The Heiress Project: An Otome Game

'The Heiress Project' is an otome style dating game currently in development by a one-woman studio called Nevalone. This blog will show all of the solo-dev's (also known as Neverbeam) progress on the game. I hope you stick around because the boys would love to meet you... (｡♥‿♥｡)

[theheiressproject-otomegame]

Been working on some of the boys bedrooms recently. Can you match the boy to their bedroom? Here’s a hint: Finn’s favourite mobile game is called ‘Glow Bunnies’ 👀🐰

~ Never

[theheiressproject-otomegame]

WHO’S MORE LIKELY TO? LI EDITION #2

Previous edition

Imagine if you will 5 five boys (oioi) sat in a circle playing who’s more likely to ~

Playing: Teddy, Isaac, Eren, Kit and Finn.

Random prompts from: https://develop-your-oc.tumblr.com/ (Check them out~!)

1) Who's more likely to say they’ll do something tomorrow, but never does?

Teddy: "Kit"

Isaac: "Yeah"

Kit: "What the fu-?"

Finn: "Yeah, I agree"

Kit: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! I am a man of action - never once have I ever and I mean EVER-"

Teddy: "Did you put the bin out like I asked?"

Isaac: "Did you finish or even start your donation bag of crap from your room?"

Finn: "How's that YouTwo channel doing that you said you would upload to at least twice a week?"

Kit: "..."

Kit: "Touché~"

2) Who's more likely to have an unconventional pet?

Kit: "Isaac"

Finn: "What? Isaac has never had a pet, especially not an unconventional one -"

Kit: "Of course, he has a pet"

Finn: "Wha-"

Kit: "He has you~"

Finn: "..."

Kit: ;)

3) Who is more likely to cook their eggs in a very specific way?

Finn: "Eggs?... Oh, Eren!"

Isaac: "Yeah, Eren doesn't like runny eggs. He only likes them scrambled or as an omelette-"

Eren: "-Or in pancakes"

Eren: "...I like pancakes"

4) Who is more likely to forget to eat?

Isaac: "Teddy, for sure"

Teddy: "I don't forget per say I simply get caught up in my work-"

Isaac: "And forget..."

Teddy: "..."

Kit: "Mum, dad... please don't fight - think of the children"

Finn & Eren: (｡•́︿•̀｡)

5) Who is more likely to take fashion very seriously?

Teddy: "Kit... obviously"

Finn: "Why obviously?"

Kit: "Well, obviously it isn't you - Mr. Perma-Hoodie"

Finn: ヽ(ー_ー )ノ

6) Who is more likely to ask a lot of questions?

Finn: "What does that even mean? Like what amount of questions would qualify as a lot? Three? Maybe four? What do you guys think?"

Everyone: "..."

Finn: "What?"

7) Who is more likely to be a good neighbor?

Teddy: "Hmm..."

Finn: "That's difficult...what is we do it as roommates instead so we can ans-"

Teddy: "From the perspective of our actual neighbors - Kit receives at least three delivers a day, Finnegan is too loud, Isaac doesn't like lending people things and I'm rarely home to be even considered a true neighbor so by process of elimination - Eren is the superior candidate"

Everyone: "..."

Teddy: "I distributed neighbor feedback forms a year into our tenancy so I could determine what we need to work on as a household"

Kit: "Nerd"

8) Who is more likely to have a crush on a fictional character?

Isaac: "Finn... the amount of times I have had to endure him absolutely gushing over some martial arts character called... oh god what was it?"

Finn: "Lady Vice from Immortal Annihilation? No, I don't think I have a crush on her more like... an undying infatuation"

Kit: "Is that the half-naked lady on the poster above your bed-?"

Finn: "She's not half naked... wait, how did you - STAY OUT OF MY ROOM!!"

9) Who is more likely to need to be in constant contact with someone?

Eren: "Teddy..."

Everyone "..."

