User blog:Jacked Maverick/A Thing Isn’t Beautiful Because It Lasts: A Goodbye Filled with Love to High School Story Prime and Hollywood U (HAPPY SIXTH CHOICES’ ANNIVERSARY)

Hello, my fellow Berrypickers. Sorry for not uploading since December 2021. I just haven’t been feeling anything from this studio in forever. I can’t tell what is a new Choices book or something from Romance Club or Chapters (I do not read *any* interactive stories apps anymore. ☹ Sorry guys). But I still unironically like writing these essays. Writing something for the anniversary of Choices has become a tradition for sometime now.

I know I said for the sixth anniversary I’d be writing a Most Wanted review. But something came up. After reading the title, I can bet you already know what happened.

On Friday, July 15, 2022 Pixelberry announced that both High School Story Prime and Hollywood U will both sunset and be taken off both Apple & Android stores starting Wednesday, August 10th, 2022.

It was only a matter of time. HSSP has been around since 2013 and HWU has been around since 2014. These things are normal for any app. Just next year both the 3DS and Wii U eShops will officially shut down after being active since 2011 & 2012 respectively. This will not be a review for both series as I’ve already discussed my thoughts and feelings on each before. I’m just going to discuss my history with each. The entire point to me writing this is to give a final goodbye filled with love and passion.

=High School Story Prime=



I don’t remember exactly when I started playing this. I do remember it was still in 2013. It might have been July, but I don’t know. Either way, I was just browsing the app store at the time browsing reading apps like Inkitt and Wattpad (don’t laugh. Lol) and stumbled upon High School Story (Prime wasn’t in the title until after the Choices sequel). I thought it was just okay at first. I was not a huge fan of the tap-&-wait “village” games, but the story aspect really set it apart from the rest of the competition.

Kallie (who sadly never appeared in Choices) was my first real love. All the characters on this app were my family. My wifey (in the main story) Autumn Brooks, my adoptive (metaphorically) brother Julian Castillo, my younger sisters (I know we’re the same age) Payton Saunders, Mia Warren, and Katherine. All of this extended to outside of the game. I kept daydreaming of me being with the gang. Where I was loved. No judgments. No cliques separating all of us.

That made my life brighter. Don’t worry, my life was not sad or tragic. But this app was still a place I can rejoice in. It was still the life I wish I had. I played this before I entered high school and all the way to present day. I’m so happy the High School Story sequel/adaptation in Choices was as good as it was (I’m not going to mention the abomination known as Class Act). Maria wasn’t as great as Autumn to me, but she is still my #1 love interest in ‘Choices’. We got an EXCELLENT goodbye to the Prime cast as they all finally graduated and went their separate ways. It was beautiful.

=Hollywood U=

I first heard about Hollywood U in the HSS app when they were advertising it. I remember when Hollywood U had that crossover quest where the HSSP gang met us supposedly all those years later as we show them around the campus. I love stuff like that! Kallie may have been my go to, but Addison Sinclair is so perfectly crafted that she’s in my top ten favorite characters in all of fiction (sitting at #9, but #3 on a “females only” list). Red Carpet Diaries made Addison less compelling, but that’s a different story. Same story as HSSP, I played this a lot in my down time. I made great connections, felt a lot of emotions in the stories, I was totally obsessed. Sure, I liked HSSP a lot more for it’s relatability and writing. But HWU was fun to live vicariously towards as an aspiring director in California. It kept me motivated to work on my own writings during this time. I was determined to write the next Hunger Games. To make the first MCU before the MCU is was juggernaut it is today. Playing this makes me the most nostalgic wherever I took a trip to Florida. The nice weather while playing a game set in Los Angeles made me feel like I was there. It was so beautiful. I’m kind of sad we never got a Hollywood U adaptation for Choices and instead getting a bad (not terrible) Red Carpet Diaries trilogy. But I am happy it has at least been *stated* that Hollywood U does indeed exist in these Choices books shared universe.

=Conclusion=

I know this was a shorter blog, but I mean it when I say I’m done with Pixelberry. I haven’t checked in on them all year. I just wanted to write something for the Choices’ anniversary as I’ve done for tradition. It’s something to pay my respects to. These two apps helped me through difficult and tough times. I moved to North Carolina from New York a little after I found HSSP in 2013. That marked this new era of my life. I've lived in New York all my life and being in a new state with this new app felt comforting. Without going into too much details, I was institutionalized at an asylum in 2014 for reasons that will make you think differently of me. I'm not saying I was wrongfully committed but I didn't need it. Having both apps with me really helped me out and pass the time. Don't worry, I brought physical books as well. Haha.

Another time is when I went to a Church camp in 2015 against my will. I hated every minute of the five days I was there. Both apps of course helped me stay sane. If you know me in real life, you know how I feel about religion.

At the moment I do not have any other plans to write more essays about Choices. I don’t have anything else to say that I haven’t already said MULTIPLE times before. But I still plan on making that Most Wanted review. That one will probably be the last one I’ll make. I know I wanted to make many more like for Mother of the Year, Bloodbound, others. But I already moved on with my life. I will say just eyeballing it, Choices has gotten better. We’ve gotten many gender of choice stories in 2021 & 2022 than we did in 2018-2020 *combined* and those in addition to the genderlocked stories have received *mostly* positive reviews. If any of you want me to continue, please reach out to my Twitter (@DoubleDashDown) or on this wiki. It's just that the cancelations back in January 2021 was my final nail in the coffin. I mentioned all this for an update and with HSSP and HWU finally being sunset, it makes you feel things. Sure, other Pixelberry apps have came & went. Surviving High School (which I also played and loved!) Cause of Death (loved!) and others were back when they were with EA. Before they were known as “Pixelberry”. HSSP and it’s two successor apps are 100% Pixelberry. With the first two being finally over, it makes you think of the mortality of Choices. For a long time, Choices was my favorite thing on this planet and HSSP is and was my favorite work of art ever. Made. And I know I'll still listen to the soundtracks for years and years to come. Not just HSSP and HWU, but others like Endless Summer's and The Elementalists.

It just seems really appropriate and poetic that both apps are retired so close to an anniversary. I’m not upset both are finally gone… okay, no. I am sad. Obviously. But… it’s a bittersweet end. Me missing them and the memories makes it way more special. It’s being sad for them in the best possible way. I have not felt this way since Club Penguin was shut down in 2017. It’s so beautiful and bittersweet. I cry happy tears. When Choices eventually ends (I’ve been predicting 2023 since 2020, but now I’m not too sure. Maybe 2025 now?) I know I’ll feel just as bittersweet. Even though I stopped playing less than half it’s lifespan. With all that said, I want to applaud Pixelberry for making it nine years since their formation and their latest project being their longest lasted (in terms of how long it’s been supported) to be over half a decade.