Stranded Hearts [GxG][Survival Sim][Romance]

A place for game announcements, and for people to discuss games being made.
Forum rules
Please read the sticky before creating a new topic. Linking to Kickstarter/Crowdfunded games requires a demo. Updates to Patreon-backed games may be posted once every 2 months. Adult content should not be posted in this forum.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Steamgirl
Veteran
Posts: 322
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 4:39 am
Completed: My Cup of Coffee, Queen at Arms (co-wrote a battle scene)
Projects: Stranded Hearts, Emma: A Lady's Maid
Deviantart: steamgirlgame
Contact:

Stranded Hearts [GxG][Survival Sim][Romance]

#1 Post by Steamgirl »

Image

Image


A Survival Sim/Yuri Romance
Wordcount: ~48,000 / 80,000
Free to Play

DEMO


Team
Project Lead, Writer, Artist, Programmer
Steamgirl

Writer, Artist
Seigetsu

Character Artist
YuukiCrossPudding

GUI Artist
Sasquatchii

Junior Artist
ibukichan

Composer
TyberAlyx

Sound Engineer
csky

Recruiting Background Artist
The Story
Aina is co-piloting a small aircraft when her instructor sudden suffers a fatal stroke! Forced to make an emergency landing, she and her two passengers, Kim and George, escape to a nearby uninhabited island. Aina is desperate to get off the island as soon as possible, but the other two don't seem in such a hurry. Will she make it back in time for her graduation and reunite her star-crossed parents? Or perhaps the more pressing question is... Will she survive at all? And what about these two women? Why do they have to be so attractive and make matters so complicated?!

The Game
The primary aim is survival. Decide what the team does each day in order to keep the camp well stocked in wood and water. You can also bring and find items on the island which you can assign to a team member once a day to give them a boost in their activities. For example, gathering wood is more effective when you have a machete. Sleeping is more effective with a sleeping bag.

As you go through the game, the story progresses and special events can throw you a curve-ball. Make key decisions which may determine life or death. Can your team survive and get off the island?

Demo
A demo of the game is available. It covers the first 5 days of survival (out of 30-45).

Questions
1) A few people have said the game is too difficult. When you played the demo, did you manage to survive for 5 days on your first attempt? If not, how many attempts did it take to survive?

2) Would you prefer the game difficulty to change and why?

3) What do you think of having an unrealistic "easy" mode where it takes much longer to become dehydrated, and a realistic "hard core" mode which sticks to real survival?
Last edited by Steamgirl on Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:10 am, edited 18 times in total.

User avatar
DarkSin
Regular
Posts: 110
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:57 pm
Completed: Rituals in the Dark (GxG), Sweetest Monster (BxG), My Magical Divorce Bureau!!
Projects: Innate Imperfections (GxG)
Organization: SinSystem
itch: darksin
Contact:

Re: Stranded Hearts [Survival Sim][GxG][YuriJam]

#2 Post by DarkSin »

This has the makings of a very good story. The outline and the characters piqued my interest. Looking forward to playing this when it's done. Good luck! :)
Image

User avatar
Steamgirl
Veteran
Posts: 322
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 4:39 am
Completed: My Cup of Coffee, Queen at Arms (co-wrote a battle scene)
Projects: Stranded Hearts, Emma: A Lady's Maid
Deviantart: steamgirlgame
Contact:

Re: Stranded Hearts [Survival Sim][GxG][YuriJam]

#3 Post by Steamgirl »

UPDATE!
We are getting close to the end, but as you can see from the first post - we still have a long way to go. A lot has to happen in the final week!

Our work in progress main menu.
Image

Our work in progress "scene" view - characters work in progress, character portrait work in progress, and quick menu not yet implemented as it should be.
Image

And - you guessed it - a work in progress design for the day planner!
Image



EDIT: EEk! DarkSin, sorry I didn't spot your message sooner! Thrilled to hear you're interested! Hope we live up to your expectations!

User avatar
Steamgirl
Veteran
Posts: 322
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 4:39 am
Completed: My Cup of Coffee, Queen at Arms (co-wrote a battle scene)
Projects: Stranded Hearts, Emma: A Lady's Maid
Deviantart: steamgirlgame
Contact:

Re: Stranded Hearts [Survival Sim][GxG][YuriJam]

#4 Post by Steamgirl »

UPDATE

2 out of 3 characters are now imported into the game - just need to hook them up fully!
Image

We are looking for testers! Are you to be able to commit 3-4 hours to testing on Wednesday 28th, and report back by the end of the day? Please get in touch!