Eren: "Your always on your phone... so I thought... nevermind"

Isaac: "No your right, bud. Teddy needs to constantly be available to his boss so he frequently prioritizes his phone over one on one conversation with his friends-"

Teddy: "We already spoke about this, Isaac-"

Finn: "Ah, they're fighting again... {{ (>_<) }}"

10) Who is more likely to have trust issues?

Kit: "Isaac - for sure"

Isaac: "And what could you possibly mean by that?"

Kit: "Okay, Iz - Do you trust Finn and I to make tonight's dinner?"

Isaac: "Trust issues and having the desire to not be poisoned are too completely different things..."

Finn: "Why did you have to drag me into that...? (-_-)"

Isaac: "Finn, if it helps I don't think you'd be doing the poisoning"

Finn: (o^▽^o)

Kit: " So easily pleased"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, that’s it for this ‘Who’s more likely to?” Li edition. Hope this helped give you a little insight on the Li’s and how they communicate with each other.

See ya next time ~

- Never <3

[theheiressproject-otomegame]

A long overdue update

Oh, hello there!

Terribly sorry for the inactivity on here but as per my previous 'birthday post' I promise my lack of updates isn't due to procrastinating (a pleasant surprise). I have actually made a lot of progress on the game! It just seems to be a bit of a snails pace regarding dev updates as I have been streaming my dev sessions on twitch. So additionally I have been downloading and editing compilations of clips from said VODs to make a devlog for the YT but alas doing your own video editing is modern day self-inflicted torture so yes - not enjoyable.

Anyway pity party aside here is a short list of fairly recently achieved dev milestones according to my trello.

Obviously some of these might not make any sense to you yet but one day soon you may know more 'Eren's pink drink' ;)

Additionally these are some things worked on or being worked on via dev streams if anyone is interested.

Catch you in the next dev update <3

-Never

[theheiressproject-otomegame]

It's my 1 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

Hey so apparently this blog turned one year old! (3 days ago)...

That’s crazy considering I only have like 3-4 posts on here (I will work on amending that). But I promise that just because my blog work here has been halted that does not mean production on the game has - I have in actual fact progressed quite a lot since my post on the game’s development. But don’t take my word for it - an updated dev post will be coming your way soon - thank you for your patience <3

- Never

p.s. I do still stream game development over on my twitch (twitch.tv/neverbeam) but don’t save the VODs due to playing copyrighted music on them so if you wanted to catch one do head over and give me a follow :)

[theheiressproject-otomegame]

Who’s more likely to? Li edition #1

Hi, so I decided to keep my activity up in between progress updates that I will do something called ‘Who’s more likely to? Li edition’. So that while I’m prepping my blog posts (one is on it’s way <3) I can keep active whilst also sharing some of the lesser known aspects of the Li’s in The Heiress Project. 

Random prompts from: https://develop-your-oc.tumblr.com/ (Check them out~!)

Imagine if you will 5 five boys (oioi) sat in a circle playing who’s more likely to ~

Playing: Teddy, Isaac, Eren, Kit and Finn.

1) ‘Who is more likely to want a really big sword?’

Isaac: “Finn”

Teddy: “Definitely Finn”

Eren: “Agreed”

Finn: “Yeah, I have a couple swords from my favourite RPGs on my bedroom wall actually...”

Kit: “Oh... That is not what I thought you meant when you said ‘really big sword’...”   (ᇴ‿ฺᇴ)

Isaac, Teddy and Eren: *Facepalm*

Finn: “...”

Finn: “Wait, what did you think?”

2) ‘Who is more likely to wish you could block people in real life like you can online?’

Teddy, Kit and Eren: “Isaac”

Kit: “I feel like you already have that power, you just have to look at them with your ‘approach me and you die’ face”

Finn: “Isaac doesn’t have that kind of face”

Kit: “Oh he does, you’ve just never seen it because your his little angel~”

Finn: “No, I'm not...”  v(^∀^*)

Isaac: *Looks at Kit*

Kit:  (✖﹏✖)

3) ‘Who is more likely to be clingy?’

