Hello everyone - it sure has been a while, huh? First, let me apologize that updates are so lacking lately. Unfortunately, the past few months have been a bit of a rollercoaster. The time that should have been for working on Heart Fragment the most was unfortunately addled by some rough life circumstances. I won't go into depth too much, as it'd be a lot to put on everyone, but I want to share that the struggle exists because I believe in transparency while I keep you all updated. I don't want to worry anyone though; I feel like things are finally, hopefully, beginning to improve and I am feeling much more like myself again. That said, it has not been all bad! There's been a lot of positives as well and as I come out of what felt like a nightmare where I'd lost myself, I'm able to reflect on all the good things that have managed to keep me afloat. I am not going to let these setbacks keep me down forever. I've been pushing through and making progress whenever I can. The support and patience of everyone during this time of general inactivity is extremely appreciated. I've said before and I'll say it again - the writing, programming, and development aspects of Heart Fragment has been primarily a one-person job, and sometimes that's an awful lot to carry in addition to the life struggles that one has to face. Even so, I'm still deeply passionate about finishing this project no matter what, and I am determined that I will see it through to the end. Please know that I am not using this as an excuse for any delays or setbacks in progress. I am committed to this game and I am going my best to strike a better work-life balance moving forward. I've historically had a tendency to neglect my health and work for long hours to get things done as quickly as possible, but I am realizing more and more just how damaging that was. With all that out of the way, let's get some good news in here! As you know, in terms of story, the only route left to finish is Natalia's. Despite everything, I'm happy to say I've made some progress on it and I can't wait for you all to play it. There's been a lot of hype for Jasper's route that I've seen, but I hope you'll all enjoy Natalia's story too - it is a very complex one with a lot of layers to it, and I think anyone who has played the previous routes will have a fun time picking up all of the little details. I know it may seem like progress has been slow, and I thank you all once again for your patience and understanding. I am really putting my heart and soul into this project. The enthusiasm and encouragement that I've seen over the last while has been a driving force for me not to give up and my day is always brightened when someone has something positive to say about Heart Fragment. It is like a little spark of hope that keeps me running! On a final note, I want to leave you all with a little sneak peek into a dream sequence from Natalia's route. I hope this will get you all excited for what's to come! I've rewritten this from ren'py lines to a more novel-like format to make it an easier read.
Until next time, everyone! Thanks again for your continued support. With lots of love, Casper Swann

A small update just went live. Nothing too fancy!

• A continuity error that slipped through the cracks before was caught by someone in the Discord server and corrected
• The common route had a few dialogue updates to more clearly reflect things (example: Gray specifies further on a certain topic if you didn't choose answers that expanded on it previously)
• You can now discuss multiple topics with Kay when you talk to him at night in the common route, instead of having to choose just one (:
• An error with one of Lana's CGs in Style B has been fixed
• An error with one of Clive's CGs in Style A with a male protagonist has been fixed
• Voice lines that would get cut off before they finished playing have been fixed

Happy New Year everyone! You may have noticed that a new update just went up. A few things have been optimized since the last update, and a good chunk of voice acting for Xani that was missing was added both for Book One and Book Two. Lana's route still contains some unvoiced Xani lines, but those will be updated as well at a later date! Wondering how development on Book Three is going? Well, big progress has been made, that's for sure. A lot of finishing up the writing aspect for Jasper's route is now just revising/editing scenes (act one and two are finished in this regard, focusing on act three) and finishing the second ending.
While most routes have 2 good endings (with the exception of Lana whose ending has more variations than others), I decided Jasper needed to be expanded into 3 good endings. One of these will be available exclusively by completing at least one ending for every other character. Because of that, you could think of it more as a "bonus" ending, but it will be extremely important nonetheless. I hope it will also encourage anyone who hasn't finished the other sections of Heart Fragment to visit them and make progress!
I've gotten to be a bit of a perfectionist with this route and I'm determined to bring it to fruition before moving onto anything else. I will continue working hard and do my best to have a release date update for you guys soon. As it stands, beta testing for Jasper's route is expected for March/April. :)
Hope you're all having a great start to the year!

