From left: Stacey, Tifa, K-T and Alex.
Lugame Lunchtime Games Club! is a romantic comedy, slice-of-life Ren'Py-based Visual Novel by H. Hochkins, who also developed the board games Buck: Legacy and BAKA!.The visual novel can be accessed via Steam and itch.io.
You (aka Yuki) are an ordinary high school student who befriends four cute girls and joins a club together to make friends and avoid responsibilities.
The club members are:
- K-T: A small chuuni. She thinks and acts like an android, and is the only member of the games club at the start of the visual novel.
- Tifa: A literal girl next door. Like you, she enjoys gaming and avoiding social contact. Considering all the fanservice involving her, the developer has an obvious bias.
- Stacey: A rich, beautiful and popular Student Council President. Who loves all the admiration that comes with the title, but not the duties that come with it.
- And the elusive Alex, Stacey's assistant and best friend. She keeps up appearances but is known for having a silver tongue.
This game provides examples of:
- Accidental Pervert: The player walks into a room where Tifa's is changing on no less than three occasions.
- A-Cup Angst: Alex keeps many of her emotional secrets, so Stacey enjoys teasing her, calling her the chairman of the 'itty bitty titty committee'.
- Alpha Bitch: For all of ten seconds. She gives up the act the moment she doesn't need to keep up appearances.
- Alternate Character Reading: K-T's name. When written/read looks like a machine designation, but when spoken aloud is 'Katie'.
- Beach Episode: Every main route ends in a visit to a beach resort.
- Big Little Sister: Despite being treated like the youngest, K-T is actually a dependable older sister to her younger brother.
- The Big Girl: Alex and Tifa tower over the other girls.
- Bland-Name Product: References to popular video games are made frequently, albeit with a few letters jumbled around.
- Bust-Contrast Duo: Tifa vs Stacey. But since Alex is so flat, one could argue Stacey vs Alex also counts.
- Can't Hold Her Liquor: Stacey becomes reckless when drunk, leading to shenanigans.
- Chick Magnet: Despite being a reclusive gamer with no social contact, the girls in the club just can't seem to get enough of him.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Tifa x Yuki. Although she only starts to make a move when there's a rivalry.
- Chuunibyou: K-T through and through. She acts like a robot, you'd be forgiven for believing her if she didn't sometimes forget.
- Club President: K-T (by default) as she's the only member of the games club.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: K-T to a T. But the longer you spend talking with her, the more the chuuni facade erodes.
- Cool Big Sis: Alex is mature and dependable, or at least, that's what she wants you to think.
- Cosplay Otaku Girl: Tifa has multiple outfits and is eager to show them off to impress Yuki specifically.
- Dating Sim: Each of the game's routes ends in a romantic date. In K-T's case, the entire route is a succession of dates.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Defeating the Big Bad (Stacey) and her Dragon (Alex) instantly ends hostilities.
- Embarrassing Hobby: One of many things Alex wants to keep secret, her penchant for super sentai.
- Fanservice: Excessive, yet somehow still gets away with a PEGI 12 rating.
- Featureless Protagonist: Yuki, the namable protagonist is never shown. But according to Stacey, he is 'cute'.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Tifa seems to be the only one capable of preparing a meal.
- Flanderization: Alex's cool, elusive demeanor is in tatters by the time 'I Dated A Robot' came out, reduced to a punchbag.
- Harem Genre: Four gorgeous girls and no one else you have to share them with.
- High School: The game's setting appears to be Japanese high school.
- Idiot Hair: K-T's signature cowlick is a clear indication of her strangeness.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Stacey never loses her wicked streak, but she deeply cares for her friends.
- Just Friends: Tifa x Yuki. The two are shown to flirt in each other's company but nothing more.
- Love Confession: The last line of any route.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: While the entire story never ventures into the extraordinary, the game cartridge in Trick and Treat has questionably magical properties.
- Nerd Glasses: K-T has huge thick-rimmed glasses that dominate her face.
- The Nicknamer: Stacey gives each other character patronising, yet endearing nicknames.
- Oblivious to Love: Much to Tifa's frustration. The game's reviews even mention how the player character is especially dense.
- Older Than They Look: They're all 18 years old. Even the diminutive K-T.
- Or Was It a Dream?: Momo the ghost's laugh can be heard without bitcrushing at the end of Trick or Treat, and her navbox temporarily switches from pixel-based to regular.
- Reference Overdosed: Quotes and references to both popular and obscure video games, anime, movies are abundant and not restricted to any one character.
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: No matter what happens, Tifa always remains cordial and sweet. She even has the correct hair and eye colour.
- Product Placement: Promotional material for the author's other works appears at the convention.
- School Clubs Are Serious Business: The conflict for the opening chapter features inter-club politics.
- Sheltered Aristocrat: Stacey has never tasted commoner food or taken public transport, and she's not about to let that change.
- Shout-Out:
- Tifa's epic gamer chair.
- K-T's "Shocking truth!".
- K-T's cardboard Gundam.
- K-T microwaving a banana.
- Sleepyhead: Adorable scene where you have to wake K-T with repeated button prompts.
- Student Council President: Stacey, although she's eager to rid herself of the title.
- Technicolor Eyes: While everyone's eyes are especially colourful, Alex's purple eyes are practically glowing.
- This Is Reality: When Tifa finds a spooky haunted gaming cartridge, they play it off as something that only happens in fiction, despite being fiction.
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The game's 100+ incredibly diverse backgrounds in various lighting conditions would have cost a fortune if painted manually, so stock 3D assets are used to do the heavy lifting.
- Yaoi Fangirl: Tifa is buying Boy's Love fiction at the convention, even going so far as to introduce Stacey to it.
