New Heart's Choice Game! "Dawnfall" by RoAnna Sylver

[Jeruspi]

Well if you need more information on the route my character got there. Diplomatic, Caring but Lawful, Sister over Pirates mentality. No Romance only Work. But i Did get a movie scene it may have been a chapter before or after that was like two pages.

[RoAnnaSylver]

Okay, it would really help me if you can tell me more specifically where that happened. No worries if you can’t, but there are definitely no 2-page chapters in DAWNFALL, and in fact they are all 10k+, so yeah something went wrong.

[Jeruspi]

I’ll have to reinstall the app but I’ll let you know.

[Gshen]

You’re a brilliant writer, thank you for contributing to what seems like a really exciting app

I have to say that even though I went into this expecting romance I ended up on my own lol. Strangely, the relationship I enjoyed the most was with Aeon - some really heartwarming sibling moments in there!

My character ended up being bitter and distrustful of everyone; I think I ended up shutting everyone down and leaving them disappointed lol, but I just couldn’t imagine my character suddenly trusting any of them after being betrayed and then threatened. It was actually really sad now that I think about it haha. Thank you though, it was a fascinating story.

[RoAnnaSylver]

Ahh thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed it, even if yeah, I know some of the plot turns weren’t for everyone. But I really am happy that Aeon and the family feels resonated with you - even though HC is obviously romance, I tried really hard to not punish a player for not romancing anyone (whether they’re aromantic or not), and still make it a fun and fulfilling experience, and it sounds like I did that at least lol!

[Zyphontic]

Oh gosh, I finished Dawnfall I think about a week ago? But, only just now sort of rediscovering the forums so previously I’ve only gushed about it to my friends or just on twitter. Point is, I have been gushing about it a lot because… Heck, I just absolutely adore this game… I loved all the characters and the writing is so great… The world building is absolutely wonderful and everything felt like I could see it so easily. It was super sweet and romantic and tbh I think Dawnfall ended up being like, one of my fav CoGs? Or, HCs, i guess ^^;

I don’t have much point aside from just gushing about it more to be honest!! But like I think this is more the place for it lol, to just get everything out of my system. I really love the idea of Heart’s Choice and Dawnfall left a super super great impression as far as being the first one I played. I would just adore to see more like it, it hit such a special and perfect little vibe for me ^w^

[RoAnnaSylver]

…You’re gonna make me cry with happy. ;_; Thank you so much. I’m so, so glad you liked it! <3

[Sel_Lee]

I got a notif saying Heart’s Choice games were on sales for valentines day, and this is the first Heart’s Choice game I’ve played. But I’m starting to think this genre of game isn’t for my emotionally closed off ass.

[Mild spoiler warnings for the game, but also warnings you might want to hear when considering purchase]

The premise and lore is marvelous, and the game is very long – a large quantity for the price. But “You can choose to be monogamous” is… techinically true, but more like, “All the ROs are basically an existing policule and you can choose how ever many of them you personally want to be involved with”.

When the MC was introduced, they didn’t seem to have anyone close to them. Even their sister was distant. So to play as someone so lonely, I (or rather, my MC, henceforth referred to as “I”) felt a great sense of betrayal and depressing disappointment when I found out none of the people I thought I was close to were people I actually knew.

And the way Gwen, a powerful stranger who my supposed Circle was apparently lovers (platonic or romantic or otherwise) with, treated me upon first meeting was honestly traumatising. It set the tone for “Trust no one, you were always alone, don’t give them anything they will only hurt you with what they learn, hide your skin, these people love each other and will gang up on you if any one of them feels threatened by you” attitude.

So basically this same thing for me:

@Gshen

I think I ended up shutting everyone down and leaving them disappointed lol, but I just couldn’t imagine my character suddenly trusting any of them after being betrayed and then threatened. It was actually really sad now that I think about it

The only issue I have with the game is that it doesn’t allow for that subtlety. It’s either “I’m immediately all on board with this and I love you” and all that mushy feels and verbal expression of affection that sets my teeth on edge (which is my own issue, so never mind that. I’m just too “tsundere” for this.), or “I’m simply not interested in you/ I’m too aro for this”. There is no “I feel a small sense of hope when you reach out to me that I don’t want to admit, but I’m still wary of this and I feel so overwhelmed and alone surrounded by strangers who know and love each other”. There’s absolutely no taking it slow. So shutting everything/everyone down and trying to enjoy the non-romance parts of the game is all you can do.

It’s a shame, really. I wish I could’ve enjoyed it more. Small dialogue choices like a second option for the same “I’m glad you found each other”, but instead of with ‘Because I never felt particularly attracted to either of them’, with ‘I’m saying this even though it hurts that I was always the one left out. Out of the loop, and out of the relationship’. Or even just the single answer choice of “I need more time” when proposed by all the ROs.

