Heart Fragment News

Thank you again for all of the reports & feedback thus far! Here's an update summary for you:

• Fixed a bug with one of the dissolve transitions
  
• Replaced a stock background with a custom background (thanks Wroth Sloth!)
  
• One of Clive's bad endings wasn't triggering properly due to one personality trait bypassing the other possible conditions; this has been fixed
  
• Typo fixes
  

Thank you to everyone who has sent in any error reports they came across! Here's a small update summary:

• Fixed an issue with the final expression for Kay & Clive's 1st CGs not unlocking
  
• Fixed an error that occurs during one of the nightmare sequences if you have screen effects turned off
  
• A few minor narration changes in the common route
  
• All of Clive's end CGs can now be unlocked in his romantic routes, instead of some being platonic routes only
  
• Fixed an error that occurred if you had specific combinations of the inner psyche after Clive's shell scene
  

Thanks again for playing Heart Fragment! I hope you are having a wonderful time!
- Casper Swann

I am extremely excited to announce that the release of Heart Fragment: Book One is officially coming in (a bit less than) 2 days!

To say I'm eager to show you all what we have accomplished in Heart Fragment so far is an understatement. I truly hope that the game not only lives up to but exceeds your expectations thus far.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

A few notes for the release:

• The July 30 release is "Book One: Fantasy Fragments" and contains the full routes for Kay and Clive. All future books will be made available as free DLC!
  
• According to beta tester reports, linear playthroughs took an average of 7 hours per route and going back to get all endings and achievements took a reported average of 15 hours.
  
• Achievements earned in the demo should automatically be added when you open the full game. In Book One, there are a total of 42 achievements to earn!
  
• Future books will be "Book Two: Belief Fragments" (Lana and Shannon), "Book Three: Despair Fragments" (Jasper and Natalia), and "Book 2XXX: Finale". Approximate dates for those releases will be announced soon.
  

Additionally, a known bug may occur when reloading demo save files. This is due to adjustments to the inner psyche system and quality-of-life changes that were made for the full release. To fix & bypass the error, simply press the "rollback" button that appears in the bottom left corner of the screen (some players may need to press it twice). After that, your file will load properly and any future saves within that file will not encounter the issue. This problem only occurs in old save files - new ones are not affected.

Wishing you all well!

Happy May, everyone! Since the last update, many things have happened both in terms of development and in terms of the upcoming release schedule. As many of you know, the release date is schedule for July 31, 2021. This release date still stands but with a few alterations.

It seems unprofessional to get into the details too deeply, but the brief summary of the situation is that my mother has been sick and I sadly do not have many more months left to spend with her. As I am writing and programming Heart Fragment alone this hasn't left me with a schedule nearly as open as I had expected for development.

There is also a secondary issue: Heart Fragment has ended up being a much longer story than originally intended when the Kickstarter launched! The common route & fantasy fragment routes (aka Kay and Clive's routes) alone have anywhere from 8 to 15 hours of gameplay depending on your reading speed and whether or not you intend to get 100% completion. Originally this was meant to be the length of the full game.

Long story short, the schedule needs to be changed slightly.

Right now the plan is to decide between one of these options:

• Options 1: Heart Fragment releases in early access at the end of July with the first "book" (the Fantasy Fragments, Kay & Clive) available to play immediately. The following "books" (Belief Fragments with Lana and Shannon & the Despair Fragments with Jasper & Natalia) will be released episodically as free automatic updates.
  
• Option 2: Heart Fragment releases the first "book" as mentioned above and the next two books are released as DLC.
  

The difference is minor. Either way the release schedule is the same, but option 1 involves buying the game as early access and waiting on the updates while option 2 involves buying each "book" individually, meaning you can buy them as they release instead of paying for the full game at once.

I want to make this as simple as possible for everyone involved, so if anyone has suggestions, comments, concerns, or would simply like to voice their preference between the two options, please feel free to do so! Thank you all so much for being so patient with me throughout this development. I will continue doing my absolute best to create an amazing experience for you all.

A huge demo update just went live. This is the the last planned change before the full release aside from any potential typo & bug fixes until the full game is released on JULY 31, 2021.

What's new:

• The majority of the characters now have sprites
  
• A preview into some of the routes
  
• A new feature that allows you to use a certain power the protagonist possesses
  
• Small 'side stories' that give context to things happening outside of the main game events
  
• More animations in nightmare sequences
  
• More story content & CGs
  
• Steam achievement flags added - when the full game is released, all of your unlocked achievements from your demo data will be awarded automatically!
  

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

IMPORTANT NOTE:

This update contains significant alterations to some areas of the script due to new features & side character sprites. Unfortunately, this may lead to issues loading old save files if you saved during a highly altered scene. In addition, text that you have read may be marked as unread. The fix: start a new game & turn on the "skip all" option. You will skip past any text (whether it is marked as read or unread) allowing you to quickly get back to where you were.

I recommend doing this regardless of if you have save file issues or not though if you are playing on Steam, because Steam achievement data has been newly added to the script. In other words, the achievement flag will not be triggered if you completed an older version.