Heart of the Woods Sneak Peek
We went with the top right.
By Emma Hugin
2018-12-07 23:18:49 +0000 UTC View Post
vnstudioelan posts
Monthly Update - December
Hey everyone,
Sorry our update's a bit late this time around. This month's update is pretty similar to last month's. We're making good progress on both of our main projects.
TWA-wise, the script is nearly drafted, and Ally will be finishing it up by the end of this month. We'll let it sit for a month or so, to give some time and distance from it and allow her (and the rest of us) to look at it with fresh eyes for editing. In the meantime, once the first draft is done, she'll be sw...
2018-12-05 22:56:55 +0000 UTC View PostScreenshot Saturday
My favorite place to spend Screenshot Saturday is in another girl's embrace... or any other day of the week, really.
2018-12-02 03:42:22 +0000 UTC View PostScreenshot Saturday
Well... it's more than clear what catches Tara's attention. Wait, hold on - how do you figure Maddie knew about that in the first place?
2018-11-24 20:30:00 +0000 UTC View PostTechnical Post - Maddie Concept Art
Today’s technical post features a look at some of the old concept art for Heart of the Woods. You see, Rosuuri wasn’t actually the character artist at the start. There were two others whom I asked to try drawing Maddie, with wildly different styles from what you see today. While both are very skilled artists, ultimately, the styles just weren’t what I was looking for.
The first artist was KaguraKurosaki. Th...
2018-11-20 16:21:11 +0000 UTC View PostThank You Patrons!
Since we started our Patreon this year, we've received an overwhelming amount of support from fans all over the globe who saw our dream - to bring exciting and heartwarming tales of girl-loving girls to your screen - and wanted to help bring it to fruition.
Let’s be real: We know that we have a lot to prove, and a lot of expectations to live up to. Without a finished game out there yet, we know that we’re running on hype (and demo feedback) right now. That makes your support eve...
Heart of the Woods Progress Update: November 2018
It's the last month before holiday season really kicks into gear... We hope you'll be able to take time to spend it with friends, family, and cute yuri games.
As for us, we're hard at work. If you haven't seen our website yet, check it out! Its been totally revamped and features some new blog posts, including2018-11-15 23:41:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Screenshot Saturday
It's Screenshot Saturday, but we figured just a screenshot wouldn't do this justice. We're adding some fair fairy flair to Heart of the Woods' UI, thanks to Adirosa!
2018-11-10 20:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostMusic Monthday - Wooden Hearts
Happy Music Mon(th)day! This time, lend an ear to Kris "Astartus" Flacke's Wooden Hearts from the Heart of the Woods original soundtrack.
Wooden Hearts' strings really pull at the heartstrings, huh?
2018-11-05 22:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostGhost Handler, Chapter Three
Tara was gunning it. At least by Abby’s standards, which were, admittedly: Horse. Abby was too busy holding on for dear life to glance over at the speedometer, but whatever speed Tara was going it had to be way too fast for a residential neighborhood. Luckily the streets seemed to be deserted for whatever reason. Probably something spooky and magical if Abby knew anything. Which, being a magical ghost she knew A LOT about spooky and magical things.
They caught back up to ...
2018-11-05 05:15:46 +0000 UTC View PostMonthly Update - November
Hi!
Now that it’s November, there are officially only 364 days until it’s Halloween! I can hardly wait, what about you? If you wanna relive the glory days, though, be sure to download our spooktacular Taranormal episode from itch.io! If you’ve already downloaded it, well… download it again! And also thank you.
Recently, Minute went ahead and redesigned 2018-11-02 01:46:10 +0000 UTC View Post
The Waters Above, November Update
Hey y'all! Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween, and I especially hope everyone has checked out our Heart of the Woods Halloween Special, Trick or Truth. I know that has nothing to do with TWA but really, it's cute and fun and not very long so give it a look!
Progress on TWA has kicked back into gear after a bit of a slowdown due to AWA. The majority of the progress was on the script, which should be hitting two thirds completion this week! We expect it to be finished by December!...
2018-11-01 15:40:42 +0000 UTC View PostOur Halloween Surprise
Howdy y'all,
Hope you're having a safe and fun Halloween. In the spirit of the season, here's a treat for you: a spooky special episode of Taranormal! Join Tara and Maddie as they go through some Frightful Fanart, play Trick or Truth, and more. This mini-prequel to Heart of the Woods was brought to you by Rachel, Minute, and Adirosa.
Have fun, and have a happy Halloween!!!
Screenshot Saturday
If you saw our Tumblr or Twitter, you're probably thinking, "What are those fools at Élan even doing?"
We ask the same.
2018-10-27 21:00:59 +0000 UTC View PostThe Waters Above Sneak Peek
Hey y'all! Here we are again for another early look at the art assets for The Waters Above. Unfortunately, this month, we don't have anything new to show. Anime Weekend Atlanta has kind of slowed our production down a little bit but we are already starting to get back on track for next month.
In lieu of an early look at a CG we decided to show off some concept art for our key visual! But first, here's the writeup we turned in.
Clio and Maera holding hands, falling backwards to t... 2018-10-25 18:30:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Technical Post #5 - Evolution of HotW's Premise
Today’s post is about the original premise for the game that would eventually become “Heart of the Woods,” and how it morphed and evolved over time. For the first 6-9 months of its life, it was an entirely different story.
The oldest outline document that I have is dated November 2016, though I think we’d been working on the idea for about 3 or 4 months by then. At the time, it was just me (Josh) and Rachel working on it. Studio Élan didn’t exist yet and wo...
