itch.io

I am getting an exception after opening any of my autosaves (I tested 5)

[code]

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "game/script.rpy", line 249, in script
if headtooffice == 1:
File "game/script.rpy", line 249, in <module>
if headtooffice == 1:

NameError: name 'headtooffice' is not defined

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "game/script.rpy", line 249, in script
if headtooffice == 1:
File "/private/var/folders/b3/6wdzzgqj7rb8w1nmsndgyzwr0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/6D85C03C-9EBA-4407-8F8A-89108F350064/d/MyGirlfriendsFriends.app/Contents/Resources/autorun/renpy/ast.py", line 1849, in execute
if renpy.python.py_eval(condition):
File "/private/var/folders/b3/6wdzzgqj7rb8w1nmsndgyzwr0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/6D85C03C-9EBA-4407-8F8A-89108F350064/d/MyGirlfriendsFriends.app/Contents/Resources/autorun/renpy/python.py", line 1209, in py_eval
return py_eval_bytecode(code, globals, locals)
File "/private/var/folders/b3/6wdzzgqj7rb8w1nmsndgyzwr0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/6D85C03C-9EBA-4407-8F8A-89108F350064/d/MyGirlfriendsFriends.app/Contents/Resources/autorun/renpy/python.py", line 1202, in py_eval_bytecode
return eval(bytecode, globals, locals)
File "game/script.rpy", line 249, in <module>
if headtooffice == 1:

NameError: name 'headtooffice' is not defined

macOS-26.6.2-arm64-arm-64bit arm64

Ren'Py 8.3.4.24120703

My Girlfriends Friends 2.5B

Thu Oct 1 12:58:24 2026

[/code]

how do you mute the music in game?

I want to give one very last thought on this, because I have probably said too much.  In addition to what has been already said, I keep coming back to something a head of marketing once told me: don't treat old customers worse than new customers.  You are obviously trying to make money, because that fuels development.

But someone who has never played the game and comes in and drops $5-10 on it now is treated better than someone who bought it, played it, loved it, talked it up to others, perhaps subscribed to your patreon, etc etc; and what we are told amounts to "well you can enjoy all of it in a month, when everyone else can without paying for it".  I already paid for "it" and supported you on the patreon, I don't regret either; but it does feel like I am being treated worse.

Again I am not mad, this is a trivial amount of money at play, but I am trying to put words to why you are getting pushback from me and (I presume) others

no they don’t, but the general assumption is that if you have paid for the game you get the new releases of the game as they come out, because we have already paid for the game. This is the big difference. 

But also saying during this period that I can’t redownload the thing I own… like if I deleted it after I played it, and now I want to replay it to get familiar again is kinda disconcerting. I should at minimum still have access to the thing I own. Seeing that I had access to nothing and being told to wait X weeks after playing and supporting on the Patreon is worrying 

in the end we are talking about a fairly trivial amount of money, that is fine. But there is a mechanism to let us get the game without waiting or paying again, and going against that precedent is what is causing some friction 

as for this being how it was done before, I came in in February. I was unaware this was the expectation for this game

What I am saying is that next to the thing that says I bought ch2.0 there is a link that says download, implying that a minimum I could at least redownload the version I bought.  Things happen, and I haven't met another game on itch that does this (maybe there are, but I haven't met one); however I am also saying it was unclear that I would need to pay for each additional version.  I understand if that is the case, but (again) most of the games I have bought on itch let me download each new update without additional cost.  So I think this needs to be more clearly communicated

Does this mean that I, someone who bought the game back in the 2.0x days need to pay again and should wait?  When I hit download there is nothing to download. 

Which means I cannot download the thing I paid for. It might be ok to say that I have pay or wait for the new version, but taking away what I paid for is seriously not cool

/blog/1655809/mgffch25-release

/blog/1655809/mgffch25-release

This was posted just before the game was updated

What is the point of the outfits in Olivia's store?  It feels like I can buy them and see what they look like on the character, but there is no impact to the larger game as far as I can tell.  Am I missing something, is it something we will see later?

I would love it if you posted your stance on using AI in your games.  I love the art and it looks hand drawn; there are a couple of new outfits in Olivia's store where the character feels a little uncanny.  It could just be me, I don't want to say anything without knowing for sure.  It would just be nice to know your stance.

