL THE BEST FEELS, AND ITS JUST SO PERFECT. 10/10. PLEASE PLAY IT!!!
okay now that's out of the way... onto the spoiler-specific review... (that is also long as hell btw, i do apologize in advance)
!!SPOILERS AHEAD!! PLEASE PLAY THE GAME BEFORE LOOKING AT THIS!!!
okay. holy fucking shit. this game. what the fuck.
this morning, i was just scrolling through the sans undertale tag on twitter and then i find this GORGEOUS artwork of sans for this sans dating game.
now, i think i've seen a pretty fair amount of sans dating games before but i've never actually tried them. from my understanding, they've all been really good quality, as most ut fangames are but like i said never tried them before.
but this artwork it's just so gorgeous and there's a link to the game underneath it and the game is free. so i'm like "yeah why not, got nothing else better to do, let me procrastinate doing school work and see what this game is all about."
holy. fucking hell.
i mean like. the quality of it. right off the bat we get the ut intro and im already like awwwwww look at the artwork. it's so cute! and frisk and asgore 🥺🥺🥺🥺 the callbacks r great. i really like how reminiscent of undertale it is? i mean like- yeah DUH it's going to be reminiscent of undertale bc its literally a fangame for it but sometimes certain fangames just don't really get the... vibe of undertale you know? but this one does and we're not even in the game yet
then we get to name the human! and by that point, i was really happy bc yes holy shit a sans dating game where we are NOT frisk!!! so nice for a change
we go to the ruins, we see our bff flowey. the way that we got to interact with the game was so cool as well! like the choices were presented with dialogue but it was so cool seeing the animations of our actions play out on the screen, like watching our soul dodge the pellets.
i like how we're introduced to sans right away. i was so hype when i saw him (and tbh was super hype throughout the rest of the game anyway). right away i could tell the writing in this game was going to be great bc of the way you wrote sans!!!
and let me tell you- that is not an easy feat. i've seen a lot of ut fan content where sans just... doesn't seem right u know? like it is very, very hard to write his character and get his dialogue right. especially when you're putting HIM into a romantic-centric game??? i'll put more on sans later, but again. right from his introduction, i could already tell you're one of those writers who understand him and will do his justice.
so we go to tori's house and her reading the story to us was very sweet 🥺 her eyes blinked too and i thought that was super cool. u guys put so much thought into all of this- with the sprites and animations and everything it's just.. so awesome.
and then papyrus showed up!! and he was adorable. my dumbass got stuck on the puzzle bc i wasnt paying that much attention but i figured it out eventually 😭 then we got to the crosswords and sans again!! he takes us to grillby and all the interactions he has with the people at the bar... i was like yes thats my man look how popular he is 😎😎
the interactions we have with him- they r little and subtle enough that it helps it all feel so natural. it feels like falling in love with someone who, even though you've never met before, you knew right away that you would love them with all your heart. the little moments r just so tender and sweet.
i think eventually we do meet undyne and alphys, then sans takes us to see his telescope, and then we go to the mtt restaurant to go do his stand up.
bruh. this man. when he was talking about how good he was in bed and LOOKED AT US i literally screamed. i had to walk around my room. THIS MAN.
then we get to the table scene and I WAS LITERALLY SO HYPE so i just straight up told him that i loved him
WHEN HE BLUSHED LET ME TELL U I FCKING DIED SJSJSJJS
but then the game ends and floweys there so im like ah shit. here we go again.
2ND ROUTE
so i played through the 2nd route? (im not sure what its called)
it was obviously different from the first bc uhhh WE GOT A KNIFE. AND NOW THERES A OPTION TO FIGHT??
so this was the part where i figured there'd be a geno route and holy hell that is so fucking cool???? WHAT UNDERTALE SANS DATING VISUAL NOVEL INCORPORATES ALL THE ELEMENTS AND THEMES OF UNDERTALE IN IT???? LIKE WHAT THE FUCK THAT IS SO BADASS!!!
the dream was interesting too. obviously i know that it represents us doing genocide, but was there any other meaning to it? in the dream it was like at first we were scared, then there was a brief moment of clarity where we felt cool, then we felt scared again and there was the smell of blood, floweys laugh, and then we woke up. i wonder why it was in that specific order. hmm...
but right now im like okay im not here to kill anybody, i'm just trying to see whats new and try and get more closer to the characters cause in the last route i didn't really get the chance. the characters all notice that we're bored and it looks like we've done this before which, again, so fucking badass.
the bridge scene was amazing- i loved how sans caught us and how we just layed in the snow and oh my goodddd when i saw that close up i fucking died and went to heaven. omg.
the soul scenes too were amazing. i like how we could pick which ones we thought represented us. i chose bravery. also- the soulmates concepts? that is so fcking cool. honestly it's like so clever and presented so well that it feels canon to the actual game.
this whole route felt a lot more personal than the 1st one. we spend a lot more time with sans and all it feels very deja vu which he comments on a lot. it felt like our bond and connection was already there and that we could feel it both. i loved that. even with the other characters too!!! we got to spend so much more time with them and it felt like we were actually forming bonds- i was falling in love with them all too just in a platonic sense. i guess i was soulmates with them too.
then finally, i got to the table scene, SANS REJECTS ME AGAIN, and im like no what the fuck that cant be it. like surely it cant.
so when we're about to go home, THE FCKING FLOWER SHOWS UP WITH SANS AND HE FCKING KILLS US AND THE GAME CRASHES???? THAT IS SO FUCKING COOL. I WAS LITERALLY IN SHOCK- I KID YOU NOT.
but oh my god. the hopes and dreams scene.
THE HOPES AND DREAMS SCENE. HOLY FUCK. MY HEART. I WAS SCREAMING.
IT WAS SO FCKING COOL. THE WAY OUR SOULS DANCED TOGETHER. MY GOD. THE WAY WE REACHED OUT TO HIM AND CALLED FOR HIM. HOYL FCUCCKKCK SJFBDBJ. oh my god.
and then at the end where there was nothing and he whispered that code to us- THE GAME CLOSES AGAIN. AND IM LIKE WHAT THE FUCK. AND THEN FLOWEY IS THERE.
ah shit. here we go again.
3RD ROUTE
okay for this one- i think i got confused. i think i ended up actually playing the secret ending where you go on a date with papyrus and give him a smooch at the end? i think thats probably bc i told him i wanted to go on a date instead of doing that battle on the bridge lol. but it was still fun! i considered our kiss at the end like a little platonic kiss and i liked how papyrus felt a connection with us. i did too! it wasn't a romantic one, maybe not even platonic, but it was love- just like papyrus said there was a connection we shared and i loved that. it was just love, pure and simple. i really appreciated that too. then flowey shows up again, we chat, and then he makes his little sassy remarks as usual and then i'm back to the main screen. so now im like huh. well this obviously wasn't the true ending. so i probably needed to fall off the bridge again...
TRUE LOVE ROUTE
okay i think this is called the true love route??
but basically to get it, you have to ask papyrus to continue on with the bridge fight instead of going on a date with him, sans will catch you again when you fall, etc and then once you're alone with him at the restaurant you'll get the chance to tell him the code
and of course, it's i'm the ultimate fartlord. or it was smth like that. but yeah. of course it is.
at first, i was laughing so hard bc of it but then i started to panic bc i was like wait. shit. did he really just prank us with that? like was this whole thing a prank to him?
but then no. he takes us to the judgement hall.
and holy fuck. i was SQUEALING. THIS WAS THE BEST FCKING SCENE EVER. OH MY GOD.
when we kissed 😭😭😭😭 when he admitted he wanted to be our soulmates too!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭 WHEN HE STARTED CRYING 😭😭😭😭😭
that whole scene of us just being there, kissing, and him confessing how much he cares about us.. my god. it was so perfect.
i loved the line where it was like we were "daring the resets to tear us apart" BC THEY COULDNT EVEN STOP OUR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER 😭😭😭😭😭
and then maybe the best moment. when he said our name.
up until then, i don't think anybody had said our name in the game. but when i said "ily" and he replied with "take care of yourself ()" I WAS FUCKING DEAD. LIKE LITERALLY. I CRIED. I SCREAMED. I DID EVERYTHING. WHAT THE FUCK.
i admit, i wish he had said i love you back but i think that was his way of saying i love you.
then the credits showed up. that was fucking incredible. it was so cute. i skipped a little bit ahead and then we got the scene where we laid down with him underneath the stars.
