Category: Development Highlights

In a figurative sense… again. I’ve been writing the latter half of Sofia’s route in the past two weeks or so. Once I’m done with the current segment of the story, all routes have reached the point where they will converge for the last time before the final split.

I must say that deciding how to handle the in-game choices has become increasingly difficult as the story has progressed. All choices should ideally be meaningful, but I don’t want to make the story too complex or divergent. I think that it should be reasonably easy to reach all the story branches without consulting a guide.

What else is difficult? Choosing suitably suggestive but not too spoilery screenshots for this blog post. Top three picks below.

Only 997 times so far.

The basement will do.

Happens to me all the time.

I had been hoping to release Eleanor’s Handmaid by the end of the year, but it’s starting to seem increasingly unlikely that the game will be ready in time. I know from experience that I can’t do more work hours per day than I do now without risking burnout, and I don’t really want to cut any planned content either, so postponing the release was really the only option I had. That being said, the game should be complete reasonably soon. Late January in 2024 seems fairly realistic at the moment. However, I don’t want to have to change the Steam Store page release date display a second time, so I set it to Q1 2024 (just in case…)

In other news, I’ve spent most of October making event stills for the game, so the plot hasn’t progressed much lately. However, November is going to be a writing month, so I think that I’ll post something story-related in a few weeks.

A free demo version of Eleanor’s Handmaid is playable for the duration of Steam Next Fest: October 2023. It is approximately 11 000 words long and focuses on the early phases of the story (the “common route”). Please note that you can’t download or launch the demo after the event has ended (Oct 16, 10 AM Pacific). NOW is your chance.

You’ll find the demo download button on the game’s store page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2339380/Eleanors_Handmaid/

Any feedback is welcome. Please drop a comment or start a discussion if there’s anything you wish to share or ask.

EDIT: Steam Next Fest has ended and the demo is no longer available. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Eleanor’s Handmaid’s flowchart for days two and three, oversimplified. The red dots represent choices. Small detours are not shown.

The not-so-spoilery flowchart is here again! It’s longer than before, which is probably a good thing. One might even get the impression that things have progressed! (They have.)

---

Right now, I’m making an ESH scene, which is to say, it involves the characters E, S, and H. Strangely enough, S and H seem to have a fairly dominant role in the scene despite the fact that they are technically servants of E…

What cycle? This cycle: Helen→Sofia→Laura→Nerisha→Helen

Instead of trying to do everything at once, I prefer to focus on one character route for a month or so before moving on to the next one. Now that I’ve given all the heroines a decent amount of attention, it’s time to start round two (actually, I started it about a week ago).

In the meanwhile…

The thing about Helen’s route is that it’s not only about Eleanor and Helen. While the two of them indulge themselves in all kinds of activities, Sofia often finds herself in Julie’s company. Much to her delight, I might say.

---

By the way, I finished making the demo version of Eleanor’s Handmaid. It’s 11k words long, i.e., about 45 minutes for the average reader. The demo has been approved by Valve and it’s ready to be released… once the Steam Next Fest begins (9th of October).