Sable's Grimoire
Sable's Grimoire sequels - store pages up!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1131410/Sables_Grimoire_Man_And_Elf/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/892990/Sables_Grimoire_A_Dragons_Treasure/
My Heart Grows Fonder now available
Available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
18+ patch is available as free DLC.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/892980/My_Heart_Grows_Fonder/
Synopsis
When his girlfriend suddenly vanished without a word, Cassius feared the worst. All communication was shut off, he had no clue where she went, and nobody seemed to be able to get ahold of her. The person closest to him disappeared, seemingly for good, and he had no way of knowing what had happened to her.
Now, without warning or fanfare, Maia has returned. What's more, the years of separation have done nothing to change how she feels about Cas. The two of them never formally broke up, and in her mind, they are still a couple.
But as the person left behind, Cas' feelings aren't so simple. After years of anguish, he has finally started to move on, and Maia's return isn't as welcome now as it would have been all that time ago.
Will Cas manage to mend his relationship with his ex-girlfriend and return to what they once had? Or will he leave the past behind and find happiness with someone else?
Trading cards enabled
At long last, Sable's Grimoire has reached this threshold. You will now be able to receive trading cards, emoticons, badges and backgrounds.
Tix's route released
What's new?
-4 new CGs (+1 variation to an existing CG)
-2 new music tracks
-2 new backgrounds
-1 new sprite
-5 new achievements
-5 new choices
-2 new endings
-3 more checkpoints on the route map
With this route being focused on a nudist heroine who belongs to a race which glorifies breeding, you shouldn't be surprised to learn that this new route has a little more sexual content than the other routes.
It's still nothing 18+, but there are many sexual references and scenes with partial nudity (again, nothing more explicit than what was already in the game). So if you're averse to that kind of content, you may want to keep that in mind.
If you find any problems with the new route, or the game in general, please report them so I can fix it up. Ideally, errors should be reported here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/717850/discussions/0/1692669912393326000/
Other changes
Along with Tix's route being added, this update also brings the following changes:
-Updated game engine, with (most) sprites recoded in the engine's new format. This seems to have fixed the lag which sometimes manifested immediately after loading a checkpoint on the route map, and should lead to minor performance improvements in general.
-Background/CG transition fixes. This problem might not have actually made it into any live builds. I only noticed this recently after a full recompile on the development machine. Either way, I found five or six (out of ~800) scene transitions which ended prematurely. This is now fixed.
-A few typo fixes and some minor rewording. The most wide-spread change is normalizing the way Drakan refers to her mother. The spelling is now always "Mama" instead of going back and forth between "Mama" and "Momma". If you're skipping through scenes you've already played and are randomly stopped on Drakan's lines, this is why.
-Music added/changed. There were (and still are) occasional moments with lengthy pauses in the music. Some of these pauses have been shortened or removed. In a few cases, the actual track being played has also changed to better suit the mood of the scene.
What's next?
Tix's route may be complete, but that doesn't mean development on Sable's Grimoire has ended.
Info on further updates/installments can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/717850/discussions/0/1697174779853208464/?ctp=3#c2521353993649996144
Be aware that the above post, and the thread in general, contain spoilers. So if you haven't already finished playing Sable's Grimoire, you might want to hold off on visiting that thread.
New settings + OST as free DLC
New settings
This update introduces two new settings aimed at people who want to play Sable's Grimoire, but don't want to view sensitive content.
The first time you play Sable's Grimoire, you will now be presented with a content warning screen which prompts you to set the new preferences.
Initially, "Mature Content" is enabled, and "Bad Ending Hints" are disabled, so the default experience remains the same as ever.
What can be classified as "mature content" is obviously subjective, and I don't intend to go on a crusade to make this a G-rated game. Instead, I've taken a conservative approach to this setting's implementation and only hidden the most extreme content.
The biggest change is that choosing to disable this content will stop you from going down Jorou's route. Jorou's route contains many mature themes and several dark, confronting scenes, which cannot be removed without turning Jorou's route into a fractured mess. As such, it's all or nothing with her route.
Other than that, there are only two scenes affected by this setting. One is a bad end, the other is the violent conclusion to a side-story. So even if you opt out of viewing mature content, the majority of Sable's Grimoire will remain completely unaffected.
Even if you're okay with mature content, that doesn't mean you aren't frustrated by those pesky bad ends.
By enabling "Bad Ending Hints", you will be shown a small knife icon on the far right side of choices which lead to bad endings.
You won't be blocked from reaching bad endings. This just provides a subtle hint, so if you're wary about reaching bad endings, you may exercise appropriate caution.
Route map instructional text
This is a minor addition, but I think some players might find it helpful.
The route map isn't just a tool for viewing which route you're on. It's also an interactive checkpoint system which you can use to restart from a later point in the game.
A small piece of instructional text has now been added to the route map to make this feature easier to discover.
OST
https://store.steampowered.com/app/941900
As was recently the case with Tomboys Need Love Too, I discussed with the composer of Sable's Grimoire, Mario Luengo, the possibility of providing the original, high quality WAV audio files of SG's soundtrack as free DLC.
The OST is not downloaded by default (it's bigger than the game!), but if you choose to download it, a new option of "Soundtrack" will come up when you attempt to launch Sable's Grimoire. Selecting that will open your operating system's file browser (should work on Windows, Mac & Linux) in the directory containing the music files.
What's next?