AND WHEN HE MADE THE WISH FOR US TO BE SOULMATES AND HE WAS LIKE "OH IT ALREADY CAME TRUE DIDN'T IT???" OH MY GOD 😭😭😭😭
and then there was just us in the cave and the stars. then "the end" showed up instead of flowey and there was a quit option. holy fuck. so many emotions.
for one, holy shit i did it. sans is finally happy and i got the true(at least i think it is) ending.
but everything else. oh my god. sans loves me 😭 i love sans. this reminded me why sans is my favorite character of all time. you've shown me why i'm still so in love with him since 2015 😭😭😭 why i still love this game and these characters. they're home. and this also felt like home too.
this was... fucking amazing. ik i'm probably bugging you with this long-ass review and for that i do sincerely apologize but i felt like writing one this long was the least that i could do for such an amazing game like this. the fact that it was free too?? and so much time and effort and love and care went into it??
it was just. so amazing. i know i'm repetetive but my god. so amazing 😭 i love you and i love sans and i just loved it. i really did. thank you so much. that was fantastic.
Now I guess the only route left would be the Genocide Route??? Which I might try even tho I kind of don't want to spoil our happy ending 😭😭😭 it's like the same thing with Undertale- of course I don't want to ruin our happy life but at the same time I wanna see what will happen... 😔 but anyway, I will most likely write another review about the Genocide route when I do it!!!
Again, so sorry for such a long review. But what you have made was really remarkable and just so amazing and incredible. Thank you so much. I really, truly did enjoy it. Thank you ❤️❤️❤️.
Thank you sooooo much for taking the time to write your thoughts on the VN!! ;n; Please don't apologize for writing a long comment! It always makes me absolutely thrilled to get these kinds of comments! I read every word you wrote and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!
I'm really glad you loved the illustration I commissioned from my friend, Mmishee! I saw examples of their work and knew right away I wanted them to draw a poster for the game!
And I'm glad you liked the artwork in the intro! That I drew myself! Though I struggled a bit, I really wanted to do all the in-game illustrations and sprites myself! :) And I'm glad you liked all the cool little coding things I put in the game, too!
!!! SPOILERS
I'm so glad that you thought that Sans was written well. I really strived to make him as close to the funny skeleton we all know and love (with a SOULmate twist, of course!) But of course, I had to add a little flirty flair via the MTT Resort comedy routine. ;) And I'm glad you thought I re-created the vibe of Undertale! I really wanted to re-create that feeling of the Underground as best as I could!
It seems that you found the secret route by resetting the second time! And that's a really cute way to interpret that route with Papyrus! I wanted to make sure the other skelebro got some love, too!
I did want to mention, however, after the Hopes and Dreams segment when you load up the game again and Flowey talks about giving you a SAVE file... he actually does do that. It's the SAVE file called "Sans Reservations." And that would've taken you directly to the end of the True Love route and to the part of MTT Resort where you can tell him the secret codeword. :D You eventually found it, you just took a little detour! And there's nothing wrong with that, either! It means you got to spend time with Papyrus more, too!
That scene in the judgment hall was probably the first scene I wrote and the first scene I imagined when I was in the writing process of Dating Start! I wanted it to feel like a release of all the emotions that have been building up to that point. And the "daring the resets to try and tear you apart" was one of my favorite lines to write. :)
Good luck if you to the True LOVE/No Love (Genocide) route! I don't want to say any more about it. You understand, I'm sure. =)
Thank you again for writing your thoughts on the VN and for playing it! I'm glad it warmed your heart with love.
I just realized I never answered your question about the player's dream! There's a reason for the order.
1.) First scare - the fear of getting hurt (emotionally)
2.) Plunging into water, clarity in the snow and rain- pushing past the fear, plunging into love and being comforted by it
3.) Second scare - turning your back on the comfort and love and taking a more violent path
Just like Undertale, I expect most players to experience Dating Start! in that order. Act One (Common Route) --> True Love --> No Love (if they so choose)
So the dream, though only detailing vague images and feelings, will foretell the same. :)
I'm glad you loved the VN! And I wish we could do that too! But I did feel it was just right to end it there. Gives the right amount of longing at the end. <3
And we can always take them all to the surface in our minds. ;n;
Thank you so much for playing! I'm glad that you were blushing while playing! It means I crafted the scenes just right! >:3 And it's always fun to see others filling in the crossword for fun LOL Especially because of that one particular word that doesn't necessarily fit properly hahaha
hey! Before I ask you how I can get through the secret ending, I will say that this game made me remember the feelings that I had when I played undertale, thanks again for your work, good luck to you))
Thank you so much for playing! I'm glad it gave you those feelings!
!! SPOILERS
To get to the secret route, you have to reset and play Act Two again. And then you have to say "Go on a date" when the time comes. Then you'll be on the secret route. There's only one "ending."
Thank you for your help, but I just realized that I had already passed it ghm, it's rather strange, but I felt like a villainess when I started freaking with sans brother and it made me very funny feelings -3-
Hey! I just finished your game and really enjoyed it. I loved the way you wrote the characters and all the interactions felt really accurate and genuine to the original props to that.
I really want to access the music room but I needed to reinstall my game after the true LOVE play through. is there a way to find the links in the files?
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for playing!! :)
You can't see all the music in the music room unless you play through again and unlock everything. However, there is a playlist that was made online of most of the music in the game! (The only song missing is "Confessions".)
Heya Cho Crow The Skeleton Here I Want To Say Trough My Heart and Soul Dating Start Was Indeed The Greatest VN I Have Ever Play Thank you for Your Hard Determination.
Oh Yeah I Forgot Tibia Honest With you Buddy That Will Sound Stupid But uh Is There Will Another one Like This In Underfell or Underswap or Other Aus?.
Hey Derpychocho! I recommended a friend of mine to play your game, but somehow they encountered an error while trying to extract the file. I'm commenting on their behalf. Here's what they said:
"So keep in mind my laptop is an old version of Windows 7. I downloaded the game from the site: itch.io Transferred the zip file to a folder. Extracted the zip file inside that folder (I named DatingStart) While extracting, the window popped up saying access denied. Opening the game icon lead me to this:
=My friend really wants to try playing the game. I hope you can tell how he can fix it. Cuz I honestly don't know how to help them.:)
I'm sorry to hear your friend is having trouble! :( The only thing I can think of is that when that "access denied" message appears while unzipping, it missed some files. Could I maybe have a screencap of the inside of that "DatingStart" folder?
I would recommend trying to right-click the unzipped folder and unzipping without using WinRAR, too.
They can also feel free to email me via derpychocho [at] gmail.com. I'm sorry if my replies will be rather slow! But I'll do what I can to help! :)
Update!! Thanks for your help!^-^ What my friend needed to do was just extract the zip file WITHOUT moving it into another folder. They're currently playing your VN now. He'll leave a review here too. Thanks for replying to my comment<3
I'm glad he was able to figure it out! I hope he enjoys playing! Also, there's never any obligation to leave a comment about it! I'm just happy you liked it enough to recommend it! :)
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧OMG I just played this 4 hrs straight till 2 AM lol. Amazing! This is one of the best Undertale fangame visual novels I've ever played! I really enjoyed it^^
I actually expected this game to just be a cheesy and funny visual novel but I was pleasantly surprised. I absolutely LOVE the artwork/CGs you made! I love how well you were able to present sans and everyone else so much in character! It was a really great experience.
As of now, I was only able to finish the True Love route(?) is that what it's called? lol. Everyone was so sweet and wholesome I couldn't stop giggling every time sans makes a pun(◍＞◡＜◍)⋈。✧♡ and how everyone reacted. My first playthrough really made me feel like I was in the game, and I became attached to the characters. I'm hesitating whether or not I should do the genocide route since I'm already satisfied by the ending and I don't want to take sans and everyone's happiness away ಥ_ಥ. I plan to replay soon^^
Your VN got me back to my old sans fangirl phase from 3 years ago. For a skeleton, sans...is really charming here. Playing was super "pun" ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I can tell how much love and effort you placed into this passion project^^ And I absolutely LOVEd playing it!
Thank you so much for playing and for leaving a comment! I'm glad that you enjoyed my passion project! And I'm glad you fell back in love with Sans. >:3 Honestly, I just wanted to share the way I see (and love) Sans with everyone else. And it makes me happy to see you had a skele-TON of fun!
To answer your question, yes! It's called "True Love." There are three routes in total: "True Love," "True LOVE (No Love)," and the "Secret Route." You'll find the Secret Route just by playing again. I won't give away any more than that. :)
Also, that hesitation you have to go back and play the geno/no love route.... it means I did my job. >:D
Okay so I was able to finish the secret route^^ it was really cute and fun. But I felt guilty when flowey called me out lmaoo. Will probably do the True LOVE route next ;)
Thank you for making this VN derpychocho^^ Looking forward to your future projects<3
I have not played the game yet, and I will come back later with some feedback. The reason I'm commenting right now is that I only wanted to say how happy I am to be in such a proactive fandom tha creates content of this amazing universe that Toby Fox has created that is Undertale. I am grateful for this kind of effort people do, and I will seek to support it with all I have.
