Today, 2 years ago, we welcomed everyone to our fantasy version of Wellington, New Zealand. It's hard to believe it's already been 2 whole years since then, but here we are! First off, here's a new illustration of Aspen by adirosa, to fit with the Miho she drew last year!
As previously announced, Please Be Happy is coming to consoles! The console ports are going well, with a few having recently passed some critical checks. It takes a long time to make sure they're all working properly, so we still don't have a release date locked down, but the console ports for Please Be Happy should be ready sometime early next year. You can see a few more updates (and artworks) for Please Be Happy in our anniversary post! Thank you for all the continued support! p.s. if you want some Please Be Happy merch, we'll be having a Black Friday sale next week~ follow our newsletter or Discord to see when it goes live!

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Today, August 15th, is Miho's birthday! To celebrate, here's a new artwork of her by adirosa.
The higher resolution version of this artwork is available here. Please Be Happy is taking part in the Wholesome Games Steam Celebration, a festival for comfy and wholesome games here on Steam. It's currently on sale for the event.
Our other games Twofold and our upcoming title Summer at the Edge of the Universe are also taking part! They both have demos out that you can play. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1749770/Twofold/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/2641720/Summer_at_the_Edge_of_the_Universe/

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Hello, everyone! Please Be Happy 1.2 has just been released, which fixes a few issues and makes various user experience and performance improvements. Not too much has changed on the surface, but the game has undergone significant technical changes internally in 1.2 for a better experience now and into the future. As always, thank you for continuing to support Studio lan! Karen/ (akemin_dayo) and adirosa

Changelog for 1.2:

• Improved ED video and audio quality.
• Made further improvements to general performance.
• Made improvements to the Episode Replay feature.
• The current version of the game is now shown at the top-left corner of the main menu.
• The main menu can now always be closed in every context (as opposed to only when ingame) using Escape, Right Click (MOUSE2), or the configured cancel button on a controller.
• The quick menu can now be shown and hidden using Backspace or R3 on a controller.
• The CG gallery viewer can now be controlled using a keyboard or controller.
  • Escape (keyboard) or the configured cancel button (controller) closes the CG viewer.
  • H (keyboard) or Triangle / Top Button (controller) hides the UI.
  • [ ] (keyboard) or L1 and R1 (controller) flips between pages, if applicable.
• Fixed an issue where the Extras Gallery screen would sometimes show the contents of the Credits screen instead, if a very specific set of steps were taken.
• Fixed some minor UI layout issues.
• Worked around a Unity bug that would cause the game to run locked at 30 FPS on certain system configurations.
• Worked around a Unity bug that causes VSync to sometimes become momentarily disabled under certain circumstances, resulting in a spike of elevated GPU utilisation as a result of drawing frames at over 5000(!) FPS for a brief period of time.

Very technical information for modders, dataminers, and anyone else who may be interested

• Scene scripts are currently still left in serialised binary format. This will change in a future update.
• A new preferences file was added: ${Unity persistent data path}/com.vnstudioelan.pleasebehappy.json
• PBH 1.2 is the largest update so far in terms of the number of non-external-user-facing internal changes large portions of the code have been rewritten and/or refactored, and a whole lot of new code was written, too. Additionally, 1.2 also finished porting over everything that's useful in Unity / C# from the shared Python codebase used by our Ren'Py games.
• Much like Ren'Py, you can now call arbitrary method selectors using the developer console command @performSelector ExampleClass.exampleMethod withArgs:"optionalExample1","example2"
  • Shorthand form is @p a:
  • ( This is mostly only useful for testing purposes during development, and is also far less powerful than its Ren'Py counterpart. Any relevant output is written to Player.log.)
• Some of you may have noticed that partial controller support was quietly added in 1.1.2. Please note that UI menus are still not yet navigable using a keyboard or controller.
• While support for controller prompts in the UI (including in the help screen) has been added, it is not yet exposed as a user-facing option, and currently requires a restart of the game to take effect if manually enabled either via editing the preference file mentioned above, or via the developer console.
  • This also applies to the confirmation button preference, which is currently not functional beyond just affecting the controller prompts UI.

