Welcome to Otome is a sporadic post where I talk about otome games for those who are new and want to know more!
With a new game that I’m a bit hyped about (and enjoying) people have been asking me to help them understand how the game system works.
Good news, once you get one game down, there are a TON of other games that use this same engine.
Bad news, there is A LOT going on with this game engine. I have eight images. They have two screens on them. Hold on to your butts.
The Arismile Game Engine was created by a company called Arithmetic, Inc. Artihmetic Inc not only make their own games (of varying degrees of terrible to good writing), but they also publish other companies games onto their engine. Every game has the same setup, using the same GUI (Game User Interface) system, and you’ll get to a point where you will open a game and go: Oh Arismile!
To show you how many games use this, for every section I talk about, I have (almost) a screen from a different game in there.
Let’s get started.
(I suggest you download and open any one of these games and follow along. If you don’t already have one of these games download, you will have to read the prologue in order to follow along.)
[pictured: Lust in Terror Manor & Samurai Nights Romance]
The main screen of games with this GUI always have 10 buttons as well as a My Page button.
The My Page is where the you avatar is.
The Buttons are as follows and may be worded differently in other games:
- Information: This is where your present box and in new buttons are at.
- Friends: Visit your friends, make new friends, search for friends.
- Next Story: If you have any free tickets or want to spend tickets to read the story, you can press this button or another button on the My Page. (I’ll show you those later.)
- Shop: This is where you can guy clothes for your avatar or items to help you with the game.
- Menu: Oh man, I will soooo get into that later.
- Back Button: Press it and you will go back to your last screen
- Item: This is where your items are stored and you can use them from here.
- Top: This will take you back to the top page (screen when you first sign in.
- Avatar: This is where you can go to view your avatar and change her clothes.
- Platinum: This is the pay currency in all these games. You can buy them with money or some games will let you install apps and watch video for free platinum
[pictured: My Sweet Proposal & Rental Boyfriends]
The pop-up that happens when you press information. The top link is your present box. If you get presents, you can accept them from here OR by pressing the top button to the right of your avatar. The second link is the news screen. If there is any game or company news, it will be posted here.
The friends screen. You can Greet your friends here (called many things from one game to the next) and get 20 in game money for doing it. You can also see the friends requests that are pending, see your own requests, or find friends.
[pictured: Royal Midnight Kiss]
This is the Shop Screen. This game allows you to buy avatar items using their in-game currency called Love Points. Not all games allow this.
[pictured: Vampire Love & The Cinderella Contract]
Here, you will begin to notice what looks like buttons for the same things.
Already talked about My Page
The Boyfriend Room I will go over later…
Already went over Shop.
Fragment Exchange is another thing that varies from game to game as to what it’s called. You collect these pieces and under this button, you can exchange them for, at a very minimum, more avatar clothes. Some games give you free space for avatars, items, and more.
Change Clothes takes you to the Avatar area.
My Data shows all the game data for your character. You can change your name, introduction, ranking and event data, and more.
Item is just like the Item button.
Scenario Album, as you play the game, the scenarios will be saved under here, you can go to this menu and reread it once. If you also get any special stories, they will also be saved under this menu on a separate tab.
Change Route is where you can see all the available open routes and, if you have a switch route item, you can change to another character’s story.
Friends Top will take you to the area that is also under the friends button.
Friends Ranking is just that, to show you rank. This really means nothing. You get bragging rights.
Login Sheet. As you complete routes, you will have the option to change your login sheet. Some games only have one, other games have multiples.
Change Name allows you to change your in-game name which you can also do under My Data.
Data Transfer is SUPER IMPORTANT. If you want to make sure that you never lose you game, register your game as soon as you start it.
Buy a Platinum is like the Platinum button.
Present Box is like the button on the My page and the link under Information.
Help holds some basic game info. I suggest you read it.
The long button at the bottom will display your invite code. Share your code online to get presents that are list on this screen.
Okay, the other screen is what your items menu looks like.
[pictured: Once Upon a Fairy Love Tale & Love Never Dies]
This is where the dress up part of the otome game comes in. Change your character’s clothes under this screen. Here you will see the charm you have from all the clothes you own as well as how mush space you are using and how much total space you have in your closet.
This is the platinum screen. The amount of platinum you have displays at the top and there are many levels of platinum amounts. The button to buy free platinum is at the bottom of the screen if the game allows it.
[pictured: Bakumatsu Shinsengumi]
Next Story is the other button you press if you want to continue reading the story. You get five tickets for free each day and they refresh at 4am Japan time.
Practice is a very VERY important button. This is also called many other things in the different games. Here you go on “battles” against other players to get points to help you pass checks. I set an alarm for every 4 hours that I’m awake to remind me to go on these to make sure I have enough points to pass these checks.
The Gacha is another thing that is important you get a free spin on it daily as well. You also will be awarded points towards it when you get an excellent five times in a row when you “battle.”
The second screen is this gacha. Here you can win avatars for the love interest’s room that have affection attached to them to help you pass special scenarios and CG scenarios in game. Spin this Daily. You’ll need it.
[pictured: Bakumatsu Shinsengumi & Office Lover 2]
This is to show you what the Love Interest’s room looks like. The avatars in this game as super cute. As you can see, just like under the Avatar screen, it displays your charm and your space. I did forget to post a screen shot of the items, but if you click them, a menu will pop-up that will tell you what the item is and how much affection the item has.
The second screen now page on the My Page.
1. Gacha. If you scroll down, you will see a slider. These are all the game’s active ticket and in-game gacha. Tickets can either be bought, won during events, on awarded in some login sheets.
Notice the two buttons that I didn’t highlight are, once again, things I have gone over. Three buttons now for theses places.
2. Exchange Pieces. I kinda when over this already, but I made this screen so, once again, you collect these pieces and under this area, you can exchange them for, at a very minimum, more avatar clothes. Some games give you free space for avatars, items, and more.
3. Character. This is where you will find the character sheets for all the love interests in the game. They might have their birthdays, hobbies, and more listed on character sheets,
[pictured: Sweet Scandal Returns]
1. This is the area where the person who’s route you are on has his portrait. Some times, they will have little sayings underneath.
2. When you get CG(these are the illustrations) by going the premium route by passing affection checks in game, the CGs will be saved under this menu under the love interest they are for. You HAVE to pass the check to get the full CG.
3. This is the same area as the Scenario Album on the Menu button.
4. This is your affection meter. This goes up as you make choices in the game. As you can see, this one is clearly marked for which ending one will get. Some of the games do not mark them, but the meter will still go up.
5. This is all the points you have so far in game. Charm is from clothes. IN this game, Intimacy is gained through “battles.” Love Points is this games in-game currency.
And then, finally, there are these other set of button.
1.Once again, you see switch route.
2. Ways to play/help is like the Help button on the menu.
3. Import Game Data is the same menu with Data Transfer.
4. This is the same as the long button at the bottom of the menu and where YOU put an invitation code if you have one from someone. You cannot input your own code.
Was that a lot of information? Who am I kidding, of course it was. Hopefully you feel more informed instead of more confused after this! Do not be afraid to click around and explore a new game if you are unsure about what things do it in.
Next time, I really have no plans. Just winging this! lol Thanks for reading.
[Read all Welcome to Otome posts]
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