I'm in the half of it. Got no advices. My heart is experimenting way too strong emotions, wich is exactly what I was looking for. I shall return tomorrow, when I have calmed down.
Ok I finished. So let's make the feedback I wanted to make:
I had never seen a fangame that captures the scence of Undertale so good. It's not only copying what made Undertale unique, but adapting it to the own game. I can understand now why there is no more love interests other than sans and it is because the whole story includes things that only sans can understand, because he is the hardest to conqueer due to his lack of confidence based on all he knows and all he fears. The resests, the timelines, everything makes him fear and you have to get through all of that.
In resume: I was looking for a simple dating game to pass time, and you gave me a whole experience. I will not forget this just like other dating visual novels.
Sadly, I consider that is it's weakest point, and I would like it to be considered.
I'm not surprised that everyone came for a simple dating visual novel and ended up with a whole experience. All I have said before with timelines, resets and how is sans the hardest to be with is something I would like to see on the future advertising of this game. It's like buying a meal that sounds plain and simple and get something amazing for lunch. That makes the costumer happily surprised and would be dumb of him to complain. That makes, of course, a lot other costumers to miss the experience because they think the meal is plain even though it isn't.
I hope that feedback helps. I'm saving this experience in a special zone of my heart.
Personal experience:
I DID NOT return to the game after the good ending. I erased the game and everything, and that is not because I'm a good person. It's for the same reason I stay away of gore videos: for my mental health.
I SHALL NOT BE FLOWEY'S TOOL OK? STAY AWAY OF MY HUNNIE BUN
HAPPILY EVER AFTER MOTHERFUCKERS
That's all. Thank you for reading.
Ah, I forgot something: HOW DO I DONATE TO THIS MASTERPIECE??
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and for playing the game! I'm glad that you enjoyed it! And I'm glad you understand why Sans is the only true love interest in this. Rather than being an otome where you can pick from multiple love interests, I wanted it to be more of a character exploration of Sans with a focus on love. And I'm glad that it pleasantly surprised you. I'll be honest, I do consider advertising exactly what happens and how you have to dig deeper. But at the same time, I do like being able to pleasantly surprise everyone. Perhaps a balance where I try to hint that there's more than what the surface might show.
LOL Happily ever after! It's always so interesting to me to see whether or not people do the No Love route, consider it, or outright refuse to! I'm glad you were satisfied with your happy ending!
And in regards to donating, I truly appreciate the thought! Thank you! However, I decided not to open donations for this. I'm honestly just happy that I was able to finish my passion project and that so many people liked it! That, in and of itself, warms my heart with love.
I understand your choice about donations, and I am very grateful as well to be able to play such a masterpiece. For the advertising, I do agree that a balance would be the best. Thank you very much for replying, and be sure I'll be here to support all your future projects as long as I live.
hi, i was wondering on how to actually defeat sans in his last phase where he’s well asleep, the only button available is “mercy” and i have tried playing through other routes to see if he would change but hasnt, so my question is: is sans beatable? Or to actually beat him do i have to wait an incredibly long time?
Hi there! Yes, there is a way to defeat Sans. If you pay attention to his dialogue right before he falls asleep, he hints as to what to do. All you need to beat him is on that screen.
--FIGHT SPOILERS--
Click and drag the dialogue box at the bottom. You'll see that there's something hiding there.
Hi !! ^^ I really loved this game like so so much so thank you !
And I have a little question ?
-Spoiler I guess-
After the ending where Chara take our soul, is it possible to do a true love route after ? Because I keep restarting and getting the true LOVE route because Chara not allowed me to spare Sans... '^^
(And sorry if it's not really understable or if I made mistakes, english is not my first language '^^)
Hi! I hope i dont disturb, but when i tried to start up the game it says that windows protected my pc and that running the game would put my pc in risk
No you're no disturbing at all! Quite a few people have experienced this as well. But I assure you that there's nothing harmful about it! Some PCs are protective when it comes to VNs made in Ren'Py.
When that message appears, if you click "More Info", you'll get the button that says "Run anyway".
God, I played this game last night and I stayed till 4:40am and I couldn't help but FEEL SO MUCH, I cried with Toriel's dialogues and it makes me feel kinda embarassed lol but the whole true love route felt like heaven, I never thought of Sans as a husbando but this game??? this game made me LOVE HIM. SO MUCH.
- SPOILERS -
Oh I loved him so much, but it broke my heart to kill him twice to get both the LOVE route and the true love route after the LOVE route. Whenever I have time I will download the game again so I can leave it at just the true love route.
p.d. I got the secret route while trying to get the LOVE route, it was awesome when Flowey said that I cheated on Sans with his own brother I didn't expect it at all lol
I'm happy to hear that the VN pulled you in!! And I'm glad Sans' charm hooked you! ;D
-SPOILERS-
I'm sorry it broke your heart! But I suppose that is the price to pay for True LOVE. And yes, that little quip in the secret route. Flowey is not very nice, is he?
Thank you so much for playing and for taking the time to leave a comment! I'm glad it warmed your heart with love.
Hi I am so excited to play this, I am playing Undertale again and I do visual novels and other games usually too so when I found this I knew I had to play it. I'm really excited to see how things happen because I am horrible at wooing the skeleton.
Hi there! Thank you for recording your playthrough! I'm always thrilled to watch these! :D I hope you enjoy playing! And I look forward to seeing the next videos come out! Also, don't worry too much about wooing him. As Sans said, "just say and do what feels right." :)
hia :) i was replaying the game and once i got to floweys darkness a message came up and when i press ignore it stays there and when i press roleback it just closes my game ive tryed deleting the game and re-downloding it but the same message just comes up. i dont know how to fix this since now i cant play the game at all.
Hi! I'm sorry you encounter that error! Thank you for providing the screenshot, that really helps me! I'll see if I can recreate it on my end.
In the meantime, you will have to delete everything to start a blank slate, unfortunately.
I have a post on how to do that here. The only difference is that you will be deleting the folders titled "DatingStartVN-1.0.2-pc" and "DatingStartVN-102".
Hi, so I played a bunch of routes of the game and it's a lot of fun, but I'ma kinda stuck.... I wanna get the True LOVE ending (genocide) but I can't seem to get the last combination... Maybe a bit of help?
I created a walkthrough for the True LOVE ending. My suggestion would be to follow this list one-by-one, even if you think you did a combination already. Good luck =)
wahh this is a wonderful game! My friend suggested me to play it and it really warmed my heart. Tysm for making this, I heard it took you a long time to do so so i hope ur taking rest! Can I ask,, if i reset after i reached the very ending, what would happen? ;v; I'm scared and i feel bad about thinking about doing it for some reason, because i'm scared if it might hurt sans or cause flowey to create havoc, so thats why i am asking, if you dont mind! X,D
I'm glad the game warmed your heart! Thank you for playing it! And yes, I'm definitely enjoying a good rest!
!! SPOILERS !!
If you RESET after the very end, Sans won't be hurt... so long as you choose not to use the knife and FIGHT. In order to get a bad ending, you have to hurt everyone on purpose. So don't worry if you're going to RESET! Just resist the temptation to FIGHT, and nothing bad will happen! :)
Made this account just to leave a comment here. This game srsly brightened up my day,, nd it was very well made. From the plot, to the art, to everything in general. It's one of the most best Undertale fangames I have ever played, and I am very glad I did. Thank you so much for making this, Creator!! Take some rest, you deserve that. May I ask, after your break ofc (nd no rush!) do u plan to make more Undertale fangames soon? I wish you the best of luck, and I look forward to more of your creations. Take care :]
Thank you for taking the time to make an account just to leave a comment! That means a lot! And thank you for playing! I’m glad to hear it brightened your day!
I do have another Undertale fan VN idea that I’d like to try to develop! But it may also take two years to make. Maybe more. ^^; I’m definitely going to enjoy my break until I get back at it! Thank you for the good luck wishes!
No problem at all :D And take your time! After all, all the great things take alot of time :] Breaks are top priorities anyways! And no problem again, ty for taking time to reply to this!
this made my day, im glad i decided to look at undertale fangames today. i legit almost started crying at the end this was so cute shdggehwsh. good job, its well made
Ok, so I played this game with my friends, and we voice acted the characters, and at first we though this would be like a tipical dating game, but this game blew our minds! The music was amazingly picked, the art was breath-taking, and don't even get me started on the whole plot! Honestly the best visual novel game, and an undertale fangame I have ever played. I'd love to see more from you!
I'm glad it was a pleasant surprise! Thank you for playing and for taking the time to comment! It really means a lot that you liked it so much! And once I'm out of my dev break, I'd love to make more VNs, for sure!
