In anticipation of Girlfailure Art Club’s 2027 release on PC (Steam), Japanese indie studio Artodria has launched a crowdfunding initiative for their upcoming romance visual novel. The campaign will take place on Campfire between October 24 and December 26, with proceeds allocated to improving the game’s artwork, soundtrack, cutscenes, and language options.
Girlfailure Art Club centers around Mamoru Gasai (the customizable protagonist’s name), a second-year student at Akeba Academy who joins his school’s art club and finds himself “involuntarily” surrounded by four eccentric otaku girls: Rinne, Shoko, Kana, and Yuri.
Rinne is deeply immersed in obscure subcultures and underground scenes, Shoko is an avid shonen manga enthusiast, Kana is a sweet-voiced aspiring anime voice actor, and Yuri is a dedicated self-shipper (making her the sole non-romanceable member of the art club).
Artodria created Girlfailure Art Club to cater to the “awkward otaku girl” visual novel genre, drawing inspiration from their personal high school art club experiences. The game features over six endings and approximately 8-20 hours of gameplay, promising “embarrassing nostalgia from countless 2010s otaku culture references,” culminating in a happy ending once you win the heart of your favorite high school girl.
The Campfire campaign aims to raise 2 million JPY (around $13k USD), with three additional stretch goals included. Significantly, reaching 5 million JPY ($32k USD) will unlock support for extra languages. Currently confirmed language support includes Japanese, English, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Korean, and Brazilian Portuguese.
Other stretch goals consist of extra in-game artwork, a new opening sequence, and an original theme song and background music composed by Tenmon, known for his work on Makoto Shinkai films like 5 Centimeters Per Second and Children Who Chase Lost Voices. Although voice acting isn’t yet confirmed as a stretch goal, the developers have urged fans to “stay tuned for future updates.”
According to the Campfire campaign details, Girlfailure Art Club’s script is already complete. The development team is now focusing on the game’s graphics (40% finished), script implementation (10% finished), and translation work (15% finished).
It’s worth noting that this isn’t Artodria’s first attempt to crowdsource funding for Girlfailure Art Club. In April, they announced plans to launch an official development blog on Pixiv Fanbox to gather funds for the visual novel. Alongside funding details, plans for a localized release and potential voice actors were revealed.
Girlfailure Art Club is scheduled for a 2027 release on Windows (Steam).
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