I am bummed you can't take the note off of the person's back.  I wish there was a way

is it? It’s very repetitive, there is no story per se just point progression. Max out your points and become warden and…nothing channges

I am glad to hear that, but its still an optics issue.  You guy aggressively update at me multiple times per week, talking about "your" games.  And distancing yourself from Lust doesn't really help the argument.  I am really glad to hear that Magic Acadamy is a mere 7-8 months from being done, but teasing your next game without making that abundantly clear isn't the best move.  I want to make it clear I am not upset (except about the rate I get notifications from you guys), but I am trying to communicate to you that this is an issue you need to be aware of.

So many indie devs are working on multiple games at the same time, and not finishing any of them in a timely manor, you don't want to be associated with that image.  You have one really good game, and a game that felt like a bait and switch from the demo to the paid (lust).  Its a time to be careful with the image you project

I am seeing a real distressing trend developers starting new games before they finish their old ones.  You have two incomplete games at the moment... why should I be excited for a third?  I just want you to finish Magic Acadamy and rethink the mechanics in Guardians of LUST

You know I get the most cross promotion and what feel like redundant update notifications from you guys above anyone else.  Please dial it back

First off make sure you open settings, go to Privacy and Security, and make sure Allow Applications From is set to "App Store and & Known Developers"

Then try and run it again.  It will fail, but then go back to Privacy and Security and you will see an option to run the program anyway

The problem is that dot files (._000atl.rpy) which are metadata files that appear (normally if you access the files from a non mac network share iirc) were in the directory.  To fix this I had to:

dot_clean [App Bundle File]
xattr -cr [App Bundle File]

If you do these steps before you zip the application it should avoid this problem.  Simply moving the file (and I know why you suggested it) isn't enough

This game is broken on macOS (at least for me)

So I had hoped that downloading the latest update would fix the exception on launch issue on macOS.  Sadly no luck:

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While parsing /private/var/folders/b3/6wdzzgqj7rb8w1nmsndgyzwr0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/1A2CFC4B-0975-4E5E-9DF6-EEA39AD19035/d/StudioHearts.app/Contents/Resources/autorun/renpy/common/._000atl.rpy.

UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xb0 in position 37: invalid start byte

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "renpy/bootstrap.py", line 376, in bootstrap

    renpy.main.main()

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^

  File "renpy/main.py", line 435, in main

    renpy.game.script.load_script()  # sets renpy.game.script.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^                           

  File "renpy/script.py", line 421, in load_script

    self.load_appropriate_file(".rpyc", ["_ren.py", ".rpy"], dir, fn, initcode)

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  File "renpy/script.py", line 1011, in load_appropriate_file

    data, stmts = self.load_file(dir, fn + source)

                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  File "renpy/script.py", line 800, in load_file

    stmts = renpy.parser.parse(fullfn)

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^

  File "renpy/parser.py", line 1675, in parse

    lines = list_logical_lines(fn, filedata, linenumber)

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  File "renpy/lexer.py", line 350, in list_logical_lines

    data = data_io.read()

           ~~~~~~~~~~~~^^

  File "<frozen codecs>", line 322, in decode

UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xb0 in position 37: invalid start byte

macOS-26.5.1-arm64-arm-64bit arm64

Ren'Py 8.4.1.25072401

Sat Jun 27 16:17:01 2026

I am on macos and when I open the game (0.3.2) the game immediately crashes with an exception:

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While parsing /private/var/folders/b3/6wdzzgqj7rb8w1nmsndgyzwr0000gn/T/AppTranslocation/C008DC81-E10B-4E4A-A538-30B8960D358A/d/StudioHearts.app/Contents/Resources/autorun/renpy/common/._000atl.rpy.

UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xb0 in position 37: invalid start byte

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "renpy/bootstrap.py", line 376, in bootstrap

    renpy.main.main()

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^

  File "renpy/main.py", line 435, in main

    renpy.game.script.load_script()  # sets renpy.game.script.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^                           

  File "renpy/script.py", line 421, in load_script

    self.load_appropriate_file(".rpyc", ["_ren.py", ".rpy"], dir, fn, initcode)

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  File "renpy/script.py", line 1011, in load_appropriate_file

    data, stmts = self.load_file(dir, fn + source)

                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  File "renpy/script.py", line 800, in load_file

    stmts = renpy.parser.parse(fullfn)

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^

  File "renpy/parser.py", line 1675, in parse

    lines = list_logical_lines(fn, filedata, linenumber)

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  File "renpy/lexer.py", line 350, in list_logical_lines

    data = data_io.read()

           ~~~~~~~~~~~~^^

  File "<frozen codecs>", line 322, in decode

UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xb0 in position 37: invalid start byte

macOS-26.5.1-arm64-arm-64bit arm64

Ren'Py 8.4.1.25072401

Thu Jun 25 11:37:55 2026

Is there a way to advance time without taking a nap? 