This game was amazing!! A genuinely well written visual novel with beautiful art!! I'm unfortunately on a mac though so I never figured out how to fully reset my game lol
I finally scrounged up my old PC in the closet just so I could play this, took me a good 30 minutes to set it up but it was so worth it! The art, the choices, puzzles, puns, everything was just so fantastically made for a great experience!
I can't even count how many times I laughed, wheezed, and got embarrassed even at this. It was everything I had hoped for and more! If I could rate this, I'd give it 5 stars a million times.
Thank you so much for making this, and it's amazing in every way possible!
I’m so glad you got a chance to play it! And thank you for going through the trouble to play it!! I’m happy you enjoyed the VN!
And I’m glad that you had a good experience! I tried my best to send the player through a wide range of feelings. So I’m glad to see you experienced them!
Thank you again for playing and for taking the time to leave a comment!
Yooo this is so well made im crying rn aidhwdb :'), Great game tho, im im srsly in emotional pain how can i reset everything after the genocide run because iT hUrTs when i did it :'), tho even when i delete and re-install it and extract it, it wont go back- its just a black screen, pls im desperate on fixing my mistAkes :'D
If you're seeing the black screen when you open the game, you have to wait a bit until Chara speaks to you. That will give you an option to restore the world. After you give Chara your SOUL, the game will crash and then open back up again so you can replay it.
Hi! I started playing the game last week and oh boy it's so good! I love every single scene in this game especially scenes with da boi XD I don't how many times I played the True Love ending (SO MANY TIMES) and still love it! I even swear to myself to never reset... But then I did and play the secret ending as well as the True LOVE ending because of curiosity. It still hurt ngl but I started playing the True Love route again to ease the pain a little bit. I still have the urge to do True LOVE route again but... maybe another time. I'm afraid I cannot bear the pain.
Spoiler-ish?
I still cannot forget the scenes with sans in True Love ending. At first I was skeptical to choose the kiss option because I'm afraid that it would only made him ignore me or something because it was so sudden XD So, I tried the option in my second run and I CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. It's been almost a week and I still couldn't forget the way he kiss the player in the judgement hall. It ignite something in my heart for this man that I thought were lost last year. This game even encourage me to return to the fandom after almost a year I left.
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for making this amazing game. I love you and please stay safe! Now excuse me, I'm going replay the True Love route again...
Ahhhhh! Thank you for playing!! ^^ I'm glad that you liked all the scenes! Also, I'm sorry True LOVE hurts, but I suppose that means it does its job. :)
SPOILERS (to be sure)!
And I'm glad you liked that final kiss in Last Corridor! I had both kissing and not kissing options just in case there were players that wanted a more platonic kind of option. :) And I really wanted that last scene to be a big explosion of all the emotions being felt throughout the entire visual novel. To be honest, I basically took my own SOUL and the emotions I felt and poured everything onto the page. I'm so glad that the emotions reached you. :) Thank you so much again for playing and for taking the time to comment! You stay safe, too!
I don't plan to port it to mobile, as I don't have a way of testing it. If I can test in the future, then maybe. But for right now, I will not port it.
I just recently played this game and oh my goodness! you did a spectacular job on this, not only is it visually well done but you portrayed the Undertale characters so well. While I was playing I went through so many emotions but I couldn't stop smiling and laughing. I can't imagine the hard work you must had to go through to see this project through, All I can say is that you did amazing and that I'm looking forward to seeing more of whatever else you come up with, cause you are so talented and just wow. Thank you for making this game ^^
Thank you so much for your comments!! I'm really glad that the emotions reached you! And thank you for playing!! It's always wonderful to see people enjoying my silly passion project! And I definitely hope to make more VNs in the future, both Undertale and not! :D
I think this can only be played if you have Linux for Chromebook. But I'm not really sure how that works. Other than that, it's only PC/Mac/Linux, sorry!
← Return to visual novel
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This is such a delightful gem of a game! You really caught the spirit of Undertale. I loved all the little details included and the attention paid to the supporting characters. One of my very favorite moments was Toriel's reassurance after the player confesses their nightmare - so touching! Like Undertale, the thing that takes the most determination with this game is putting it down after a happy ending. <3
Thanks so much and well done!!!
Thank you so much for playing!! I'm glad you could feel the Undertale spirit! That's something I really strived for! And the Act Two Toriel scenes were one of my favorite moments, too. :) I wanted to make sure the supporting cast also got their moments!
I loved it so much.
I wasn't able to go through the Genocide route in Undertale -I was feeling sooo guilty when I tried, I swear It's so difficult for me to be mean in games XD -but somehow I did it for your game, I was too damn curious. I did a True love -> Secret ending -> True LOVE -> True love ( =) ) run. And it was so good.
I mean, yeah I may have possibly been on the verge of crying a little in the end of the second True love Run, who knows, YOU DON'T HAVE ANY PROOF OKAY.
It hit hard, guiltiness was all over my kokoro and it's exactly why you have done a wonderful job !
Thank you for making this game, I'm sure everybody who played it can tell how much passion you put into it <3
PS : I was wondering how much time it took you to make it ?
Also I'm sorry if I made any mistakes with my english ~
Thank you for playing and for commenting! And don't be sorry! Your English is perfect! Also, I won't tell anyone if you almost cried with True love =) It makes me happy to know you felt the emotions I had while making it.
And I'm so happy you could sense the passion I poured into it. It took me 2 years to make this visual novel! :)
I downloaded it. I played it. I got the True Love route. I love it. I love you for making it. Oh my god. I'm crying about it and I love it. I love you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I made an account just for this. I love it. Thank you.
I'm so glad that you enjoyed it and that the emotions reached you! And it means a lot that you made an account just to comment! Thank you so much for playing! Stay determined 🤍
I think this contains minor SPOILERS? So just a heads-up???
So I finished playing through the True LOVE route and then replayed the good sh*t™ route again last night to feel better after and like...
You're so thurough?? And I applaud you!!
But oh my god--- My heart-----
I've never seen a fan game that goes to this extent and I didn't expect it at all when getting into it so I was very scared to find out just how much impact my decisions made.......... (I never played genocide in Undertale cus I have big problems with consequences like these in games so I only watch playthroughs cus I'm way too curious for my own good--- OTL
I would've liked a bigger warning of just how impactful the choices are but I also have myself to blame for not keeping as open a mind when playing these types of games as I will in the future)
g o d . . .
I don't regret playing through every single route at all but I'm gonna need to get to my next therapy session FAST now kjsfhskjdfhksjdg
Thank you for all the hard work you put into it, I bet it's given a lot of people a really enjoyable experience (like it has me) and it's so thurough it feels like a stand-alone game!! which is INSANE with it being FREE!!!
It's clear how much you care about the project and gave it your all and I'm really happy to have gotten to experience something like this!!!
Over-all amazing game!! 10/10, definitely recommend it!!!
Thank you so much!! I'm sorry that a certain part caught you off guard. But I'm very happy that you enjoyed the experience all the same! And I'm glad that the emotions reached you! I just wanted to share this story and my love for the characters. And I'm always so happy to see others have enjoyed it so much!
Thank you again for playing and for taking the time to share your thoughts! Take care and stay determined!
https://itch.io/post/2792964
I just finished the papyrus route and it's so spot on! and so cute! I love papyrus so much and this made my heart melt in all the best ways.
and fuck you flowey you can't make me feel bad for wanting to go on a date with papyrus.
I'm glad you enjoyed the Papyrus secret route! Thank you for playing!
🚫Spoilers for like this whole thing, you've been warned🚫
AAAAHHH This game was really amazing, I loved playing it and the resetting to progress feature is really cool. Tbh I was surprised in the first part that I couldn't get sans but on the second one GOD, it hit me like a truck when sans finally became my soulmate...the scene was so cute and I was literally so happy.....then I remembered the knife and me being the curious person/completionist I am wanted to try out everything....I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. After fighting sans and winning, I faced Chara, mind you I knew what was gonna happen BUT AFTER I TRIED TO GET A TRUE LOVE ENDING AGAIN....I really yelled NO when I saw the red text appear and now....I'm really sad I did genocide and I tried to follow the steps to fully reset and start off blank but It doesn't seem to be working for me, did something change or is it no longer possible to get rid of Chara?
Thank you sooooo much for playing and for your kind words! I'm really happy that you enjoyed it! Also, regarding that certain part at the end, I'm glad it caught you off guard >:)
In regards to resetting, it is still possible to clean slate the game. I only have the instructions for Windows, however. Did you make sure to delete both "DatingStartVN-1.0.2-pc" and "DatingStartVN-102" folders? After that you'll need a new copy of the VN.
https://itch.io/post/2792964
I can't seem to find the appdata file, I do have windows though.