All:  *look at Kit*

Kit: “Why use words when you can just -”  ԅ(≖‿≖ԅ)

Teddy: “Will you just drink so we can move on, please?”

4) ‘Who is more likely to look like a bad boy but is actually a good boy?’

Finn: “Eren... I think...”

Isaac & Teddy: *Nods in agreement*

Kit: “Yeah, you look like  ┌∩┐(◣_◢)┌∩┐ but you’re actually  ( ˶⚈Ɛ⚈˵) “

Eren: *Shrugs, then drinks*

5) Who is more likely to be followed by paparazzi?

All: “Isaac”

Kit: “Yeah, it’s almost like you’re a celebrity or something...”

Finn: “It must be really annoying but at least you look really good in all the pictures - I think if someone took a picture of me off guard I wouldn’t look half as cool as you do”

Teddy: “He has a point...”

Isaac: *Flattered*

Kit: “...Gimme a break”

6) “Who is more likely to be a good boy and really enjoy being a good boy?”

Teddy: “What does that even me-?”

All: “-Teddy”

Teddy: “I am confused but considering it was unanimous I guess I shall drink”

Kit: “What a good boy”

Teddy:  (o_O) ?

7) “Who is more likely to understand flower language and use it to their advantage?”

Teddy: “Flower language? What’s flower language?”

Finn: “Does that mean a person can talk to and understand flowers?”

Kit: “I believe they mean Floriography. You see my sweet simple little fools - all flowers have different meanings. A white rose means purity and innocence but a red rose means I love you and a -”

Isaac: “Kit. It’s Kit. Now for the love of god - next question”

8) “Who is more likely to not be able to sleep without a window open?”

Finn: “Not me. My feet get cold”

Kit: “Ew, for god’s sake put your nasty feet down -”

Teddy: “You should sleep with it open, Finnegan. It ensures that fresh air circulates around the room and there was a scientific study that shows people sleep better when their bedroom is slightly cooler -”

Kit: “- YAWN. It’s Teddy... of course it is”

Teddy: “You don’t have yours open either? Don’t you get too hot in the night?”

Kit: “Nope. I sleep naked”

All:  ( °□°) 

Kit: “Next question  (◕‿↼) “

9) “Who’s more likely to wear sweatpants and a hoodie if they say they are ‘slipping into something more comfortable’?”

All: *Look at Finn who is currently wearing sweatpants and a hoodie*

Finn: “Well, I guess that's me then”

Kit: “So, indulge me. If - heaven forbid - you got yourself a girlfriend and she was like ‘Let me just slip into something more comfortable’ and she came back in sweatpants and a hoodie -”

Finn: “...Is she wearing my sweatpants and hoodie?”

Kit: “Sure...”

Finn:  (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)

Kit: “...”

Teddy: “Moving on...”

10) “Who is more likely to like guacamole but not like avocados?”

Teddy: “What an odd question?”

Isaac: “Is that because guacamole is made of avocados?”

Eren: “...What?”

Teddy: “You... you didn’t know that Eren?”

Eren: “But I don’t like avocados”

Teddy: “But that’s okay, Eren. Because you like guacamole”

Eren: “Can we make it without avocados?”

Isaac: “No...buddy, it’s the main ingredient”

Eren: “...oh”

Teddy: “I think we should call it on the questions”

Finn: “Huh, why?”

Kit: “Shhh, the big guy’s world has just been turned upside down. He’s in mourning - look at him”

Eren:  (●__● )

Kit: “See”

------------------------

Okay, that’s it for this ‘Who’s more likely to?” Li edition. Hope this helped give you a little insight on the Li’s and how they communicate with each other.