User avatar
Steamgirl
Veteran
Posts: 322
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 4:39 am
Completed: My Cup of Coffee, Queen at Arms (co-wrote a battle scene)
Projects: Stranded Hearts, Emma: A Lady's Maid
Deviantart: steamgirlgame
Contact:

Re: Stranded Hearts [Survival Sim][GxG][YuriJam]

#5 Post by Steamgirl »

UPDATE

The YuriJam deadline had been extended! Thanks goodness for that!

I finally finished the opening CG:

Image

Yuuki has finished up all the characters! Only one extra expression left and possibly an outfit for Kim.

Image

Kim's storyline (written by Ren) is now in the range of 30k words! Very impressive! I better polish up George's story, hehe!

All GUI art has been delivered - terrific news! I can't wait to implement it all (God give me more time in the day, please? Can we have 38 hours days?)

Sound effects and music has also started to go in. The game is shaping up nicely!

User avatar
Steamgirl
Veteran
Posts: 322
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 4:39 am
Completed: My Cup of Coffee, Queen at Arms (co-wrote a battle scene)
Projects: Stranded Hearts, Emma: A Lady's Maid
Deviantart: steamgirlgame
Contact:

Re: Stranded Hearts [Survival Sim][GxG][YuriJam]

#6 Post by Steamgirl »

UPDATE 9th NOV 2015

Sadly, we didn't manage to finish the game in time for the YuriJam deadline. A lot happened, including hospital trips for several of the team members. :(
So as a result, we've submitted a demo version, which you can grab here: http://dreamgate.itch.io/stranded-hearts

The demo includes the first 5 days of the game!

User avatar
Steamgirl
Veteran
Posts: 322
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 4:39 am
Completed: My Cup of Coffee, Queen at Arms (co-wrote a battle scene)
Projects: Stranded Hearts, Emma: A Lady's Maid
Deviantart: steamgirlgame
Contact:

Re: Stranded Hearts [Survival Sim][GxG][YuriJam]

#7 Post by Steamgirl »

It's eerily quiet! Makes me wonder if the demo under-delivers?
If anyone has played the demo, it would be great to hear thoughts/feedback. :)

In particular...

What do you think of the intro to the story? Is it generally clear what's happening?
Did you understand the gameplay? What did you think of it?
Did you get the George-only scenes (there are 3 in total)? (SPOILER/WALKTHROUGH: One happens on day 3, the other two happen after that if you scout/hunt or relax/sleep exclusively with her at the right time.)
What did you think?
What did you think of Kim's scene?
What did you think of the 3 characters? Who do you like/dislike and why?
Any other thoughts?

Thanks in advance! :)

User avatar
Steamgirl
Veteran
Posts: 322
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 4:39 am
Completed: My Cup of Coffee, Queen at Arms (co-wrote a battle scene)
Projects: Stranded Hearts, Emma: A Lady's Maid
Deviantart: steamgirlgame
Contact:

Re: Stranded Hearts [Survival Sim][GxG][YuriJam]

#8 Post by Steamgirl »

Work on Stranded Hearts has resumed! It's fairly close to completion already and hopefully will be out in March/April. :)

By the way, we'd still happily take on board a background artist, see our recruitment thread for more details.

User avatar
Seigetsu
Regular
Posts: 123
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2010 2:02 am
Deviantart: suien
Skype: shinmeiryuumotoko
Contact:

Re: Stranded Hearts [Survival Sim][GxG][YuriJam]

#9 Post by Seigetsu »

I've finally got to playing the demo (I know right? Totally my bad). I can send you the detailed comments by email, but here is some general feedback.

What do you think of the intro to the story? Is it generally clear what's happening?
Overall, I think it's clear. We'll probably have to work on the script a little more though. Kim is so quiet it's like she's mute or something. I'll go and add some lines for her when I help edit the common route. I still think the characters acted a little too calm when George didn't feel a pulse on the instructor. A couple more lines might help bring out the emotion of that scene.

Did you understand the gameplay? What did you think of it?
I thought the gameplay was easy to understand, and the priorities make sense in a survival context (except maybe make the shelter option show up a little earlier? Shelter is quite high on the survival list). I did survive the first 5 days, but I have a feeling because I'm prioritizing survival, I'm not "getting the characters together", considering the only scene I got was the beacon vs raft scene with George.

Did you get the George-only scenes (there are 3 in total)?
No. I didn't. Too hard!

What did you think of Kim's scene?
I didn't get her scene either, if you're talking about the find food/wood in the forest scene I wrote. If it's that scene, I suppose I may have some clues about getting there, but even I don't know which day it occurs, so honestly it'd be difficult to prioritize survival AND get the scene. (EDIT: I finally got her scene on day 5 in the second play-through. But in order to prioritize this, my campfire went out, both Kim and George were sick, so...yeah. I did better on my third play-through though, but ended up getting the scene in the morning of day 5 when they were supposed to be purifying water...weird. I also found that the scene, which follows from the argument with George, seems really abrupt in the game without that context. I'll probably need to go back and tweak that scene a little so it can stand alone better. Some of the lines were also a bit long and didn't fit very well into the text box [as in, they covered the shortcut buttons]. On a last note, my writing does read quite differently from yours. I'm not really sure what to do about it though...)