How strange you're not finding the "DatingStartVN-102" folder. Is there anything in the appdata/renpy folder at all? Or is it empty?
You can email me at derpychocho@gmail.com if you want to send screenshots.
Unfortunately it doesn't seem like I have the appdata folder at all, which is really weird, I tried to search for it but nothing seems to pop up
Your appdata folder might be a hidden folder! You might have to show the hidden items/folders in order to find it.
OH. MY. GOD
OH. MY. GOD
okay. okay. let me try to collect my thoughts. okay. okay. take a deep breathe, floralska. get it together.
before i get into my spoiler review: to anybody whose reading this right now stop what you're doing and go download the game. treat it like you did with undertale: absolutely do not read anything about it, don't go on tumblr, twitter, youtube, and especially don't scroll further down this comment section since you will be spoiled. just download it right now and PLAY. THIS. GAME.
EVEN IF YOU AREN'T A FANGIRL/FANBOY OF SANS OR EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY ROMANTIC INTEREST IN HIM AT ALL PLAY. THE GAME. ANYWAY. TRUST ME. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT.
PLAY THIS GAME. IT IS AMAZING, HEARTWARMING, WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH AND CRY, WILL MAKE YOU FEEL NOSTALGIC, WILL GIVE YOU ALL THE BEST FEELS, AND ITS JUST SO PERFECT. 10/10. PLEASE PLAY IT!!!
okay now that's out of the way... onto the spoiler-specific review... (that is also long as hell btw, i do apologize in advance)
!!SPOILERS AHEAD!! PLEASE PLAY THE GAME BEFORE LOOKING AT THIS!!!
okay. holy fucking shit. this game. what the fuck.
this morning, i was just scrolling through the sans undertale tag on twitter and then i find this GORGEOUS artwork of sans for this sans dating game.
now, i think i've seen a pretty fair amount of sans dating games before but i've never actually tried them. from my understanding, they've all been really good quality, as most ut fangames are but like i said never tried them before.
but this artwork it's just so gorgeous and there's a link to the game underneath it and the game is free. so i'm like "yeah why not, got nothing else better to do, let me procrastinate doing school work and see what this game is all about."
holy. fucking hell.
i mean like. the quality of it. right off the bat we get the ut intro and im already like awwwwww look at the artwork. it's so cute! and frisk and asgore 🥺🥺🥺🥺 the callbacks r great. i really like how reminiscent of undertale it is? i mean like- yeah DUH it's going to be reminiscent of undertale bc its literally a fangame for it but sometimes certain fangames just don't really get the... vibe of undertale you know? but this one does and we're not even in the game yet
then we get to name the human! and by that point, i was really happy bc yes holy shit a sans dating game where we are NOT frisk!!! so nice for a change
we go to the ruins, we see our bff flowey. the way that we got to interact with the game was so cool as well! like the choices were presented with dialogue but it was so cool seeing the animations of our actions play out on the screen, like watching our soul dodge the pellets.
i like how we're introduced to sans right away. i was so hype when i saw him (and tbh was super hype throughout the rest of the game anyway). right away i could tell the writing in this game was going to be great bc of the way you wrote sans!!!
and let me tell you- that is not an easy feat. i've seen a lot of ut fan content where sans just... doesn't seem right u know? like it is very, very hard to write his character and get his dialogue right. especially when you're putting HIM into a romantic-centric game??? i'll put more on sans later, but again. right from his introduction, i could already tell you're one of those writers who understand him and will do his justice.
so we go to tori's house and her reading the story to us was very sweet 🥺 her eyes blinked too and i thought that was super cool. u guys put so much thought into all of this- with the sprites and animations and everything it's just.. so awesome.
and then papyrus showed up!! and he was adorable. my dumbass got stuck on the puzzle bc i wasnt paying that much attention but i figured it out eventually 😭 then we got to the crosswords and sans again!! he takes us to grillby and all the interactions he has with the people at the bar... i was like yes thats my man look how popular he is 😎😎
the interactions we have with him- they r little and subtle enough that it helps it all feel so natural. it feels like falling in love with someone who, even though you've never met before, you knew right away that you would love them with all your heart. the little moments r just so tender and sweet.
i think eventually we do meet undyne and alphys, then sans takes us to see his telescope, and then we go to the mtt restaurant to go do his stand up.
bruh. this man. when he was talking about how good he was in bed and LOOKED AT US i literally screamed. i had to walk around my room. THIS MAN.
then we get to the table scene and I WAS LITERALLY SO HYPE so i just straight up told him that i loved him
WHEN HE BLUSHED LET ME TELL U I FCKING DIED SJSJSJJS
but then the game ends and floweys there so im like ah shit. here we go again.
2ND ROUTE
so i played through the 2nd route? (im not sure what its called)
it was obviously different from the first bc uhhh WE GOT A KNIFE. AND NOW THERES A OPTION TO FIGHT??
so this was the part where i figured there'd be a geno route and holy hell that is so fucking cool???? WHAT UNDERTALE SANS DATING VISUAL NOVEL INCORPORATES ALL THE ELEMENTS AND THEMES OF UNDERTALE IN IT???? LIKE WHAT THE FUCK THAT IS SO BADASS!!!
the dream was interesting too. obviously i know that it represents us doing genocide, but was there any other meaning to it? in the dream it was like at first we were scared, then there was a brief moment of clarity where we felt cool, then we felt scared again and there was the smell of blood, floweys laugh, and then we woke up. i wonder why it was in that specific order. hmm...
but right now im like okay im not here to kill anybody, i'm just trying to see whats new and try and get more closer to the characters cause in the last route i didn't really get the chance. the characters all notice that we're bored and it looks like we've done this before which, again, so fucking badass.
the bridge scene was amazing- i loved how sans caught us and how we just layed in the snow and oh my goodddd when i saw that close up i fucking died and went to heaven. omg.
the soul scenes too were amazing. i like how we could pick which ones we thought represented us. i chose bravery. also- the soulmates concepts? that is so fcking cool. honestly it's like so clever and presented so well that it feels canon to the actual game.
this whole route felt a lot more personal than the 1st one. we spend a lot more time with sans and all it feels very deja vu which he comments on a lot. it felt like our bond and connection was already there and that we could feel it both. i loved that. even with the other characters too!!! we got to spend so much more time with them and it felt like we were actually forming bonds- i was falling in love with them all too just in a platonic sense. i guess i was soulmates with them too.
then finally, i got to the table scene, SANS REJECTS ME AGAIN, and im like no what the fuck that cant be it. like surely it cant.
so when we're about to go home, THE FCKING FLOWER SHOWS UP WITH SANS AND HE FCKING KILLS US AND THE GAME CRASHES???? THAT IS SO FUCKING COOL. I WAS LITERALLY IN SHOCK- I KID YOU NOT.
but oh my god. the hopes and dreams scene.
THE HOPES AND DREAMS SCENE. HOLY FUCK. MY HEART. I WAS SCREAMING.
IT WAS SO FCKING COOL. THE WAY OUR SOULS DANCED TOGETHER. MY GOD. THE WAY WE REACHED OUT TO HIM AND CALLED FOR HIM. HOYL FCUCCKKCK SJFBDBJ. oh my god.
and then at the end where there was nothing and he whispered that code to us- THE GAME CLOSES AGAIN. AND IM LIKE WHAT THE FUCK. AND THEN FLOWEY IS THERE.
ah shit. here we go again.
3RD ROUTE
okay for this one- i think i got confused. i think i ended up actually playing the secret ending where you go on a date with papyrus and give him a smooch at the end? i think thats probably bc i told him i wanted to go on a date instead of doing that battle on the bridge lol. but it was still fun! i considered our kiss at the end like a little platonic kiss and i liked how papyrus felt a connection with us. i did too! it wasn't a romantic one, maybe not even platonic, but it was love- just like papyrus said there was a connection we shared and i loved that. it was just love, pure and simple. i really appreciated that too. then flowey shows up again, we chat, and then he makes his little sassy remarks as usual and then i'm back to the main screen. so now im like huh. well this obviously wasn't the true ending. so i probably needed to fall off the bridge again...
