History VideoGame / SmileForMe

* AnachronismStew: The game is implied to take place in 1994, since Dr. Habit's age is officially listed as 37 despite the fact that he was born in 1957. This doesn't stop him from having a [[https://twitter.com/drhabit Twitter account,]] of all things.

* AnachronismStew: The game is implied to take place some time during the 90s, since Dr. Habit's age is officially listed as 37 despite the fact that he was born in 1957. This doesn't stop him from having a [[https://twitter.com/drhabit Twitter account,]] of all things.
** A very, very downplayed example with Tim Tam being referred to by they/them pronouns. The game is implied to take place in 1994, but in the 90s, singular they was not a very common neutral pronoun; typically, nonbinary people instead opted for nonstandard pronouns like zie/hir or ey/em/eir [[note]][[https://corvidprompts.tumblr.com/post/189865888391/fun-fact-in-queer-lit-a-few-weeks-ago-my Here's one post noting nonstandard pronoun usage]], and [[https://nonbinary.wiki/w/index.php?title=English_neutral_pronouns#.2Ae_.28splat_pronouns.29 here's an anecdote about nonstandard pronouns in 90s/early 2000s internet communities]].[[/note]]. However, given that while usage of nonstandard pronouns have seen some resurgence in TheNewTens amongst certain nonbinary communities, they/them pronouns have also become more commonplace and are likely a lot more accessible to the average player.

* MirrorCharacters: Flower Kid and Dr. Habit, at least according to Habit himself. [[spoiler:Both have a connection to flowers, and in the good ending in particular, Habit [[NotSoDifferentRemark claims]] that Flower Kid reminds him of himself when he was younger (and saner.)]]

** Teeth. Dr. Habit is very determined to have people grinning by the end of their stay at the Habitat and puts emphasis on those "pearly whites," all of the songs Tiff Webber has to sing as part of her record contract are about teeth, "Martha" is a large machine modeled to look like a grinning mouth with very prominent teeth, etc. [[spoiler:All of it turns out to be foreshadowing for Dr. Habit's true intentions, as well as some of his past.]]

* SurrealSymbolicHeads: [[spoiler:During the climax, if there's any Habiticians who you didn't help, they will show up to the Big Event with a collage picture in place of their head, usually represented by something connected to their character or personality - for example, Parsley's head is a plate of food, Tiff's head is a microphone with sunglasses, [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Trevor is a Pomeranian]], and so on. It's possible that this isn't real and it's just [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness a hallucination Flower Kid is experiencing]], induced by the laughing gas.]]

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The game makes it sound as though the player has a limited amount of time to cheer everyone up and give them a reason to leave the Habitat before Dr. Habit does... ''something'' to them. In reality, it's possibly to wait [[https://lettucetanteo.tumblr.com/post/188450842926/i-t-s-b-e-e-n-a-y-e-a-r-h-a-b-i-t 369 in-game days]] without the Big Event ever happening.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The game makes it sound as though the player has a limited amount of time to cheer everyone up and give them a reason to leave the Habitat before Dr. Habit does... ''something'' to them. In reality, it's possibly to wait [[https://lettucerowan.tumblr.com/post/188450842926/i-t-s-b-e-e-n-a-y-e-a-r-h-a-b-i-t 369 in-game days]] before the Big Event begins automatically.

* NotSoDifferent: Flower Kid and Dr. Habit, at least according to Habit himself. [[spoiler:Both have a connection to flowers, and in the good ending in particular, Habit claims that Flower Kid reminds him of himself when he was younger (and saner.)]]

''Smile For Me'' is an unconventional [[PointAndClickGame Point-and-Click]] AdventureGame developed by Gabe Lane and Yugo Limbo that centers on a florist who visits the Habitat, a group home owned by a guy named Dr. Habit who preaches its supposed goal of treating depressed, unhappy, or jaded people. Unfortunately, the Habitat does not do a very good job at doing what it is claiming to do, and as the days count down towards "the Big Event," the florist interacts with the Habitat's residents during their stay and helps cheer them up, and slowly uncovers the dark secrets of the Habitat and the history of Dr. Habit. The game was released on March 31st, 2019, and is currently available on Steam.

* ArcSymbol: Teeth. Dr. Habit is very determined to have people grinning by the end of their stay at the Habitat and puts emphasis on those "pearly whites," all of the songs Tiff Webber has to sing as part of her record contract are about teeth, "Martha" is a large machine modeled to look like a grinning mouth with very prominent teeth, etc. [[spoiler:All of it turns out to be foreshadowing for Dr. Habit's true intentions, as well as some of his past.]]
** Flowers, too. The backgrounds of some of Dr. Habit's announcements are flowers, the player character made a living delivering flowers before coming to the Habitat, you cheer up the first Habitician you meet by giving her a flower, [[spoiler:Dr. Habit wanted to be a florist when he was younger...]] really, the list goes on.
** In a strange yet fitting marriage of the two symbols mentioned above, the item that you can use to [[spoiler:trigger Dr. Habit's HeelRealization?]] An erythronium flower - otherwise known as a tooth lily.

On May 31st, 2020, an interactive epilogue was released to celebrate the game's positive reception and the growing fan community surrounding it. You can play it [[https://smilefor.today/epilogue.html here.]]

** In the good ending, [[spoiler:you manage to save the Habiticians by way of having cheered them all up so that they have no reason to stick around for the "Big Event," and you make Dr. Habit happy for the first time in years, if not decades. But he still very clearly has a ''lot'' of issues, with his newfound guilt over what he tried to do to the Habiticians (and what he's done to other people in the past) only being the latest addition.]] However, the blow is softened by the CreativeClosingCredits showing not only [[spoiler:the Habiticians safe and enjoying their lives wholeheartedly, the Habitat likely a distant memory,]] but [[spoiler:Dr. Habit with a flower pot containing a small sapling, implying that all lingering trauma (and what is probably ''loads'' of legal trouble to sift through) aside, he'll eventually be able to be truly happy.]] The epilogue confirms that this is indeed the case, [[spoiler:as Habit is set to start working for Flower Kid's family at their store downtown starting next month.]]

** The interactive epilogue falls into this territory too, being an email service that [[spoiler:Kamal]] ends up hosting for the entire cast [[spoiler:a year after the game's events - and, of course, a year after the game's release.]]

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: The tone of the game makes it sound as though the player has a limited amount of time to cheer everyone up and give them a reason to leave the Habitat before Dr. Habit does... ''something'' to them. In reality, it's possibly to wait [[https://lettucerowan.tumblr.com/post/188450842926/i-t-s-b-e-e-n-a-y-e-a-r-h-a-b-i-t 369 in-game days]] before the Big Event begins automatically.

** In the good ending, [[spoiler:you manage to save the Habiticians by way of having cheered them all up so that they have no reason to stick around for the "Big Event," and you make Dr. Habit happy for the first time in years, if not decades. But he still very clearly has a ''lot'' of issues, with his newfound guilt over what he tried to do to the Habiticians (and what he's done to other people in the past) only being the latest addition.]] However, the blow is softened by the CreativeClosingCredits showing not only [[spoiler:the Habiticians safe and enjoying their lives wholeheartedly, the Habitat likely a distant memory,]] but [[spoiler:Dr. Habit with a flower pot containing a small sapling, implying that all lingering trauma (and what is probably ''loads'' of legal trouble to sift through) aside, he'll eventually be able to be truly happy.]]

On March 31st, 2020, an interactive ewas released to celebrate the game's positive reception and the growing fan community surrounding it. You can play it [[https://smilefor.today/epilogue.html here.]]