What is Date Ariane Remastered?

Date Ariane Remastered is a major graphical update of Date Ariane, originally called Ariane’s Date Simulator, for more info on Date Ariane, see the Date Ariane FAQ.

Why make Remastered a separate game, why not just an update?

Date Ariane has become somewhat of a classic. Remastered has all new graphics and has changed Ariane’s looks enough that people might be upset if I replaced the original completely. The original Date Ariane is available in five other languages that Remastered is not due to the difficulty and expense of translation.

Besides, I can’t make money on free updates, but this update is big enough it is worth the small cost to get.

What are the big changes from Date Ariane and Date Ariane Remastered?

The biggest of course is the graphics. The Date Ariane HD had 1500×900 graphics with a 180p black bar for a total of 1080p. Remastered is redone in true 1920×1080 graphics, rendered with Poser 12 Superfly graphics. Many new sets like the kitchen, living room, backyard, bedroom, pool area, lingerie store, fancy restaurant, museum, coffee shop, parking garage and amusement park have been used, and places that use old sets like the strip club, park, convenience store, have improved lighting and textures. The scenic vista was redone in HDRI.

The biggest non-graphic change was the addition of a player avatar, and there are two: one male and one female. Much of the game play mechanics has changed because of this change. The game keeps track of the players dress status as well as Ariane’s leading to several new scenarios when one is dressed and the other is not. Places where you can see the player’s hands and arms will change with the gender of the player and some scenes change depending on which gender you are playing. All achievements are obtainable with either gender, so if you want to stick with one there is never a reason to change, but changing is as easy as clicking “character” on the main menu.

There is also a big quality of life change: built in paths (aka walkthroughs) that help you reach stuff that is difficult to reach by guessing. These are built into the game via the help menu and are a much improved substitute to going online to find walkthroughs (which still exist, and may still be needed when you see multiple choices highlighted) and switching back and forth between screens to play.

Other changes: The museum is bigger, the amusement park is bigger, and there is a new coffee shop to go to. There is also a new bonus section to play once you completed at least 70 achievements, which I won’t spoil.

Why do I have to pay to download now?

The same reason I had to switch from online to stand alone, popularity.  The bandwidth cost of hosting a free game made it no longer economically feasible to offer the game for free.  More info here.

I play on my phone/tablet, and can’t get the Renpy version, so where is our version?

I have released a Android version, but due to android being difficult to update via the store site, it is only available on the itch.io store. There is currently no IOS version in the works as 1. It is very hard to make without a Mac, 2. Apple would not let an erotic game into their app store.

What’s a Visual Novel?

A Visual Novel is a story based video game. They are extremely popular in Japan. Think of it as a cross between a “Choose Your Own Adventure” comic book, and an adventure game with puzzles to solve. While comic books traditionally feature action stories involving super heroes, and computer adventure games traditionally feature mystery stories, visual novels are traditionally romantic stories. Visual novels (like comic books and adventure games) can really be about any genre, though Date Ariane is a romantic comedy in the Bishoujo tradition. More info on my blog or on wikipedia.

Can I share and redistribute the game?

No, this version of Date Ariane Remastered is Copyrighted. You are not allowed to sell the game or make money off the game, nor are you allowed to edit or change the game in any way for redistribution.

How do I start the game over?

Saved games are located in two places, so you need to erase both to start over:

1. Not sure where to find it on Mac or Linux, but on a windows computer you can find it by typing “%appdata%” in your computer’s search field, then click, “roaming”, then “renpy”, then “datearianeremaster”.

2. Another copy can be found in the game directory. Go to where you installed the game, open “games” then “saves”

In these directories, you will find a file called “persistent”. If you delete both of these files, all the game data will be erased and it will be like you are starting the game brand new. You can also delete old saved games as well.

How do I do _____ in the game?

This path page has how to do most everything in the game. Help with the 79 achievements has it’s own page.

What about other languages?

Date Ariane Remastered is only available in English at this time, and I have no plans to translate it. If there is interest, I may release templates for other languages if anyone is interested in translating it. I wlll gladly add voluntarily created translations for others to use and put your name in the credits if you do, but unfortunately I cannot afford to pay anyone.

Bonus Question #1: How do I unlock the bonus?

Once you have played the game enough and unlocked as many achievements as you can, click “Achievements” on the main menu to see what achievements you have done, and what you are missing. Clicking on achievements marked in red will give you clues to how to obtain them. In the case of multi-date achievements like “five dinners” “Shutterbug” and “Downtown Nudity” it will show you which events you are missing. Once you reach somewhere between 60 to 70 achievements, the bonus will unlock and you can start a new game to play it.

Bonus Question #2: After unlocking the bonus, the help paths are disabled, can I get them back?

Help paths don’t work on bonus games, and there are no new paths designed for them either. That is why they are disabled. If you want to play a regular game with paths after unlocking the bonus, go to “Preferences” and click “Hide” under the “Bonus” preference, and the help paths will be back. To get the bonus back, go to “Achievements” and click “Next Page” about 11 times until it unlocks the bonus again.