we launched just last week, and we’re already seeing downloads, wishlists, streams, and the sweetest reviews. watching people play this weird, cozy little dating sim has been surreal in the best way. thank you for spreading the love with us!
first updates
launch went surprisingly smooth, but we’ve already patched up a few sticky spots:
patch 1.01
ADDED: discord rich presence! show everyone that you’re spreading the love <3
FIXED: freezing during melody pack opening sequence
FIXED: cher’s drawing not showing up during their bad ending (they were too disappointed in you to give you a drawing…)
patch 1.02
FIXED: minigames should now behave properly across different screen sizes.
FIXED: melody's endings not loading properly for some users. she's so problematic
NERFED: cher was a little too good. they should be easier to beat now!
these early patches were less about new content and more about smoothing the player experience: making sure the game is stable, balanced, and accessible. we’ll continue to keep doing these as more people play!
development process
this project began as a simple dress-up game for our silly blue alien, glorbo, from our other game (in development) ETea. but… we got carried away. we’d wanted to make a personality test for a while, and this was the perfect chance to go wild.
this scope creep gave us room to flesh out characters, test minigame ideas (while improving our gameplay programming skills), and explore narrative framing. so STL ended up as both a standalone dating sim with minigames and a character design experiment that expands the ETea universe.
character designs
we let character traits guide minigame mechanics, and mechanics reinforce the character’s identity. this feedback look gave each date its own personality.
stl glow-ups
melody started out as a nerdy NPC (sorry) affectionately dubbed “watermelon.” she eventually evolved into the kitch.tv streamer of your dreams!
cher’s first design was a doodle at our public ETea demo. at the time their only trait was “runs the furniture store,” so we leaned into fancy and pretentious… and then, in contrast, we gave them the goofy arcade minigame Fish Frenzy.
minigame evolutions
each minigame went through at least one major pivot. some highlights:
milli’s minigame was first imaged as a 2D rock climbing challenge. but making intuitive climbing in 2D pixel art was… hard. since milli’s a mechanical engineering student (who’d have taken circuits), we reframed it. why not tie her minigame to a puzzle inspired by real circuits? this result felt tighter and more thematic with her background.
jet’s minigame started as a parody of League of Legends (hence its name Lingon Legends), but it was tough to make it simple yet engaging. we switched gears to a combat game inspired by Street Fighter, which paired better with the music and jet’s cocky “gamer boy” persona.
sometimes it’s easier to pivot than to force a broken design. we let the character and vibe dictate the gameplay not the other way around.
etea to stl!
as we saw this project as a chance to expand the ETea universe, here are some characters carried over directly from ETea:
allen: in ETea he’s your slightly bitter grocery store owner, always a bit sarcastic with customers. in STL, we leaned into that cynicism and turned him into a full-on movie field. his tone stayed slightly sharp and observant, but framing him around movies gave us a tighter hook for dialogue.
thea: in ETea she's the terrifyingly competent manager who keeps everything running (somewhat shadily). for STL, we exaggerated this. on the date, she treats you like just another task to fit into her busy schedule.
we chose to focus on framing these characters in a new context instead of just copy-pasting them. we asked ourselves: what does dating this character reveal that we don’t see at all in ETea?
starting with these pre-existing traits also made writing a lot easier; instead of a blank slate, we already had a foundation to riff on, which let us focus on their games and dialogue.
this game helped us deepen characters we already loved from ETea.
dialogue design
we realized early on that dialogue is more than just flavor text in a game like this; it’s the player’s main interaction with the character. each character’s dialogue had to:
match their mechanical identity
balanced humor and sincerity. we wanted players to laugh at the absurd dialogue but still care about the characters
support branching outcomes without feeling repetitive. we wanted to keep dialogue concise yet expressive (as none of us are writers and wanted to take up less time)
examples of how we aligned voice and design:
allen ( quiet, sarcastic nerd turned grocery guy): his understated, dry wit pairs with his low-key minigame that's seemingly simple but sneak up on you if you don't act carefully
thea (nurturing but controlling boba shop manager): her dialogue makes you feel cared for and slightly managed, reflecting her role as the one who “runs you"
cher (broody arthouse soul): their sparse texts to deep in-person dialogue mirrors their surreal vibe, contrasting with their goofy fish minigame; this creates a sense of intrigue and dissonance, leaving players asking why they can’t stop thinking about them
milli (bubbly and enthusiastic engineer): her upbeat, hands-on personality shines through dialogue that’s energetic, curious, and affectionate. it pairs with her technical puzzle minigame, making problem-solving feel playful instead of intimidating
melody (cozy streamer worried about inauthenticity): her voice mixes friendliness with quiet self-doubt, with her dialogue revealing concern about performance versus real self, echoing the tension between authenticity and curation in her life
jet (cocky and over the top gamer boy): boastful and endlessly playful. his dialogue is essentially “trash talk with charm,” perfectly suited to his fighting game mechanics where bravado is part of the fun
good dialogue design makes the minigames feel like one cohesive personality, not two separate systems. however, sometimes contrast is just as powerful as alignment. everyone is different, so giving a mechanic that doesn’t quite “fit” can reveal new sides of them!
what’s next
more polish and bug fixes
listening to feedback (we’re watching reviews, streams, and discussions)
teasing some future surprises and content updates... (ideas are stirring & we're getting straight to work!)
how you can help
please leave a review on steam and keep interacting! every post, discussion, screenshot, or silly comment means a ton to us :)
love always, jamms <3