A Happy New Year
A downloadable game for Windows and macOS
A Happy New Year is a short text-based game where you spend New Year's Eve alone by the river. It's about getting messages from drunk people, about the need to justify what you're doing and maybe just about ordinary teenage-kitsch, too.
The game mixes personal experiences with fiction and would best be described as a mood-game. It's not necessarily about the story itself, but about a specific feeling at a specific time. It takes about 10 - 15 minutes to complete.
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Photography by Elisey Vavulin, Kayla Farmer, S A R A H ✗ S H A R P, Thomas Schweighofer, Marleena Garris, Ben VanHorn, Isaac Castillejos via Unsplash
Download
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Development log
- Mac version released!Jan 04, 2019
- A Happy New Year launched!Jan 01, 2019
Comments
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I simple yet powerful experience.
Thanks for making this Fabian.
Thanks a lot!
I thought this was a nice short game that was well made, and I had fun with it. It was beautifully made and did achieve at creating a feeling that some encounter during New Years if they are celebrating alone. Great job!
I just played A Happy New Year. It's about spending New Year's Eve alone and getting texts from friends and family, and the pressure to party, be social and celebrate. It's about feeling and being different, and it was beautifully done.
Great Game! Love the graphics and the Chillin Vibe
Time to revisit that certain wistful feeling in the passing but also a beginning of the year, hm? :')
I love this experience. awesome job :)
Wow , I absolutely loved it. I don't think I've ever been so immersed in a game before. It hit the feeling perfectly, art was amazing, everything just felt very real. Amazing that's all I really have to say.
you got me. i hope someone called" ........" phone me too
It's lovely. I feel like it does very well in creating the feeling of being alone while everyone else is celebrating together. I don't know if it's supposed to make the player feel good or sad about it but boy I sure do feel about it
Very interesting game. You definitely achieve to transmit how we have felt sometimes in New Year's Eve.
Thanks!
Really interesting game! I loved how real it felt being someone who often chooses not to go to big parties or just spend time alone. Great message and beautiful game!
That was a cool and fun to watch playthrough! Always happy when people get the message :)
I really enjoy it, good game!!
Thank you!
not at the moment, I think, sorry.
I'll see what I can do about that!
SUCH A GOOD GAME
Thank you!
Thank you for playing and the video! :)
This was an interesting game! I thought the graphics were so lifelike and the texts seemed like things people would actually send. Overall, this was a good game! Good job!
Thank you for playing & making a video! You should consider doing voice acting (if you don't already do it) :)
Enjoyed this little game!
My channel (opens in new tab): youtube.com/jonathick
Hey there, thanks for playing and making a video, much appreciated!
Hey, cool game man! You said you created this in a couple of days and damn, it looks amazing. Do you have any guides or tips to making games like this?
Thank you!
In terms of tips and guides... almost all of my (tiny) programming knowledge comes from searching Google or watching Youtube videos on certain things so that's one way to start. Chosing a rather simple engine like Unity helps as well as there are a ton of resources out there to start making games. Unity has some good tutorials on their own page, but there are also Youtubers like Brackeys who are more aimed at beginners (and helped me a lot).
But no matter what software you choose to make games, if you do not have any prior knowledge I'd definitely recommend doing some of the basic tutorials first to understand the core concepts (how do I navigate the software, how do I structure a project, some basic scripting) before starting a "real" project from your own ideas. From there, it's basically just asking questions and trying to find the answers (mostly through Google & reading the documention & try stuff). Hope this helps!
This is a really beautiful and erm depressing game but it does it in a way that allows you to make sence of it all. For some people playing this game, it can really hit close to home with the story about loneliness, even if you have people around you, you can still feel alone. Thats my understanding of the game anyway. I made a video on it which I hope you enjoy.
Thank you for playing and making a video, I enjoyed it and it was very interesting to hear your thoughts!
Thank you for watching the video and I can't wait to see more games from you. Good luck for the future.
Thank you for saying that!
Your welcome.
I really love this short visual novel type of game. The ending was adorable.
Hi & thank you for playing & making a video! I loved your voice for the sister 👌
Hey, its the first time that i cried to an indi game and to a short one... this guy could be me... the end is really sweet.. well written and well done. Its totally real, and i like this real inmersion. Thanks friend, thank you for doing this game, i will look into more of your works..
I am a filmmaker, well at least i try, and this genre Drama romance etc ist my real doing. I enjoy scifi and historical movies too but romance and drama is my life.. thanks friend
Tino
A little bit of spam i guess but so you know why i like this kind of things and i confess i am a little soft lately:
Hey there & and thank you for writing here! I‘m happy the game had such an impact on you. I watched your short film as well and definitely keep up the good work there!
Thanks again!
Excellent work. Very thoughful. I've never liked visual novels much; but you've got me thinking that I should give them a little more attention. Maybe I'll try making one...
I'm curious as to how long ago you started this project?
Thank you! To be honest I haven’t played many virtual novels so far, maybe I should start doing so as well. And yes, definitely try making one, it‘s fun!
I started making this game on December 27th and basically worked on it nonstop until release (with a few hours of sleep). Glad I was off from work for these days! 😊 The base ideas were in my mind for a long time now though.
Glad you liked it!