Are you tired of having to date everyone in town to max their relationships and see all of their heart events? Do you want to pick one or more people to romance and be best friends with everyone else? Would you rather not date anyone at all? This mod was made for you! 

If you're reading this on the day of release, happy Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week!

Please report any bugs or other issues either through Nexus or through PPaF's Discord server. It's much appreciated! You can also ask any questions you may have about the mod.

9/26/2022 update: Exciting news! Thanks to the amazing work of ch20youk (aka moetrash), PPaF now has some long-requested features that required a SMAPI component to implement. You can now have separate labels in the social menu for characters set to romantic and non-romantic relationship types (e.g., "best friend" vs "dating" for NPCs given the bouquet). Additionally, PPaF now creates mod-provided tokens that other mods can use to check its config settings. Authors adding compatibility patches for PPaF to their own mods will be able to check things like each character's relationship type setting. I could not be more grateful to moetrash for making this possible. 

Summary of what this mod does:

• Allows you to use the config to designate the type of relationship you want with each NPC. You can have a fully platonic, aromantic allosexual (sex without romance), alloromantic asexual (romance without sex), or "vanilla" (romantic and sexual) relationship with each of the NPCs listed. Currently, only the 12 vanilla marriage candidates have platonic routes. SVE characters, including characters that exist in the vanilla game but are only marriage candidates in SVE, are not included at this time. 
• Allows you to have "best friend" relationships with any or all vanilla marriage candidates. Changes platonic NPCs' 8-10 heart dialogue and events to be consistent with a close friendship instead of a dating relationship. Removes the "jealousy"-related content that shames you for having multiple 10-heart relationships. Some new dialogue is added, including unique reactions to being gifted a bouquet or pendant. 
• Allows you to (optionally) have a platonic partnership with an NPC instead of marrying them. The "wedding" ceremony, the divorce book, all references to the mermaid's pendant, reactions from townsfolk, and post-marriage dialogue and events are adjusted accordingly (to the extent Content Patcher allows). Includes config options to specify a label for your relationship and a term of endearment for your partner to address you by. NPCs will treat platonic partnership as an established part of the "mermaid's pendant" tradition that is equally as important and meaningful as marriage. Alternatively, you can propose with the "Friendship Bracelet" item instead of the pendant to skip the ceremony and otherwise make your platonic partnership work more like being roommates with Krobus (dialogue and events are mostly unchanged from the pendant version of the platonic partnership).
• Removes blushing from platonic NPCs' "love portraits," so that these portraits can be used to communicate affection and/or emotional vulnerability without romantic implications. This effect can be turned on or off for each of the relationship type settings (see the config options below).
  

Android users should download the "Platonic Partners and Friendships for Android" file, which is an older version of PPaF that is compatible with the mobile game version.

Guide to config options:

You can find these options by opening the config.json that is created in the mod folder the first time you launch the game, or through the Generic Mod Config Menu. 

Each vanilla marriage candidate can be set to one of four relationship types: 

• FullyPlatonic: Edits all romantic interactions with that NPC to be platonic, and replaces marriage with platonic partnership (see "Platonic partnership options" below for further customization). Enables the Friendship Bracelet roommate proposal item for that NPC (see "Platonic partnership details and limitations" below for more information). Gives the NPC unique platonic dialogue for accepting a bouquet/pendant/bracelet, gifting you the stardrop at 12 hearts, and more. If the NPC is your partner, this option also platonically edits any dialogue from them that would otherwise imply sexual intimacy. (A good option for aromantic asexual players, and the ideal setting for NPCs you don't plan to move into your household and just want to be best friends with.)
• RomanceWithoutSex: Leaves romantic interactions with that NPC unedited, but makes platonic edits to any dialogue/events implying sexual intimacy. This mostly only affects marriage dialogue, but if Penny and/or Sam are on this setting, their 10-heart events are also slightly edited. NPCs set to this option will deliver a romantic version of the unique stardrop dialogue discussed above. (A good option for alloromantic asexual players.)
• SexWithoutRomance: This option works the same as FullyPlatonic, except that dialogue implying sexual intimacy with your platonic partner is not edited. (A good option for aromantic allosexual players, or anyone interested in a "friends with benefits" relationship.)
• RomanceAndSex: This option means that no platonic edits will be applied to the NPC's dialogue and events; it does not add any new romantic or sexual content to the game. Choose this if you want to have a "vanilla" relationship with the NPC, i.e. the relationship you would have if this mod were not installed. Most customization settings do not affect NPCs set to this relationship type, with the exception of AlwaysAdopt.
  

