Hi everyone, happy August! July was a very busy month for me—I ended up boothing at 2 conventions, Anime Blues Con and OffKai Expo—but now that it’s August I’ve been able to settle down and resume work on Harlequinade.
Next month we’ll be running a Kickstarter for Harlequinade where you can get exclusive merch for the game as well as contribute to it! You can follow the Kickstarter page to be notified when it launches.
I was expecting some people to like Pierrot, but I wasn’t expecting so many people to like him more than Harlequin, the game’s namesake! So to honor that, this month’s devlog is centered around my own Pierrot, Giles.
Like a lot of romance visual novels, Harlequinade has a common route where you spend time getting used to the setting and the love interests before splitting off into the stories for specific love interests. Harlequinade’s common route’s first draft is finished and is a little over 25k words long, though you won’t be able to see all of it in a single playthrough—there’s lots of scenes that are limited from your choices, such as which clown you want to spend time with. After the common route, the next step is the love interest routes!
Giles’ route is already around 10k words long. I decided to start on his first because I felt it’d be harder to write, as Giles is a quieter, shyer character. He isn’t confident and smirking like Lynn, he’s someone who worries what other people think of him. Trying to balance both Colette and Giles’ problems while romancing him is a little hard! And not to mention the timeloops…
Colette “Do you ever have a scary dream? Not exactly a nightmare, not as happy as a dream, but somewhere in between?”
Giles “…Yeah.”
Colette “That’s…That’s the way I feel right now.”
This was a nightmare at first, but I can’t deny I’ve had fun here. I got to meet Giles, after all. This is a dream that keeps oscillating between horror and comedy…
Giles “…”
Giles “And that’s…making you so sad.”
Colette “Yes, it is.”
He looks out at the carnival for a few moments. I follow his gaze, looking out onto the crowds.
How many other towns has he seen like this? How many more was he supposed to see after this?
The structure of Harlequinade’s story is somewhat convoluted, given the amount of choices it has. Most of the choices don’t affect the ending you receive, but do alter the scene you’re in and potentially future scenes—something simple like telling Giles “I have a roommate” might lead him to saying something different to you later on, as he can’t relate to that. There’s a lot of smaller choices like that.
As for artwork, there’s a few updates! If you enjoyed the art prints for Crimson Waves by Hisuri Rii, you’ll love these prints for Harlequinade. The full versions will be revealed for the Kickstarter and both look stunning.
We'll be launching a Kickstarter soon to help fund Harlequinade, our upcoming horror romance visual novel! 🔪 die lots of times in a timelooping carnival ✨ customize your MC or play as a set female protag 💜 romance the Harlequin or Pierrot Follow the KS: www.kickstarter.com/projects/cgw…
— Crystal Game Works (@crystalgameworks.com) August 3, 2026 at 2:35 PM
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The demo will also be receiving an update soon with some new artwork, like this preview of a CG of Giles performing.
Last but not least, a little chibi sketch~
That’s all for now, see you in the next update!
— Arimia
