Court of Harts

Development blog for the ChoiceScript WIP, Court of Harts, written by Leem. Tracks the tags: #Court of Harts #CourtofHarts

[courtofharts]

“Court of Harts” Demo Now Available

Demo || Forum Thread || Discord [16+] || Ko-fi || Patreon || Mobile Links

“Court of Harts” is a low-fantasy court intrigue CYOA, set within the fictional kingdom of Theodosia, where the language and culture are a mix of Renaissance France and England, the fashion is a mix of Renaissance and Elizabethan, and the architecture is Rococo.

In a purposeful subversion of the trope where the player is a member of royalty attempting to win the throne, the main character of Harts is training under the king’s advisor to eventually take on the role. On paper, the Consiel’s role is as the monarch’s closest adviser and right hand man, in reality, the Consiel is all that in addition to the monarch’s personal spy and assassin, doing whatever tasks the monarch asks of them outside the bounds of the law in service of crown and country. You can read a more in-depth synopsis here.

FEATURES:

Lots of impactful choices once the plot gets going.

Choice of four noble houses for your MC to belong to, each with their own relations, reputations, stories and appearances, more info about them here.

A character creation system in which your relatives’ appearances change along with your MC’s, so that you’re not locked into the default appearances.

Five fully fleshed out romance routes, that you can read more about here.

An MC with a personality and quirks that you can determine.

As the game isn’t published yet, there is no official age rating but for now the game is rated 16+, as is the discord server.

[courtofharts]

Hello ! I just wanted to say that I'm deeply intrigued and hyped for this if ! I love the aesthetic and the universe you created, and I'm just so impatient to encounter the characters and the court's intrigues ! On that note, take care of yourself author, and thank you for the premise of the story, which looks wonderful !

Thank you so much! I've gotten a lot of well wishes and people asking how I am and about the progress of the game and patreon, so I'll be using this ask to answer some of those.

I had to put the the patreon on indefinite hiatus after a really bad health episode in October of last year, and while things have definitely improved since then, I'm not quite in a position to write regularly or maintain the patreon or blog. The game isn't abandoned and I still have been writing (my personal version of the game is further ahead than the patreon or public demos, but not in a state I can post it yet), but life circumstances and my health haven't been allowing me to focus on this game how I'd like to.

I still intend to finish this game and I would like to make a living off my writing one day, but I rushed into it with expectations that don't match up with my circumstances and what's within my ability to do, so there's some rework that needs to be done before I can say I've fully returned. I'll make official, proper announcements on both patreon and the blog regarding any changes or updates.

Still, I've gotten lots of messages of support and new patrons despite everything, so I'd like to thank everyone who's still sticking with this game through it all. I appreciate it more than words can properly convey <3

[courtofharts]

Is Afallon a gender of choice character or male character? I feel like Ellowen and Rowan have very similar personalities. They are both supposed to be sweet, warm and friendly. It would be nice to have a more aloof and slow-to-let-her-guard-down girl to balance them out. I love your writing & the story looks amazing so far. I just don't think I'd click with any of the girls. It's a shitty trauma response, but it's easier to relate to Afallon. A is the type of LI that feels right to go slow with

I need to hurry and write this game because people keep thinking Rowan and Ellowen are similar in terms of personality, and honestly that's very rude to Ello.

But to answer your question, Afallon is a male character and I currently have no intentions to make their gender player determined. I've gotten this question a lot, about the ratio of male to female romances and why it's uneven or why I don't make all the characters up to player choice. The simple answer is 1) I personally prefer men, and so did the friends who I originally wrote this game out for, and 2) I've found out that I don't like to change characters in a way I find "forced", the characters exist in my head in a certain way and if I alter them "unnaturally" I find it harder to write them.

I'm terribly sorry to disappoint, but I really have to stick with my original vision least I get scope creep or fall into the very easy trap of changing to much for the sake of the audience that the game doesn't belong to me anymore.

[courtofharts]

Read on patreon that you were having health problem, are you okay?

If you are okay do answering what kind of romance tropes you see the routes having? By that I mean stuff like, rivals to lovers, destined to be together (Like princess bride), or friends to lovers.

Hello! First off thank you for asking about me! I'm a lot better now but some of the health issues are chronic so I'm still not able to keep up with Patreon at the moment. And second off, I actually answered a similar question over here! Hope it provides a sufficient answer :]

[courtofharts]

Hello, I just read your demo and I really love it. Is this story still on progress or not?

[courtofharts]

If Amos De Lucét is the current consiel to King Garrick Delareine. Does that mean our character would be the next consiel for the next King or Queen? Can’t Amos still be consiel after King Garrick dies?

Yes he is, and yes the MC is. They're specifically being trained to be Ellowen's consiel after she ascends the throne.

And there's this archaic law from the time the first consiel took the position that no one consiel can serve two monarchs, hence the push for Amos to train a new consiel; he's not getting any younger and neither is Garrick.

