Name | Heart Fragment | ||
Developer | HF Gaming | ||
Publisher | HF Gaming | ||
Tags | |||
Release | 2020-12-15 | ||
Steam | |||
News | |||
Controls | Keyboard Mouse | ||
Players online |  n/a  | ||
Steam Rating | Positive | ||
Steam store | |||
Public Linux depots | Heart Fragment Linux [248.15 M] Heart Fragment Mac [439.91 M] Living Dead Content [199.19 M] |
A small update just went live. Nothing too fancy!
As always, thank you all for playing Heart Fragment. Development for Book 3 is coming along fantastically and I can't wait to have more news to share regarding its release this year! |
Happy New Year everyone! |
Hello everyone! |
A few quick patches were posted today, including:
Thank you all for your diligent bug & typo reports. I'm always doing my best to improve and keep the game bug-free. Sorry it has been a while since the last batch of typo reports were fixed. I have been very busy lately and I'm doing my best to keep on top of things, but this time around, things got piled up longer than I would have liked. My apologies, and I appreciate everyone's patience! |
Hello everyone! I hope you've all been well since the last news update was posted here on Steam. Have you gotten a chance to play Book Two: Belief Fragments? There were a ton of reveals, answers to questions from Book One, new questions to resolve, and (of course) a chance to get to know Shannon & Lana better. |
Updates include:
Thank you all for bearing with me! |
A few small updates & fixes:
I hope you are all enjoying Book Two so far! |
Been looking forward to the second installment of Heart Fragment? The DLC, Book Two: Belief Fragments will be out in just a few hours! |
New updates include:
Thank you all for the patience! |
The long-awaited update to Book One is finally here!
[h2]Art Updates:[/h2] The number one requested feature / update was more art style consistency. A lot of people found it off-putting that the style of the CGs was so different from the sprites. While Momoriin, the original sprite artist, was unavailable to work on CGs, the help of amazing artists Drulle and Saigogogo has allowed for a new version of CGs that match more seamlessly with the original sprites. For those who already love the CG artstyle, you can select "style b" to see sprites & CGs both by the lovely artist who did the original scenes, Mintstea! You can also switch between the two styles at any time during gameplay, and both styles of any unlocked CG can be viewed from the gallery menu. [h2]Main Character Variation:[/h2] As unlocked by our amazing Kickstarter backers, you can now play as a male/masculine version of the protagonist! It was highly requested that pronouns be interchangeable, and indeed they are. You can switch the protagonist's appearance, voice, etc at any time while you play the game. This difference is not just cosmetic. A lot of scenes (especially in Clive's route and the upcoming Book Two release which includes Shannon's route) have dialogue and choice variations depending on which version of the protagonist you play as. And if you want to take it a step further, you can also turn on option MC voicing as well! [h2]Book Two Progress Report:[/h2] First off, I want to offer a huge apology for the release delay. A lot has been happening, both in my personal life, general health, and my work life. As the sole writer of Heart Fragment aside from a few additional scenes provided by Nico H (developer of Entropic Float), any issues that I face directly impact the speed I can work at. Book Two: Belief Fragments will still be available this summer (2022). Lana's route is finished aside from end programming + beta testing, and Shannon's is nearly finished being written and will then be moved into the programming stage as well. I really appreciate your patience with me! Lastly, if anyone runs into any issues with the new update, please feel free to contact me any time, whether it is by email (heartfragmentvn@hotmail.com), the Steam community page, or even commenting right here on this update. Have a lovely day, everyone! |
A few small updates & fixes:
And a few progress updates for the next release:
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[h2]The Heart Fragment: Complete Edition Kickstarter ends in just 3 days! We're 100% funded but working towards some amazing stretch goals. [/h2] |
Two important quality of life updates just went live!
Additionally, 3 out of the 6 acrylic charms for the Heart Fragment merch tiers have been revealed so far. Here's a look at Clive, Jasper, and Shannon! Follow Heart Fragment on Twitter and/or Tumblr or join the Heart Fragment discord server if you'd like to see the charms as they are revealed! Tomorrow will be Kay's reveal. |
Two exciting things! First, you can add Book Two DLC to your wishlist on Steam now. This DLC will be FREE to add on to Book One, and comes with the full routes for Lana & Shannon. The planned release is early March.
I've stated a number of times throughout development that the cost of assets, the exchange rate from CAD to USD, PayPal fees, etc have brought forth numerous struggles with budgeting. This will allow me to finish development at a much faster pace & offer new additions to the game - plus the previously mentioned physical merch in the form of double-sided acrylic charms of the main cast. Rest assured, the game will be completed no matter what. You will not be left hanging. This Kickstarter will simply expedite the process, making the story available to you faster and making more additions to the game possible. Merchandise design reveals will be starting soon on twitter & tumblr. Here is a sneak peek preview of some revamps to come following the Kickstarter! |
Happy October, everyone! Here are the updates for the latest patch:
Some people made note of the protagonist being inside of her own head too much, spending too much time doing inner monologue. This has been reduced in places where inner monologue does not add meaningful context to the scene. Almost done replacing all the backgrounds! Just a few more to go! |
Hello everyone! Back with a few more updated custom backgrounds, some minor bug fixes, and a few notes for Book Two and beyond!