All in all, to me, a closed off demiromantic with bullying trauma, the game was overwhelmingly lonely.

[Pandaren]

@RoAnnaSylver …me & my OCs hope to see you writing more stories soon.

Remy grins, as Riese nods & Rayvn smiles mysteriously.

[RoAnnaSylver]

Ha, thank you. There might be something in the works. <3

[RoAnnaSylver]

Hey, I just really want to genuinely thank you for this feedback. I’m so sorry this was your experience, since it’s pretty much the exact opposite feeling I meant to leave you with. I’m thinking hard about what to do here/how to make it better, and just wanted to let you know that your words are really appreciated. Again, I’m so sorry.

[marvelfreak3000]

So what was the point of asking the MC’s sexuality when most of the RO’s are non-binary? I chose women for my sexuality and there was only 1 female RO.

[Coldnight]

The world building is fascinating, and there is a great balance of adventure and relationship building. Both the MC’s sister and the pirate queen have genuine point and it’s hard to choose between them. (Though I go for the queen many times. Sorry, sis! )

I really like the poly romance in the game. I love how natural it feels to develop relationship with everyone together. The romantic interest are all interesting and I love how they have a life outside MC’s world and need to deal with their past (and find new hope and life.)

[Pandasrkewl]

I mean, if you chose women only for your character’s sexuality, you’d still have the opportunity to romance the non-binary ROs if you wanted (I’m pretty sure I had that option with Zenith). And otherwise, you can become their Heart Star. I chose only women, but I ended up romancing Gwen and Zenith, while being the Heart Stars for everyone else in the crew.

[lurkerforlife]

Strange question, but is there a way to leave the crew at the end? I chose the “I think we should split up” option but the only next choice was of where to go together.

Like a couple of others in this thread, my PC while understanding and respecting Zenith and Averis’ choice not to trust her, she was very much heartbroken. There are a couple times where they clearly state that they never would’ve told her. Zenith says he never wanted her to be dragged into this at all. I just wasn’t able to latch on to the “found family” of it all, because it felt… almost inauthentic. My PC did anyway.

Here, I will absolutely praise this incredible work. The writing is engaging, world building was masterful and it tells a beautiful and very “human” story. It inspired such an emotional reaction in my cold, dead heart that I myself was heartbroken by the distrust.

The story is of course driven by the relationship of the ensemble cast, but allows PC to make plot driving decisions so she is not at all powerless (well done!) I think the most important decision was where PC would end up and I just wish I’d gotten to go live with Aeon. My highest Bond and Loyalty/Goals scores were with Aeon and I’d hoped to reunite with her and grow closer as sisters.

Don’t regret buying though, and I’m sure I’ll do a bunch more playthroughs.

[ChthonianVitch]

It’s probably super late for me to respond to this, but I just wanted to say THANK YOU for articulating all this. I’ve tried over and over to get into the game since it came out, but I honestly never could because of exactly what you said. The fact that there was never even an option to express how devastating a betrayal of trust the beginning was bothered me. Either the MC had to be a-okay with everything or completely distrustful, and not even distrustful because “oh, these people I thought were my best friends have lied to me for years and aren’t at all who I thought they were” but because of them being criminals.

And being dropped in as essentially a sixth wheel who’s made aware of everything not because their so-called “Circle” wanted and trusted them to know, but because there wasn’t any other option? I don’t know. It just didn’t feel like there could be a viable friendship after that, let alone a romance. If this had been addressed–if there had been the option to express how much of a heartbreaking violation that beginning reveal was and actually see the ROs do more than pay lip-service about their guilt–maybe I would feel different. As it was, though, it just seemed like an exercise in loneliness and disappointment.

[CptObvious]

I got a bit of a bug in Chapter 6 (I think it’s 6). At the beginning of the chapter, it talks about how my character is finally getting used to the ship (or it’s getting used to me). It then says that my thoughts kept drifting to one person in particular, and I could select between the members of the crew or Aeon. I selected Gwen, as that’s who I decided to romance, and the first paragraph on the next page said this:

“You saw the look on her face when you revealed her trap to Aeon and foiled her plan. She was so furious you thought she might snap you in half right there, and she probably could have. But she didn’t. You can tell that her temper was barely held in check, but you’re still alive and here. You apparently still have some use to her—or maybe she just likes you.”

The problem is, that’s not what actually happened. When I talked to Aeon, I gave her the fake coordinates, but subtly hinted to her that it was a trap, because I didn’t want to risk my sister getting hurt or lost in liminal space. Aeon understood me, or at least seemed to, and Gwen was really happy that I appeared to go along with her plan. She had no idea that I tipped Aeon off at all. The rest of the stuff on the page about my relationship with Gwen was all accurate. It’s just that first paragraph that doesn’t seem to reflect events properly.