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Hanako Games announced Galaxy Princess Zorana, a sequel to the life sim game Long Live the Queen. A project to fund it is currently on Kickstarter, with the campaign live until June 26, 2025.  As of time of writing, it sured the $10,000 goal and reached over $15,100. The Steam page is also live.

Like the original Long Live the Queen, which was an incredibly difficult life sim that involved keeping a young princess turned queen alive long enough to rule her kingdom, the sequel game Galaxy Princess Zorana follows a new ruler coming into her own after her Celestial Emperor father dies. Zorana needs to learn about her past, handle her schedule, grow stronger in important stats, deal with advisors, mystics, and rivals, and hopefully survive. As in the original, our decisions as players shape the heroine. This means her personality changes and she may end up being good or evil.

Here’s the first trailer for the game:

The minimum pledge amount to get a copy of the game is £16 (~$22). Until May 29, 2025, there is also a £16 (~$22) beta early bird tier that gives people access to the beta, the full game, and their name in the credits for contributing. After that 24-hour period, the beta tester tier that includes access and the game is £20 (~$27). The most expensive tier at time of writing is the £60 (~$81) one, of which 75 are available, that includes access to the game and its beta, a digital costume book, a charm of Zorana, and a signed thank you from Hanako Games’ Georgina Bensley. 

Hanako Games already discussed stretch goals for Galaxy Princess Zorana as well. The first Fancy Planets £9,000 tier, which ended up being cleared, will update the appearance of the planets on the star map. At £14,000 (~$18,860), there will be art for every romance outcome scene. The £18,000 (~$24,250) stretch goal involves a new route in which Zorana rebels and doesn’t become an empress. The final £30,000 (~$40,420) one involves more alien species being in the game.

Galaxy Princess Zorana is in development for PCs and is expected to release in 2025. The Kickstarter for it ends on June 26, 2025. The original Long Live the Queen game appeared on the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC.

The post Long Live the Queen Sequel Is Galaxy Princess Zorana appeared first on Siliconera.

Ratalaika held its first Nintendo Direct-style visual novel showcase revealing a number of former PC exclusives that will be heading to consoles. In total, seven games were discussed, with Syrup and the Ultimate Sweet available on multiple platforms right away and titles like Long Live the Queen appearing later in 2020.

Here are descriptions of all of the visual novels Ratalaika will be bringing to consoles.

• Angels with Scaly Wings: Dragons are real and live in their own dimension. You are a human who will be acting as an ambassador to this world, but your presence and choices can change it and the relationship between the two worlds forever. Romance options are available. It will come to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2020.
• Blind Men: Keegan wants to be a League of Evil villain, but first he has to try and make a name for himself and outwit two spies who are after him. There are two romance options. It will come to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2020. 
• Jisei: The First Case HD: In Jisei, an amnesiac with a supernatural ability to see a corpse’s last moments, must prove his innocence when he happens to be at a crime scene. It will come to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2020.
• Long Live the Queen: A Princess Maker-like life simulation with visual novel elements, players follow Elodie as she attempts to survive numerous attempts on her life and actually be crowned queen after her mother’s untimely demise. It will come to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2020.
• A Summer with the Shiba Inu: Players follow Syd, a Shiba Inu who left her home, as she returns ten years later to confront truths of why she left and perhaps deal with the island’s ARIna ranking system that determines each dogs’ worth. It will come to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2020.
• Syrup and the Ultimate Sweet: In this yuri visual novel, Syrup is a candy alchemist who is trying to create the perfect concoction. Along the way, she discovers a Candy Golem named Gumdrop and has the opportunity to date some of the other characters. While cute, it contains mature and sometimes even dark content. It is immediately available on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, and PC.
• Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf: An RPG with visual novel elements and two possible protagonists, players follow twins named Shea or Althea as an encounter with a wolf sends them on a journey that will shape their lives and send them through different seasons.

Syrup and the Ultimate Sweet is immediately available on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, and PC. The other Ratalaika-published visual novels will appear on consoles at a later date.

The post Long Live the Queen and Other Visual Novels Heading to Consoles appeared first on Siliconera.

Hanako Games has released a new, free content update for its visual novel Long Live The Queen on Steam.

This “1.3 Plot Update” brings with it new story options, features, character portraits, marriages, and entirely new ways to ruin the country you’re supposed to be running. It also has six new achievements for you to earn.

If you want a spoiler-heavy version of the contents of this update then you can consult this long list.

And, if you didn’t know, Long Live The Queen is a visual novel about being a 14-year-old princess who has just acquired her mother’s throne after she died. You have to survive until your coronation so that no other rivals take the throne, while also managing the country, and dealing with your love life.

The post Long Live The Queen Updated With New Story Options, Marriages, Character Portraits appeared first on Siliconera.

A long time ago, way back in 2009, I was just getting into the whole "indie game" scene. The problem was, I wasn't super enthused about all my options. Independent games weren't as big of a deal then as they are now. The bandwagon was only just beginning the boarding process. Besides, I liked niche games. I went searching for simulations, visual novels, and RPGs that didn't rely on RPGmaker defaults, and was mostly coming up empty.

That's when I learned about Science Girls, a visual novel RPG from Hanako Games and Spiky Caterpillar, and realized that Hanako Games is something special.