TRUE LOVE ROUTE
okay i think this is called the true love route??
but basically to get it, you have to ask papyrus to continue on with the bridge fight instead of going on a date with him, sans will catch you again when you fall, etc and then once you're alone with him at the restaurant you'll get the chance to tell him the code
and of course, it's i'm the ultimate fartlord. or it was smth like that. but yeah. of course it is.
at first, i was laughing so hard bc of it but then i started to panic bc i was like wait. shit. did he really just prank us with that? like was this whole thing a prank to him?
but then no. he takes us to the judgement hall.
and holy fuck. i was SQUEALING. THIS WAS THE BEST FCKING SCENE EVER. OH MY GOD.
when we kissed 😭😭😭😭 when he admitted he wanted to be our soulmates too!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭 WHEN HE STARTED CRYING 😭😭😭😭😭
that whole scene of us just being there, kissing, and him confessing how much he cares about us.. my god. it was so perfect.
i loved the line where it was like we were "daring the resets to tear us apart" BC THEY COULDNT EVEN STOP OUR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER 😭😭😭😭😭
and then maybe the best moment. when he said our name.
up until then, i don't think anybody had said our name in the game. but when i said "ily" and he replied with "take care of yourself ()" I WAS FUCKING DEAD. LIKE LITERALLY. I CRIED. I SCREAMED. I DID EVERYTHING. WHAT THE FUCK.
i admit, i wish he had said i love you back but i think that was his way of saying i love you.
then the credits showed up. that was fucking incredible. it was so cute. i skipped a little bit ahead and then we got the scene where we laid down with him underneath the stars.
AND WHEN HE MADE THE WISH FOR US TO BE SOULMATES AND HE WAS LIKE "OH IT ALREADY CAME TRUE DIDN'T IT???" OH MY GOD 😭😭😭😭
and then there was just us in the cave and the stars. then "the end" showed up instead of flowey and there was a quit option. holy fuck. so many emotions.
for one, holy shit i did it. sans is finally happy and i got the true(at least i think it is) ending.
but everything else. oh my god. sans loves me 😭 i love sans. this reminded me why sans is my favorite character of all time. you've shown me why i'm still so in love with him since 2015 😭😭😭 why i still love this game and these characters. they're home. and this also felt like home too.
this was... fucking amazing. ik i'm probably bugging you with this long-ass review and for that i do sincerely apologize but i felt like writing one this long was the least that i could do for such an amazing game like this. the fact that it was free too?? and so much time and effort and love and care went into it??
it was just. so amazing. i know i'm repetetive but my god. so amazing 😭 i love you and i love sans and i just loved it. i really did. thank you so much. that was fantastic.
Now I guess the only route left would be the Genocide Route??? Which I might try even tho I kind of don't want to spoil our happy ending 😭😭😭 it's like the same thing with Undertale- of course I don't want to ruin our happy life but at the same time I wanna see what will happen... 😔 but anyway, I will most likely write another review about the Genocide route when I do it!!!
Again, so sorry for such a long review. But what you have made was really remarkable and just so amazing and incredible. Thank you so much. I really, truly did enjoy it. Thank you ❤️❤️❤️.
Thank you sooooo much for taking the time to write your thoughts on the VN!! ;n; Please don't apologize for writing a long comment! It always makes me absolutely thrilled to get these kinds of comments! I read every word you wrote and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it!
I'm really glad you loved the illustration I commissioned from my friend, Mmishee! I saw examples of their work and knew right away I wanted them to draw a poster for the game!
And I'm glad you liked the artwork in the intro! That I drew myself! Though I struggled a bit, I really wanted to do all the in-game illustrations and sprites myself! :) And I'm glad you liked all the cool little coding things I put in the game, too!
!!! SPOILERS
I'm so glad that you thought that Sans was written well. I really strived to make him as close to the funny skeleton we all know and love (with a SOULmate twist, of course!) But of course, I had to add a little flirty flair via the MTT Resort comedy routine. ;) And I'm glad you thought I re-created the vibe of Undertale! I really wanted to re-create that feeling of the Underground as best as I could!
It seems that you found the secret route by resetting the second time! And that's a really cute way to interpret that route with Papyrus! I wanted to make sure the other skelebro got some love, too!
I did want to mention, however, after the Hopes and Dreams segment when you load up the game again and Flowey talks about giving you a SAVE file... he actually does do that. It's the SAVE file called "Sans Reservations." And that would've taken you directly to the end of the True Love route and to the part of MTT Resort where you can tell him the secret codeword. :D You eventually found it, you just took a little detour! And there's nothing wrong with that, either! It means you got to spend time with Papyrus more, too!
That scene in the judgment hall was probably the first scene I wrote and the first scene I imagined when I was in the writing process of Dating Start! I wanted it to feel like a release of all the emotions that have been building up to that point. And the "daring the resets to try and tear you apart" was one of my favorite lines to write. :)
Good luck if you to the True LOVE/No Love (Genocide) route! I don't want to say any more about it. You understand, I'm sure. =)
Thank you again for writing your thoughts on the VN and for playing it! I'm glad it warmed your heart with love.
Stay determined,
Cho 💜
!!! SPOILERS (again)
I just realized I never answered your question about the player's dream! There's a reason for the order.
1.) First scare - the fear of getting hurt (emotionally)
2.) Plunging into water, clarity in the snow and rain- pushing past the fear, plunging into love and being comforted by it
3.) Second scare - turning your back on the comfort and love and taking a more violent path
Just like Undertale, I expect most players to experience Dating Start! in that order. Act One (Common Route) --> True Love --> No Love (if they so choose)
So the dream, though only detailing vague images and feelings, will foretell the same. :)
I loved this so much only one thing I wished for.....
Let me take Sans to the surface somehow and free everyone please ;3;
I'm glad you loved the VN! And I wish we could do that too! But I did feel it was just right to end it there. Gives the right amount of longing at the end. <3
And we can always take them all to the surface in our minds. ;n;
Or sequal o3o? hmmm?
Well, I don't want to make promises I can't keep. :)
But I would love to make another Undertale VN someday!
And I would love to play them! Hope you are doing well tho, and take care of yourself!
Thank you so much for playing! I'm glad that you were blushing while playing! It means I crafted the scenes just right! >:3 And it's always fun to see others filling in the crossword for fun LOL Especially because of that one particular word that doesn't necessarily fit properly hahaha
hey! Before I ask you how I can get through the secret ending, I will say that this game made me remember the feelings that I had when I played undertale, thanks again for your work, good luck to you))
Thank you so much for playing! I'm glad it gave you those feelings!
!! SPOILERS
To get to the secret route, you have to reset and play Act Two again. And then you have to say "Go on a date" when the time comes. Then you'll be on the secret route. There's only one "ending."
Thank you for your help, but I just realized that I had already passed it ghm, it's rather strange, but I felt like a villainess when I started freaking with sans brother and it made me very funny feelings -3-
Hey! I just finished your game and really enjoyed it. I loved the way you wrote the characters and all the interactions felt really accurate and genuine to the original props to that.
I really want to access the music room but I needed to reinstall my game after the true LOVE play through. is there a way to find the links in the files?
I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for playing!! :)
You can't see all the music in the music room unless you play through again and unlock everything. However, there is a playlist that was made online of most of the music in the game! (The only song missing is "Confessions".)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL-GdLU7W1JybqsjlQWCq_0TAVcLV_CJ9
Heya Cho Crow The Skeleton Here I Want To Say Trough My Heart and Soul Dating Start Was Indeed The Greatest VN I Have Ever Play Thank you for Your Hard Determination.
Oh Yeah I Forgot Tibia Honest With you Buddy That Will Sound Stupid But uh Is There Will Another one Like This In Underfell or Underswap or Other Aus?.
If Not Then I don't Want Be Burden on Ya Pal Ok?.
Thank you so much for the comment and for playing through the VN! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
And no, there are no stupid questions! I haven't made any AU VNs, myself. But I know of two that are currently in development:
1.) Bonely Hearts Club by owl-bones is a VN that features a lot of the AU Sans and Papyruses. They released a demo, so you can try it out!
2.) Nightmare Castle by StudioNovella is a VN RPG that features a lot of the AU Sanses. I don't believe there is a demo out yet, however.
Hey Derpychocho! I recommended a friend of mine to play your game, but somehow they encountered an error while trying to extract the file. I'm commenting on their behalf. Here's what they said:
"So keep in mind my laptop is an old version of Windows 7. I downloaded the game from the site: itch.io Transferred the zip file to a folder. Extracted the zip file inside that folder (I named DatingStart) While extracting, the window popped up saying access denied. Opening the game icon lead me to this:
=My friend really wants to try playing the game. I hope you can tell how he can fix it. Cuz I honestly don't know how to help them.:)
I'm sorry to hear your friend is having trouble! :( The only thing I can think of is that when that "access denied" message appears while unzipping, it missed some files. Could I maybe have a screencap of the inside of that "DatingStart" folder?
I would recommend trying to right-click the unzipped folder and unzipping without using WinRAR, too.