Hello everyone! Wait... What do you mean? We are already in August!? That's ridiculous. Time has been going by way too fast for me this year. Every time I look at the calendar, I'm shocked to see how much further along we are. I come bearing an apology this time. Because of money and time constraints, Heart Fragment Book Three will not be releasing at the end of 2023 as originally intended. Writing could still be on track for the 2023 release, but I am officially placing a hold on that release until 2024. I cannot take on any personal debt at this time, which would be required to finish Jasper's "Style A" CGs in time. All of the other art is finished - chibis, StarxSocial, Natalia Style A & Style B, and Jasper Style B. I am very sorry to do this. If Heart Fragment were profitable enough that I could justify taking temporary debt to get the CGs finished for a 2023 release, I absolutely would. But as it is, most months I earn around $100 off Heart Fragment sales, if I am lucky. Sometimes I don't meet the minimum payment threshold on Steam to be able to get paid at all in month for the game. $100 is not even enough to pay for even one CG, let alone what I would need to be able to pay for the full set for Jasper's route. At this time, I won't be giving any concrete release date for Book Three except that the goal is 2024. This is for the best for me in some regards too, as I can take writing slower now - something I need to do because I am starting college classes next month. I got the amazing news that I was accepted for a grant and can now take a class that I'd otherwise not be able to take due to the financial concerns. So at least it works out in some regards. Still, I am sorry for letting you all down. I never want to do that. I promise you that Book Three will be coming as soon as is financially possible! If you backed Heart Fragment on Kickstarter, you will get Early Access to Book Three. This means that you'll be able to play the game as soon as the writing & programming is finished, without the Style A CGs. So for Heart Fragment's amazing backers that made this game possible (I'd be nowhere without them), playing Book Three in 2023 may still be on the table!
I've been off work for the summer holidays due to my regular job being with the school division. Because of that, I've been able to make significant progress on Book Three. Writing for Jasper's route is nearly complete, with all but the final act finished in its first draft of writing. I will need to go back and check for errors and revisions before it is playable, but with every change I make, I feel it is becoming more like my original vision for his route. Natalia's route has been a bit more challenging and as a result, progress has been slower. I think the payoff will be rewarding, though. I've had to make a lot of changes to the original outline to fit in with the changes made in Jasper's route... but I think this is for the best because they'll help make it more immersive. These revisions have taken more time than I thought (as all creative work seems to do!) but I'm positive that her story will be more captivating and intense as a result. In terms of the art, most of this was covered above. There's still some progress to be made with Jasper - his StarxSocial and "Style B" CGs are complete, but his "Style A" CGs are still on the back burner. The funds from Kickstarter carried me all the way here though, which is a huge accomplishment. So even though I have to put in my own money, I don't mind for the sake of seeing this story through to the end. A project like Heart Fragment is no small undertaking though, and at the moment I can't afford to put any of my funds towards this. I hope to be able to continue ASAP. Thank you all so much for your kindness and patience!

A few quick patches were posted today, including:

• preparation for Book Three to make it playable immediately upon release later this year
• a few typo fixes
• an error with one of Lana's CGs not showing up in the gallery has been fixed; if it still doesn't show up for you, the scene may need to be viewed again unfortunately! Sorry for the inconvenience!