Additionally:

• AlwaysAdopt: When true (the default), if the game text or dialogue from your spouse/partner would state or imply that you are having a biological child with them, those lines are edited to indicate that you are adopting instead. This affects spouses/partners regardless of your relationship type with them (even RomanceAndSex). You must set this to false if you want biological children.
  

All 12 vanilla marriage candidates are set to FullyPlatonic by default, and AlwaysAdopt is true by default!  If you want to have a romantic and/or sexual relationship with a particular NPC, you must set them to the appropriate relationship type. If you are using a mod that allows multiple housemates, you can have them set to different relationship types. If you want to have biological children, you must set AlwaysAdopt to false.

Platonic partnership options: The options below are relevant if you plan to move one or more characters into your home as a platonic housemate.

• RelationshipLabel: How you would like to label your relationship with a platonic partner (an NPC set to FullyPlatonic or SexWithoutRomance whom you've given a pendant or friendship bracelet). It can be whatever you want, but it should grammatically work in a sentence like "I'm so glad we're life partners!" or "Yes, I'd like us to be QPPs," and should not contain special characters (like #, ^, %, etc). It defaults to "partners."
• Platonic Label (post-bouquet): Specifies how you would like NPCs with a non-romantic relationship type to be labeled in the social menu. Defaults to "best friend." You can turn this off and use the default social menu labels by unchecking "Custom Platonic Labels for Social Menu."
• Platonic Label (housemate): Specifies how you would like NPCs with a non-romantic relationship type to be labeled in the social menu after they have moved in with you (regardless of whether you use the pendant or the Friendship Bracelet). Defaults to "partner."
• Romantic Label: As with the Platonic Label options, you can specify social menu labels to use for NPCs you are romantic with after giving them the bouquet (default: "dating") and marrying them (default: "spouse"). To use custom romantic labels, you will need to set "Custom Romantic Labels for Social Menu" to "PPaF NPCs" (to have it only affect the 12 vanilla spouses) or ""All NPCs" (to have it also affect custom NPC spouses).
• DisableSocialMenuLabel: If you don't want to use the custom social menu label at all, this will disable it.
• TermofEndearment: A term of endearment you'd like your platonic partner to use for you. (NPCs set to Romance Without sex may also use it occasionally.) It can be whatever you want (for example, "Buddy," "BFF," "Angel," "My friend"). It should be capitalized (it will be automatically lowercased if used in the middle of sentences, unless it's your farmer's name or "BFF") and should not contain special characters. It defaults to "@," which is automatically converted to your farmer's name. ("@" appears as an arrow in the Generic Mod Config Menu, but it should still work in-game.)
• BraceletTheme: Lets you choose one of four color themes for the custom Friendship Bracelet item: "stardrop," "aroflag," "aceflag" and "rainbow." You can find the art for each version of the bracelet under assets/Sprites.
  

General compatibility and customization options: The options in the spoiler below have to do with enabling/disabling PPaF's visual and schedule changes to prevent conflicts with other mods that edit the same assets. (If you're not sure whether a mod will conflict, check the section on compatibility farther down the page. For example, some portrait mods are compatible with PPaF.)


Options for compatibility with specific mods: 


Best Friendship Details:

This section is about NPCs that you have not moved into your household as spouses or platonic partners. 

PPaF's dialogue changes to NPCs set as FullyPlatonic or SexWithoutRomance remove implied or stated romantic or physical attraction, kissing, references to dating, and other romantic content, ideally while keeping a similar level of fondness and emotional intimacy. Most 8-10 heart dialogue is only lightly edited, although a few lines are completely rewritten.

PPaF also edits these NPCs' high-heart events. Some 8-heart events are lightly edited. 10-heart events vary in how extensively they're edited; some only have small changes to reflect a platonic relationship, while events whose vanilla versions are primarily about a romantic love confession are almost completely rewritten. In cases where I rewrote an event, my goals were for the NPC to communicate their affection for the player character and display personal growth consistent with their canonical character arc. Kissing in 10-heart events is replaced with hugging (although the visual distinction is pretty subtle). Note: Sam's and Penny's platonic 10-heart-events now take place in the afternoon instead of after dark, and Sam's requires you to enter his house. (Sam and Penny also have asexual romantic versions of their events that trigger when they are set to RomanceWithoutSex; these take place after dark as in vanilla.)