They can also feel free to email me via derpychocho [at] gmail.com. I'm sorry if my replies will be rather slow! But I'll do what I can to help! :)
Update!! Thanks for your help!^-^ What my friend needed to do was just extract the zip file WITHOUT moving it into another folder. They're currently playing your VN now. He'll leave a review here too. Thanks for replying to my comment<3
I'm glad he was able to figure it out! I hope he enjoys playing! Also, there's never any obligation to leave a comment about it! I'm just happy you liked it enough to recommend it! :)
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧OMG I just played this 4 hrs straight till 2 AM lol. Amazing! This is one of the best Undertale fangame visual novels I've ever played! I really enjoyed it^^
I actually expected this game to just be a cheesy and funny visual novel but I was pleasantly surprised. I absolutely LOVE the artwork/CGs you made! I love how well you were able to present sans and everyone else so much in character! It was a really great experience.
As of now, I was only able to finish the True Love route(?) is that what it's called? lol. Everyone was so sweet and wholesome I couldn't stop giggling every time sans makes a pun(◍＞◡＜◍)⋈。✧♡ and how everyone reacted. My first playthrough really made me feel like I was in the game, and I became attached to the characters. I'm hesitating whether or not I should do the genocide route since I'm already satisfied by the ending and I don't want to take sans and everyone's happiness away ಥ_ಥ. I plan to replay soon^^
Your VN got me back to my old sans fangirl phase from 3 years ago. For a skeleton, sans...is really charming here. Playing was super "pun" ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I can tell how much love and effort you placed into this passion project^^ And I absolutely LOVEd playing it!
Thank you so much for playing and for leaving a comment! I'm glad that you enjoyed my passion project! And I'm glad you fell back in love with Sans. >:3 Honestly, I just wanted to share the way I see (and love) Sans with everyone else. And it makes me happy to see you had a skele-TON of fun!
To answer your question, yes! It's called "True Love." There are three routes in total: "True Love," "True LOVE (No Love)," and the "Secret Route." You'll find the Secret Route just by playing again. I won't give away any more than that. :)
Also, that hesitation you have to go back and play the geno/no love route.... it means I did my job. >:D
Okay so I was able to finish the secret route^^ it was really cute and fun. But I felt guilty when flowey called me out lmaoo. Will probably do the True LOVE route next ;)
Thank you for making this VN derpychocho^^ Looking forward to your future projects<3
I have not played the game yet, and I will come back later with some feedback. The reason I'm commenting right now is that I only wanted to say how happy I am to be in such a proactive fandom tha creates content of this amazing universe that Toby Fox has created that is Undertale. I am grateful for this kind of effort people do, and I will seek to support it with all I have.
I'm in the half of it. Got no advices. My heart is experimenting way too strong emotions, wich is exactly what I was looking for. I shall return tomorrow, when I have calmed down.
Ok I finished. So let's make the feedback I wanted to make:
I had never seen a fangame that captures the scence of Undertale so good. It's not only copying what made Undertale unique, but adapting it to the own game. I can understand now why there is no more love interests other than sans and it is because the whole story includes things that only sans can understand, because he is the hardest to conqueer due to his lack of confidence based on all he knows and all he fears. The resests, the timelines, everything makes him fear and you have to get through all of that.
In resume: I was looking for a simple dating game to pass time, and you gave me a whole experience. I will not forget this just like other dating visual novels.
Sadly, I consider that is it's weakest point, and I would like it to be considered.
I'm not surprised that everyone came for a simple dating visual novel and ended up with a whole experience. All I have said before with timelines, resets and how is sans the hardest to be with is something I would like to see on the future advertising of this game. It's like buying a meal that sounds plain and simple and get something amazing for lunch. That makes the costumer happily surprised and would be dumb of him to complain. That makes, of course, a lot other costumers to miss the experience because they think the meal is plain even though it isn't.
I hope that feedback helps. I'm saving this experience in a special zone of my heart.
Personal experience:
I DID NOT return to the game after the good ending. I erased the game and everything, and that is not because I'm a good person. It's for the same reason I stay away of gore videos: for my mental health.
I SHALL NOT BE FLOWEY'S TOOL OK? STAY AWAY OF MY HUNNIE BUN
HAPPILY EVER AFTER MOTHERFUCKERS
That's all. Thank you for reading.
Ah, I forgot something: HOW DO I DONATE TO THIS MASTERPIECE??
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and for playing the game! I'm glad that you enjoyed it! And I'm glad you understand why Sans is the only true love interest in this. Rather than being an otome where you can pick from multiple love interests, I wanted it to be more of a character exploration of Sans with a focus on love. And I'm glad that it pleasantly surprised you. I'll be honest, I do consider advertising exactly what happens and how you have to dig deeper. But at the same time, I do like being able to pleasantly surprise everyone. Perhaps a balance where I try to hint that there's more than what the surface might show.
LOL Happily ever after! It's always so interesting to me to see whether or not people do the No Love route, consider it, or outright refuse to! I'm glad you were satisfied with your happy ending!
And in regards to donating, I truly appreciate the thought! Thank you! However, I decided not to open donations for this. I'm honestly just happy that I was able to finish my passion project and that so many people liked it! That, in and of itself, warms my heart with love.
I understand your choice about donations, and I am very grateful as well to be able to play such a masterpiece. For the advertising, I do agree that a balance would be the best. Thank you very much for replying, and be sure I'll be here to support all your future projects as long as I live.
hi, i was wondering on how to actually defeat sans in his last phase where he’s well asleep, the only button available is “mercy” and i have tried playing through other routes to see if he would change but hasnt, so my question is: is sans beatable? Or to actually beat him do i have to wait an incredibly long time?
Hi there! Yes, there is a way to defeat Sans. If you pay attention to his dialogue right before he falls asleep, he hints as to what to do. All you need to beat him is on that screen.
--FIGHT SPOILERS--
Click and drag the dialogue box at the bottom. You'll see that there's something hiding there.
tysm much! I would have never noticed myself!
Hi !! ^^
I really loved this game like so so much so thank you !
And I have a little question ?
-Spoiler I guess-
After the ending where Chara take our soul, is it possible to do a true love route after ?
Because I keep restarting and getting the true LOVE route because Chara not allowed me to spare Sans... '^^
(And sorry if it's not really understable or if I made mistakes, english is not my first language '^^)
Hi! I'm happy you loved the game! Thank you for playing!! ^^ And your English is fine!
- Spoilers-
It is not possible to go back to True Love after Chara takes your SOUL. Chara will force you to betray Sans every time.
If you want to delete your game to download a new one and play again, here's instructions on how to do that: https://itch.io/post/2792964
Hi! I hope i dont disturb, but when i tried to start up the game it says that windows protected my pc and that running the game would put my pc in risk
No you're no disturbing at all! Quite a few people have experienced this as well. But I assure you that there's nothing harmful about it! Some PCs are protective when it comes to VNs made in Ren'Py.
When that message appears, if you click "More Info", you'll get the button that says "Run anyway".
Although i want to know why that message appears, thank you!
I came to this game expecting it to be some kind of troll one, and instead of laughing I ended up crying, this was beautiful
I'm happy it pleasantly surprised you! And I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for playing!!
God, I played this game last night and I stayed till 4:40am and I couldn't help but FEEL SO MUCH, I cried with Toriel's dialogues and it makes me feel kinda embarassed lol but the whole true love route felt like heaven, I never thought of Sans as a husbando but this game??? this game made me LOVE HIM. SO MUCH.
- SPOILERS -
Oh I loved him so much, but it broke my heart to kill him twice to get both the LOVE route and the true love route after the LOVE route. Whenever I have time I will download the game again so I can leave it at just the true love route.
p.d. I got the secret route while trying to get the LOVE route, it was awesome when Flowey said that I cheated on Sans with his own brother I didn't expect it at all lol
I'm happy to hear that the VN pulled you in!! And I'm glad Sans' charm hooked you! ;D
-SPOILERS-
I'm sorry it broke your heart! But I suppose that is the price to pay for True LOVE. And yes, that little quip in the secret route. Flowey is not very nice, is he?
Thank you so much for playing and for taking the time to leave a comment! I'm glad it warmed your heart with love.
Dating Start: Have you ever just looked at a skeleton and wanted to date it - YouTube
Hi I am so excited to play this, I am playing Undertale again and I do visual novels and other games usually too so when I found this I knew I had to play it. I'm really excited to see how things happen because I am horrible at wooing the skeleton.
Hi there! Thank you for recording your playthrough! I'm always thrilled to watch these! :D I hope you enjoy playing! And I look forward to seeing the next videos come out! Also, don't worry too much about wooing him. As Sans said, "just say and do what feels right." :)
hia :) i was replaying the game and once i got to floweys darkness a message came up and when i press ignore it stays there and when i press roleback it just closes my game ive tryed deleting the game and re-downloding it but the same message just comes up. i dont know how to fix this since now i cant play the game at all.
Hi! I'm sorry you encounter that error! Thank you for providing the screenshot, that really helps me! I'll see if I can recreate it on my end.