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. I've had a few people approach me to say they'd be skipping Book Two because they're not interested in routes with girls. While I understand the decision, I do want to let everyone know that you can romance Clive & Kay in Book Two as well when you do Lana's route, and you get a chance to learn some new tidbits about them there as well. Once Book Three is released, Lana's route will be updated to allow subplot romance with Jasper & Natalia too. heartoful Not to mention all the answers and reveals! While you can play Heart Fragment's routes in any order you want, I believe completing at least one route from the first two releases will help with piecing together Despair Fragments. Which brings me to the exciting news: you can now add Book Three: Despair Fragments to your wishlist here on Steam! The release date is still undecided, but adding it to your wishlist now will make sure you're notified the moment it goes live.
And on a final note, there is currently an issue with a CG now appearing in the gallery for Belief Fragments. I will get this fixed ASAP - I've had a lot going on which meant I need to prioritise certain tasks, and things like updates or minor fixes had to be put on hold while I focused on things that needed immediate attention. Thank you all so much for your patience with me! :)

Updates include:

• Typo fixes
• Gallery menu fixes
• Music gallery fixes

A few small updates & fixes:

• Clive's style B sprite no longer has 4 arms (alas, less arms to hug you with now...)
• Error with the male MC showing up in a female MC flashback was fixed
• Issues that prevented a certain bad ending in Shannon's route have been resolved
• Platonic ending variations in Shannon's route are easier to obtain
• Typos that were reported have been fixed

Been looking forward to the second installment of Heart Fragment? The DLC, Book Two: Belief Fragments will be out in just a few hours! Anyone who purchased Book One prior to the game being switched to free will have access to the DLC for free at no additional cost. Otherwise, the price will be $2.99 with a limited time 15% launch discount. A full walkthrough guide for the new DLC will also be published soon. It will be available within 24 hours after the release. Thank you all for your patience throughout the difficulties I've had with my health and development. I sincerely hope the wait will be worth it! Have fun... and good luck!

New updates include:

• Minor typo & bug fixes
• Fixed issues with the timeline showing some events twice
• A few exceptionally large CGs were reduced in size, hence the large update to replace those assets; while the update size might be a bit of a nuisance, it helps save disk space in the long run
• Added in prep for the Book Two: Belief Fragments DLC so that when it is released, there will be no issues with loading up the new routes

The long-awaited update to Book One is finally here!

• Art style selection between "style a" and "style b" for more consistency than the previous version
• A male MC variation
• Option voice acting for Xani / the MC provided by Jessica Spencer (feminine voice) and Jerron Bacat (masculine voice)
• Extra scenes & options to build romance prior to the endings

Art Updates:

Main Character Variation:

Book Two Progress Report:

A few small updates & fixes:

• The kitchen background at the protagonist's home is updated to an original background
• Fixed an error in one of the nightmare sequences that appeared when on Clive's route
• Added nightmare dialogue variation in some spots that change based on certain endings
• Some flashbacks were added to Kay's route

• NaNoWriMo was a success, with 50,000 words written throughout November! Act Three and the endings in Book Two are all that's left, then programming & beta testing can start
• We reached not one but TWO stretch goals on Kickstarter, which means we've unlocked a bunch of new features starting in Book Two: epilogues, more CGs, more voice acting, a male MC variation, and lots more to come
• Anyone who missed out on getting the merch from the Kickstarter will be able to preorder them through an online store that'll be set up later this week

The Heart Fragment: Complete Edition Kickstarter ends in just 3 days! We're 100% funded but working towards some amazing stretch goals.

Two important quality of life updates just went live!

• Right-clicking the skip button instead of left clicking will use the "skip to next choice" feature. Based on my testing so far, it seems to also work as a "skip to next unread dialogue" button, but I'll need to do a bit more testing just to double-check that before I upload the patch.
• StarxSocial posts now show up as a full social feed! Since you don't always have a good chance in-game to be prompted to check for new posts, as the routes go along and the characters you add on StarxSocial continue their lives alongside whatever actions you take, they'll make social media posts in their own time. You can click the "heart" next to their posts to like them and get a bit of bonus affection for some of them.

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. Next.........

The Heart Fragment: Complete Edition PRELAUNCH Kickstarter page is now live!