Now, a few notes for future developments... As you likely know, Heart Fragment was Kickstarted in 2020. Since then, the game has grown significantly and along with that growth have been a lot more expenses than originally planned for - and the cost of the creation makes Book Two, Book Three, and the Finale harder to finish within a reasonable time. I've also done the best as I can to be upfront about how the exchange rate from my country's CAD to the usually used USD and rising PayPal fees made for unplanned expenses. Since all future additions to the game will be FREE, I've needed to consider a few other options. I have made the decision to start a Kickstarter that will fund the remainder of costs for creating everything from Book Two to the Finale. This will help me make things as quickly as possible AND allow me to offer some wonderful stretch goals. The Kickstarter will also include... *drumroll* physical merchandise in the form of chibi charms / keychains! Stretch goals will be added to include more full voice acting in major scenes, a Nintendo Switch port in the future, and a physical copy of the artbook. There will also be additional tier rewards for custom characters that can be added starting in Book Two. To clarify, anyone who backed the previous Kickstarter will receive any newly added digital rewards at the tiers they backed! Additionally, an 'add-on' tier would be added for people who want physical merchandise only. More updates will be posted on this soon. Please know that while your help is appreciated, you're of course not required to back the upcoming books. You will still receive your copy of Book Two and beyond that are promised along with your purchase of Book One. Thank you so much for supporting Heart Fragment. I hope you are all enjoying the game so far and that I can continue to provide you with an enjoyable experience! |
I hope August has been wonderful for everyone! Here's a summary on the update that just went live:
Additionally, I updated from Ren'py 7.4.4 to Ren'py 7.4.8 for this build (aka the latest version). Based on initial testing it doesn't seem like this update should interfere with anything, but if anyone runs into bugs/errors do not hesitate to report them to me. Thank you and have a nice day! |
I hope you are all doing well today! Here is an update summary for you:
I'm so sorry for any inconvenience these bugs may have caused. Wishing you well. :) |
Thank you again for all of the reports & feedback thus far! Here's an update summary for you:
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Thank you to everyone who has sent in any error reports they came across! Here's a small update summary:
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!
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.
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.
[previewyoutube=KahfBJEwRRE;full][/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. |
It has finally been posted: Heart Fragment's final big demo release!
Still to be added:
Important note: Because the game's code and structure has changed significantly while I learn how to code and optimize things, there is a chance that if you ran a previous version of the game you may run into errors while loading a save file. I recommend starting a new game, since a huge amount of the prologue is updated, and using the skip feature to bypass anything you've seen before. The demo is a little over 60,000 words. I am very much looking for feedback on this length because I worry it might be too long. The routes make up for it by being far more than double that length each, but I have created a feedback form for anyone that would like to offer input on that, or to report bugs/typos and give other feedback. See you all next time! -Casper Swann |
[h2]IT IS FINALLY LIVE: a huge revamp to the demo! So, hooray for progress! As for an update on what's going on with development right now, I have plenty of updates there as well!
If you are able to, please consider helping us out by buying us a Ko-fi over here. I'm struggling a bit with keeping up on the finances involved with developing a game. While the Kickstarter was fully funded, I did not fully account for the impact the exchange rate from CAD to USD would have on things. Have a nice day everyone! - Casper Swann |
I've also got some other wonderful news! In April, Heart Fragment will be getting a full GUI revamp. The new GUI will include character bios where you can select & view sprites, a music box with the soundtrack, a text log for missed dialogue, and a social media feature that check throughout the game and see bonus text from the characters! For anyone who has yet to see, the game also now has unlockable personality traits for the main character based on your choices that will unlock extra scenes and dialogue options. These include confident, honest, creative, paranoid, bored, and gullible. Additionally, because of the complex way that the endings in Heart Fragment will be set up in the final route, I wrote this up to explain it more clearly! The game has over 20 endings, with a mix of romantic, platonic, and family based endings available. Someone asked recently if you're supposed to end up with one character; if someone is the "true" romance. So, to explain that: In the final route, who your endgame partner is will be up to you! Each character will be featured in a section of the final route. At the end of each of their sections, you will be given a choice: KISS THEM or HUG THEM If you KISS THEM: You can select them as your endgame partner! You can kiss multiple characters and choose between them, but youll get bonus text for only kissing one! If you HUG THEM: You can select them as your endgame BFF! You can hug multiple characters and choose between them with no penalty for hugging them all. You can have an endgame partner & endgame BFF, just an endgame partner, or just an endgame BFF. If you dont choose to kiss or hug any of them, the ending will be more focused on the full group. Whether or not you can choose a character as a romantic or platonic partner at the end will depend on what endings you get in their route. While the final route will be unlocked by completing at least one romantic or platonic ending for every character, you can only select a romantic partner who you have completed a romantic ending with. Doing both their romantic and platonic endings will make them an option for both! That's all for now folks! Let's keep pushing on until the very end! - Casper Swann |
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