Of course, Science Girls isn't where Hanako Games got its start. Founder Georgina Bensley started out in 2000, with a text adventure game she made under the name Papillon. It was a means for her to start experiment with games development, though it wasn't her first forway into game creation. When I asked her about it, she replied, "Like many an ‘80s geek, I was always trying to make video games, even though the tools available to a kid at the time were pretty limited. So before I even got to high school I'd messed around with Story Tree and Hypercard, and after that I was trying to code on my programmable calculator during math class."

"None of those early projects survived the machines they were written on, thank goodness."

It was in 2005 that Bensley stepped up as Hanako Games, and released her first official project, the Princess Maker-inspired Cute Knight. While it wasn't Hanako's actual first game, it was the one that was picked up by other distributors, like Big Fish Games, and turned a profit.

Since then, Hanako Games has gone on to release eight PC games, with another in development. Though the genres may change, they all share one thing in common--they have a strong heroine as the star. It's a unique situation. Bensley and her team, which usually consists of herself, Spiky Caterpillar, some freelance artists, and some beta testers, are primarily making games for women, they aren't gender exclusive. Every single adventure, even ones with strong dating-sim elements like Magical Diary, The Royal Trap and Date Warp, could be enjoyed by any player of pretty much any age and gender.

But enough about Hanako Games' history. You want to know about the games. That's what's really important, right? Especially since there's big news surrounding the developer. Wait, you didn't hear? Long Live the Queen, a Princess Maker-style simulation where players have to keep a princess alive to see her coronation, just got the thumbs up on Steam Greenlight.

Actually, that's a great place to start, since Long Live the Queen is one of my favorite titles from Hanako Games. Elodie's mother just died, and she has to stay alive until her coronation on her 15th birthday. Except, everyone wants her dead and is trying to kill her. Which means you have to train her up properly in the hopes she'll maybe find a way to live another day, but you just never know. Especially since her emotional state plays into how well her classes go. It's intriguing. The fact that there are adorably horrifying, chibi death portraits in a checklist showing just how you failed her almost makes you want to fail. (Of course, it's even more satisfying if you win.)

Long Live the Queen is going to be Hanako Game's second game on Steam. The first is Magical Diary, another Princess Maker style game that will appeal to anyone who wanted to live in a Harry Potter, magical world. The players step into the cloak of a heroine who has come to Iris Academy to learn magic, and has been dumped into Horse Hall. This young woman can choose which schools of magic to study, hoping the skills learned will be enough to semester exams, while also maybe romancing characters that seemed to be based on Harry Potter characters. (Donald is so a Weasley.) Magical Diary also happens to be Hanako's best selling game, thanks to the Steam distribution.

That doesn't mean Magical Diary is Hanako's best. In my opinion, which you know you all totally trust, The Royal Trap is the developer's finest endeavor. It's a visual novel with dating sim elements, set in a matrilineal society. Our heroine, Madeleine, is a valet for Oscar, prince of Ocendawyr. Since she's a second daughter, she won't be inheriting her family's fortune, and since Oscar is only a prince, his only hope to rule is to marry a princess. Which is why they've journeyed to a party in honor of Princess Cassidy, future queen of Gwellinor. A number of princes are attending the festivities, and the hope is that Cassidy will choose him as a suitor. Except something is amiss in Gwellinoir. There's plenty of intrigue and Madeleine must save a kidnapped princess, clear her prince's name, and uncover all secrets while hopefully earning a happy end for herself.

What I really love about The Royal Trap is that it seems like it's going to be a straightforward, romantic mystery. Then, things change. Characters aren't who they appear to be, and it does a wonderful job of exploring identity and gender roles.

With so many games, I had to ask Bensley if she has any favorites. Her answer was quite eloquent. "I get asked this question at conventions a lot. My standard answer is, the game I haven't written yet."

"As a game designer, your imagination is always getting caught up in the amazing new idea waiting just over the horizon that you haven't had time to build yet. And of course, since that's just an idea, in your mind it will be perfect and all the compromises and hard work necessary to make it come to life aren't taken into consideration. Since I'm an indie and can make whatever game I like rather than having to work on what someone else has ordered me to, any game I release was at some point the most amazing idea I'd ever had. There's something I love about all of my projects, and that's what carried me through building them. But by the time they're finished I've always got another idea that I desperately want to work on. It's just the way my mind works."

Which brings us to what's coming next. Hanako Games' next title is Black Closet. It is an RPG adventure, with romantic elements, starring a young woman at an all-girl's school. She's a powerful figure in the school, and must find and recruit minions to investigate randomly generated mysteries and cover them up, to ensure your rule is never questioned and you rein supreme.

Each situation will be different, so you can't just play according to a guide. Not to mention, it's in your best interests to treat your minions well to ensure their loyalty. In Bensley's own words, "So technically, you're playing upper-class schoolgirl, lesbian secret police."

If all this got you interested in Hanako Games, you can visit the developer's official website, grab Magical Diary on Steam, or keep an eye on Long Live the Queen. If you want to offer even more , both Science Girls and Date Warp are also hoping to get the Greenlight.

The post What’s So Special About Indie Developer Hanako Games? appeared first on Siliconera.