Developer’s genius in-game proposal melts hearts as magical moment goes viral

Game developer Shane Canning proposed to his partner in the most inventive way possible, orchestrating it all in an unreleased project, much to the delightful surprise of his partner.

Canning has been hard at work toiling away on KEMURI, the debut title from independent Japanese studio UNSEEN. You may remember the company’s CEO, Ikumi Nakamura, who became famous for her adorable gestures on stage at The Game Awards.

While KEMURI is still in early stages of development, Canning had an idea to focus his level design efforts in a clever new way. He designed an area, popped NPCs in place, and arranged the perfect proposal with help from characters in the game.

A December 31, 2024 video on social media revealed how it all went down, with Canning hiding “something special” in his demo before inviting his partner, Makiko, to the studio to ‘playtest’ the game. Little did she know it wasn’t a real playtest.

Game dev proposes to his partner with help from unreleased project

Makiko, unsuspecting of anything out of the ordinary, sat down and played through the demo, agreeing to be recorded under the guise of having her reactions for devs to work around. Before long, she stumbled upon a key NPC that would quite literally change her life.

Staff from all disciplines in the studio began creeping into the background, hovering around to witness the magical moment.

“She’s giving me something,” Makiko said upon interacting with an NPC Canning placed in the area. This NPC was animated in such a way that it looked like they were throwing an item directly at the screen. Canning then caught the item in the real world, getting down on one knee to reveal the ring to his partner.

“What does this mean?” Makiko said, utterly shocked. “I will love you forever,” Canning responded.

“Will you marry?” he asked in front of the entire studio at this point. “Of course!” Makiko replied as fireworks began to cover the screen in-game.

“Shane was working on this, that’s why he was coming home late,” the studio’s CEO Nakamura professed at the very end. Clearly, the late nights paid off, as the proposal went off without a hitch and the happy couple are now engaged to be married.