Hello, everyone! Please Be Happy 1.1.2 has just been released, which vastly improves performance and load times, adds Steam Cloud support, and more! It also fixes a few minor issues that were either reported, or were found in testing. As always, thank you for continuing to support Studio lan! Karen/ (akemin_dayo) and adirosa

Changelog for 1.1.2:

New features

• Added Steam Cloud save synchronisation!
• Added new optimised asset loading behaviour to vastly improve performance and load times.
• Completely reworked input handling in preparation for upcoming changes. Input bindings are now consistent with other Studio lan games.
• Completely reworked help screen to list all applicable input bindings.
• Improved support for the Display P3 and DCI-P3 colourspaces.
• The alternate graphics API launcher that was previously a separate download is now included.
• Improved screenshot management.
• Various internal refactors.

General improvements and bug fixes

• Fixed all known input issues on all platforms by virtue of input handling being fully reworked.
• Fixed an issue where certain preference pane tooltips would show incorrect information.
• Fixed an issue where the title screen animation would not always work under certain circumstances.
• Fixed some savescreen issues.
• Fixed a typo in the artbook.

Scene-specific improvements and bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where some text was erroneously duplicated in Chapter 1 Scene 6.
• Fixed an issue where Miho would take longer than intended to show up in Chapter 5 Scene 7.

Information for modders and dataminers

• Scene scripts are currently still left in serialised binary format. This will change in a future update.
• In general, Please Be Happy 1.1.2 is still not very modder or dataminer friendly. This will change in a future update. Thank you for your patience.

One year ago today, we released Please Be Happy after several years of development. We're so glad so many people have played the game so far and traveled with Miho to Wellington!

Since the game launched...

• The music video for the ending theme, Someone Someday, has passed 100k views on YouTube.
• The game has over 200 positive reviews on Steam, giving it a Very Positive rating.
• We got a lot of people to fall in love with Miho (our evil plan from the beginning).

To celebrate its 1st anniversary, we have a few surprises for you!

• We've released the .pdf for the special anniversary booklet from the game's anniversary bundle (now sold out) on our Patreon! It contains two post-mortems and a new short story & illustration about Silver.
• The two post-mortems from the anniversary booklet are now available to read for everyone, including non-Patrons.
• Pre-orders for the Please Be Happy OST's vinyl print are now on sale for Patrons! The public pre-orders start tomorrow but Patrons can reserve a copy a day early.

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As announced earlier today at the lan Festival, Please Be Happy has passed over 5,000 copies sold! We're also super close to 200 Steam reviews (with a 99% positive score) which is amazing!! Thank you so much to everyone who has ventured out on this journey with Miho.
Next month is the 1 year anniversary (birthday?) for Please Be Happy1 year since Miho traveled to Wellington. To celebrate, we have a brand new merch bundle. This bundle will include a new acrylic standee, a mini booklet from the developers, and a mini postcard signed by Miho's voice actress Dottovu.
There is also a reprint of adirosa's Please Be Happy artbook, hic et nunc. which is available now! In the coming months well be sharing info on a vinyl print of Please Be Happys soundtrack, so stay tuned for that with our newsletter. Again, thank you so much to everyone who's decided to travel with Miho

Hello, everyone! We've just released Please Be Happy 1.1.1, which is mostly a bugfix release that fixes many issues that were found since 1.1! ( This is the same build as what can be found on the physical release.) Additionally, just in case you missed it, we're running a Makeship campaign to make plushies of Miho! https://makeship.com/products/miho-plush
Thanks to everyone's support, we've already funded production but if you want to pick one up, make sure to do it now because this is a limited run of plushies! There's under 3 days left as of this writing, so this is your last chance to get one. As always, thank you all for supporting Studio lan across these many years! Karen/ (akemin_dayo) and adirosa

Changelog for 1.1.1:

New features

• Added a detailed README found in the game directory please give it a read!
• Added a macOS DMG background. It is also available as bonus content in the game directory.
• Added an Apple Silicon (arm64 / AArch64) Mach-O slice to the macOS build Rosetta 2 is now no longer required to play Please Be Happy!
  • Note for ARM Linux and/or Asahi Linux users: Unfortunately, we are unable to provide builds for ARM Linux or Asahi Linux (arm64 / AArch64, armv7) for Please Be Happy, unlike some of our other games. This is an upstream limitation, as Unity unfortunately does not support this target platform.
• Unified bundle identifier across all Studio lan games Please Be Happy's bundle identifier is now com.vnstudioelan.pleasebehappy.
• Implemented a data migrator to handle migration of all related game data.
• Updated credits screen.
• Added files used in the upcoming new Studio lan bootlogo for Please Be Happy.
  • While the new bootlogo is not actually enabled in production builds yet, it is already being shipped and you can find it in the game files inside PleaseBeHappy_Data/StreamingAssets/Assets/media/
• Made major changes to the build process.
• Created proper iconsets and updated the game icon across all locations.
• Updated Unity SDK version to 2021.3.26f1.
• Completely rewrote the in-game screenshot functionality. Screenshots are now saved to the "Please Be Happy" folder inside your Pictures folder.
  • Old screenshots are not migrated they are left alone as-is.
• Added description tooltips for each option in the preference pane.
• Changed the default window state to Borderless Full Screen.
• Added a missing variant of a certain CG accessible via the Gallery.
• Added additional save data validation handling.
• Started work on a major refactor.
• Enable support for framerates above 60 FPS for ultra-smooth animations, if you happen to have such a display.
  • This includes the 120 Hz ProMotion displays found in modern Apple machines.
• Improved the quality of all texture assets.

General bug fixes

• Completely rewrote Steam achievement/trophy functionality. Issues fixed by this change are listed below.
  • Fixed all known issues related to difficulties earning achievements/trophies.
  • Fixed an issue where achievement/trophy state could desynchronise between local persistent save data and Steam.
  • Fixed an issue where completing the Aspen route would sometimes grant you the trophy for the Juliet route as well in certain edge cases.
• Fixed an issue where achieving 100% completion would be impossible for some players.
• Fixed an issue where certain font glyphs would not be fully masked correctly in certain transition states.
• Fixed an issue where Hangeul strings would either render incorrectly or not at all in the history / log view.
• Fixed an issue where the "Open Screenshot Folder" button would not work on some systems.
• Fixed an issue where the "Adjust individual character voices here" text was missing the button glyph it was referring to.
• Fixed a typo in the string "Take a screenshot!"
• Fixed an issue where a character's name would be shown before Miho would actually learn the name of said character.
• Fixed an issue where a specific Juliet pose would erroneously render with the shadow for a parasol present, despite there being no parasol.
• Fixed an issue where speech bubbles with no attributed speaker would have incorrect top and bottom padding values.
• Fixed an issue where dAR enforcement would not work correctly in certain edge cases.
• Fixed an issue where OpenGL ES 3 was somehow included as a valid graphics API backend on Windows.
• Fixed an issue where a certain CG accessible via the Gallery would render with an incorrect dAR.
• Removed Armand's extraneous set of ears.
• Fixed all known issues with missing or incorrect voice lines.
• Fixed some text formatting issues.
• Fixed some minor typos.
• Made many improvements and fixes to the artbook.

Scene-specific bug fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused Miho to experience minor rendering corruption in Chapter 4 Scene 26 (Juliet Route).
• Fixed an issue that caused a character to experience z-depth rendering issues in Chapter 5 Scene 9 (Juliet Route).
• Fixed a scene bleed issue in Chapter 2 Scene 4.
• Fixed missing voice lines in Chapter 3 Scene 1.
• Fixed missing voice lines in Chapter 4 Scene 25 (Juliet Route).
• Fixed missing voice lines in Chapter 5 Scene 22 (Aspen Route).
• Fixed incorrect voice lines in Chapter 3 Scene 17 (Juliet Route).
• Fixed incorrect voice lines in Chapter 5 Scene 13 (Aspen Route).
• Fixed some rendering issues with Miho in certain scenes in the Aspen route.
• Fixed some rendering issues with Miho in certain scenes.

Information for modders and dataminers

• Scene scripts are currently still left in serialised binary format. This will change in a future update.
• In general, Please Be Happy 1.1.1 is still not very modder or dataminer friendly. This will change in a future update. Thank you for your patience.