• a Nintendo Switch port
• a male protagonist option with new CGs
• epilogues for all good endings & some bad endings
• more fully voiced scenes
• flashback scene CGs

Happy October, everyone! Here are the updates for the latest patch:

• More custom background updates (forest, alleyway, cafe, streets in the city)
• Normalized the volume of sound effects that were too loud in comparison to everything else
• Fixed an error with the configuration screen that appears when starting a new game that adjusted the wrong setting for one of the buttons
• Minor typo/bug fixes
• Added in a few more StarxSocial media feed prompts in the mid-to-late game
• People with screen effects on can now view an opening cut scene

Hello everyone! Back with a few more updated custom backgrounds, some minor bug fixes, and a few notes for Book Two and beyond!

• Custom backgrounds added for: cafe (outside), flowerfield, school, Shannon's bedroom, MC's bedroom at Lana's house, the store.
• Small update made to Gray's living room background to add a photo of the MC's mother to the wall.
• Fixed an error with the glossary/notes to self section that displayed an entry too soon.
• Minor typo fixes and narrative fixes.

I hope August has been wonderful for everyone! Here's a summary on the update that just went live:

• Updated notes to self system - there is now a huge expansion to the 'notes to self' including category navigation, more notes added, character specific notes with details about each character as you learn about them, and a full timeline that will arrange all the information you learn in the order of events.
• New contacts menu in the phone
• Contact screens are updated to look more like actual social media profiles; they also link directly to the character's gallery page and their notes to self section
• Due to a lot of confusion about how the hearts or stars next to names work in regards to affection level, this has been revamped. Character contact pages now have separate bars for level of platonic bond & level of romantic bond that fill up as your bond does. This makes it easier to picture where exactly you are on the scale instead of guesswork based on colors alone.
• To make accessing the new affection system easier, once you are on a character's route you will find a "quick access contact" on the phone's home screen which will take you quickly to their profile
• Texting system now shows the entire chat log for that scene instead of one message at a time
• New custom background for Gray's living room & new custom hospital background
• Bug fix with one of Clive's bad endings that made sprites appear larger than intended + fixed a variable that could lead to an exception error occurring

I hope you are all doing well today! Here is an update summary for you:

• When viewing the NMCI document, the "click to continue" button wasn't disappearing until the next scene. This has been fixed.
• An issue was preventing people from unlocking Clive's branch 2 social media CG scene because of the phone menu being hidden. Fixed; if you already viewed the scene, you should be able to unlock the CG easily by using the skip feature and checking the final scene!
• Fixed the coloring for Clive's CG #1 sunset version. You will not need to view the scene again to unlock it if you already have it, it will be in your gallery in place of the old one.
• Fixed an issue with Clive's body being slightly over top of the table during the branch 2 finale.

Thank you again for all of the reports & feedback thus far! Here's an update summary for you:

• Fixed a bug with one of the dissolve transitions
• Replaced a stock background with a custom background (thanks Wroth Sloth!)
• One of Clive's bad endings wasn't triggering properly due to one personality trait bypassing the other possible conditions; this has been fixed
• Typo fixes

Thank you to everyone who has sent in any error reports they came across! Here's a small update summary:

• Fixed an issue with the final expression for Kay & Clive's 1st CGs not unlocking
• Fixed an error that occurs during one of the nightmare sequences if you have screen effects turned off
• A few minor narration changes in the common route
• All of Clive's end CGs can now be unlocked in his romantic routes, instead of some being platonic routes only
• Fixed an error that occurred if you had specific combinations of the inner psyche after Clive's shell scene

I am extremely excited to announce that the release of Heart Fragment: Book One is officially coming in (a bit less than) 2 days! To say I'm eager to show you all what we have accomplished in Heart Fragment so far is an understatement. I truly hope that the game not only lives up to but exceeds your expectations thus far. [previewyoutube=XR_SBfI3Q2g;full][/previewyoutube] A few notes for the release:

• The July 30 release is "Book One: Fantasy Fragments" and contains the full routes for Kay and Clive. All future books will be made available as free DLC!
• According to beta tester reports, linear playthroughs took an average of 7 hours per route and going back to get all endings and achievements took a reported average of 15 hours.
• Achievements earned in the demo should automatically be added when you open the full game. In Book One, there are a total of 42 achievements to earn!
• Future books will be "Book Two: Belief Fragments" (Lana and Shannon), "Book Three: Despair Fragments" (Jasper and Natalia), and "Book 2XXX: Finale". Approximate dates for those releases will be announced soon.

