A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android

An everyday dramedy otome game that begs the question: When one game goes down for maintenance, can another game begin?

View on Steam




Story

After a rough day at work, all you want to do is settle in with your favorite otome game, only to realize it's gone down for maintenance. How will you pass these troubling times? Risk going to a watering hole to drown your sorrows in a beverage of choice? Begrudgingly scroll through a dating app to meet your love for the night? Either way - adventure, shenanigans, and hot singles in your area await! Disclaimer: heartache probable - choose wisely. 

Features

  • A nameable protagonist with configurable skin and hair tones;
  • Partial voice acting;
  • ~65 000 words;
  • Four routes with multiple endings;
  • A floofy cat;
  • In-game texting, including with your BFF (who you can name too);
  • Accessibility options - OpenDyslexic and Atkinson Hyperlegible fonts, two text sizes to choose from, darkmode and lightmode textbox options.


CW: Strong language, suggestive/sexual themes, and mentions of alcohol/alcohol use.Also Mark.

Ending Walkthrough

Ending Guide v. 1.0
Achievement/Ending Guide: v. 2.0 (courtesy of Deiru from Steam!)



Love interests


Side Character


Team

Art

  • Centibel- Sprite, CG, and Promo Artist (Discord: Centibel#5104)

Co-Created and Written by

  • Eishelin- Code Witch, GUI Mastermind
  • RitaRemixed - VA Casting/Director, Sound Engineer
  • Bryth - Sound Designer, Effects Specialist
  • TsukasaYuki -  Social Media Manager, Mark's #1 Fan

Voice Actors

Special thanks to

  • Our wonderful beta test team - bokbok, in.citem (Em), Jade Castle, Magma, Marcy, sealilyyy, Stefanina
  • CC asset creators (see more in the Extras -> Attribution part of the game)

This game was developed for Otome Jam 2022.

Questions for players

We'd love it if you let us know in the comments:

  1. Which character was your favorite? Why?
  2. Did you manage to make all the guys on the main screen regain their color?
  3. What's your favorite moment in the game?

Download

Download
UnderMaintenance-2.1-mac.zip 250 MB
Download
UnderMaintenance-2.1-pc.zip 265 MB
Download
heartysoupstudios.undermaintenance-2.1.apk 276 MB

Install instructions

Choose the file that's labeled for your computer's operating system, unzip, and click the icon labeled 'UnderMaintenance' to start the game!

If you're on MacOS, you may get a warning that reads: "'UnderMaintenance' cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified." Instead of moving the file to trash as the pop-up window suggests, you can allow the app to run in the General tab of your Security & Privacy settings. 

More on how to do this here under the "How to open an app that hasn’t been notarized or is from an unidentified developer" header.

Development log

Comments

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.

Viewing most recent comments 1 to 40 of 91 · Next page · Last page
(1 edit)

Tristian is my wife LMAO but also mark... gods mark... such a beautiful character. loved this game so much <3

(2 edits)

TRISTIAN MY BELOVED ;v; kudos to his VA I loooooved his voice and the route and sdijiasdjoisajdiosa feeling him in my mid-20s life crisis oh my god


edit: ALSO I demand more spicy kisses for this maaaan (if not in game, at least pass some to him from me)


edit2: MARK NEEDS TO BE PUT IN A BOX AND SHAKEN!! GOD! his little HEE-HE gets me every time i cannot- 

I signed up for itch just to make this comment:
Love the new Mark!
He didn't rub me the right way before, but giving him the full route just upped him to my fav! Thanks :*

(1 edit) (+1)

Normally I dont mess around with sagittarius but Mark might be different. Giving him a chance since I liked the idea of traveling to different places to live a new life, which is what I'm currently doing atm. 2nd favorite is Theo as he's a wholesome family man that sacrificed his hopes and dreams to keep his family afloat. Btw can we have a sequel to this after all the good endings for all LIs please? I wanna know how MC is doing with them (especially after Mark's good ending, I'm biased.)

I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH! This was the third visual novel I've ever played and it's honestly so good. All the endings are so fun to get, the guys are all so interesting and endearing-- my best friend is funny, I'M funny-- overall a really great game. Took me around 2 days to finish but you can probably finish this in like a couple of hours. 

Loved this so much!  Fave was Theo - with him being happy where he is and how dedicated he is with family, adore him.  Yes, brilliant touch with greyed out menu art that gains colour with their good endings - bravo!  Fave moment - loved all choices, the CG moments and programming side panning and full size view of CG was lovely interlude to gameplay.  Well done to Centibel for sprite and CG art - lovely!  Very cool writing and choices - especially in real life with the bar, as well as via dating app. The scope and choices are so wonderful.  Well done on a brilliant game!  

