Doriana Gray Games

Making interactive, immersive romance games! 🖤

[doriana-gray-games]

Making choice and romance focused games: ✧ AAotH - Detective romance IF - solo dev 🔍 ✧ ACoC - 3D romance RPG - indie team 🔮

Play as your version of Sherlock Holmes in this romance detective game!

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES  AN AFFAIR OF THE HEART

Chapter 6.2 is out now! (for everyone)

Make an enemy of a friend and a lover out of an enemy. Solve the case of boredom. Have a pet bird—and best of all, play as a romantically and emotionally stunted genius detective!

Explore London in the late 1800s

Solve murders, hunt criminals, and possibly catch a thief

Adventures and tender moments with characters you know and love

Form deep relationships: friendly, antagonistic, sexual, and romantic

Choose your Sherlock's name, appearance, personality, and vice

Play as a man, woman, or non-binary.

Romance men, women, or both

The possible relationships:

John/Jane Watson - Dependable, kind, and loyal—a partner and a friend. The human embodiment of a golden retriever.

Gregory/Grace Lestrade - Sexy workaholic grump with a poorly hidden heart of gold. Will make sure you get home safe.

Irene/Irwin Adler - Charming scoundrel, clever schemer, and colossal schmuck. The flirty and fun rival of the century.

Hamish/Helena - This terribly haughty person of illustrious personage needs your help with a case. The gentleman/woman of your unachievable dreams.

Mini-romance-guide (Chapter 1 and 2 ) (not updated)

• Game updated publicly: chapter 6 (part 2)

Feedback is very welcome!

| Demo | Warnings | CoG forum | Discord | Tiktok | RO & NPC page | Tumblr Masterpost | Patreon

Thank you for being here 💜

[gb-patch]

We're honored (and humbled 😉) to announce that Our Life: Beginnings and Always has been included in a new Humble Bundle set: Handsome Husbandos! 🎉

For a limited time, you can pick up the OLBA DLC pack and several other immersive narrative games for $18!

Grab ‘em all here ✨

[manalltheseart]

Uh-Oh

Put more than one Sherlock in a room and expect chaos. Put these three specifically? With their specific vices? You might want to strap in (especially if you catch their attention)

Deciding to do a revenge by putting all our Sherlocks together! Amelia (middle) belongs to @nanowatzophina and Darelis (right) belongs to @sneezing-simian

IF: An Affair of the Heart by @doriana-gray-games

[doriana-gray-games]

I'm pausing the Patreon, (for good-ish reasons) tomorrow!

(So if you want access during the summer, join now).

The chapter update works, is functional, and has all the big beats.

It's the biggest chapter update so far in word count, and together the ball is the size of the rest of the game (ch 1-5) in total...

But I know there are high expectations on the final ball part, and I have high expectations for it, and I want so so badly for it to be amazing. This is THE BALL 💃✨🕺 But after some testing, and rushing in the summer heat—all those little extra scenes I didn't have time to add in yet showed their absence. And there's some flavour text I've wanted to add since I first started this whole thing that's not there yet.

I was thinking I could add them in as we went, as most exist in decently done states. But... there's too much. And I want to give y'all the right first impression of it all.

Moreover, I haven't taken any time off in... years. During school, my vacation was that I got to sit with aaoth 😂 And last year I had to push through summer for work, and I thought I'd eventually find some time to rest... but it never came. And I know I would do it now too if I allowed myself. Because I want so desperately to send you guys what I imagine in my head.

So, I'm pausing the Patreon for a month (starting tomorrow). Or two months (because I already know August has a lot booked). Please feel free to stick around; I won't open it back up until the update comes, so no money will be drawn, and you can... hang out and enjoy the old content.

I have to be back at work on the first of August, so I'll return to this too, then.

I don't know how online I'll be for these two weeks.

I was so excited to show you all the things. But I will, soon enough.

-

XOXO

Doriana♥️

Ps. Actually, as I'm typing this, I'm once again quite hyped to work on it again 🤦‍♀️ Me and the tester talked about fun choices to add in and ... I'm really excited to add them ... So it's possible I can't stay away for too long, and that you'll hear from me earlier. But at the very least I need a few days' break!

I'm gonna go melt in the heat now 🫠

Stay safe 🥹

[doriana-gray-games]

Games made in Sweden - steam festival 🇸🇪

A Courting of Curses - Sweden Games Steam Event ✨ - Steam News

We are in a Steam festival for swedish made games!

Hi everyone!

A Courting of Curses is in a steam festival with plenty of discounts and fun games — link to the festival in the post above!

And a fun little exclusive game pictures of one of my favourite cosy corners of the game 🌹

[doriana-gray-games]

I noticed a discrepancy in the game, and really don’t know what caused it. On my last playthrough, I skipped to Chapter 4, and in the part 2, chose a suit option (delicate was one of the descriptor words), white with bright gray trim. When Hamish/Helena takes the MC’s coat off, though, it describes a dress.

Sorry for the trouble. Hope you’re doing well, and taking care of yourself!