Meemo is here!!

We just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund disc-based physical copies of our first three visual novels, "Highway Blossoms;" "Heart of the Woods;" and "Please Be Happy." We're also printing the artbook and soundtrack too! The game copies are disc-based and compatible with PC/Mac/Linux. The games are available in two versions: the Webstore Editions and Classic Editions. The Classic editions come in a DVD-sized case, and the Webstore editions come in a CD-sized case and have a reversible cover with a new illustration. There's also a special postcard and sticker sheet exclusive to the campaign, illustrated by some special guest artists. The campaign will run for 4 weeks starting from today, meaning you have until April 9th to order! After the campaign ends, the games, books, and soundtracks will be available on our webstore and at IRL events. The sticker sheet and postcard will be sent to the vault, forever exclusive to this campaign. Please give it a look if you're interested, and thanks for your support!

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for your bug reports and I hope you've been enjoying the game! With this new update, we have: - Added Linux builds - Added OpenDyslexic as a font - Added tooltips to settings to help clarify what some of these things do - Made 100%-ing the game actually possible - as we've fixed some typos, those will count as 'new lines' and will need to be read again for the final 100%. Sorry about the inconvenience! - Added confirm screen on exit - Fixed chapter 5 achievement error - Fixed bugged episode in the extras menu "On Wings of Night" - Fixed various voice lines and typos - Fixed Korean display error in Log We are still working on: - implementing Steam Cloud Saves - updating the demo to the new engine - controller support Thank you for your patience and kind words.

Minor typos have been fixed in the artbook.

Hello everyone! Thank you all for the bug and typo reports.

• We've fixed achievements not appearing - for the achievements you may have missed, please skip to the end of the first scene and any achievements you should have received should be added to your Steam account.
• We've fixed some more voice line errors and typos.

Hello! Thank you for all the support.

• We've fixed an error in Chapter 4 which caused some scenes to be skipped in Chapter Four if you are on Lena's friendship story.
• We've fixed a few voice line errors.

After over 3 years of development, we're so excited to finally bring you Please Be Happy - our latest wlw visual novel, from several of the creators behind Heart of the Woods and a few new faces. Born as a fox in the forest of Korea, Miho carries with her the memory of a traveler who showed her kindness and spoke of home. Now more human than fox, Miho has spent a long, long time searching for her person. She arrives by airship to Wellington, one of the jewels of the floating island of New Zealand. Despite her years spent observing humans, she still has a lot to learn about their culture and society. She's made a living so far as a thief, her heightened senses allowing her to easily take advantage of people. She's also seen a lot of the worst of what mankind has to offer. It's only after meeting Juliet, the owner of a small library, and Aspen, an aspiring novelist, that Miho starts to understand what kindness is, and that there's more than just the bad stuff when it comes to people. --- Please Be Happy is a comfy, slice-of-life experience about exploring what it means to be happy. It features: Over 220,000 words 2 different routes with 2 happy endings each Full English voice acting A brand new original soundtrack by Sarah Mancuso Thank you for following along during the development of PBH! From all of us at Studiolan, we hope you enjoy this new tale. If you'd like to talk about the game with others, we have a Discord server with dedicated game channels! And if you'd like to stay up to date with what we're up to, please consider subscribing to our newsletter here: https://tinyletter.com/vnstudioelan

We're super excited to announce that after three years of development, Please Be Happy will be releasing in just a couple weeks, on November 21, 2022! PBH is a comfy visual novel about the fox spirit Miho learning how to be a person, and finding love along the way. PBH has 2 different romantic routes with 2 happy endings each. We can't wait for everyone to play it!

PBH is a visual novel where you play as Miho, a Korean fox spirit. She arrives in Wellington, New Zealand in search of something new. There are two different heroine routes to explore, with two different endings for each. On this livestream, join us as we play through the game's first chapter, and talk about development as well as answer questions. The stream will include game director and artist adirosa, lead writer Josh, voice director Syon Santeria, and the voice actress of Miho, Dottovu. Come talk to us about PBH, visual novels, and what the best kind of fancy coffee drink is.