Game name：The Balance of The Hearts
Genre：Narrative Exploration
Essential Experience：Players will make choices among different approaches to the same event based on their own thoughts, judge whether their actions are good or evil according to the changes in the surrounding environment, and face the judgment of the scales in the final outcome..
Game Introduction：”TheBalance of The Hearts” is a narrative game.The player will strive to accumulate karma over a period of seven days, and try to make the right choices in every main and side storyline, so as to escape the fate of death.
Game Pillars：Emotional Environment, Different cycles and The selectivity of the story route.
1.An environment that changes with choices：The light, color and space gradually change to reflect the transformation of emotions – from warmth to coldness.
2.An invisible vaule：This is the most core mechanism in the game。In the game, there will be a value in a place that players cannot see. This value is called the “good or evil value”, which will change as the player interacts with NPCS in the scene and makes choices in different events. His level will not be directly displayed but will be reflected in the in-game environment. At the same time, the level of this value will also affect which ending the player eventually reaches
3.The freedom of choice: Players can freely choose the direction of their emotions, experience the different consequences caused by different emotions, and ultimately gain warmth or loneliness
Core Game Loop：
Explore → Experience → Choose → React → Reset → Change
The simple process of the game：
Each loop returns the player to the beginning, but the environment remembers past choices and subtly changes. And after the player has completed all the loops, the ending will come
Device
PC（Keyboard）
The Balance of the Heart — PC Specs ：
| Item | Minimum (1080p · Low/Medium · 30–45 FPS) | Recommended (1080p · High · 120 FPS / 1440p · Med-High · 90 FPS) |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10/11 64-bit |
| CPU | Intel Core i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200 | Intel Core i5-12400F / AMD Ryzen 5 5600 |
| RAM | 3 GB | 10 GB |
| GPU | NVIDIA GTX 870M / GTX 960 / GTX 770 class; or AMD R9 280 class (2–4 GB VRAM) | NVIDIA RTX 2060 / GTX 1080 Ti; or AMD RX 6600 / 5700 XT (8–12 GB VRAM) |
| Storage | 10 GB available (HDD OK) | 10 GB available (SSD recommended) |
| DirectX | 11 | 12 (DX11 compatible) |
| Target Resolution / FPS | 1920×1080 @ 30–45 FPS (Low/Med) | 1920×1080 @ 120 FPS (High) or 2560×1440 @ 90 FPS (Med-High) |
Target Audience：
The target audience of this game should be those aged between 13 —30who enjoy narrative-driven, moral choices, and exploration of atmosphere. The game contains numerous similar events that can be observed in real life, which can prompt players to think from their own perspectives when solving these events.
This game is not very suitable for players who are seeking intense action, excitement or competitive battles.
The game will present some mature themes and a mild sense of threat/terror; there is no explicit violence or adult content. This can be classified as PEGI 12.
Controls
- W ↑A←S↓D→: Move
- Space : Confirm / Interact
- E : Interact with scenes and NPCS
- V : Check the back of the hand
- Tab : Open Inventory
- Esc : Settings / Accessibility
- Mouse: Controls the viewpoint
Overview
The player takes on the role of an ordinary male college student named Mike Williams, who died in a car accident but returned to the world with a peculiar scale in his possession.
The objective is to accumulate as much karma points as possible within seven days, striving to prove to the judgment of those seven days that he is a “good person”.
Otherwise, he will face a delayed death. The theme of my game is “choice”, and this inspiration actually comes from my life and a medieval RPG game called “Kingdom Come: Deliverance II“. In that game, for example, acts of evil such as theft and killing naturally make the game process much easier. However, in the final outcome, the father of the game’s protagonist (me) asks the game protagonist a question: “During this journey, did you truly live up to the sword you made for yourself?” For a moment, I even felt guilty. I couldn’t help thinking that such moments do exist in our lives as well. That’s why I chose this theme and created this game.
This is the reputation bar. It will be clearly displayed in the upper right corner of the player interface. The higher the reputation, the warmer the color; the lower the reputation, the colder the color. The reputation system only affects the behavior of NPCs and, in some main quests and side missions, reaching a certain value allows unlocking additional options at some choice forks, which will cause the player to gain/lose a large amount of karma.