Heileen 3 released, Merry Christmas and the end of the world

Heileen 3 is finally out

First of all, Heileen 3: New Horizon was officially released a couple days ago. Here's the official trailer with the theme song:

For more info and demos, check the official game page: http://www.winterwolves.com/heileen.htm

I'm working on the yuri version right now which will be called "Heileen 3: Sea Maidens" and should be out very soon, probably mid-January. Will do a postmortem about the game once that version is out.

Merry Christmas!

Second, I want to wish you Merry Christmas and like every year, I'm doing it by offering a generous discount on all my games (except Heileen 3 of course since it was just released!).

Use the coupon code: XMAS to get 50% off any single game. Remember that the coupon is not cumulable with other offers, so for example it won't work if you try to buy game bundles which have an automatic discount already (Spirited Heart + Girl's Love, The Flower Shop games, and so on).

...the end of the world ?

As you know, today Friday 21st December 2012 the world should end. I hope not, since I was just starting to have fun working on my games! :) Besides, I have so many interesting projects for next year that it would be really a pity. Check for yourself:

What's coming next year from Winter Wolves

January: As said, the plan is to get Heileen 3 yuri version out. Will also probably announce officially a new Steampunk RPG project ;)

February: Release of Bionic Heart 2 or at least begin the preorder/beta testing phase

Rest of the year: Depending how things go, the release of Planet Stronghold 2 and/or the Steampunk RPG, and maybe one or more of the other dating / life sims currently in progress like Nicole, Roommates, Amber Magic Shop or Spirited Heart 2, but that's too early to tell!

Androids, drakes and college

Don't worry, the cryptic title of my blog post can be easily explained.

Androids: because I finally had time to take a break from working non-stop on Loren The Amazon Princess RPG, I made the Android port of Heileen! I chose that game since is one of the simplest as gameplay (is a basic Visual Novel). I kept the original resolution of the game, so if you play it on a tablet the resolution will be good, while on phones with smaller resolution the game will scale down.

It's available for only 4.99 in the Android marketplace: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.winterwolves.heileen

It has been tested by several people on various devices and nobody had any issues, though on devices with small screen size like phone can be a bit problematic to play, so be warned!

But androids also because I've started writing Bionic Heart 2! I've only made the storyboard for the 3 first scenes, but the new writer is doing a good job with it so far. It's cool to be able to finally resume working with Bionic Heart's universe / characters again after almost 3 years since the first game release.

Drakes: because the chapter4 of Loren is basically finished, and contains a big battle against a Giant Drake which will be one of the toughest enemies of the game. The plot is only missing some romance scenes, but I'm also waiting for 4 new backgrounds and the battle voices to do the next update which will have the full game available (including the romance scenes!). I hope it to be ready sometimes next week or no later than next weekend!

College: because finally I found a replacement writer for the Roommates game, and seems I'll be able to resume working on it at normal speed again! We're redefining the game structure/gameplay and the various breaks, changing the game from being Quarter based, rather than Semester based (so there are more breaks which will lead to some cool scenes like Winter / Spring Break).

Warning: Promo Sales Ahead!

In the photo above, my cat Orfeo (italian name for Orpheus) in a curious pose (to say the least)!

What's about the promo sales in the title? Well, the game engine I used for all my recent manga games, Ren'Py, got a big update recently, improving the speed, compatibility and adding the DirectX support (requires DX9 installed though).

So I am slowly rebuilding all the games I've developed with it in the past years. The first one to be updated was Heileen 1, the first visual novel I developed myself. For each game update, I'll have the game on sale at very big discount, with the idea that many people will buy it and report eventual problems (there really shouldn't be any, but you never know!)

As I'm rebuilding the games I am also adding some small features, like for example I added the infamous relationship bar (see the image below) that was missing on the first two Heileen games.

I'm also going to switch all the old one to the new popular online activation, with the exception of big games with voices like Heileen 2 or Bionic Heart (which would require demos of over 100mb, and it's a bit too much!).

To buy the game for only 4.99, simply head to the game purchase page. You don't need any code, but be careful since the offer expires next sunday!

What other games I will update? well, all of them, but I'm taking it slowly, so not more than one every week or better every 10-15 days. The next ones I have scheduled are Heileen 2, then will be the turn of Bionic Heart, Flower Shop, and so on.

The best way to know when the promotional sale is on is to follow me on Twitter or Facebook, since I announce the offers there first, while I update the blog only once a week.

Apart the promotional sales, I'm working hard on the various games in progress: I've written half of the 100 scenes for Heileen 3, the RPG framework for Loren RPG is at good point, and I got new art and ending images for Planet Stronghold: Warzone and Undead Lily.

And, "sometimes before Christmas", Flower Shop: Winter In Fairbrook will finally be released (we decided to add a bonus extra scene to compensate the long wait!).

New video: Heileen 2 trailer

I just posted a new video on youtube for my upcoming game Heileen. It will be one of the so called "otome games". The main character is a girl, and she'll be able to fall in love with several male characters (well also a female one to be honest!).
I'm quite proud of the results so far, there are many cinematic scenes, good voices and what I believe (or hope) and interesting plot based on the Seven Virtues and the Deadly Sins, under the form of a deck of tarot cards that you find in the island.

More info coming soon...