If you are platonic with any of the characters involved in one of the "group 10 heart" jealousy events, that event will not trigger unless you are carrying a rabbit's foot, and the rabbit's foot version will be lightly edited. (Note: This fix seems prone to being overridden by mods that add their own custom NPCs to the jealousy event, so it might be best to carry a rabbit's foot regardless.) If you're platonic with any character, the fortune teller will not suggest that you're cheating on people when you have multiple 10-heart relationships, and fortunes about your relationships with marriage candidates will be ambiguous about whether they're romantic or platonic.

I recommend installing CherryChain's Platonic Relationships, which does not alter dialogue or events but allows you to reach 10 hearts with marriage candidates without gifting a bouquet. PPaF ensures that 10-heart events that normally require you to have gifted a bouquet will trigger as long as you are at 10 hearts. However, if for any reason you aren't using Platonic Relationships, PPaF also works without it. All in-game references to the bouquet now indicate that it's used to say you want a deeper relationship with the giftee, whether in a platonic or romantic sense; giftees will respond appropriately depending on whether or not they are set to a non-romantic relationship type; ; and the social menu will by default list platonic bouquet recipients as "best friend" (you can change this in the config).

NPCs set to a non-romantic relationship type have unique responses to being gifted a bouquet or pendant. Additionally, various NPCs have unique responses to being gifted a pendant when you're already platonically engaged or partnered with them or a family member. (Since Content Patcher checks for relationship status at the start of the day, this only works if it's been at least one day since the proposal; otherwise they'll give a generic response in the vein of "You're already living with someone.")

As of version 1.1.0, platonically befriending Haley no longer stops Alex from visiting her house, platonically befriending Leah no longer stops Elliott from visiting her at the saloon, and platonically befriending Abigail or Sebastian no longer prevents Abigail from visiting Sebastian in his room. If you want these characters to keep hanging out even if you're pursuing them romantically, you can install MissMarlot's Bachelors and Bachelorettes Stay Friends, which will replace PPaF's more limited schedule changes. 

Platonic Partnership Details and Limitations:

PPaF allows you to have a platonic partnership with a marriage candidate instead of a traditional marriage, if that NPC is set to FullyPlatonic or SexWithoutRomance (although this is completely optional; you can, for example, marry one person and stay platonic with everyone else, by setting your desired spouse to RomanceWithoutSex or RomanceAndSex). The citizens of Pelican Town treat platonic partnership with the same respect and understanding as they do marriage. These relationships are similar to vanilla marriage in many ways: it's the highest-priority relationship each of you has, you cohabit and share finances, you can coparent children, your partner's relatives consider you part of the family, and your partner will express that they love you. However, various changes are made to be consistent with a platonic relationship. 

There are two versions of the platonic partnership you can choose from, depending on the item you use to "propose" to your desired partner.

First, you can use the Mermaid's Pendant. This will make the game consider your partner to be a "spouse". Dialogue and events will be edited to remove romantic and/or sexual content depending on your relationship type with the NPC, but you will kiss your partner when right-clicking (unless using No Cooties), you will be able to have or adopt children together, and there will be a platonic commitment ceremony (similar to the wedding) to celebrate your partner moving in.

Alternatively, you can use the Friendship Bracelet. The Friendship Bracelet can be found in your crafting menu, and the only ingredient to craft it is the Mermaid's Pendant; basically, you exchange the pendant for the bracelet. Proposing with the bracelet will make the game consider your partner to be a "roommate," like Krobus. Dialogue and events will be edited to be platonic (and will be almost the same as in the pendant version of the relationship), and in addition, you will hug your partner when right-clicking, they will not suggest having/adopting children, they will move in without a ceremony, and they will be able to sleep in a single bed. 

A couple important notes:

First, although you can easily switch between the four relationship types using the config options, you can't easily switch between the pendant and bracelet versions of the relationship. You will need to either use cheats, or separate from your partner, wipe their memory, and re-propose with the other object.

Second, most NPCs who aren't set as FullyPlatonic or SexWithoutRomance should reject the Friendship Bracelet if you accidentally try to gift it to them, but some custom NPCs may accept it as a neutral gift, consuming it--so be careful about who you give it to.

Finally, if you are no longer able to get the Mermaid's Pendant but have not crafted the Friendship Bracelet yet, the crafting recipe automatically changes so that you aren't locked out of the Craft Master achievement.