See ya next time ~

- Never <3

[theheiressproject-otomegame]

26/05 progress update

Okay, Okay - I know it has been over a month since my last/first post here but I can explain... I have been prioritising working on the game more than writing blog posts updates so much so that I now have to write up a massive blog post of all that I have done so far. Well done, Never - you so smart.

Anyway, here’s the juice.

The work I have done thus far includes:

Promotional info sheets for all the LIs/Dateable characters (Jump to 1)

Fully fleshed out plan for Teddy’s route  (Jump to 2)

Name input system  (Jump to 3)

Began MC customisation widget mechanics  (Jump to 4)

Fleshed out plan for date system  (Jump to 5)

Made some plans for joint-activity time  (Jump to 6)

Made a list of work that needs to be complete for a demo release  (Jump to 7)

House Map (Jump to 8)

Colour scheme/palette (Jump to 9)

Item Planning (Jump to 10)

Making money (Jump to 11)

1) Promotional info sheets for all the LIs/Dateable characters

^ These are the ‘promotional info sheets’ for the LIs. I have displayed these out as a sort of dating profile so it includes lots of ‘necessary’ information such as name, age, occupation etc but also so additional information like their star sign, hobbies, fave food etc so that a potential player may pre-determine who they might vibe with/have common grounds with prior to any appearance release.

Regarding, these being prior to appearance release - the silhouettes on the sheets are not true to the final products . Eventually, these sheets will have the characters in-game appearance where the silhouettes are but for now I found some fairly adequate internet silhouettes to hold there place until they are ready.

2)  Fully fleshed out plan for Teddy’s route

I am currently using a ‘slow-burn romance system’ for the LI’s romance routes, the slow-burn meaning:

“Stories featuring characters who gradually and naturally fall in love or lust before beginning a romantic or sexual relationship. As the emphasis is on the slow evolution of the relationship rather than a quick conflagration into sudden resolution, such stories may contain a lot of UST and pining until the smouldering passion eventually catches fire”  

~ Fanfiction Terminology by Moonbeam Predilections 

Now I’m not really a writer of romance - in fact I’m not really a writer at all. Bar of course, the vast notebooks full of short stories and made-up fantastical lore I hide away in boxes from my early youth. So, I looked for further guidance and stumbled upon this lovely individual on YouTube:

This is Alexa Donne and they came up with a 14 step guide on how to write romance arcs which has been INCREDIBLY helpful to a noob writer such as myself - So thank you Alex. These are my notes on her guide:

Cover starting relationship: Enemies to lovers, Friends to lovers, Unrequited affection on either side, A wild curiosity, Fake dating or Secret dating etc.

Cover meet-cute or meet-'hate' etc.: Reflect on it further in text (reminisce). Even if characters already know each other it's the first time the reader has seen them together so make it memorable and 'cute'.

Reaffirm starting relationship baseline: So readers feel it more when things start to change.

Rising tension: There should be a clear shift in the relationship. E.g. Hate to love - Maybe there is some appreciation/respect. MOMENTS. But include doubt, misunderstanding etc just don't go too overboard.

Romantic turning point: One could confess feelings. Or there is a moment of realisation or not... could be only obvious to the reader.

Acknowledging the change. Not a turning point - could make things worse.

More tension. Shared looks. Romantic Torture.

The almost moment. Then Break. Torture the reader.

Giant Conflict/obstacle. Someone's done something terrible. They've been untrue.

It can't happen. Calm everything. Water it down.

Confession/kiss etc.

Everything on the line. One party tells a lie. Massive obstacle. Massive obstacle. The ultimate uphill.

Angst.

Reconciliation. More confessing. More kissing.

I really like this guide, it has been super helpful to me. I have planned Teddy’s route around this and it loosely follows this but also flows in a way I need it to for the story I want to tell via Teddy’s route. I like it so far not ( a lot) that’s not to say anything won’t change from the way it currently is but for now I’m pretty happy with it.

3)  Name input system

‘Yay! An MC with a customisable name - fun....’