What did you think of the 3 characters? Who do you like/dislike and why?
I need to make Kim say a little more. Her silence actually started to feel a bit weird, but that might be because I sorta know what would happen next on her route. I liked your Abernathy :) Aina is selfish, but that makes for a more interesting protagonist in my opinion.

Any other thoughts?
We really need to recruit a background artist. Some of the backgrounds are a bit rough. We probably should touch up on the sprites and CGs as well, but considering now that the jam is over, we sorta have all the time in the world to slowly work on it if need be.

jeshii
Regular
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2015 1:25 am
Contact:

Re: Stranded Hearts [Survival Sim][GxG][YuriJam]

#10 Post by jeshii »

Fun game! I enjoy survival movies/sims so that really caught my attention haha

So my review. I found the characters to be pretty enjoyable. I wish I could have learned more about them and their backgrounds (especially aina). Unfortunately, one of the girls died in the third day and I got a game over.

The artwork was fantastic, especially the characters and GUI. Music was great, but I felt that during the scene where the plane impacts the water, a different song or perhaps silence with sound FX could have made it more dramatic.

I really loved the ability to make choices for each day, but wish there was maybe more help or explanations on what would happen for each choice. I accidentally relaxed too much on the second day because I thought it was still making decisions for the first day.

The timer during the crash scene was a great addition and really contributed alot to the gameplay. I enjoyed the rush of urgency as I picked the items before the plane sank. I do have a recommendation of including an image of the item inside the button, since some people may not be fast readers and timed decisions could be made better with a visual que of what they are picking. Embarrassingly I didn't know what was a jerry can at first haha I would definitely like to see more gameplay using this timer!

Overall great job. The game's aesthetics was very appealing and I truly enjoyed the style of this game. Nice use of subtle animations and unique character placement was noticed and well received. I like the progress that has been done so far, look forward for the full version!

User avatar
Steamgirl
Veteran
Posts: 322
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 4:39 am
Completed: My Cup of Coffee, Queen at Arms (co-wrote a battle scene)
Projects: Stranded Hearts, Emma: A Lady's Maid
Deviantart: steamgirlgame
Contact:

Re: Stranded Hearts [Survival Sim][GxG]

#11 Post by Steamgirl »

@jeshii - thanks so much for your feedback - not sure how I managed to miss it all this time!! :(
I love all your suggestions and will have a good think about them (especially the one about showing the items in the menu). As it happens I just wrote a post about timed options in the game (see below) if you're curious. :)

UPDATE February 2018
It's been a long time since the last update, but the project is still very much continuing. New backgrounds (rather than the placeholders in the demo) and other cool things. The story has also had a bit of a revamp and edit (and the target wordcount has grown to accommodate additional survival situations).

Timed Choices
Image
For those curious about our Timed Choices, I (publically) posted some musing on my patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/16934380

Recruitment: While more backgrounds have been added to the game, I could still do with a helping hand. :)

User avatar
Zelan
Lemma-Class Veteran
Posts: 2436
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 7:23 pm
Completed: The Dark
Projects: Cosplay Couple
Tumblr: evns
itch: Zelan
Discord: ltnkitsuragi#7082
Contact:

Re: Stranded Hearts [Survival Sim][GxG]

#12 Post by Zelan »

I'm glad this is still being worked on! I've seen it around and it always looked like a fun VN. c: Timed choices seem like a really cool mechanic, too, expecially for a survival sim.

User avatar
Steamgirl
Veteran
Posts: 322
Joined: Sat Jul 28, 2012 4:39 am
Completed: My Cup of Coffee, Queen at Arms (co-wrote a battle scene)
Projects: Stranded Hearts, Emma: A Lady's Maid
Deviantart: steamgirlgame
Contact:

Re: Stranded Hearts [Survival Sim][GxG]

#13 Post by Steamgirl »

Thanks Zelan, that's so nice to hear! ^_^
We are working towards an updated demo with first 2 weeks of gameplay (out of 8 ), which will give a much better idea of the final game.

Gemma
Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:25 am
Contact:

Re: Stranded Hearts [GxG][Survival Sim][Romance]

#14 Post by Gemma »

I hope you finish this game. I really liked the demo. If you want some help with bug testing or anything I can help you, I really want to see the final game be produced!

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users