a circus-based dating sim!

A multicolored tent sinks in the midst of a clearing, surrounded by smaller stalls and booths. The circus has arrived, and you’ve been personally invited to join! Gathering your things didn’t take long; You’ve been waiting for this your entire life. Taking a deep breath, you pushed open the makeshift gates to your new home...

Welcome to the Wonderland Circus!

Circus Sweets is a dating sim in which you, a newcomer to the circus, uncover the (usually lighthearted) secrets behind these colorful costumes- As well as the routes to the candidates’ hearts! A sweeter take on the circus tropes, the game follows as the Wonderland Circus faces it’s competitor to prove who is the better circus- And who should quit entirely! Your choices not only decide the fate of your love life, but the life of the circus itself!

With development by @servantparent and art by @pandrena, Circus Hearts is a Ren’py game currently in the planning stages. If you’re interested in dating non-horror clowns, carnival workers, or just like the circus aesthetic, then why not check us out?

please do not injure the members of the circus or growl will have to escort you off the premises

as a general rule, everyone who’s romanceable is mspec- whether they be bi, pan, or something else! however, for more specifics, merry is bisexual with a mild preference for femininity, and miracle is ace and bi.

Question Prompts | Cast | Send a Prompt!

Now, Growl wasn’t exactly a common sight outside of his tent. While he’d leave to eat or perform, he tended to stay in the background the rest of the time, avoiding anyone other than the crew brave enough- or stupid enough- to come to pester him. 

The rare time he was out and had to handle the upkeep of something he couldn’t hide away to fix, he preferred not to be bothered much by fans or otherwise- And typically, the other cast would make sure of this.

“Can I get a photo?”

Clearly, this was not what was happening now.

Sighing and closing his eye, dirty from fixing the Fortuneteller’s Tent- which had been swaying in the wind, but collapsed partially while he was working, causing a small dust cloud to puff up and mess up his uniform- Growl took a moment to collect himself from snapping at the young woman asking. With a starstruck look in her eyes, she clearly held him in a much different light than she should’ve...

He stood, brushing himself off the best he could. With a forced smile, he did his best to be courteous to the guest.

“I’m sorry, but photo sessions with the cast are supposed to be scheduled beforehand.”

“I’ll only be a minute! Just a selfie!”

“Again, unless you booked a session, photos are not allowed.”

Speaking through gritted teeth now, Growl contemplated just what the pros and cons of telling her off would be.

Pros: He would be left alone.

Cons: It would get the Circus a bad rep, and Merry would have his head later.

...A hard decision, honestly. But he didn’t have much time to think about it, as the woman was already taking her phone out- Did she not have any respect? There were too many repercussions of stopping her physically, so he really only saw one choice...

“Ma’am-”

“Oh, miss! I’m terribly sorry, but could I ask for you to put that phone away? It would be a dreadful shame if we had to escort you out!”

Growl was cut off by a lilted voice, a certain acrobat gliding over with a smile. Their hands behind their back, bent slightly at the hip, they radiated charm- And the guest was certainly not immune, a light flush rising to her cheeks as she stammered an apology and put it back in her pocket.

“I-I’m sorry- I just thought one picture wouldn’t hurt-”

Miracle raised to a full stand, giving a soft laugh as they looked over at Growl’s expression.

“I fully understand! But I’m afraid that’s against the rules! And Growl isn’t really good with people, you see...”

The woman nodded, seemingly understandably, and Miracle hurried to lead her to a different booth. Returning to the now tired-looking Growl, they grinned cheekily, giving a bit of a hum.

“You owe me, y’know~?”

“I believe I’ve done enough for you in the past...”

“I just saved you~! Is the terrible Growl not going to accept he needed help?”

“No, he’s not.”

Blunt and to the point, he sighed as he turned to leave- The tent was fixed, the coast was clear... But he paused.

“...Thanks.”

who's friends with who? what are the squad dynamics like?

I will only be answering for the main six, but! generally, everyone’s friends with each other to... some extent. however, the main bonds are;

-Merry and Growl are somewhat close, but they do get into disagreements sometimes. Often, actually.

-Prince and Velvet are ‘opposites attract’- and by that, I mean Prince is often trying to cheer Velvet up. And it rarely succeeds.

-Merry, Miracle, and Lala often all hang out- Sometimes Growl is invited! However, he’s not. Very good at socializing.

if your OC(s) could have one wish what would it be?

Warning for a lot of text below the cut! I’ll be answering for all the characters shown so far!

Two acrobats from the circus- And the last of the six main crew and their partners! A quick note: Miracle is wearing a leotard under their dress, which is a costume top. The back of the dress is short as well. There will be no underwear jokes in this game.

Please make sure to refer to Miracle as they/them!

The beastmaster and his companion arrive! Rather than real animals, the circus uses robotic animals... But these certainly can be dangerous if not handled, so a beast ‘tamer’ is still required. And what would he be without a trusty robotic pet of his own, to keep the other animals under a bit more control!

A very special candidate and his assistant! You see, both of these characters were designed by our artist, Chris! While Prince is dateable and both will be appearing in the visual novel, they belong to Chris, and we’re eagerly looking forward to seeing how these two turn out!

Actually, the programming aspect hasn’t had much to it yet! (It’s a little hard to learn and manage to program a whole route in a few days...) While I didn’t think of this before, you bring up an amazing point- There’s not many that have the option of platonic relationships instead!

We will definitely, definitely work on implementing platonic AND romantic routes! While they will be very similar in structure, you’ll have different scenes for getting close- After all, there’s nothing wrong with preferring to befriend a character than romance!

Another candidate and their partner! A gloomy one, this time- Maybe you can find out just what happened in their past?

Please make sure to be calling Velvet by the they/them they prefer!