This was annoying to implement I’m not going to lie to you. BUT it was necessary for me because I don't know about you but I much prefer when a dating sim allows me to choose the MC’s name. I’m not one to self project when I read a book or play a dating sim for that matter but I like it when a dating sim asks for my input because then I feel like my experience with this game is unique from others. Even more so if I get to make choices within scenes that is just ~chef’s kiss~ wink wink

Anyway I’d add a horrendously edited gif of that but Tumblr won’t let me upload it unfortunately but I did a stream of the process over on my twitch: twitch.tv/neverbeam

4)  Began MC customisation widget mechanics

Now this is currently very, very, veryyyyy basic. But I want the player to eventually change aspects of the MC’s appearance - very minimal aspects but aspects nevertheless.

Now this image isn’t final and the artwork is not mine it is by Sutemo on itch.io (I am using V2). But it gives you a vague idea of the appearance possibilities for the MC.

You can choose between straight or wavy hair in silver, blonde, brunette or black and the eyes are either blue, green, brown or purple. Most of the choices are quite common bar of course the white hair and purple eyes situation.

Also it is quite clear here that MC’s default name (AKA her name if you don’t change it from it’s default value), you can change her forename but her surname is Winters for story purposes. Fun fact: I had MC painted as a bit of a brat from the get go so I chose the name Lydia as a nod to Lydia Bennet in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as she is definitely (IMHO) the ‘B’ in Brats of Literature.

4.5) MC Moodboard

This week I worked on a little MC moodboard - she is to some degree what we would call part of the ‘old money aesthetic’ or ‘the rich girl aesthetic’. She is the sole daughter of her father aka Mr. Winters the CEO of Winters Inc., one of the largest producers and suppliers of jewellery in the country or world. In real world talk, I would say if Pandora or Tiffany & Co were a family run business with a headline grabbing, bratty acting, fashionista heiress tied to inherit or someday run the company...

I have tested drawing MC a few times. I’ve been a bit on and off with what vibe I want her to omit so I probably won’t be sharing any of those pieces anytime soon as I’m not entirely certain of her aesthetically direction yet. I like the rich girl vibe or South Korean fashion but I also vibe more with the European drinking champagne in Chanel under the Eiffel tower situation so I will be intrigued to see how she develops.

5)  Fleshed out plan for date system

OoOoOoOo the date system! I’m so exited for this one as it is more game stat management mechanics wrapped up in a kawaii bow. Let me explain: So the way the game currently works is at the beginning of the ‘week’ you pick one of the LIs to ‘work’ with (I say work because some of them might not abide by the average persons expectations of work). Then, for the rest of the week you have the interaction system this means on any off day (AKA not a work day or joint activity time day) you can single out your favourite LI and interact with them for that days activities. Interactions will include: Chatting, poking, gifting and hanging out or dating. The chat lines and their general attitude toward you will natural change as/if you increase your relationship points with them.

Now the ‘hangout or date system’ (depending on where you are with them) will allow you to take that LI to a particular place in game such as *drum roll please* The Arcade, Restaurant, Theme Park, Cinema or The Lake. At these particular places I am intending on having small QTEs or minigames (Which will be skippable if desired) to boost relationship points with your chosen LI. I wont say much more on the date system apart from that if you look at the LIs sheets you may be able to determine which date location may be their favourite. This will be good for you to know because if you take you chosen LI to their favourite location you will get a buff on your gained relationship points on that particular date.

6)  Made some plans for joint-activity time

So, your average ‘week’ in game should be something like Monday: Choose who to work with and have a LI romance route scene, Tuesday: Player choice (Char interaction system), Wednesday: Player choice, Thursday: Player Choice, Friday: Player Choice, Weekend: Joint activity time. Now it’s canon and stated at the beginning in story that each week, to ensure that they spend some quality time together as a household (Teddy’s idea), they shall take it in turns to pick an activity for them all to do - and they have to do it. This puts the LIs frequently in situations that they would not normally part take in making a fun sort of Rom-Com sort of scenario for each of them at least once as the LIs for the most part have very different tastes.

