It's time for a Spirited Heart 2

If you follow me since long time you might remember that I was talking about Spirited Heart 2 in past years. In my original idea, I wanted it to be some kind of online game, a free to play maybe or with some multiplayer gameplay elements.

And because of that, I was postponing it year by year, despite having all the background and art needed. I kept saying "well this year I don't have enough knowledge or the right tech, but next year...".

Result? After waiting for so long, I am still not ready to make a game like that. But most importantly, I don't think I would even have fun doing it! So, after I got an overwhelming response for my "writers wanted" twitter message, I thought to ask one of the writers to take care of Spirited Heart sequel.

I think I was doing a mistake to postpone this game for so long. I was a bit brainwashed by the success stories of other people doing online/free to play games, but the reality is that I wouldn't know where to start and very likely I wouldn't enjoy doing it either :)

Anyway I decided to go for it. Of course won't be ready this year, because even if I was get all the texts in the next months, I will still need to think about the gameplay, and is very likely that will try at least to get the game done with the new engine so it can be played on iOS. But at least something is moving.

Here's a sneak peek/promo image featuring Ramas and Thofte, with the updated art:

(Ramas background is the graveyard by night in case you're wondering. It's one of the jobs of the game).

I also got the chance to hire again both the sprite and the background artist who did the image above to commission more art/content since I want the game to be a worthy successor to the original game.

About the other games, as I said found a new writer for Amber Magic Shop, got more art and totally hilarious scenes for Roommates, the latest images for Heileen3 yuri version (see image below)

And I think is all... ah no, actually there's the Loren expansion! Well not many good news about that since Aleema had hard time with the heat wave that hit the US even if she's trying to finish by end of month, and also I am still missing one colored sprite for the final scene of the expansion! :(

But with the help of another great writer I finally got the sequel's plot fully outlined so I started commissioning the new images for the game. Here's a lineart preview of one of the new playable characters, Breza, and an old acquaintance, Rei.

That's all for now, see you next Friday!

Amber's Magic Shop sneak peek

This week was really busy working on the monkeycoder VN engine, burocratic/financial stuff and webdesign. Yes it wasn't really a great week even if togeter with a new writer (who seems really good) we managed to lay out the first draft of the main plot outline for Loren sequel - not the expansion, but the sequel that will be out not sooner than next year.

Why do that now? because the artist was free from previous tasks and also because making the art for the first game took almost 10 months, so better start in advance!! :)

Speaking of writers, and about the title of the post, unfortunately yesterday got an email from Lorelei, Amber's writer, who told me that for personal reasons she can't continue writing the game. I am sad but I wish her luck in her projects. They're doing a very interesting BxB game called Break Chance Memento, check the official website.

I've already got several submission from writer, I'm going to decide very soon who's going to write the game. Meanwhile check two juicy sneak peek (if you follow me on twitter you already saw them):

See the full gallery on Posterous

In the first image you see the possible romances. From lef to right: Daniel The Wizard, Stan the Noble, Bernard the Bounty Hunter and Ruby...the vampiress! :)

In the second image, you see other secondary characters: Lynn the herbalist, Manuel the adventurer, Vin the witch, Amber with the new look, Haros the wizard, Roy the noble (Stan's father) and Thomas who is Ruby's little brother.

The game will be a life/dating sim with a potion-making gameplay element. I thought about turning this into a RPG too but... I need to breathe :D maybe will add a resource / ingredients gathering minigame, but in general will be a dating/life sim.

As you noticed there are 3 GxB and 1 GxG romances, but each one has four different endings! Yes, because the game is based on the concept of Light (Good) and Darkness (Evil). Based on your choices during the game, you'll end up with one of the 4 possible "alignments": True Light, Light, Dark, True Dark, and the game endings will reflect that.

It's definitely a "serious" game with adult themes and some shocking scenes. The art for the game is almost all done, so I'm eager to have the plot fully written so I can code it :)

Nicole’s cast: Darren Beville

This week is the turn of the last character, Darren Beville, who is the typical shy guy. However I think he looks cute:

In the game, Nicole's outgoing personality will help him to become more open about his problems and who knows, maybe he might help you solve the mystery, in a way or in another ;)

The first encounter with him is definitely not the best, and Chandra warns you about some rumors she heard (excerpt from the game):

    "I let out a sigh as I gathered all of my math books and shoved them into my bag. I looked over to the boy at the desk beside mine, who remained silent but looked equally tired."
    Nicole "Hey there. That any of that crap make sense to you?"
    "I asked the question casually with a weary smile, but he only glanced at me for a moment before shaking his head and looking away."
    Nicole "I always did all my homework back in high school, but this is all pretty confusing. It’s such a big step up from what I studied in my last math class...even the notes look like a foreign language."
    "The young man shrugged as he finished putting his books away and stood up."
    "What’s up with this guy?"
    "Even when I was younger, I didn’t meet guys who acted this quiet..."
    Nicole "Uh...are you going to say anything to me? I was only trying to be friendly."
    "He only glanced at me again before his gaze fell to the floor."
    Nicole "Hey, did the cat get your tongue or something?"
    "I smiled jovially while asking the question, but he still wouldn’t look up at me."
    Darren "That’s a rather old fashioned phrase."
    Nicole "It got you to speak up though! Old doesn’t necessarily mean useless."
    "He smiled slightly as he stood up from his desk."
    Darren "Just study extra, you’ll do fine in the class."
    Nicole "Why, thank you for imparting such profound and rare advice. I don’t think I ever would have thought of that in all my years of experience."
    "He didn’t laugh or frown at my sarcasm and simply walked away."
    "...Maybe I came off sounding rude?"
    "Or he’s not the type to take a joke..."
    "Either way, he seems kinda unfriendly..."
    "After the class ended, I hurried to catch up with Chandra on the way back to my dorm."
    Nicole "Hey, Chandra!"
    "She looked up and smiled cheerfully when she saw me."
    Chandra "What’s up?"
    Nicole "I wanted to know if you knew anything about that guy who sits behind me in our math class...he’s so quiet, he seemed kinda unfriendly. I tried talking to him, but he barely said a thing to me then didn’t even bother saying goodbye."
    Chandra "Ah...I think I know who you’re talking about."
    Nicole "He’s pretty cute, just so...standoffish."
    Chandra "Yeah, that’s Darren. I don’t really know him since he’s so shy, but he doesn’t really talk to anyone."
    Nicole "That’s strange...especially for someone his age."
    Chandra "It is. Some people think he’s hiding something."
    Nicole "I suppose that’s possible...what kind of rumors are drifting around about him?"
    "Chandra shrugged."
    Chandra "There aren’t a lot with facts behind them since he doesn’t really have any friends that I’ve seen. Some people think he was raised abroad or something and that English is his second language."
    Nicole "And what kind of factuality is behind that...?"
    Chandra "None that I know of, it’s just a guess at why he’s so quiet. You should probably be careful around him though, you never know what someone like that is thinking about."
    Nicole "Yeah, you’re right...he seemed harmless enough though."
    Chandra "Still, there’s a line between shy and suspicious. I wouldn’t want to try finding it."
    Nicole "Mmm..."
    Chandra "Anyway, I have to go get to cheerleading practice. I’ll see you tonight though."
    Nicole "’Kay, see you then!"

That's it for this week, can't reveal more about this character since would be spoilers ;) The cast review for Nicole is now complete. Next week hope to give good news about Loren's expansion and other stuff going on...!