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Mid-November Update

Hello hello,

The past two weeks have been pretty PBH-heavy for us, and it's coming along at a nice pace. It probably goes without saying at this point, but unfortunately we're not going to be releasing it in 2020 after all. We'll have a more detailed post about why and where we're at with it before the end of the year. Part of the reason is that we recently chose to start the script over, or at least change so much of what we had that it's pretty much a fresh start. Ultimately, we weren...

Celeste Academy - Finale Poll #2

Need a refresher on the girls of Celeste Academy? Read our post history here.
Or, if you'd like, read the dates of the girls tonight.

Adoption Day with Sylvie, 2020-11-10 04:37:42 +0000 UTC View Post

Honorine's Run To Save The World - Chapter One

Today we have the first chapter of a new light novel we'll be publishing online. This fantasy adventure is the first project from our newest member and writer, Stella. After meeting a mysterious girl in an abandoned temple, Honorine learns she only has several weeks to save the world. Look forward to new chapters on a monthly basis as Honorine's quest takes her to the Zephyr Coast and more!

When the rumors led me to the Mournian, I was over the moon. Growing up in the shadow of...

November Monthly Update

Greetings and salutations,

Spooky season is behind us and things are starting to get cold, at least here in the northern hemisphere. It was around this time 4 years ago that work started in earnest on Heart of the Woods, and it was definitely inspired by the changing seasons and snowfall in the part of the country where I live. This time around, Please Be Happy is of course my main focus, and we often refer to that as our "autumn" game aesthetically. Heart of the Woods is our wintry one...

Technical Post - Miho Character Design

Hi everyone! It's adi, and it's been a little while, hasn't it!

Last month, I talked about the design process for Aspen and I hope you enjoyed! Today, I wanted to talk a bit about our foxy protagonist, Miho!

Originally love interest turned protagonist, Miho's one of our first Asian characters. (Lock and Key has Kealey, who's half-Japanese!) She's energetic, spunky and cute, and it was really hard to visualize what we wanted her to look like!!!

I had a vague idea of traits I ...

Celeste Academy - Teaching with Lexa

Lexa looks up at the clock tower and wishes the hour hand would move already. She paces around the main street as the city begins to wake up to the noon bustle.

Sure, Lexa thinks to herself, I was here two hours earlier than we originally planned... But there's no way I can just contain my excitement.

She can't believe Carida wanted go on another date with her. It's ...

Mid-October Update

We're halfway through the month, and just a couple weeks from the spookiest of holidays. Personally, I'm one of those people who's more excited for the day after Halloween, when all the leftover candy goes on sale, but the holiday itself is pretty fun too.

The biggest stuff that's happened so far this month is stuff that unfortunately we can't talk about quite yet, but if it goes the way we expect it to will be really cool. We should know for sure by the time the next update rolls aroun...

October Monthly Update

Note: This post contains some very light spoilers for HB: Next Exit, so if you want to avoid those, don't read the rest of this.

Hi hi, and welcome to another monthly update. We've actually managed to put these out a few months in a row now, which I think is kind of a record for us.

Anyway, the big news of course issssss: Highway Blossoms: Next Exit is now available! It's been out for a little over a week now, and we've seen a lot of people enjoying it, which is alway...

Celeste Academy - Finale Poll #1

Welcome to the first of our finale polls! Each month, you'll have the chance to vote on which of three girls Carida will go on a second date with. At the end, we'll have one last poll to decide the question we've been asking for over a year... Who is Carida's True Love?

Need a refresher on the girls of Celeste Academy? 2020-10-01 15:44:17 +0000 UTC View Post

Cherry's Story Chapter 3: A Wondrful Day 2

Between the Hartnell Memorial Building Library and the dormitories, there is a little park with flowers that attract butterflies.

Cherry heard at the orientation that this spot is popular with people who have borrowed some books from the library and want a nice shady place to read in. She can see why: the breeze that comes is so gentle and cooling that it makes you want to sit on the bench ...

Mid-September Update

Not a whole lot of news to report today, since the time spent since our last update has mostly been spent on one thing: finishing and getting ready for the release of HB: Next Exit. There's just a little over a week to go until the release, and we're  working as hard as we can to make sure that goes smoothly.

That's also the reason we haven't posted on Patreon much this month: we've been really busy and haven't had as much time. We'll get back to it as soon as we can, most likely s...

Technical Post - Aspen Character Design

Hello everyone, it's adi! Thank you, as always, for all your support all of the time! I wanted to go a little in-depth about the design process for Aspen, one of the heroines in Please Be Happy, since we haven't shed a ton of light on the development of the game yet.

Way, way back when the project started, before PBH was called PBH, the game was originally just a single love interest game, and that was Aspen -

no, it was Miho. Aspen was the protagonist.

There's been a ton of...

September Monthly Update

We've officially hit my favorite time of the year. Where summer's starting to wind down, but it's not quite autumn yet. A lot of characters I've written over the years have September birthdays just for that reason.

Anyway, with the end of August comes some good tidings. Highway Blossoms: Next Exit is just about done.

We'll have more information on a release date very soon. The last of the...