I have planned around 4 at the minute but I plan to do 1-2 in game weeks in the demo so that’s already 2 planned and ripe for the picking.

7)  Made a list of work that needs to be complete for a demo release

Regarding a demo, I now have a bare minimum of the amount of work I want to have done for the demo release. 

Firstly, as previously stated I want to have 1-2 weeks in game fully fleshed out if 1 is enough time-wise I shall do one if not then it shall be 2. 

I want to have character art of all the LIs and any other necessary visual characters that appear within the 1-2 week time frame story-wise. 

Character customisation fully fleshed out

Backgrounds

Date system

At least 3 LI routes. I want to prioritise getting the demo fleshed to the point where I can release it and then go back to making the game, so I might just include Teddy, Isaac and Finn in the demo as pursuable LIs and route lock Kit and Eren not for any reason other than cutting down on my workload and I have chosen these characters as I myself believe that the character archetypes of Teddy, Isaac and Finn should be included asap for promotional purposes. Whereas Kit and Eren have a different depth to there story that might cause a lot more intrigued if it is teased in the demo rather than began - that and as Eren is currently my mystery boy his route makes more sense being locked for the demo - no?

Menu system in full working order

In-house map system

8) Designed basic layout of  House Map

The house map is what you will see at the beginning of the work week when you go to choose who you want to work with the icons of the boys will be on screen as buttons that you can click and teleport to them. There will be a confirm you want to work with this person screen, you can confirm or deny and then that will start your scene. If it is any other day instead of loading a scene it will load the LI interaction screen where you can chat, poke, date etc. Depending on who you are romancing they will either be in their room, the living room, the kitchen or the bathroom.

The icons of the boys will either be a chibi version of their face or their flower - I am currently undecided on which.

9)  Colour scheme/palette

So, I decided to progress further with the aesthetics I would have to create a colour palette soon ~ This would help with colouring for UI, Characters, promotional pieces etc so the sooner the better really. But as for actual colours, I had no idea. I didn’t want to go with the usual blocky, solid colours or various shades of pinks as expected for a dating sim as I feel it fit the genre okay but not the brand. This dating sim is about an Heiress finding herself as well as hopefully love or romantic attachment. So I decided to look further into that specifically. Our MC is an heiress so something classy, elegant maybe but also with an air of vanity, ego or pride. So I hot google images, Pinterest and Tumblr until I found:

‘The Swing’ by Jean-Honoré Fragonard also known as ‘The Happy Accidents of the Swing’ (French: Les Hasards heureux de l'escarpolette, original title). At the forefront a symbol of infidelity and scandal but visual and in my (admittedly artistically novice) eye and image of flirtation with a person of interest at the potential annoyance and with efforts not entirely your own. So in this I see a lady or girl flirty with the man below, kicking off her shoes, extending her leg etc. others looking on in mischief, the exhausting efforts of the man aiding the lady in her flirtation (whether he likes to or not) and all of this occurring in a beautiful potentially secret safe place. So yes, it’s scandalous, yes your potentially making others aid you and yes you’ll definitely get into a lot of trouble if someone finds out... 

An heiress gets into a bit of trouble and moves into the home of her fathers trusted assistant alongside his other male roommates and begins aiding them with their work and potentially falling in love with one of them and thereby going against your father’s wishes entirely?

Yeah I think it works.

That. AND THE COLOUR PALETTE.

B.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.

Colours included are (left to right): Air Superiority Blue, Eton Blue, Chestnut, Middle Red, Eggshell, Satin Sheet Gold and Burnished Brown.

Anyway, passionate speech aside. I love this painting, it’s vibe, its colours, all of it. I think it will all work well for my game. This isn’t me saying that other colours wont appear of course, I know I turned my nose up at6 pink earlier but pink will always have a place in dating sims - I just don’t want it to have the biggest position in mine. 

p.s. aren’t rococo paintings just the pinnacle of romance anyway?