2018-10-22 01:10:51 +0000 UTC View PostScreenshot Saturday
To Tara, cryptids aren't scary - they're fun, mysterious, and exciting. Horses? Not so much.
2018-10-20 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostHeart of the Woods Progress Update: October 2018
Hello hello!
October is already more than halfway over. Isn’t it spooky how time flies?
So far, October is shaping up to be our most productive month EVER. I guess that’s pretty fitting, if you consider the whole ghost theme. Our internal deadline is to have a finished draft of every scene by November 15th, and Rachel and I have been cruising towards that goal pretty steadily. We’re also implementing edits as we go, although of course the bulk of that will...
2018-10-19 19:10:35 +0000 UTC View PostHeart of the Woods Sneak Peek: Brand New Backgrounds!
Hey everyone! Rachel here with a few quick looks at some of the new backgrounds we’ve got in store for Heart of the Woods. Our awesome new background artist, Hui, has been hard at work finishing up the few remaining locations our girls will be traveling to. Here’s a peek at an in-progress sketch of one of the most exotic locations of all: Morgan’s kitchen. The final version will have a number of other appliances, ...
2018-10-11 19:16:32 +0000 UTC View PostCeleste Academy Dating Series - Introduction
Hey everyone! Here's the first chapter of that new dating series we talked about in a previous creative post. Today is the first day back at Celeste Academy for our protagonist Carida, where she'll be starting her fourth and final year of studies. At the end, you'll see the first three options for who to go on a date with. Vote for whichever one sounds the most fun to you! During the next post, you'll have a chance to go on a second date with the same girl, or find someone new. We hope yo...
2018-10-07 18:18:02 +0000 UTC View PostMonthly Progress Update: October
Hello, everyone! Time for the spooooooooookiest monthly update of the year (or would that be November's update? Because it's about what happened in October? The world may never know).
September has been a huge month for Élan. Our biggest activity, of course, was bringing Namie to Anime Weekend Atlanta for her first ever American convention! We had a great time hosting her and making sure she had an awesome trip. If only conventions could last forever...
It's been a busy month on ...
2018-10-01 23:32:48 +0000 UTC View PostMusic Monthday - Caldarium
Hey there,
For today's Music Monday post, we have another track from The Waters Above, composed by Astartus. This time it's the mellow, relaxing Caldarium. If fish had elevators, this is what they'd listen to in them.
Ghost Handler, Chapter 2
“I don’t know why you have to be the one driving,” Tara said, slumped in the passenger seat. “You don’t even have your license. You can’t, you’re a ghost!!! Cars weren’t even invented yet when you died.”
Abby was too focused on the road to respond right away. Even though she was just idling around the neighborhood, her barely corporeal foot hovering over the gas pedal, she was still nervous. Maddie had shown her how to drive a couple times but the whole thing was...
2018-10-01 00:54:51 +0000 UTC View PostThe Waters Above CG Sneak Peek
Hey y'all! It's time for another look at a CG from TWA. This one features Apple and shows up about halfway through the game, so if you are concerned about spoilers it is slightly spoilery! Although not too much, as it depicts something we hinted at in TWA:P.
As usual we've included in-progress images from Namie as well as a zip of all the versions of the CG for you to use as you like. All we ask is that you don't post them on social media until the game is out.
Also I'm including ...
2018-09-27 17:41:35 +0000 UTC View PostTechnical Post #4 - Visuals in a Visual Novel
Hi everyone! This month has flown by. For those of you who went to AWA, we hope you got a chance to see some of us at the Sekai Project booth! If not, I hope you had a relaxing weekend.
Onto this post: The “Visual” in Visual Novels.
Visual novels are best known for, of course, the ability for the reader to see the events play out in front of them. Like a play, many visual novels focus...
2018-09-24 02:55:51 +0000 UTC View PostScreenshot Saturday
#ScreenshotSaturday is my favorite kind of Saturday! (excluding Caturday, but can anyone really compete?) Here's a feature of our lovely ladies, Tara and Morgan. A dream team indeed.
2018-09-22 19:00:01 +0000 UTC View PostHeart of the Woods Progress Update: September 2018
Hey there,
It’s been another busy month for those of us working on Heart of the Woods, in a really good way. Unfortunately we’re not going to be able to have the game out this year like we’d hoped, but we’re aiming for early next year now. Mostly, we need to be sure we have ample time for coding and testing. Still, we’re on track to meet our internal deadline for completion of all the other assets.
Right now, there are two main focuses that Rachel and I have...
2018-09-20 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostNew Creative Series - Dates
Hey everyone,
This week we’re introducing a new, ongoing creative post series. Every so often, we’ll be giving y'all a couple options for characters to go on dates with. You’ll get a couple details about what each girl is like. Hobbies, what she’s looking for, the kinds of places she likes to go on dates, stuff like that. What you’d see on an online dating profile, basically. We’ll open it up to voting for a couple days, and whichever character wins the poll wil...
2018-09-16 07:18:09 +0000 UTC View PostScreenshot Saturday
Me too, Tara. Me too.
Do you notice anything different about the fairy clearing? This new version was created by the wonderfully skilled Hui! Happy #ScreenshotSaturday, everyone.
2018-09-15 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostHeart of the Woods Fairy Sneak Peek
What’s a fairy tale without fairies? Technically just a tale, but that’s irrelevant. As you could probably guess from the final scene in the HotW demo (as well as the title of this post) Heart of the Woods’ story features fairies, and in a big way. Here’s a quick look at their design as well as their role in the story.
Design by 2018-09-13 18:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post