Open the spoiler below for a detailed explanation of how platonic partnerships work:



Requirements, Compatibility, Recommended Companion Mods, and Credits

• Requires Content Patcher, since it's a content patch.
• Recommended: Custom Fixed Dialogue - Continued (originally by aedenthorn, updated for 1.6 by datamancer). In previous versions of PPaF, CFD was required to give NPCs personalized platonic versions of many of the base game's generic lines related to dating and marriage. Most of those lines can now be edited with Content Patcher, but there are a few exceptions, which PPaF will handle via CFD Continued if it is installed. I especially recommend installing it if you are using a mod that enables multiple housemates (e.g. PolyamorySweet).
• Recommended: Generic Mod Config Menu by spacechase0 and Pathoschild. PPaF's config options are extensive, and GMCM will make it much easier to customize them to your liking. 
• Recommended: Platonic Relationships by CherryChain. Platonic Relationships lets you skip the bouquet requirement to get to 10 hearts with marriage candidates. Cherry kindly provided me with the information needed to make the mods work together, so although Platonic Relationships requires you to be dating a character to see their 10-heart event, you will be able to see the PPaF's 10-heart events without dating. Using Platonic Relationships to avoid gifting a bouquet to characters you're platonic with will improve PPaF's compatibility with mods that add romantic content for characters that have received a bouquet. However, please note that Platonic Relationships will also remove the bouquet lock from custom NPCs not affected by PPaF, which may result in unwanted romantic dialogue unless those custom NPC mods check for "dating" status instead of heart level. 
• Recommended: No Cooties by ceruleandeep, if you have a platonic partner and you proposed with the Mermaid's Pendant. It lets you hug anyone on your farm instead of kissing them!
• Recommended: FS Friendship Bracelet by PurpleChickadee, if you're using the Friendship Bracelet. It will let you wear your own friendship bracelet, as if your roommate or partner gave one to you in return!
• Recommended: Bouquets To Love Letters by TheAppleSauceIsStale. It's fully compatible with PPaF, and replaces the bouquet with a letter (called a "Heartfelt Letter" when using it with PPaF), which should help with immersion if you find the bouquet to have too strong a romantic connotation.
• Probably Compatible with PolyamorySweet by ApryllForever. You should be able to have both platonic roommates and romantic spouses in the same household. However, since PolyamorySweet is a more recent mod, I'm not yet familiar with how it might differ from pre-1.6 mods for multiple housemates (i.e. Multiple Spouses/Free Love). If you are using PolyamorySweet with PPaF, please let me know about any conflicts you run into and I will do what I can to mitigate them.
  

Open the spoiler below for a list of visual mods that I know to be compatible or mostly compatible with PPaF:



Open the spoiler below for a list of dialogue and event mods that I know to be compatible or mostly compatible with PPaF (all platonic edits to other mods' dialogue apply only to NPCs set to the relevant Relationship Types):


Open the spoiler below for information on mods that may conflict with PPaF's features and possible workarounds:


If you find a conflict between PPaF and any of the mods listed as compatible, please let me know and I will fix it if at all possible.

Adding PPaF Compatibility to Other Mods

If you would like to make your own mod compatible with PPaF, you can access PPaF's config settings using its mod-provided tokens. For example, to check Abigail's relationship type setting, you would use {{PPaF.core/AbigailRelationshipType}}, and {{Amaranthacyan.PPAFSMAPI/RelationshipLabel} will give you the player's custom relationship label. All of the available tokens can be found in plaintext in the assets/options.json file in the [SMAPI] Platonic Partners and Friendships folder.  

Language Notes

Currently, the mod is only available in English, since that's the only language I'm fluent in. If anyone would like to contribute a translation to a language they write fluently, I would be happy to incorporate it with full credit! You can also upload it separately if you prefer.


Planned Features

• i18n compatibility
• An alternate "casual" dialogue set with the emotional intimacy toned down, for players who prefer a friendly roommate situation to a committed platonic partnership
• A separate add-on mod with complete platonic routes for all Ridgeside Village marriage candidates -- in the works, beta version available  in PPaF's Discord server! (Note: doesn't work with 1.6 yet.)
• Compatibility with additional dialogue and portrait mods (for this, I prioritize requests from the mod authors themselves, but I'm open to requests from anyone)
  

Feel free to contact me with feature, config option and compatibility requests! I can't promise to put everything in, but I'll do what I can. As mentioned at the top of the page, I'm available through Nexus or through PPaF's Discord server.