10) Item Planning

There will be a shop you can go to in game for the gifting segment of the LI interaction this would take a full day out of you schedule though so you’d have to plan around it. I have also made it so that the items help the MC do more things such as the energy drink - this will allow MC to interact multiple times with an LI. There will also be special items. I wont go into much detail about these as they can all do different things and I’d like to keep them as something you can discover during playing the game.

Otherwise current items include: 

The Earl & I: Eternal Hearts: Limited edition poster book

Immortal Annihilation: Lady Vice Figurine

Disposable Camera

Lens cleaner

Strawberry milk

iBoy Limited Edition Album

Recipe book

Super spicy crisps

Matcha cake

Premium coffee beans

Energy drink

This will all be purchasable at the convenience store accessible on the main map.

11) Making money

‘Wait, so you can buy things but with what money?’ 

I hear you, I’m currently dabbling with this. Currently I’m thinking that Teddy will arrange with MC a pocket-money scheme where she can earn money to buy things. This may seem a bit degrading but MC will be in a situation where all her original finances have been frozen and she can’t access any of her accounts, she is working with the guys on a near daily basis to cover her living costs, so she can live there eat the food etc. So she does these additional pocket-money tasks specifically for the spending money. These tasks will be available on a notice board in the kitchen if the player chooses to do any of these tasks then that will take a full day of interaction so the player will have to plan wisely.

Tasks will include things like: Do the dishes, do the laundry, clean Kit’s/Finn’s room, help cook dinner etc. The money she receives for the task will differ depending on the task.

~

Oof, so that’s pretty much it for this update. Apologies for the scale of the post but I hadn’t found the time to write recently so I thought it best I group it all into one big update. I hope to do another dev stream soon so if you’re interested keep your eye on my twitch: www.twitch.tv/neverbeam 

But yes, I shall see you guys (hopefully soon) for the next one ~ peace <3

- Never

[theheiressproject-otomegame]

20/04 progress update

Hello and welcome to my first tumblr progress update for The Heiress Project’. I would like to make it clear that just because this is my first progress update does not mean that this is the only work I have done on the game thus far. The trello board I have for this project is fully fleshed out with a small amount of cards in done but most of my planning and preparation have been completed. The only reason I haven't disclosed anything previously is because I want to ensure that the development progress on this game is as spoiler free as possible. I will definitely be divulging minute details on the characters but I will try not to state to much regarding the stories or romance routes that will be in the game. Anyway with that all aside, let’s get on with it!

Sketched and designed game logo 

Early in the afternoon I had a small idea about a potential game logo and so I loaded up my procreate on my iPad and got sketching...

I know it currently looks like a mess but bear with me - I had a vision and I thought I’d justify it’s existence with a sketch at least.

The crown/tiara (whatever this thing is technically called) is supposed to represent the MC and her Heiress origins. Then I decided to do some flower research for the boys as the idea crossed my mind to associate each one of them with their own flower. I thought that the appearance of each flower can correlate to their own but the flowers also have their own meanings or personalities.

Teddy is a Lilium candidum also known as the Madonna lily, or white lily. The appearance of these are one of sophistication used often for both weddings and funerals it is a flower that is appropriate for many circumstances. The Lily also happens to be one of the most popular flowers in the horticulture trade. The Floriography (language) of the Lily is: Sweetness and purity. 

Isaac is a currently a Red Rose. I say currently as I am debating changing him to a Peony. Initially, I put him a single red rose as to me they are a symbol of classic romance and Isaac is this projects Tsundere, which is a classic archetype of a love interest in an otome game. A single red rose is not only beautiful and romantic but it’s floriography literally means ‘I love you’. You may think “Well damn, that makes sense. Why would she want to change it?”, that is because, well... it’s boring, overdone and generic. It IS a symbol of classic romance but I don’t want to label Isaac’s route or romance as something that may have been done before. Yes, he is a tsundere but... he’s my tsundere, god damn it. If I were to change him to a peony (a less classic flower of love) the appearance would still fit his tsundere archetype as a ‘blushing flower’ but it’s floriography is: Happy marriage, prosperity and bashfulness. So...it works in my mind. 