This game is ultra cute! I bought it on Steam recently and don't regret it. I played one of the routes and am working on the other ones next. There was soo many different personalities it was hard to decide who to choose! Appreciate the art-style too. Thanks for making this game <3

(+3)

can I date MC instead? I love her, she's the best <3

(+4)

I played through this game in one sitting and ahhhh it was so good, no regrets. My favourite Luca just because I appreciate a man who is open and honest. We love a man who communicates and isn't afraid to put himself out there.

My second favourite is Mark, which like..................ya'll don't even understand the whiplash I went through. I played his route last and he kept appearing in the other stories like my brother in otome hell can you not pick fights with my dates??? So by the time I reached him I was stressed. The first chapter deadass had me taking deep breaths like don't back out, we can get the good ending, just keep going DON'T SHUT DOWN BE STRONG-

AND IT WAS WORTH IT. He is so cute and vulnerable, AND HE PLAYS OTOME GAMES W/ US baby we have no choice but to stan.

I was wondering if anyone knew how to get Lucas romance ending I have tried twice now but I keep getting the normal ending of letting him follow his dreams?

hi there! If you scroll up on this page, there should be an ending walk through! That should help!

(1 edit)

I'm playing on my HP windows laptop but the screen keeps flickering grey every time I click an option. The game seems really fun but i can't play it due to the grey flickering

is there a way to fix it?

Hi, thanks for reaching out. 

Could you give more information about your system? E.g. your operating system, more specs of your laptop, and your graphics drivers?

One thing I recommend doing is pressing Shift+G when in game and testing whether any of the graphics options there change your experience. Sometimes screen issues are due to incompatibilities between your screen drivers and the game engine.

(+1)

I was trying to figure out how to get Mark's route and even the good ending to his route but the steam layout was quite a bit confusing to me, it seemed a little jumbled in my half awake brain, is there another walkthrough or anything that includes Mark's that may make more sense to me?

hi! There is an ending v. 2 on this page if your scroll up! 

This game looks like a lot of fun, but unfortunately I couldn't play much because whenever I click to the next text box or hover over a menu option, parts of the screen will flash grey. Do you happen to have a fix for this? Thank you!

I'm so sorry to hear that.

Could you tell more about what you're playing the game on? E.g. your operating system and the specs of your device?

I expect that there isn't anything that can be done, but the Android version gets stuck on the screen where you enter your name, because the keyboard covers the submit button.

Hey there. Thanks for letting us know.

While we look into adding an option to hide the keyboard - pressing the Enter key on the on-screen keyboard submits the name input screens and that should let you continue.

(+3)

Okay, I was hella apprehensive of Mark, but the route was so good. I'm glad I'm usually checking out every route, would be sad to miss this.

For me, Luca was the hardest to figure out the ending for.  My first choice was Tristan, but I did like all the guys.

The game is short, but character growth was still shown and nobody left me dissatisfied.

Also, I was hyped for MC to be in her thirties and being open about liking otome, sadly I could never, but good for her, good for her

(+1)

Before I even play, Mr. Steal your girl caught my attention.

But fr his name suits him

<3

(1 edit)

AAAAAAA!!! so precious!!

but my favorite was either theo or luca

(+2)

10/10

(+7)

i wanted to play this game for so long cuz the art is amazing BUT........... i have two brothers and their names are Theo and Luca. BROOOO whyyyy  skdlkjfkasdf im giving it a shot after so many months eyeing the game, wish me luck XD (i'll be probably cringing into oblivion while i play)

(1 edit) (+8)

i never go for the tsundere characters in otomes because they’re usually too aggresive, too cold or simply too annoying, but damn mark was the perfect mix of chaos, vulnerability and genuine affection. when the mc called him on his bs he actually did some introspection and improved instead of falling back into his old, self-destructive persona, and i think he had the best evolution out of the 4 LIs (also the way he’s the only one who truly tries to understand mc’s passion for otomes and buys a big collection to play with her.. ye i love him!!)

i picked his route last and he turned out to be my fave boy. that’s how you recognize a good visual novel!