I had mixed feelings about the demo, but decided to pay for the game.  Combat is completely different from the Demo, and much more unsatisfying.  The story also starts differently than the demo.  I want the demo to be an accurate but abridged version of the game, not this bait and switch.

Magic Acadamy is a great game, I wish this had the same kind of balance between mechanics that that did

Some minor issues: Hit boxes on the customers can be finicky sometimes, especially the three tops.  Often I can't drop anything on them, or click to cash them out.  It can happen with any client, but it is worst with the groups of three

If Rai is against the wall I can click on her feet and put her somewhere else, but not her upper body.

Sometimes the panels (like the maid select, or food and drink) will start flickering or open and closing rapidly

The game has a lot of potential, but the sound effects are like the humor of a 12 year old boy.  The quacks, the use of "Gay", etc that is where you lost me

It looks like you didn't export your images with a proper alpha layer.  The hair on most characters looks wrong because the alpha channel seems to be missing. This is present on multiple characters.   Perhaps it is something else, I am just describing how it looks to me

Thats all I ask.  It sounds like a weird one, so I will understand if you can't find the cause.  I just wanted you to be aware

Good thought, but I was not.  I was playing the game just as downloaded.  If it is relevant I am on an m1 mac mini 16GB RAM, running off an external SSD.  At first I suspected some kind of rollover bug, but even if you were using a signed 8 bit int (for some season) 119 still wouldn't roll over into negative.

I don't know if this is relevant but I also had to defeat two different bosses twice.  I would get the quest to do it, go defeat them, come back deliver the item, and then a few steps later I would be told to defeat that boss again.  I honestly don't remember if the dialog supported that, but it felt odd so I wanted to mention it

Sorry for not being clear, I was saying that button was probably disabled.  I find the enabled effect fairly subtle and don't think it was enabled when I clicked it.

I did try leaving the venue and returning, I also tried progressing to another day.  I tried going on an adventure and returning.  I tried talking to all characters and then returning.  I tried visiting all locations and returning. It was only after gathering more resources and returning that I was able to progress.

Sadly I didn't think to try to gather one type of resource and check, I just went ahead and gathered everything.

I have run into what I think is a bug: In the quest The Cards are on the Table I need to give Audrey 10 iron and 15 Magic dust, and I have  201 iron and 119 magic dust... and I can't give it to her.  The game acts like I haven't enough to give (i.e. clicking on the button does nothing)

I have tried saving and reloading, saving and quitting and reloading and neither helped.

PS: I found a workaround, I had to mine more iron, and grind for more magic dust, and when I came back and tried again that time workd

It is up to you to decide if this is a done game that didn't finish all their wishlist features, or a dead game because it didn't implement what you perceive as a promise.  I take the 100%s on the progress table, and the 1.0 version number to say they achieved what they wanted to.  Your interpretation is up to you

Well it is currently listed as 1.0 and the status page at the top says everything is 100%. My guess is that it is not so much dead as don

So just how much did you use AI image generation and LLMs on this project?

Please understand I am not making a negative comment towards you, and generally prefer it when the name of the MC is selectable by the user, but what is wrong with the name Luke?

As a mac user and developer, and someone who is looking to get some experience with visual novels, I might be interested in helping you out on this.  What is the best way to get in touch with you?

How do I turn down music volume? There doesn't seem to be a settings screen as far as I can see

That is wonderful, thank you very much.  I downloaded 0.6.3 and it doesn't seem to have a skip button in the upper right corner of the screen.  Is it not in that version? Perhaps I have made some other error?

Visual Novel games like Deep Vault 69 have this bad habit of cruising along with puzzles that all seem logical and clear, then suddenly comes lockpicking.  I don't really understand what I am supposed to do there but I can fake my way thought it.  Then we get to the minesweeper game which is annoying but solvable.  Then we get to the radiation sorting game and it all seems very vauge, I have arthritis and its hard to do anything with speed, and I have more or less rage quit at that point.

These puzzles don't feel like they fit the overall feel of the game, but the radiation one especially feels like it is coming out of the blue and doesn't deserve to be as tight as it is.  I wish games like this had a skip option.  I play games like this for the plot, the "plot", and because they are turn based.  Make the puzzles turn based too please

And for the love of god no fishing minigames.  

what was the specific error? If it was about not being signed or security then open settings, go to security, scroll down, and click open anyway

You do know that your games would be better if you didn't get defensive about criticism.  You chose to publish this, and even harsh criticism  is given in the hopes of making things better.  Telling people they are wrong, or dismissing them is just missing the point

Thank you so much for this!