Eren is a Chaenomeles japonica also known as Japanese quince or a Maule’s quince. I kind of went off on my own on this one. Eren’s flower is a climbing one, hence why it clings to the centre spike of the crown and sits proudly on top. The Japanese quince specifically is a thorny shrub with red flowers and yes that was THORNY before any of you get any ideas, it’s not what you think...or is it?. Eren’s flower is the only one I had not heard of prior to my research, it doesn’t have an extensive floriography and the only thing it could find was about the flowering quince which is the family in which this particular quince belongs to. The word that I found was ‘rebirth’ whether that correlates to Eren story or not - I wont say much other than yes, it does.

Kit is a Syringa vulgaris otherwise known as a Lilac. It’s a soft sort of purple or, one might say, lilac in colour and it’s floriography means ‘The first emotion of love’. Kit’s archetype is the ‘Playboy flirt’ meaning immediately upon meeting MC she is ‘exactly his type’ and will romantically attempt to pursue her from the get go. So I feel like this flower fits quite well, whether that is all there is to this flower or the man who possesses it, you’ll just have to see.

Finn is a Helianthus otherwise known as a sunflower a very bright, happy yellowish gold flower. There are two types of sunflowers when it comes to the floriography, there’s dwarf with: Adoration and pride and tall with: false riches and pride. I have not yet determined the actual height of any of the boys yet but I definitely wouldn't pin him as the tallest of the group not that height should have anything to do with it, of course. Although, Finn is the youngest of the group and I would say adoration would definitely work better that false riches and pride is present in both flowers as well as Finn’s romance route. The adoration mainly comes in the form of Finn having love and respect for the rest of the boys especially his cousin Teddy as he is someone he looks up to. That adoration would in turn eventually include MC.

Developed backstory for referenced 'Earl & I' 

The Earl & I is going to be a story referenced within this games story. Within the The Heiress Project word ‘The Earl & I: Eternal Hearts’ is our MC’s and her friend's favourite romance. 

Worked on some of Finn's route 

When I say ‘worked’ I mean I did some bullet points that will be fleshed out in his romance route eventually.

Started developing art-style 

This is a fun one. I wouldn’t call myself an artist. I appreciate art - love art even and I draw, I always have but I wouldn’t call myself an artist. So, now that it has come to thinking about what kind of art style I will be going for - I feel like a pebble in an ocean of endless possibilities as there are just so many. I’ve always loved anime and manga one of the first artbooks I got was Mastering Manga with Mark Crilley and I love and still have that book. But I feel like I want something deeper and more personal in my art style for this game. I spent about 30 minutes late last night developing an anime eye in procreate purely to see if I could.

It’s not great. Not terrible but also not great. It’s a start at least but it’s gonna be one heck of a hill for me to climb.

Finalised in-game location name and setting

Once you press that sacred start button in The Heiress Project start screen you will transported to the lovely historic but booming town of Austen-Upon-Eden a scenic large town/small city situated on the River Eden in no specific country. I myself live in England so I would be lying if I said that this place isn’t influenced by any great English towns or cities but I also like to think that this game has it’s own little world too. My partner gave me the name Bronte after we decided on a river Eden (So, Bronte-Upon-Eden) as he said the Bronte sisters were great authors of romance and I agreed then I thought that I hadn’t read much of the Bronte's myself (I will work on changing that) but I do know Jane Austen very well. So working together we discovered Austen-Upon-Eden.

Anyway, that’s all from me today. Hope this helped you shine a little light into my current project and I’ll hopefully see you in the next one~ peace <3

- Never