I'm still working on Tix's route for the time being. I don't have an ETA yet, but it's looking like December at the earliest, more likely early 2019.
Additions after Tix's route remain undecided. There will be more new content after her route is complete, but the nature and timeline of that new content is yet to be confirmed.
New ending for Jorou
An additional (happier) ending has now been added to Jorou's route. This update includes a new CG, another achievement, and an additional choice earlier in her route.
If you've already played Jorou's route, you can go to the Route Map and jump to the last checkpoint before her other endings, then skip the previously read text until you reach the new choice. From there it should be obvious how to reach the new ending.
With Jorou's new ending done, I've started working on a new character route. In other words, Tix will be getting a route.
A new route takes a lot more time and effort than a new ending, and I'll be working on other games at the same time, so don't hold your breath waiting for this next update.
Tix's route has been outlined and the writing has started, but it's still a long way off completion. So for now the release date is "hopefully this year".
New character routes?
This question has been asked a few times already, so let me take this opportunity to address the subject of additional content being added to Sable's Grimoire.
Yes, I would like to add new content to Sable's Grimoire. Be it in the form of new routes for characters who don't currently have them, additional endings for characters who already have routes, or something else completely.
Even so, whether that actually happens or not will ultimately depend on SG's reception. Feedback has been positive so far, but the number of people actually playing Sable's Grimoire is very small, and it isn't even close to breaking even financially. So as much as I want to add new content, that may prove difficult.
For the time being I'll be taking the "wait and see" approach. I'll continue to monitor reviews, forum posts, sales, etc. and regularly re-assess the situation. If more people play SG, and it receives more positive reviews, then obviously that will increase the likelihood of additional content being added in the future.
Even if it doesn't stack up, I'll likely release a couple of content updates anyway. Full character routes are a best-case scenario, given the time and cost involved, but additional endings and scenes aren't a big ask.
As for what new content is on the table, there are a few things I've been thinking of potentially adding.
1. Character route for Tix. This is something that was planned from the beginning, but I ultimately decided to focus on refining the existing routes rather than adding one more to the mix. Now that SG is out in the wild, Tix's route may yet see the light of day.
2. Additional (happier) ending for Jorou. Personally, I don't believe that every story - or every character - needs a happy ending. That being said, I can see how someone might be disappointed by the lack of one. especially when a tragic story seems to be going that way. Is a happier ending for Jorou something you'd like to see?
3. Additional ending for Rei. If you've already played Eth/Rei's route, you already know why this is a possibility. I'm trying to avoid any spoilers here, so let's just say more branching would be a good thing for their route.
Those are the big three, but I'm open to suggestions. Keep in mind that additional endings/scenes are more likely to happen, especially in the short term, than full character routes.
At any rate, it'll be at least a couple of months before any new content gets added to Sable's Grimoire. The next time I reassess new content for SG will be at the end of June. At that point I'll make another announcement regarding what's in the works, and what I've decided to do.
Features in Sable's Grimoire
In this announcement I'm going to briefly cover two features of Sable's Grimoire which aren't especially common in visual novels.
Route Map
Sick of winding up on the wrong route, wondering where you went wrong?
Wishing you'd saved at the last choice instead of plowing straight ahead?
Navigating your way through a branching visual novel can be tricky, and skipping through text you've already read before is hardly what I'd call fun. That's why Sable's Grimoire features an interactive "route map", which you can use to not only visualize the path you're currently taking, but also to go back to checkpoints you've already passed, even if you forgot to save.
As the black squares on the route map are filled in, you will be able to click on those images in order to return to a scene from that place in the story.
Resume and Auto-Resume
When you open a visual novel more than once, you generally want to pick up where you left off last time, right?
Some visual novels will remember which page your last save was on. Others will go an extra step and highlight your last save. And then there are a few which go even further still and let you load your last save straight from the main menu.
In case you haven't guessed from my rambling, Sable's Grimoire implemented the third option.
"Resume" will load your last save - even if it's a quick save, or an automatic save.
But why stop there?
If all you want to do when you open the game is jump straight back into the action, enable the "Auto-Resume Last Save" option. This will bypass the main menu entirely and load your most recent save.
Heroines of Sable's Grimoire
Heroines
Sable's Grimoire has 4 main routes. After the common section of the game, it diverges in 4 different directions, without any text overlap or repeated scenes.
Each of those routes focuses on a different set of characters, with a particular heroine at the center.
Take to the city with Drakan, a half-dragon girl who wants to know more about her human half.
Drakan's destructive impulses and ferocious lineage make her an object of fear in the eyes of others. But is she as dangerous and violent as others claim her to be?
Help Drakan to understand her duality, and give others the push they need to see Drakan for the person she wants to become.
Leave Amadronia on an important mission alongside Lisha, a proud elf whose respect isn't easily won.
Why is it that Lisha seems to trust only herself, and looks down on others - even her own father - as if they are inconsequential?
Answer those two questions and you may just become the first real friend this defensive girl has ever had.
Underneath Amadronia Academy exist the infamous "underground facilities", where students who have been traumatized or hunted by human beings may live in peace.
Jorou's route deals with heavier subject matter than the other character routes. If you're looking for happy endings, this isn't the route for you.
Eth and Rei, the inseparable duo. Or should I say "dunces"?
These two are on the brink of being expelled. Worse, neither one of them seems to be willing to put in the effort to change that! All they ever want to do is talk about boys and food.
Rei has love on the brain, and Eth is impossible to read. What's it going to take to get through to these girls?