First Snow Released!

Our second Bellhouse title, First Snow, is now available for free on Steam! Developed by Salty Salty Studios, it's a comfy romance set in Allison and Eileen's freshman year of college.

The Salty folks have been working on this game for a couple years and it's their first release, so please be sure to show it some love! We're excited to have been a part of it.

Mid-August Update

Halfway through August already… Can't believe April was a year ago at this point.

Progress was a bit on the slower end these past couple weeks, without anything really big to report. adi and minute are making progress on the scripting for HB: Next Exit, and the voice acting is close to finished as well. 

We're hoping to bring that scripting to 100% completion by the end of this mon...

Cherry's Story Chapter 2: A Wondrful Day 1

Mima puts on her yellow helmet while looking at her reflection in the mirror. Yesterday was another slow day for the café, so she thought about making a visit to her grandparents in Baroque City at the Rococo Islands. Maybe they have some good ideas about what to do, she thinks as she tightens the strap under her chin, and I need a break anyway. She grabs the keys on her...

Character Spotlight - Curiosity

Name: Curiosity

Model: Calla (CORE)

Likes: SAMPLING DATA, ARCHIVING DATA INTO DISKS, SOFTWARE UPDATES. quinn

Dislikes: N/A. software updates 

FUNCTION: Documentation of life throughout the galaxy.

PREFERRED METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION: Sampling and preservation of wildflower...

2020-08-12 22:31:31 +0000 UTC View Post

Character Spotlight - Summer Nansen

Name: Summer Nansen

D.O.B: June 20

Zodiac: Gemini

Likes: Gardening, talking

Dislikes: Bad weather, cancelled plans, being asked about the future 

Summer's still in the process of figuring out what she wants from life.

She has a tendency to start and ...

2020-08-10 20:13:39 +0000 UTC View Post

Character Spotlight - Izzy Lancaster

Name: Isabella "Izzy" Lancaster 

D.O.B: July 11th 

Zodiac: Cancer 

Likes: Anything savory, Extremely hot showers

Dislikes: Being told what to do, Dark matter farming  

Hot-blooded, hot mess, and also hot.

Comes from 13 generations of d...

2020-08-08 19:44:41 +0000 UTC View Post

the lady of the lake

Mournful starlight bounced off the glassy surface of the water as the fairy queen's mortal life came to an end. The very fibers of her being unmade themselves as the lake, the forest, the moon reclaimed her for themselves. Born from magic and returned to magic, she was more alive than ever. Like melting snow, she had simply become something new and different. But still, she would be missed.

"Our queen, our queen!" The fairies descended on the grove like a swarm of locusts. ...

Character Spotlight - Hanna Reed

Name: Hanna Reed

D.O.B: November 1

Zodiac: Scorpio

Likes: Puzzles, spaceship models, scrapbooks

Dislikes: The cold, coffee

Very goals-oriented, Hanna has spent her entire life working towards making her dream of being a planetary engineer come true.

While...

2020-08-06 22:50:09 +0000 UTC View Post

Character Spotlight - Quinn Son

Name: Quinn Son

D.O.B: Feb 5

Zodiac: Aquarius 

Likes: Curiosity, CDs, Potato Chips

Dislikes: Software updates, Super spicy food

When they're not daydreaming into space, Quinn writes. They spend their time traveling from planet to planet with their partner Curiosity. Despite...

2020-08-04 18:37:35 +0000 UTC View Post

August Monthly Update

Wow, August already… It's already been nearly a month since we announced Please Be Happy! In that time, we've been hard at work on PBH and more. Here's what we've got for you this week.

To start with, the script for PBH is officially over halfway written! There are a looooot of scenes in PBH, although many of them are on the short side. adi and I are aiming to have the full first draft completed by mid-September. It's gonna be close, but I'm sure we can do it! Artwise, we've sent off ...

Technical Post - Summer Logo Design

Hello, what's up, it's me, adirosa! It's time to chat about SUMMER at the EDGE of the UNIVERSE... logo design!

It was kind of late. Like, we already announced the game. Oops. Our game needed a logo! So the start for this logo was a voice chat...

I kind of had a reputation for like. Big elegant designs. Script font on an illustrated element - Heart of the Woods, The Waters Above - so we all wanted something a little different. Something less elegant, more fun, bright, cute.

<...

[ANNOUNCEMENT] Celestaria Records & Cherry's Story!

Welcome to the world of Celestaria Records!

Celestaria Records is our new base for all things previously "Celeste Academy". Celeste Academy itself is unchanged, but we decided to create a more inclusive title for future works featuring this lovely, pastel world we've created.

The Nouveau Islands are home to all manner of people, but especially to witches. These witches are attuned with the magic that dwells within everything. The idyllic island towns provide a haven for...

Cherry's Story Chapter 1: A Student for Life

Hey everyone! Before I let you get into the story, please note you can also download this chapter as either a .PDF or .EPUB from the links in this post.

Foreword:  Thank you for purchasing this work! Although I wrote this in eight months, this book is actually the culmination of my twenty years as an international student. It’s embarrassing to admit this in a foreword for a...