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. It seems unprofessional to get into the details too deeply, but the brief summary of the situation is that my mother has been sick and I sadly do not have many more months left to spend with her. As I am writing and programming Heart Fragment alone this hasn't left me with a schedule nearly as open as I had expected for development. There is also a secondary issue: Heart Fragment has ended up being a much longer story than originally intended when the Kickstarter launched! The common route & fantasy fragment routes (aka Kay and Clive's routes) alone have anywhere from 8 to 15 hours of gameplay depending on your reading speed and whether or not you intend to get 100% completion. Originally this was meant to be the length of the full game. Long story short, the schedule needs to be changed slightly. Right now the plan is to decide between one of these options:

• Options 1: Heart Fragment releases in early access at the end of July with the first "book" (the Fantasy Fragments, Kay & Clive) available to play immediately. The following "books" (Belief Fragments with Lana and Shannon & the Despair Fragments with Jasper & Natalia) will be released episodically as free automatic updates.
• Option 2: Heart Fragment releases the first "book" as mentioned above and the next two books are released as DLC.

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. What's new:

• The majority of the characters now have sprites
• A preview into some of the routes
• A new feature that allows you to use a certain power the protagonist possesses
• Small 'side stories' that give context to things happening outside of the main game events
• More animations in nightmare sequences
• More story content & CGs
• Steam achievement flags added - when the full game is released, all of your unlocked achievements from your demo data will be awarded automatically!

It has finally been posted: Heart Fragment's final big demo release! [previewyoutube=zeSlScnexyk;full][/previewyoutube] What's new:

• All main character sprites have been updated
• A huge expansion to the soundtrack
• More CGs and voice acting
• Story revamp, new features, tons of new dialogue and scenes throughout
• Difficulty settings

• An option to switch between sprite styles
• Phone menu updates, including a chat history log and photo gallery of social media CGs that you've collected
• A bit more partial voice acting

IT IS FINALLY LIVE: a huge revamp to the demo!

A few new songs on the soundtrack. [/olist] 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!

• All of the main CGs for Kay's route are finished now!
• Act One of Kay's route is fully written and polished and Act Two is coming along very well.
• An option to switch between sprite styles is functional now for the sprites that are completed.
• Lavendel's sprite styles (to be seen in the next demo update!) are now animated with blinks and lip flaps.
• More to come soon! Thanks for keeping up to date on Heart Fragment!

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

Heart Fragment's demo is now available to download on Steam!

We are officially fully funded on Kickstarter!

• $100 CAD over our goal ($3300 total funding) will get each route extended, including the prologue. The extension of the prologue will include more choices to impact the personality options available to the player, and moments that were going to be told in flashbacks during Kays route will be told in real-time with dialogue options to impact Kays route before it even begins!
• $600 over our goal ($3800 total funding) will add in an extra route with 3 endings! Backers will get to vote on her design out of a few possible options.
• $1000 over our goal ($4200 total funding) will get extra CGs in each route, which also means extra fully voiced scenes too! Each route will get at least 2 extra CGs.
• $2300 over our goal ($5500 total funding) will get all background artwork uniquely commissioned! This means all scenes will be shown exactly as they should be, down to the smallest detail.

We are now live on Steam... almost! Steam requires a 2 week "coming soon" period before games can go live. After that 2 week period you will be able to download the demo while you wait for the full game's release. Interested in helping making Heart Fragment a reality as soon as possible? Consider supporting us on Kickstarter!







Story by Casper Swann, a chronically ill content creator Original concept designs by Casper, concept art by ChappyVII Logo design by bunbunz, GUI design by Anne CG artwork by Deency, Sprites by MaeMika Sound FX by Cylight Studios Music by Joshua Mock and Cylight Studios