Heart's Hollow: Dating Sim Game With Bite

[bitterplayhouse]

Heart’s Hollow is the first project by Bitter Playhouse, being developed for Windows, Mac and iPad. It hopes to break the mould of dating sim gaming by allowing players the option of being male or female and letting romance blossom with any of the visitors (male or female). It's puzzle meets adventure and asset management with a dash of gender inclusiveness

Scene: an old, Victorian House in the small town of Heart's Hollow.
Mission: complete simple tasks, maintaining the safety of the three oddball old ladies that live there.
The mission, of course, becomes increasingly difficult as gameplay progresses. It's a light-hearted and quirky story-driven game that focuses on mystery-solving dialogue, leading to a multitude of endings, from romantic to homicidal.


Like all the games in this thread, Heart's Hollow is still in development, but we've worked really hard on it so far. We hope to have it up and running by Spring 2013. For more info on characters and setting, and to watch our trailer, just check out the link:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/174 ... rts-hollow

Any feedback on the creative so far would be much appreciated.
thanks

[papillon]

This sounds more like an advertising post rather than a developer's updates - which isn't a bad thing, but it makes the grammar problems stand out. It's probably better for your appeal to either adopt a more casual tone when writing or to get someone to proofread your text before you post it.

(It's also a risky idea to describe something as 'breaking the mould' when talking to an audience that makes and plays such games. It can come across as an insult to the games they themselves create/enjoy. Not to mention that there have already been games here that include puzzle/adventure/management elements. )

My net connection is messed up at the moment, preventing me from seeing images or videos, which why all I'm commenting on is the text in this post. Right now, the thing that stands out the most is that this is apparently a game about three little old ladies. That sounds like it could be quite a cute adventure game, but for a *dating* sim is probably going to make a lot of people nervous. Are you supposed to be dating 'wacky granny' type characters? Are you playing a caretaker who is trying to have a love life while his wacky charges constantly interfere?

If this ISN"T about dating grandmas you might want to make that more clear in your first post before sending people off to look for more information.

[Fawn]

Oh wow, I love what I'm seeing so far. This is fantastic! The 3D style is perfect, infact I didn't even know it was 3D until I watched your Kickstarter video!
Not only that, the game play and characters seem like a ton of fun... It's wonderful that you can go after any of the love interests no matter the gender you're playing, too!

Hope you get lots more pledges, I'd love to be able to purchase this game some day.

[bitterplayhouse]

Hi there
Thanks for the feedback
@Papillon - Sorry. Sometimes my corporate training tone comes through (plus I'm super new to this and quite nervous). As per your suggestion I've altered some of the text to sound less arrogant (which wasn't my intention, so thanks for pointing that out). What I was really trying to say is that we hope to bring more gender options in story telling. That got lost in the messaging. Sorry. As for your concerns about dating grannies... heeheehee. Nope, that's not an option. I hope you get to view the trailer. I'd love to get your veteran opinion.

@Fawn - Thanks for the words of support. We've had so much fun creating this so far. Really hoping we get the funds to complete the project.
Fingers crossed

[gekiganwing]

You stated that you intend for your game to be released on computers... and an iOS device. What sort of software programs will you be using to create your game?

... What I was really trying to say is that we hope to bring more gender options in story telling. That got lost in the messaging. Sorry. As for your concerns about dating grannies... heeheehee. Nope, that's not an option...

I'm trying to understand what sort of game you are making. Several genres of video games -- adventure, puzzle, mystery, romance, and story driven -- are all mentioned. Varied types of gameplay can blend together. All these concepts might work together as one game. But then again, there's the possibility that people will consider it a genre hybrid that doesn't appeal to specific fans, or a game where all the disparate elements conflict with each other...

Looking at the romance options listed on your Kickstarter page, it appears that all of them are between college age and mid 30s. I like the idea of stories/games with characters who are clearly adults. And I do like some of the more abstract 3D visuals, such as the characters walking across the mansion.

