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When Finn was eighteen, he knew exactly where he was heading in life. He was slated to graduate high school as valedictorian, attend an Ivy League school to study law on a three-fourths scholarship, walk away with a Masters, and become a politician that represented Ohio in the US Senate. It didn't quite line up with his (admittedly far-fetched) dreams of being a star pianist in the New York Philharmonic, but it was what his father dreamed for him.

It's difficult to do pursue either of those dreams when your father casts you out onto the street for kissing another boy, though; it didn't take long for both of their dreams to crumble away.

Now, at twenty-four, Finn has no vision of his future. All Finn has time to do is work, take care of his daughter, work more, and leave work to go to more work. And, when it isn't enough to keep a roof over Ava's head and food in her belly, he works even further into the night with three glasses of Cabernet in his system and the scent of shame clinging to the sheets.

He can't remember the last time he slept a full eight hours, or even ate a proper meal. He can no longer recall when he last made it through an entire day without a panic attack. In the back of his mind he knows that this is no way to live, but he refuses to complain or torment himself with ideas of what could have been. As far as he's concerned, just the fact that he and Ava are finally away from him is finally something to thank his stars for.

Until Koloa makes it his mission to teach Finn what it means to finally live.

The Secrets We Keep is Studio Senpai's first visual novel, and is currently still in progress with 200k words and several story choices to make. The demo is free, but please consider supporting our Patreon! You can also follow the development on our Twitter and Facebook.

StatusIn development
PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux
Rating
Rated 3.9 out of 5 stars
(12 total ratings)
AuthorStudioSenpai
GenreVisual Novel
Made withRen'Py
Tagsdemo, drama, LGBT, Multiple Endings, Ren'Py, Romance, Yaoi
Average sessionAbout an hour
LanguagesEnglish
InputsKeyboard, Mouse
AccessibilitySubtitles, One button

Download

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Click download now to get access to the following files:

The_Secrets_We_Keep-1.0-pc.zip 268 MB
The_Secrets_We_Keep-1.0-mac.zip 251 MB
The_Secrets_We_Keep-1.0-linux.tar.bz2 243 MB

Development log

Comments

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Its been like 3 years :'<

No android version?

I really like the short demo....please it would be great if you restarted this project;]  - I think that there would be people interested in supproting it and to see it finish;]

is this game dead

(1 edit) (+1)

i know its unlikely, but i really hope the game is continued eventually! i love the characters, and the mental illness and lgbt rep, those both make me really happy. i understand why you may decide not to finish it and just leave it how it is, but i ADORE the characters and the whole concept of the game. ive always really liked just simple, down-to-earth slice of life stories, so i would love to see more of this, or even just something similar.

ill be honest, i havent played the game yet. but im about to right now, and ill leave my notes after, even if the devs likely wont see it. <3


update: so i played it!! amazing im just

i loved all the proverbs and stuff that finn referenced and koloa didnt understand, that frankly was just adorable. and i like that it isnt a love-at-first-sight type of thing, and instead involved finn actually getting comfortable with it first. this was really good, and i would love to see more of it, if ever possible!

if you ever decide to pick back up, and maybe need some help (writing, proofreading, etc) i would love to lend a hand! 

but if you dont pick it up, i understand and i wish you well!

(1 edit) (+1)

Hi, I've been following your channel when I stumbled upon one of your helpful videos on how to handle otome games and eventually ended up here. I don't know if you are still working on this project, but seeing a refreshing idea such as this I wanted to share some of my thoughts.

When I read the summary, I must be honest that it did not engage me. I can tell that its going to be a spiritual journey and I love character development but its hard to connect with the story as a whole when the summary is just focusing on Finn. There is so much info dump, we are learning about a single father but instead we get Finn's backstory. I'm not sure if my description gets through what I'm trying to say, just that I think backstories are saved IN the game where us readers get to discover it.

Some examples like Violet Evergarden (Top favourite) is also about a spiritual journey and the summary is quite brief. They don't dwell on what kind of past she had, instead they told us "a soldier coming back from war and learns how to feel again." So short...yet so powerful. We can only imagine what its like and that's the beauty of it. Imagination. 

Personally I also wanted to know more about Koloa but sadly he was mentioned at the very end of the summary. I understand you want us to empathize with the protagonist, yet I think you should trust readers to make interpretations and keep them guessing at the same time. The story is about two contrasting characters, bring that out, give more of Koloa's side so that way when you put their paths together in the summary, the readers would look forward on how they intersect.

I am no authority, this is just my two cents because I believe there are no bad ideas out there.

Oh no! Please continue to make this! It's so good, I really want to see how it goes!!

(1 edit)

I discovered this game quite some time ago... I checked the kickstarter, but it had already ended and it had shown the funding didn't go well... and it's quite sad.

It has a great concept. I haven't seen any game like this before really. It touches a topic I've never seen in a game before...

I think the characters are quite cute and really nice. I want to know more about them, see how the story progresses and such. I love the moments when Finn is spending time with his daughter, Ava. He relaxes and he doesn't really think about his worries. The moments Koloa, Finn looked like he finally found a friend who he feels he can relax with. Though, I cant really call them proper friends yet. 

I'm not sure if this will help at all since I cant turn back time and try to convince my parents to lend me money to fund this game that I've grown to love in just a few moments after reading the sypnosis and playing the demo for a few hours, heck I'm not even sure if they are still working on it completely scrapped the game. I've searched for any clue on updates or anything, but I got nothing. I'm also not sure where I'm going with this long ass comment, but to simplify what I want to say, 

I'm sad that this game looks to be discontinued and not getting enough credit it deserves. Characters and their designs and personalities are great. Plot concept is interesting. I'm already attached to the characters. I hope this game gets another chance...

If the devs ever bother reading this, keep up the good job with such great ideas and dont give up. It must hard on you game devs. Hope you continue on and feel the same relief as Finn does when he is with his beloved daughter, Ava

P.S if ever I'm wrong with the discontinuing part. And I do hope I am. Feel free to correct me. I'm patiently waiting for anything.

(+1)

Several people have asked if we are still working on TSWK, and we would like to encourage you to follow us on Twitter @StudioSenpai, where we regularly post updates on our projects.

We have been working tirelessly to make this dream of ours a reality, but we have encountered several bumps in the road and it's only been in the last few months that we've found our mojo again.

still being made?

(+1)

Hey! The game is still being worked on, yes. We post updates to Twitter @StudioSenpai and on Patreon all the time :)

(+3)

Just wondering if this game was still being developed? I really enjoyed the demo.

Hey! We're still working on the game, yes. We post regular updates to Twitter @StudioSenpai and to our Patreon

(+3)

The demo is pretty short, so I can't say much. However, the text is hard to read. I'd suggest changing the UI typeface. 

Lovely! Can't wait for the full game. :)

(2 edits)

I think this is the first time I've seen choices result in such different branching scenarios in a vn game! I'm hooked! Can't wait to play the full game :"D

So far, I really like it. I am looking forward to the full game.

Oh wow, this is a really good demo! I like the beginning tutorial/warning at the start about what the game will contain and the story sounds thrilling, can't wait for the game to come out!!