In the meantime, you will have to delete everything to start a blank slate, unfortunately.
I have a post on how to do that here. The only difference is that you will be deleting the folders titled "DatingStartVN-1.0.2-pc" and "DatingStartVN-102".
Let me know if you need me to clarify!
https://itch.io/post/2792964
Thanks my game is now working if there are any more problems ill let you know but i hope you have a nice day :)
Hi, so I played a bunch of routes of the game and it's a lot of fun, but I'ma kinda stuck.... I wanna get the True LOVE ending (genocide) but I can't seem to get the last combination... Maybe a bit of help?
I created a walkthrough for the True LOVE ending. My suggestion would be to follow this list one-by-one, even if you think you did a combination already. Good luck =)
https://derpychocho.itch.io/dating-start/devlog/208290/true-love-walkthrough-aka-no-love-route
thanks it was a big help... well I'm stuck in the battle now 😂 just gotta stay determined
wahh this is a wonderful game! My friend suggested me to play it and it really warmed my heart. Tysm for making this, I heard it took you a long time to do so so i hope ur taking rest! Can I ask,, if i reset after i reached the very ending, what would happen? ;v; I'm scared and i feel bad about thinking about doing it for some reason, because i'm scared if it might hurt sans or cause flowey to create havoc, so thats why i am asking, if you dont mind! X,D
I'm glad the game warmed your heart! Thank you for playing it! And yes, I'm definitely enjoying a good rest!
!! SPOILERS !!
If you RESET after the very end, Sans won't be hurt... so long as you choose not to use the knife and FIGHT. In order to get a bad ending, you have to hurt everyone on purpose. So don't worry if you're going to RESET! Just resist the temptation to FIGHT, and nothing bad will happen! :)
Made this account just to leave a comment here. This game srsly brightened up my day,, nd it was very well made. From the plot, to the art, to everything in general. It's one of the most best Undertale fangames I have ever played, and I am very glad I did. Thank you so much for making this, Creator!! Take some rest, you deserve that. May I ask, after your break ofc (nd no rush!) do u plan to make more Undertale fangames soon? I wish you the best of luck, and I look forward to more of your creations. Take care :]
Thank you for taking the time to make an account just to leave a comment! That means a lot! And thank you for playing! I’m glad to hear it brightened your day!
I do have another Undertale fan VN idea that I’d like to try to develop! But it may also take two years to make. Maybe more. ^^; I’m definitely going to enjoy my break until I get back at it! Thank you for the good luck wishes!
No problem at all :D And take your time! After all, all the great things take alot of time :] Breaks are top priorities anyways! And no problem again, ty for taking time to reply to this!
this made my day, im glad i decided to look at undertale fangames today. i legit almost started crying at the end this was so cute shdggehwsh. good job, its well made
Thank you so much!! I’m really glad you enjoyed it! And I’m glad the game’s emotions reached you.
Would you plan on making a sequel? Just asking.
This game is wonderful! The art, the plot ,the music... and the characters are so cannon! it genuinely felt like I was playing Undertale XD .
Thank you! I’m glad that you enjoyed playing! ^^
I don’t think I’ll make a sequel to Dating Start. I DO have some other Undertale visual novel ideas I’d like to try making, though!
But I’m taking a break first. Dating Start! took two years to make, so I’m resting XD
Ok, so I played this game with my friends, and we voice acted the characters, and at first we though this would be like a tipical dating game, but this game blew our minds! The music was amazingly picked, the art was breath-taking, and don't even get me started on the whole plot! Honestly the best visual novel game, and an undertale fangame I have ever played. I'd love to see more from you!
I'm glad it was a pleasant surprise! Thank you for playing and for taking the time to comment! It really means a lot that you liked it so much! And once I'm out of my dev break, I'd love to make more VNs, for sure!
This game was amazing!! A genuinely well written visual novel with beautiful art!! I'm unfortunately on a mac though so I never figured out how to fully reset my game lol
Thank you so much for playing! I’m glad you enjoyed it! In regards to a Mac, all I know is that you’ll have to delete two folders.
1. The folder you downloaded.
2. The Dating Start folder found in “~/Library/RenPy/game_directory”
But I don’t know how to find that second folder, as I don't use a Mac, sorry! ^^;
Oh goodness, I don't even know where to start!
I finally scrounged up my old PC in the closet just so I could play this, took me a good 30 minutes to set it up but it was so worth it! The art, the choices, puzzles, puns, everything was just so fantastically made for a great experience!
I can't even count how many times I laughed, wheezed, and got embarrassed even at this. It was everything I had hoped for and more! If I could rate this, I'd give it 5 stars a million times.
Thank you so much for making this, and it's amazing in every way possible!
I’m so glad you got a chance to play it! And thank you for going through the trouble to play it!! I’m happy you enjoyed the VN!
And I’m glad that you had a good experience! I tried my best to send the player through a wide range of feelings. So I’m glad to see you experienced them!
Thank you again for playing and for taking the time to leave a comment!
Do this game has unknown sources?
Yooo this is so well made im crying rn aidhwdb :'), Great game tho, im im srsly in emotional pain how can i reset everything after the genocide run because iT hUrTs when i did it :'), tho even when i delete and re-install it and extract it, it wont go back- its just a black screen, pls im desperate on fixing my mistAkes :'D
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! :D
!! SPOILERS
If you're seeing the black screen when you open the game, you have to wait a bit until Chara speaks to you. That will give you an option to restore the world. After you give Chara your SOUL, the game will crash and then open back up again so you can replay it.
Hi! I started playing the game last week and oh boy it's so good! I love every single scene in this game especially scenes with da boi XD I don't how many times I played the True Love ending (SO MANY TIMES) and still love it! I even swear to myself to never reset... But then I did and play the secret ending as well as the True LOVE ending because of curiosity. It still hurt ngl but I started playing the True Love route again to ease the pain a little bit. I still have the urge to do True LOVE route again but... maybe another time. I'm afraid I cannot bear the pain.
Spoiler-ish?
I still cannot forget the scenes with sans in True Love ending. At first I was skeptical to choose the kiss option because I'm afraid that it would only made him ignore me or something because it was so sudden XD So, I tried the option in my second run and I CANNOT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. It's been almost a week and I still couldn't forget the way he kiss the player in the judgement hall. It ignite something in my heart for this man that I thought were lost last year. This game even encourage me to return to the fandom after almost a year I left.
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for making this amazing game. I love you and please stay safe! Now excuse me, I'm going replay the True Love route again...
Ahhhhh! Thank you for playing!! ^^ I'm glad that you liked all the scenes! Also, I'm sorry True LOVE hurts, but I suppose that means it does its job. :)
SPOILERS (to be sure)!
And I'm glad you liked that final kiss in Last Corridor! I had both kissing and not kissing options just in case there were players that wanted a more platonic kind of option. :) And I really wanted that last scene to be a big explosion of all the emotions being felt throughout the entire visual novel. To be honest, I basically took my own SOUL and the emotions I felt and poured everything onto the page. I'm so glad that the emotions reached you. :) Thank you so much again for playing and for taking the time to comment! You stay safe, too!
Will there be time when it can be available to play online instead of downloading it?
Unfortunately, I don’t think so. Ren’Py has a file size limit for Web based builds. And Dating Start exceeds that limit.
Ah, I see! Alright, thank you for making this game by the way! I can't wait to play once I get a PC!
when will you port mobile version
I don't plan to port it to mobile, as I don't have a way of testing it. If I can test in the future, then maybe. But for right now, I will not port it.
I just recently played this game and oh my goodness! you did a spectacular job on this, not only is it visually well done but you portrayed the Undertale characters so well. While I was playing I went through so many emotions but I couldn't stop smiling and laughing. I can't imagine the hard work you must had to go through to see this project through, All I can say is that you did amazing and that I'm looking forward to seeing more of whatever else you come up with, cause you are so talented and just wow. Thank you for making this game ^^
Thank you so much for your comments!! I'm really glad that the emotions reached you! And thank you for playing!! It's always wonderful to see people enjoying my silly passion project! And I definitely hope to make more VNs in the future, both Undertale and not! :D
Can i play this on chromebook???????????????????????
I think this can only be played if you have Linux for Chromebook. But I'm not really sure how that works. Other than that, it's only PC/Mac/Linux, sorry!
I absolutely love this wonderful game!
I'm sorry that I cannot express in words how great and gorgeous this game is, because there are so many wonderful things in it!
But at least i can say that i love it so much! :3Don't be sorry! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment! And thank you for playing! I'm really glad that you love the VN so much! ^^
How do i download this on mobile lol
Sorry, this is only available on PC/Mac/Linux. I currently don’t have plans to port this to mobile.