If it felt rushed when you played it that’s fair enough but this isn’t really how CoG / HC commission their work and I would be pretty surprised if this was the case. The games have different style guides, stat tests, and ways in which the outcomes/endings are triggered - it would be more effort than it was worth to “translate” a partially created CoG game into a HC one. (Not to mention the fact that they have different advances paid and although there is editor overlap, the contracts are for different companies.)
7 Likes
Maybe then something originally written by the writer as intended for HG and then adapted? If I am wrong that’s fine, just the impression I got especially as one of the initial launch titles for HC.
I don’t have any knowledge of how that particular game was made but again that would be deeply unusual (games are picked from a selection of concepts and then outlined and greenlit rather than any actual writing of the game being done before being greenlit). It is more likely that a game wasn’t to your taste / didn’t feel romantic enough than a game went through a totally different production pipeline than the others.
I think I agree here - the more variability you add to a character/character role, the more work there is to make sure there is enough branching but also there’s a lot of mental effort involved in thinking about how a character who’s so varied would react to a given situation. I also wonder how interesting it would be to write - a lot of the joy for me when writing characters is the different ways a PC can engage with them on different playthroughs but I am not sure I would find a solo, varied love interest as fun to write (which might translate into not being as fun to play).
6 Likes
Jazz Age was absolutely designed and written as HC from the start. As @HarrisPS says, switching publication labels around midway isn’t really something we do. I think there have been a couple game ideas that were originally conceived for one label and then switched to another (not even sure offhand which ones, or if it’s anything that’s reached publication yet or is still in development), but that would be worked out at the original concept/outline stage, not once the game is actually being written.
7 Likes
Doing so would probably mean more people complaining that its just a novel pretending to be a IF than people satisfied it feels more romance focused.
1 Like
Agreed - I think there is more enjoyment of this kind of method in communities focused on kinetic novels, or low-branching visual novels. There is a lot of expectation of a certain amount of branching/reactivity for ChoiceScript games, though there’s more variation in HGs’ structure.
1 Like
A couple of question:
- Why there is not a Heart’s Choice section on the browser site for COG? Or there is and I haven’t noticed it?
- It’s just me or the Upcoming Heart’s Choice Releases thread hasn’t been updated for quite a while?
The upcoming releases threads don’t tend to be updated all that regularly, but they tend to be updated towards the end of the year and when Steam pages are put up.
There is a separate website for Heart’s Choice on which the titles can be browsed and purchased. It would be good if a link was added to the main Choice of Games site, though.
6 Likes
Yes. I mean, they did for Hosted Games after all.
4 Likes
So I presume that Sentinel City Liaisons got cancelled or something given we are two and a half years since it was announced? I suppose it’s tricky knowing these things when we don’t have as often updates on HC releases as the other two, but I understand that’s a likely outcome when you’re balancing hundreds of WIPs across three apps and multiple platforms. Ah well… 
It’s not super unusual for a game to be in development that long, but that it’s no longer mentioned on the Upcoming Releases post doesn’t look good. Which is too bad, because I thought it had a lot of potential!
1 Like
I’m fairly certain I know who was writing that, though I’m not 100%. I won’t give specifics for their privacy either way so take this with a grain of salt. That said, the person who is likely the author decided to step away from their writing projects a while ago. They might return to SCL eventually, but I wouldn’t hold my breath as that always sounded like more of a show-business move vs a passion project for them.
1 Like
Sort of what I expected but thanks for the explanation!
1 Like
Anyone know what’s happening with Souls Unguarded? It’s been on my steam wishlist for 6 years or if Nissa Campbell is even writing for hosted/hearts choice/choice anymore? I loved Heart of the House and been looking forward to another game written by them.
The last I heard the author had been having a tough time due to the pandemic 