(+1)(-3)

I haven't played this but it looks amazing and Tristan looks so cute but i wish there was a option for guys or pronouns at least </3

(+6)

I get it but Otome is actually about female protagonists if i remember correctly that's why many Otome's have women as MC's and some don't which technically isn't an Otome but it doesn't really matter if it's not accurate either way

same...</3

(+4)

oh man... I never expected to play a dating sim that hits so close to home, being now more than halfway past my 20s. this was like a slap in the face, but the loving kind lmao, and the kind that reminded me that life is far from over for me at my age

Which character was your favorite? Why?
Theo for sure, though Luca was a pretty close second. Tristan was my first route, and I thought he'd be my favorite, but the way the other 2 pushed the MC to pursue her dreams again is what did it for me. Between the two, Luca definitely won me over with the piano thing, but Theo won in the end because he was just... too adorable? Endearing? Comfortable?? Safe??? With Luca it felt like I'd lose him if I tried to get "too close too fast", but with Theo it felt like it was ok to expect something out of the relationship.

Did you manage to make all the guys on the main screen regain their color? 
Yes. Wasn't sure I wanted to go for Mark at all, but the ending of his route was surprisingly nice.

What's your favorite moment in the game?
Adopting a cat with Tristan and watching Mark slowly become a bit of a nerd. Also every time Theo said "hus-ban-dos".

(+1)

Which character was your favorite? Why?

Definitely a tossup between Luca and Theo... with Luca coming out on top by just a hair (if Theo was a bit more forward/dominant he might be my #1, but I understand why he isn't, for story reasons.) I usually go for the confident/forward flirt archetype if there isn't a dominant/possessive archetype available, so Luca fits into the former quite nicely!

My least favorite was probably Tristan. He was just... too innocent and boyish for me, especially for a game like this that seems to really be going for a more relatable adult tone. I didn't really get any sense of passion from him. Normally with these types of characters part of the payoff is seeing them finally break out of their shyness due to how overcome they are with emotion/passion for MC, so I was surprised when he stayed pretty much the same throughout the route.

Did you manage to make all the guys on the main screen regain their color?

Yes! But I have a weird thing about otome games where I don't like to see bad endings haha so I haven't gotten any of those (if I feel like I am starting to get a bad end I will panic and go back lol)

What's your favorite moment in the game?

I found the good ending scene with Luca to be my favorite. It's just incredibly sweet and you did a good job of conveying his affections, how strong his feelings were, etc.

There were multiple times I laughed out loud, which rarely ever happens when I'm playing an otome game, so hats off to ya'll. (Theo's line delivery of 'husban...dos...?' sent me into orbit)

I appreciate what you guys did with Mark's character! He's not my favorite, but I definitely respected him by the end, and I really related to his struggles of feeling trapped in something that seems safe and predictable, but also is slowly killing you inside.

Misc thoughts:

I would be interested in paying for like an 18+ patch or 18+ DLC, I'm sure a lot of others would, too (I think we all saw that big survey on the otome games subreddit where like 70% said they wanted to see 18+ content lol). Just something to think about :)

I also would like to see you guys try out writing in second person rather than first person! It's not often used it's my favorite format, and I was thinking I would love to read this game in second person pov.

And it would be nice to be able to change the eye color of your sprite :)

Great work! I had a great time with this one and you guys should be proud!

(+2)

This was a really great game. I was actually dreading Mark's route so I saved it for last, but when I played it, I actually think it might be my favourite route! He is such a sweetie and not as harsh as he seems. I really loved Luca's route as well. Theo was okay, and Tristan came in 4th place. I did not find Tristan's route romantic or thrilling. Overall, the game was awesome! Highly recommend. 

(+1)

Wowww, what an amazing game! The characters were so relatable, I really loved it!

Which character was your favorite? Why?

Theo was my favorite! He's probably the one that I would choose irl.

Did you manage to make all the guys on the main screen regain their color?

Yes!!!

What's your favorite moment in the game?

Surprisingly, I think Mark's route gave me the best experience!

(+3)

Played the game on Stream n had a blast. A really amazing game for a free one at that. The MC's personality n relationship with best friend is so realistic n relatable to me. 

Luca's routes is my personal favorite, his charming, confident, up front yet respectful personality is just on point. The fact that you don't get a bad end if you reject sleeping with him really shine a light on how much of a green flag he is. 

Theo is also super loveable, definitely the older brother type, like how the MC described him. 

Mark's personality is the kind I dislike the most. Of course girls who like to dig deeper for an inner mushy parts will like him. For me, I don't find being rude as attractive. Given the fact that he wasn't meant to be a capture target until newer release, I could totally understand why. But having to be non confrontational n acting as if i'll love him no matter what, for us to reach happy end is a bit eeky. 

I haven't done Tristan yet, but I can't wait to go home n figure out all endings there is. 