(Absolutely adore the game, btw. It’s incredible! :)) )

This is fixed in the upcoming chapter upload! I don't do too many mid update uploads even with beta fixes cause I don't want to break anything...

The bug was a very strange issue btw... but a very nice, patient player helped me identify it on itch 😂💖 It was that the delicate dress and the charming suit shared multiple traits and they got kinda jumbled. So it kept defaulting to "delicate" dress, as there is no "delicate" suit.

But it will/should be fixed with the 6.3 push. So first to patreon, and then to public.

[doriana-gray-games]

Hi! I'd like to know if you think chapter 6.3 will be released this month on Patreon, please?

Yes. I do.

I’m aiming for this week tbh. But, depends a bit on testing (which I’ve been neglecting) and my health/focus/headaches (long story). If it’s somehow not done at the half of the month I’m pausing patreon till it is.

❤️

[doriana-gray-games]

Hello! I know, it has nothing to do with your games but... Please, may I ask you to raise awareness that a cute werewolf, a whole team worked on for years, may never be released due to a little group of haters? I'm talking about the game Love and Deepspace and we're trying to reach 1 mio. in this petition https://www.ipetitions.com/p/bring-back-valko-as-a-love-interest-as-it-was-intended/?utm_source=share_copy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=signer_share

😓

Sorry for the bother and thank you for your help! 😭🙏 As global players we want to be heard by the Chinese corporation (and Chinese government 😓) because Valco was always meant to be part of the game 🥲

#BringValkoBack

Lol.. I got a bunch of these all at once...

Tbh, I'm only posting this now because I too am a LaD player (or was, until this all happened), and because it is a romance game, so decently relevant to the blog I guess.

I wanna pet the himbo nerd too, so I hope y'all succeed.

(If y'all are out of the loop, google it, cause its... wild 😂)

[doriana-gray-games]

Hello. I was about to start playing your game for the first time, but I just saw that version 6.3 is coming out. Do you think I should wait for that update to come out before I start?

Hmmmmmmm... I think you should prob start and see if it's even your thing first 🙂‍↕️

Then, if it is, you can pause, or keep reading. And replay later (there's a quick start option to ch4). The game has enough variation that you might find you want to try something else on your second run 💖

The patreon chapter update is not far off at all, but im not sure yet when ill drop the public one!

[sneezing-simian]

Yes, H got my attention, with his piercing green eyes and love of tea

IF: An Affair of the Heart by @doriana-gray-games

[when-life-gives-you-lemons-if]

TL;DR:

The Wedding is my first Visual Novel. You can now buy it! Demo | Steam |Itch.io

And thank you all for the support. 💕

Steam finally decided to behave, so I can post my emotional rambling, and you’ll just have to endure it. 😄

Is it crazy to say that I’m more proud of The Wedding than When Life Gives You Lemons? Don’t get me wrong, I love both, and Lemons is probably the game that got me where I am since so many people resonated with it.

But as far back as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to make a Visual Novel, and now, four years later, with so much support from this community and a crash course in learning how to code in Ren’Py, it’s finally done. I finally published my first VN.

The graphics, the story, the characters... I love them all.

Micah holds a special place in my heart because I never thought I could create a character that sassy and still have readers fall in love with them. Cassidy was a last-minute addition and somehow became one of my favorite romances (sorry, I’m biased). Tara/Tariq is incredibly sweet, and their artwork with the bonnet is still one of my favorites.

And then there’s Danny and Taylor. All of them are so different, yet somehow they all came alive as I write every little scene and every little dialogue.

Yes, the launch was delayed on Steam because Steam needed to approve the page, and yes, I was kind of bummed out and was waiting before I made an official announcement.

But, Hey! It's finally available on Steam. 💕

This was a passion project; the game is nowhere near perfect, but I love it, flaws and all, and I’m incredibly proud of it.

Thank you all for the support. Thank you to all my Kickstarter backers. I’m so grateful to have an audience willing to read my silly little stories.

Here’s to more stories coming your way, however cringy they may be. 💕

Also adding some of my other finished games.

The Midnight Saga-Demo | Steam | Google | Apple

Insert-Rich-Family-Name-Demo | Google Play |Apple Store| Steam

It Takes Three to Tango Demo

When Life Gives You Lemons-Demo | Steam

Also... Big thank you to Dori for this beautiful Banner. 🥰

[doriana-gray-games]

❤️🥹

Gahhhh, your first VN CC!!!!! 💐 It’s so nice to see 🥹 once again, giant congratulations. Hard work and a goal and I’m starting to think you can do anything ❤️

EVERYONE GO BUY / WISHLIST / REBLOG!

[doriana-gray-games]

is there any possibility of being able to pick the ro genders (maybe in the cheat menu or something)? no pressure to add this or anything, i know some authors prefer to randomize/set genders for their own reasons

love your work and hope you’re having a great day!

Ah. Mmm. Ok, so this one is tricky. For a strange reason.

It’s super easy to implement.

Super easy.

