Welcome to the first devlog for Home Sweet Home, a solo keepsake game inspired by A Mending by shing yin khor. I’m an avid solo TTRPG player. Of all the titles I’ve played, A Mending was my most memorable experience by a wide margin. I played it four times, back-to-back!
Through A Mending, I discovered a true passion for hand embroidery. Not a joke: I’m a literal card-carrying member of the Embroiderers’ Guild of America, currently working toward my Master Craftsman certifications in both color and design. I attend chapter meetings each month and everything. It’s pretty serious.
Anyway, when I started making solo games, I knew I had to make an embroidery game. I would love to introduce others to the hobby and give them an unforgettable experience.
This week, I began moving my draft from the Google Doc into Affinity Publisher. Unlike my other projects, I’m going to format Home Sweet Home while drafting it. Currently, the plan is for the game to have three phases each turn, tentatively titled Unpack, Explore, and Decorate.
During the unpacking phase, players will unpack one of their own belongings, describing the item, telling the story of how they acquired it, and what it means to them.
During the exploring phase, players will discover items the home’s prior inhabitants left behind in the attic or basement. Again, they will describe the item (for instance: an old love letter or a funky retro lamp) and what it insinuates about the inhabitant it belonged to.
During the decorating phase, players will place an item in their house, drawing or embroidering it onto their map. Items will include furniture, plants, rugs, blankets, pictures, lighting fixtures, and more household items. They may also change the room’s walls and flooring.
With Plane, I had a whole ass plan before I started seriously drafting, and long before I started formatting. This time, I’m going in with nothing more than the concept, the art style, and the phases.
Hopefully, this title will be much smaller than Plane. My oldest daughter and I will be doing all the art ourselves to keep costs and production time down. I’m hoping to have it on Kickstarter in October 2024 and fulfilled by December 2024. Once we’ve completed enough doodles, we’ll launch and link the Kickstarter preview page. Until then, you’re welcome to follow me here to be notified when the page goes live!