At the same time, I'm not sure how easy it will be to sell your game. I remember Jack_Norton talking about how "Card Sweethearts" (a harem game with mandatory poker gameplay and characters who are adults) did not sell well. And while Konami managed to sell about 80000 copies of Brooktown High (a western romance game with 3D graphics), it's been called a failure in terms of game sales. That said... are you targeting any specific fans? Who will your game appeal to?

[DaFool]

Sometimes my corporate training tone comes through (plus I'm super new to this and quite nervous).

There should probably be a sticky somewhere that warns that even if you're a professional studio, adopt a more personal form of discourse in this mostly hobbyists forum rather than seeming distant. Unlike other forums, we don't immediately cry "spam spam spam!", but we definitely prefer that people come as people, rather than as unidentifiable group entities.

If you're the producer or programmer or artist of the game, please say so. (Also the professional indies here tend to kinda want to gauge project scope vs team size)

[bitterplayhouse]

@gekiganwing
We're using the MultiMedia Fusion 2 engine.
The gameplay runs like a puzzle/adventure game until someone comes to visit or you access a clue. Then the narrative kicks in and you go from the chibi style to the more realistic 3D style, in which you can choose to romance any of the visitors, or solve the mystery around the previous caretakers' strange disappearances. You can choose to engage both narratives, but it'll take longer as you access new dialogues with the hearts you accumulate, and then you have to accumulate new hearts.
I guess we're targeting a market that wants a wide range of gender options. By allowing players to choose what gender they are and then permitting them to date any gender within the game, we are trying to unlock the gender-specificity that many games force on you.
I guess it is niche, but seeing as this is our first game we just want to see how it goes.

@DaFool
We're a 3D animator and comic writer who teamed up to make a fun game that was gender inclusive. Heart's Hollow is our first game, and Bitter Playhouse is our working name for now, but Bitter Playhouse didn't exist before this project. I'm the writer, and sometimes I get a bit verbose, so apologies if this comes across as formal. Like I said... nervous and new to this
But yeah, it's just the two of us for now. We certainly didn't mean to sound spammy. We'd just really like people's feedback on the creative elements so far.

Thanks for all your amazing feedback guys

[papillon]

Yeah, I look forward to looking at the trailer once my stupid broadband is fixed! It sounds interesting.

[Reikun]

Saw your trailer yesterday and I have to say that the character art is really stunning! I like the head turn animation that was done when selecting a character (also the blue/pink male/female flip. Awesome male!Charlie in a pink shirt)

It would be nice if you could tell a bit more about the cloning ability thing that was shown in the trailer. Why does Charlie have this power? Is it just a random gameplay element to make managing the old ladies easier? Or is the origin of this power relevant to the plot? :0

[bitterplayhouse]

Hey Reikun
Thanks for the kind words.
As for the Echo ability, at this point it's merely a gameplay device to help you with the chores and granny care. You can generate up to 3 echoes of your Charlie. But this comes at a speed penalty each time. There are upgrades you can get along the way that enable your echoes to work faster. These come at the cost of your ruby hearts, which you can also use to chat up the visitors and unlock clues to the mystery.
Hope that answers your question

[Nellie]

This looks really amazing! I especially love the cute bg and 'chibi' characters going around the house! <3

I'm having a hard time deciding which category do I want to back vs how much my wallet can afford lol!

I'll be looking forward to the final release!

[bitterplayhouse]

@Nellie - Glad you like it. We wanted to make the bg & chibis cute and fun because that's the main gameplay, so you want it to be stimulating to keep you coming back. Then 'reality' kicks in at the dialogue points.
Thanks for the support. Every little bit helps

[Lumella]

Just seeing this in 3D makes my heart flutter ♥
I really like the artistic approach you went for this one. It's simple and it's in vector-ish design therefore, it's not overwhelming to play it in a mobile device. I wish you well with this game!

[♥BlackRainbow08♥]

Hmm.. It's sounds interesting.
I will be looking forward to it.. Well Good Luck