Heart Fragment News

It has finally been posted: Heart Fragment's final big demo release!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
What's new:

• All main character sprites have been updated
  
• A huge expansion to the soundtrack
  
• More CGs and voice acting
  
• Story revamp, new features, tons of new dialogue and scenes throughout
  
• Difficulty settings
  

Still to be added:

• An option to switch between sprite styles
  
• Phone menu updates, including a chat history log and photo gallery of social media CGs that you've collected
  
• A bit more partial voice acting
  

Important note: Because the game's code and structure has changed significantly while I learn how to code and optimize things, there is a chance that if you ran a previous version of the game you may run into errors while loading a save file. I recommend starting a new game, since a huge amount of the prologue is updated, and using the skip feature to bypass anything you've seen before.

The demo is a little over 60,000 words. I am very much looking for feedback on this length because I worry it might be too long. The routes make up for it by being far more than double that length each, but I have created a feedback form for anyone that would like to offer input on that, or to report bugs/typos and give other feedback.



See you all next time!
-Casper Swann

[h2]IT IS FINALLY LIVE: a huge revamp to the demo!
[/h2]
What's new? Well... a lot.

1. A ton of the prologue has been rewritten in places that weren't fully satisfying, including many new choices to make.
   
2. A ton of new scenes in the prologue.
   
3. Revamped GUI - the only thing that isn't updated yet is the main menu screen because the art is not finished. This update will come very soon!
   
4. New art & new CGs!
5. New voice acting! A few things to note on this: an audio engineer (Tristan Stone) is now working on Heart Fragment to level out all of the voice acting and enhance the quality so that it doesn't get drowned out by music. These updates still need to be made for most of the main cast, and the updated voice acting for Shannon will not be included until the next version with the new main menu, due to Samantha Chan working full time in the medical field at the moment.
   
6. An intro into the social media feature, which will be expanded further in the full game.
   
7. A few updated sprites have been included in the new version of the demo. The updated sprites will continue to be added as they are finished (Shannon, Kay, Natalia, Lana, and Inigo are being worked on right now).
   
8. A few new songs on the soundtrack.
   

So, hooray for progress!



As for an update on what's going on with development right now, I have plenty of updates there as well!

• All of the main CGs for Kay's route are finished now!
  
• Act One of Kay's route is fully written and polished and Act Two is coming along very well.
  
• An option to switch between sprite styles is functional now for the sprites that are completed.
  
• Lavendel's sprite styles (to be seen in the next demo update!) are now animated with blinks and lip flaps.
  
• More to come soon! Thanks for keeping up to date on Heart Fragment!
  

If you are able to, please consider helping us out by buying us a Ko-fi over here. I'm struggling a bit with keeping up on the finances involved with developing a game. While the Kickstarter was fully funded, I did not fully account for the impact the exchange rate from CAD to USD would have on things.



Have a nice day everyone!

- Casper Swann

... But only the demo. Some people got emails that made it sound like the full game was released. This is not the case - the release date is still set for late 2020/early 2021. What was intended to be posted was the demo, but I'm still new to using Steam as a developer and seem to have made a mistake somewhere along the way.

I'm very sorry for any confusion that this might have caused, and I hope you'll all continue to bear with me despite this! Steam support has been contacted and I'll hopefully be able to get this sorted out ASAP.

Now... on to some good news!

With a little under 3 days left we managed to reach our goal! 🎉🎉🥂 This is incredible. I’m so proud of how much has been accomplished and I can’t even describe how exciting this is. Its been a long, anxiety-inducing journey but in the end, it paid off and I’m so glad for how well we’ve done.

Three days may not sound like much time but let’s keep pushing on towards our stretch goals! To recap:

• $100 CAD over our goal ($3300 total funding) will get each route extended, including the prologue. The extension of the prologue will include more choices to impact the personality options available to the player, and moments that were going to be told in flashbacks during Kay’s route will be told in real-time with dialogue options to impact Kay’s route before it even begins!
  
• $600 over our goal ($3800 total funding) will add in an extra route with 3 endings! Backers will get to vote on her design out of a few possible options.
  
• $1000 over our goal ($4200 total funding) will get extra CGs in each route, which also means extra fully voiced scenes too! Each route will get at least 2 extra CGs.
  
• $2300 over our goal ($5500 total funding) will get all background artwork uniquely commissioned! This means all scenes will be shown exactly as they should be, down to the smallest detail.
  

I've also got some other wonderful news! In April, Heart Fragment will be getting a full GUI revamp. The new GUI will include character bios where you can select & view sprites, a music box with the soundtrack, a text log for missed dialogue, and a social media feature that check throughout the game and see bonus text from the characters!

For anyone who has yet to see, the game also now has unlockable personality traits for the main character based on your choices that will unlock extra scenes and dialogue options. These include confident, honest, creative, paranoid, bored, and gullible.

Additionally, because of the complex way that the endings in Heart Fragment will be set up in the final route, I wrote this up to explain it more clearly! The game has over 20 endings, with a mix of romantic, platonic, and family based endings available. Someone asked recently if you're supposed to end up with one character; if someone is the "true" romance. So, to explain that:

In the final route, who your “endgame” partner is will be up to you!

Each character will be featured in a section of the final route. At the end of each of their sections, you will be given a choice: KISS THEM or HUG THEM

If you KISS THEM: You can select them as your endgame partner! You can kiss multiple characters and choose between them, but you’ll get bonus text for only kissing one!

If you HUG THEM: You can select them as your endgame BFF! You can hug multiple characters and choose between them with no “penalty” for hugging them all.

You can have an endgame partner & endgame BFF, just an endgame partner, or just an endgame BFF. If you don’t choose to kiss or hug any of them, the ending will be more focused on the full group.

Whether or not you can choose a character as a romantic or platonic partner at the end will depend on what endings you get in their route. While the final route will be unlocked by completing at least one romantic or platonic ending for every character, you can only select a romantic partner who you have completed a romantic ending with. Doing both their romantic and platonic endings will make them an option for both!

That's all for now folks! Let's keep pushing on until the very end!

- Casper Swann

We are now live on Steam... almost! Steam requires a 2 week "coming soon" period before games can go live. After that 2 week period you will be able to download the demo while you wait for the full game's release.

Interested in helping making Heart Fragment a reality as soon as possible? Consider supporting us on Kickstarter!




Story by Casper Swann, a chronically ill content creator
Original concept designs by Casper, concept art by ChappyVII
Logo design by bunbunz, GUI design by Anne
CG artwork by Deency, Sprites by MaeMika
Sound FX by Cylight Studios
Music by Joshua Mock and Cylight Studios