Hey folks,
This month, I mentioned I would aim for two dev updates per week, including one where I dive a little bit into the dev process, so here goes....
Season 2 chit-chat
Just another quick check-in to let you know things are still progressing well. My only concern at the moment is figuring out how much scene extensions / extra content to add, as I want to find the right balance between improving the quality of the original content, without just adding extra stuff for the sake of it. One other thing I've noticed is that in the original, there were a lot of sex scenes with MC just bouncing directly from one sexual encounter to the next (what's the problem with that? I hear most of you ask. 😊). Things that worked when I was releasing monthly updates may seem a little convoluted when many episodes are released as a full season, so I'm trying to stitch things together a little better.
However, I am NOT going to add a load of filler scenes with no sex (i.e.just dialog) to try to smooth this out as that would just be boring, but what I am trying to do is do a better job of managing the MC's day, so he doesn't (for example) end up banging 4 four or 5 women in the same day. I know this is a fantasy game, but even for our MC that's a bit much, so I'm trying to do a better job of managing that. We will still have the same scenes / encounters (plus some extras), so he WILL bang all the women.... but I'm trying to find the right balance so that players who are romancing ALL women don't end up romancing them ALL in the same day, but aslo trying to figure out how players who are just chasing one woman don't have lots of days where nothing happens and MC just sits around for a few days waiting for his next encounter with his solo choice. That is tricky, but I have a plan!
And while we are on that subject (i.e. fuck-em-all versus solo runs)... obviously it is up to you as a player how you want to play the game and if you want to do solo runs, that is your choice. BUT at it's core.... WTHI probably works best in a playthru where MC is romancing / chasing / balancing many women... And you can literally romance them all up until the last couple of episodes (as long as you make the right decisions along the way), so just bear that in mind if you are someone that likes multiple women, but you feel like you have to end relationships early in the game to get your dream girl. this is not the case. Most of the big decisions only come in the late episodes. So season 2... chase whomever you want! But if you enjoy solo runs (or only a small amount of women) the game will allow that, but bear in mind in this scenario, the MC might have a few "quiet" days during the game.
Anyhoo... I also spoke previously about talking about general DEV stuff, so I'll do a little snippet as part of this update. If you have no interest then please skip this section
DEV chat
In future updates, I'll talk about writing and art, but for this one, I want to talk about the game engine / coding. For "Where the Heart is", along with a LOT of NSFW games, the game engine (or app or software system) we use is called Ren'Py.
*A Quick Look Behind the Scenes: What is Ren'Py?*
Ren'Py is the free, open-source engine that makes creating visual novels (including very spicy adult ones) feel like telling a story rather than wrestling with complicated code. Built on Python (a programming language), it lets you focus on what matters most — your characters, dialogue, and scenes. You write your game in a very readable script format where you can easily “show” background images, sprites or full-screen images, bring characters on screen with different expressions, and track decisions and branching (via variables). Ren'Py handles all of that smoothly while staying beginner-friendly. If you have any coding background, you would pick up Ren'Py very easily. If you have never coded before, but have an interest and are willing to put in a few hours, you can pick up the basics very quicky.
If you’ve ever thought about trying to make your own small VN or just want to understand how these games are built, it’s worth checking out. You can download Ren'Py completely free from the official website: https://www.renpy.org/. The engine comes with a great built-in tutorial that gets you making your first scene in minutes. For extra help, the official documentation is clear and the Lemma Soft Forums ( https://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/ ) are full of friendly creators who love sharing tips, templates, and assets — including plenty of NSFW-friendly advice.
You could also come over to my discord channel (https://discord.gg/AyUD9gwqWc) where you can chat about "Where The Heart is" (or other games) and ask questions about RenPy or the development process.
I'm gonna keep this one short to see what the interest is, but I can go into a LOT more details in future updates if there is interest.
Teasers
One thing I KNOW there is interest in is some Season 2 teasers. I already shared some earlier ion the week, so here is just some small samples of some new stuff we've created over the past couple of days...
There are no "Original versions" of the Elaine images as this wasn't in the original game.
Anyhow... That's all I have for today... Will be back in touch in a few days and in the meantime, you can find all the links, plus a frequently asked questions section on my landing page here:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/37183736
Let me know if any question that aren't covered here or if there's anything you want me to include in future updates.
Also... For any patron whose TOTAL patronage (regardless of when) exceeds $13... remember you are entitled to a copy of Season 1, so please send me a DM if you want the links.
Have a great weekend!
CG