All in all, a wonderfully well written short game with realistic adult relationships

(+3)

Theo is the best boy. Very mature, I didn't expect that? however I'm not sure that Theo has time for developing relationship with MC having so tight schedule.
I guess Tristan is the kind of guy I would like to meet IRL, he's the most fun to be around.
I've only played the latest version of game, and I was really surprised that MC is even deciding to give Mark a chance.
But now I got that he wasn't a love interest from the beginning.
Anyway, I like how we start the game with casual fling that is developing and turning to something deeper, and no one is head over heels about another from the start like in usual otomes.

My full review

https://tigermousse.tumblr.com/post/712410969106694144/under-maintenance

Hi! I really enjoy playing this game but this is a genuine question. Is it just my laptop having an error or is this an actual bug or it is supposed to be like this? I'm referring to the black bg after the kissing scene. Thanks!

Hi, thanks for bringing this to our attention! We'll fix it in the next patch release. :)

(2 edits) (+2)

Tristan <3 I’m a sucker for nerds, and long hair. (SPOILERS) and the good end cat ending was absolutely perfect, I found his character to be pretty relatable. <3 Also Theo, but haven’t played his route yet. ALSO can I ask, Is it possible to get a dirty/raunchy end with anyone in this game? Even just text with no imagery.

I really liked this game. I was having fun when playing this VN. 

Which character was your favorite? Why?

Definitly Theo, he is just my cup of tea.  He is  cute and very caring. Also I like tatoos, so from visuals down to character, everything is perfect.

Did you manage to make all the guys on the main screen regain their color?

Yes :)

What's your favorite moment in the game?

In Theo route, special event for MC after garden party

(+6)

This isn't critism! Before someone decides to attack me, I had to put this out first. Just read until the end okay? 


I think I just experienced culture shock? Or should I say game shock? The MC's personality is WAY different compared to mine and oh boi was I thrown out of loop. Maybe it's bcs I grew up in asian household but the MC is VERY bold. Even in her thoughts. I wouldn't even dare to have those thoughts irl. And everything was so fast paced, first day meeting and I was already jumping in bed with him (although I love my boy Tristan). I was really caught of guard and my head immediately turned into a jumbled mess. This is absolutely not hate, just wanted to share how shellshocked I was in certain aspects of this game. And maybe bcs english is my second language but I don't understand the intention or hint(?) of the dialogues option at all. I thought [Of course] and [If that's what you like] had the same meaning but wow was I wrong. And now I'm a puddle of confused mess lol

Hi! I first played this game back in 2022 but never finished all routes. When I heard you guys got a Steam release, I decided to get back into it but I wanted a clean slate so I fully deleted the old game folder and then downloaded it on Steam. After launching the game tho, it turned out all my game data was still there along with my old saves. While I understand most people would be glad to see this, I got sort of confused. Does the game write data in windows registry? Or is there some mystery folder I didn't discover (cause I tried haha)? Thank you for the game btw (and the chaotic Mark route!!), it's lovely.

Hey there.

The game data is stored in a different directory, depending on the operating system you're using. First you have to find the RenPy global save folder on your OS:

  • Windows - %APPDATA%/RenPy/
  • Mac - ~/Library/RenPy/
  • Linux - ~/.renpy/

And there the savefiles should be in the UnderMaintenance-1651390449  folder.

Ahh, thanks so much! I totally missed that one, didn't think to look for RenPy folder. I will remember it for the future :)

(+1)

This was so fun! And kinda heartbreaking when I did all bad endings. One of them is outright scary 👀

I found myself liking Mark's route as a game experience. In reality I wouldn't go with him to a party (it was my quickest end lol ).

Love Tristan's game at the beginning.

Love Luca's route, even though I got a happy ending only after two failures lol Theo is also charming. And their voices! So cool!

Thank you!

(1 edit) (+1)

Hey! Just wanted to say I got all the good endings for the boys~ I felt like they were really well-written and I loved that they felt so fleshed-out! I had a blast with this game and I hope to see more from you guys :)

Which character was your favorite? Why?

Honestly I expected it to be Luca but it turned out to be Theo. I'm a sucker for characters who love their family so intensely, and I could relate since I actually had a similar life situation to him (putting things on hold to be a caretaker to a beloved family member.) He felt like a realistic representation of someone who's had that kind of history.

Did you manage to make all the guys regain their color?

Yes, I did! I was kind of surprised too, since I got all good endings without a walkthrough. 

What was your favorite moment?

The moment when Tristan adopted Mr. Steal Your Girl. Tristan's route was the last one I played and by that point I had almost been SCREAMING for the MC to adopt the cat everytime he popped up on screen. This is why I have four cats

Do you want a Mark route?