[courtofharts]

sorry if this is a dumb question! but if we choose to hide mc's odd-coloured eyes will there be an option to stop hiding them in the future?

i really enjoy the game, it's so detailed and i'm so in love with your writing style 😭💖💖

Yes indeed! With Harts I'm trying to put an emphasis on player character development, allowing your MC to grow and change with the story as any other non-interactive MC should be able to. MC's relationship to religion and their heterochromia/golden eyes is a big part of that, so I'm definitely accounting for such decisions.

[courtofharts]

can multiple of the RO's crush on the main character?

Yes, they can! However, you can't actually fully romance multiple characters. There are vague ideas for a poly route with Ellowen and Adair, and Afallon and a yet unintroduced character, but nothing set in stone.

[courtofharts]

love your demo :) a quick suggestion for the heterochromia character is to add text if you chose a eye color that matches one of your parents/siblings

Thank you for the suggestion! It's already on the list of flavor text to implement in regards to eye color, including details like if you're a Duciel who doesn't have have eyes like your mother or father, its noted that your mother's side of the family has similar colored eyes.

[courtofharts]

So your game isn't canceled?

Oh no! Not at all! My rate of progress is just slow due to life circumstances, but the game is not cancelled and I'm still actively working on it even if I don't update!

[courtofharts]

What’s three songs you’d give to each of the romance-able characters? I’m a playlist fool.

This ask has been in my drafts for ages as I've tried to fulfill the request, but I have arrived at the conclusion I can not do character playlists to save my life 😭😭 HOWEVER, I do have a general Harts playlist I put together and occasionally play when I'm writing/brainstorming.

Vision - Paolo Buonvino

I'm Not Calling You A Liar - Florence + The Machine (the DA2 version isn't on Spotify so we'll make do)

Cocoa Hooves - Glass Animals

From Eden - Hozier

Pearl Diver- Mitski

Dark Doo Wop - MS MR

Woozy - Glass Animals

Achilles Come Down - Gang of Youths

Bedroom Hymns - Florence + The Machine

[courtofharts]

Welcome Back! I hope you're doing better.

Thank you for the well wishes :) I'm doing a little better but I'm not quick "back" yet, but I can at least manage a few asks from my backlog ✌️

[courtofharts]

Hi!!! I had a few questions: what is a consiel? Who is Amos De Lucét? It says he’s looking for a student but what kind? What is he?

Hello! The pinned post on the blog contains more information if you click the link for the synopsis or "About the Game" in mobile links.

But in summary, "Consiel" is the title given to the ruling monarch's closest adviser. As far as most people are aware, the consiel's job is to act as the monarch's right hand and their closest confidant, but really their main duty is as the monarch's personal spy and assassin. Amos De Lucét is the current consiel, in service to King Garrick Delareine. By tradition, the consiel is supposed to take on an apprentice relatively early on in their career, as a single consiel can not serve two monarchs, but Amos has been delaying searching for one for years. But now there's pressure on him to choose one and oh? How very convenient for him and MC to meet at just the right time :)

[courtofharts]

Hi I was wondering what is a WIP, RO, and CYOA?

Hi! So those are just common acronyms used within the Interactive Fiction (IF) community.

WIP means Work in Progress, RO means Romance Option, and CYOA means Choose Your Own Adventure.

There are other such terms you'll find around, like LI (Love Interest), CoG (Choice of Games), HG (Hosted Games), VN (Visual Novel), CS (Choice Script), etc, etc. Hope these help!

[esfawkes]

are terrisen and Baelira the result of a affair?

They are not! While Eraven and Alapharen have brown hair, they each also carry the recessive gene for blonde hair. Hope this clears that up!

[courtofharts]

I admire the fact you actually took the time to consider what traits are recessive or dominant, whereas I just went "oh these colors would look good together :]" with no consideration for how genetics work.

[courtofharts]

Hello sorry if I disturb you, just yesterday I happened on your tumblr by chance and after trying to play the court of heart with all the houses I can say that I officially fell in love with it, and now I find myself wondering when will the next update be? i know the authors hate this question, but i'm too curious to know how it goes on, Does another thing affect the MC's appearance and the house it comes from? how?

It's no disturbance at all, thank you for the message! It really makes me happy to know that you've enjoyed the game so much! For your second question, if I understand it right, while one family member has a default appearance, MC and part of the rest of the family's appearance is solely dependant on your choices.

And as for your first question, I don't mind people asking when the next update will be. I understand wanting to know, especially with how sparsely online I am. But sadly, the fact of the matter is that I can't give a solid estimate of when the next update will be. I write on a weekly basis and post weekly updates on Patreon, but my life is extremely hectic and my free time is limited. Due to that and other circumstances, that I won't go into detail with for the sake of my privacy, my rate of progress is slow. But please know that I still do write every chance I get, I'm very determined to see this game through to the end.

[courtofharts]

hi! was playing the game again while looking at the code and i just wanted to say that, when you play as a duciel, when you choose that eline and elise annoyed you to no end you gain %+5 with them and when you're friendly with them you lose %-5, is this on purpose?

Oh! I hadn't realized! Thanks for pointing it out! It's fixed now!