And I’ve explained this before, but tumblr does bury things so I’ll explain again.

The coding of it is easy. It would work with how things are set up. It would take me a handful of minutes to do it.

But, once I’ve done it, the ROs genders would no longer be presented as the preference of the MC and Player.

And there’s the rub. (The problem).

The game overall, outside of the Watson platonic choice you set in the CC menu, is a romance game. It has a very high amount of details reflecting that. From how characters are described, to how they naturally interact. Even when you’re not actively romancing someone, they’re not off limits, and they’re not locked out. Except for Watson (optionally).

And that platonic Watson setting takes me… a lot of time to add in each chapter. And it’s always the thing I have to go back in and tweak over and over.

So…

If I let players choose to set ROs to outside of their romantic or sexual preference—I’ll get a lot more “I haven’t flirted with this character, why is the game doing sexy eyes at me??”

And… I can’t deal with that 😂

So to spare myself and a small group of players the headache, I probably won’t implement a more freeform choice thing. Unless we can come up with a solution that won’t backfire in the way I describe above.

Hope you have a great day too, anon ❤️ and not melting in the heat. I might be… 🫠

[doriana-gray-games]

this isn't rly an ask but i'm an english major who's been into sherlock holmes/adjacent media for a long time and i wanted to say ur stuff is one of the most lore-accurate, cozy sherlock stuff i've ever come across. idk it reminds me of sinking into a vintage plush armchair after a long day of work w a good cup of tea. anyway thx for sharing ur talent it is very much appreciated ♡♡

Me with your comment ☺️❤️🌹

[doriana-gray-games]

Updated old content for 6.3 update

I've added in, well tbh, a bunch of things, but two things that will be added to the old chapters with 6.3 update that you should know about, is:

Players who don't have their MCs first names as "Sherlock" will have a new section where they choose the origin and source of this name. It can range from a relatives name turned your middle name, to a Watson given pseudonym, and many more. Some vague, some specific.

In the CC, if you play from the start (I've not decided yet if I will add it in to the quick start) you will be able to choose multiple of the "positive" body and face features, so you can get more references in the story.

I've waited to code those for ... so so long.

But finally, they are done.

EDIT: TO CLARIFY ONCE MORE. THEYRE NOT UPLOADED YET. THEYLL BE ADDED WITH 6.3! And I will tell y’all when that’s out 😂❤️

[manalltheseart]

On Top Of Things

There's so many ways to stay tuned to the latest gossip, news, or information...

IF: An Affair of the Heart by @doriana-gray-games

[winter-wise]

Direct quote from A Study in Scarlet: "Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways, and his habits were regular."

And yet nearly every adaptation (especially the more modern ones) play into the 'arsehole genius' trope and make Holmes a bad housemate.

I cannot accept 'bad housemate' Sherlock. Not when the first conversation he ever has with Watson is when he ensures that they compare habits to see if they'd be a good fit for sharing a flat.

When adapting Sherlock Holmes, I can only accept one of two things:

Holmes is genuinely a good housemate, or

Holmes is weird as hell, but there's something equally wrong with Watson to the degree that Holmes will be doing science experiments with poisons in the kitchen at 3am and all Watson does is glance at it and go "ah such quiet habits, I'm so lucky to have found such a good and reasonable housemate".

[silicacid]

@doriana-gray-games

[doriana-gray-games]

Ahh… I see. I’ve chosen nr2 haven’t I? 😆

[noirnuclear]

But unlike most Mrs Hudsons, @doriana-gray-games's Mrs Hudson is suspiciously lenient towards all of Sherlock's weirdness.

[doriana-gray-games]

Very intentional, I assure you 😳

As popular as “found family” things are, that’s not why I wrote Mrs Hudson as always choosing Sherlock first…

Why will prob become clear in a soon-ish chapter 😗

[doriana-gray-games]

Your Holmes game inspired me to keep working at my own VN!!!! Thank you!!!! It was a lovely time falling for Watson. He’s such a sweetie. I’m not sure if this has already been asked, but I was wondering what video games inspired your work, or was it mostly literature? Thanks again!!

🥰❤️✨

Awww! I’m so glad to hear that!! Lovely thing to hear and say, so thank you, thank you ❤️

Hmmmmm inspos…

IF wise it was definitely @seraphinitegames Wayhaven that inspired me mainly. I had played IFs for a very long time before that, but had taken a break. And Wayhaven was my first sight at what IFs could be? Before then the ones that I had read read more like a summary of what occurs. Very heavy on the telling! But also on the stats, and much less going in depth of moments, and characters, and yes—romance ✨

So Wayhaven opened my eyes to that! 💐

Then there was a ton of Sherlock media that inspired me! I had played one of the old games, but I am never sure which one it was. Then there was the original books, ofc. A myriad of movie and TV adaptations (I like almost all of them in some way).

Then… Dragon age origins. The way dialogue choices feel like conversations. Where romances aren’t just (yes romance or no romance). I wanted the same for my Sherlock game.

I’m sure there’s more, but here’s my list for now 💖