Mmmm not a full romance route but I think it might be interesting if you had a platonic route with him where he gradually learns to be less gross and manages to become something resembling a friend? Just... he comes on WAY too strong and creepy for me to feel any interest in pursuing a romance with him.  Maybe if you toned down some of his blatant misogyny in the other routes...?

Would you replay the game if it was fully voiced?

Having it fully voiced wouldn't matter to me personally, I usually have the voices turned off anyway. That said I would replay it since it's well-written.

Just as a bonus.... if ever you decide to make other games, I'd love to have the option of having a nonbinary MC!





(1 edit)

sorry i cant find your ending guide. Do you mind giving me a step by step process to access your itchi.o main page so that i can find it.... i cant even see the love interest caeds

here's a link to their ending guide https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rDGkLz8PsNV9g_ugPCtas0kYK5JAQCoj/view 

if you are on mobile, you sometimes can't see the love interest cards and other info. i had that problem myself LOL

Thank you for this

no problem!

I've gotten all endings but Tristan's second bad ending - help a girl out? I feel like I've tried all combinations and if it follows the pattern of Theo's and Luca's, it should be an immediate bad end somewhere between meeting Mark and the kitty scene at the end.

(+1)

Thanks for playing! There is an ending guide! posted on our itch.io main page, right before the love interest cards! Hopefully that helps out - let us know if you have issues accessing it

(+2)(-1)

Such a fun jam game! I had a blast and loved the slice-of-life, modern day rom-com vibe of Under Maintenance. Very impressed with how polished it is. Loved the art, the comedic vibe, the sassiness of the protagonist, and the three love interests were great as well. 

Which character was your favorite? Why?

LUCA. I love a charming flirty boy in fiction, and Luca did not disappoint at all. He was self confident in a non-offputting way and I love how respectful he is - such a sweetie. He's also super sexy.   >.>  

Did you manage to make all the guys on the main screen regain their color?

Yessss. We play all routes unless a dude is horribly offputting, which none of these three lovelies were.

What's your favorite moment in the game?

*cough* I did like both scenes in Luca's route during their first "date."

Do you want a Mark route?

I don't want it - he's gross in a horribly irl way - but I would play it if it existed. :) I'm sure he has some repressed pain and trauma to "explain away" the azzhole.

Would you replay the game if it were fully voiced?

Heck yeah! Probably just Luca's route though. I loved his VA. <3

(3 edits) (-1)

Please tell me there is a walkthrough for this game that isn't a video walkthrough

Game is great so far but I really want to get all the CG's and best ending in one go ! please!

If there isn't one please someone make one ! I hate going threw routes more then twice to try and get the CG's because then I start to get bored and annoyed and I really love this game so far the characters are beautiful/handsome and story so far is great but like I said please give walkthrough !

Hey there! There is an ending guide posted on the itch.io page, right before the Love interests. Let us know if you have issues accessing it!

(+1)

I loved this game! I'm glad I stumbled upon it! Also, A++ on the "Bork" reference!

1. Which character was your favorite? Why?

I thought it would be Tristan because I love the shy, blushing types, but it ended up being Theo. I really appreciated his focus on getting to know each other and taking things seriously.

2. Did you manage to make all the guys on the main screen regain their color?

Yeah!

3. What's your favorite moment in the game?

Anything with Mr. Steal Your Girl

4. Do you want a Mark route?

I didn't until after playing Theo's route. There's a lot of potential there with what he said about Theo and the MC and being a small town and stuff, so yes!

5. Would you replay the game if it were fully voiced?

I prefer non-voiced, so probably not. But that said, all the actors did amazing!

(+4)

Which character was your favorite? Why?

Theo, definitely Theo. I however didn't like MC too much in his route. She was a bit pushy to jump into bed with him and some of the options made me uncomfortable and MC reaching for his belt a second time made me sad.

Did you manage to make all the guys on the main screen regain their color?

Yes I did.

What's your favorite moment in the game?

In Tristen's route where you are given a quest, I really liked it. It reminds me of my favorite match in MeChat the Roleplayer.

Do you want a Mark route?

I can live without it. He's a bit too rude for me.

Would you replay the game if it were fully voiced?

I think I am okay with the semi-voiced ones. I prefer to have no voice at all. even though the VA's did a good job.

(+3)

Hey there. Thanks for your comment, we really appreciate the feedback.

Since we realized it's not conveying what we wanted to show, the scene in question (in Theo's chapter 1) has been adjusted.

(+1)

Okay just replayed it and it is much better!

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