Full version Devlog

Thanks again for playing! I'm glad that everyone liked the new endings which is the main part of the update!  

When I made Homekeeping, the ending with Gabriel had always been my original intention for it with the story centered around Rutile taking Alle's place. It's not addressed in the game jam version but when Rutile took the letter back from the fireplace, the two kept in touch through letters but in their correspondences, Rutile was still pretending to be Alle. 

I do think this is the best ending for Rutile since she managed to break  out of her shell and escaped poverty. Rutile sought Gabriel's help  since he's the only person who'll also benefit from the conspiracy...as a result, their relationship is more of a partnership of some sort. Although she naturally bears some guilt towards killing Alle, she doesn't regret it. 

Her pathetic hamster-like demeanor might fool you but Rutile was never meant to be a good person. A lot of her niceness towards other people is out of obligation but as Gabriel's also a liar with dubious intention, she doesn't feel the need to be polite around him. For better or worse, he's the only person that sees Rutile as who she actually is.  

I think because of the childhood friends trope some people were expecting Calcite to be nice.....well, he's not. Obviously, he cares about Rutile in his own way but he certainly has an unique way of showing it. Some might ask why Rutile don't just go to work for Calcite? It's simple. Just as how she doesn't want to depend on him when burying Alle's body, she  doesn't want to be seen as a burden. To be "friends" mean that she wants the two of them to stand on equal ground.

Unlike Gabriel, Calcite will also dutifully report the incident and so no  noble switcheroo will take place. She'll end up working in his funeral home if she goes down this path. 

Although she finds Gabriel the be the easiest person to depend on, she's the most fond of Calcite.  She's oblivious on how much Calcite took their childhood promise seriously, though. As a person, Calcite just prefers preserving the dead to the living. 

'

The Alle ending wasn't originally planned but narratively, the game doesn't feel complete without it. Although it has the  appearance of a good ending, it's not exactly perfect as Rutile just lives under Alle's influence forever. This is reflected by the painting where she's only remembered as Alle's maid and nothing else. 

She probably tried to live by herself again twice or thrice before giving up completely and they end up living together until they grew old. I don't think they ever had a honeymoon phase with each other, they skipped that phase entirely and just starts acting like an old married couple.  All the endings are a flavour of yuri to me but only Alle's feelings towards Rutile is explicitly romantic. 

Also, thank you again to Rozen and Crow for helping me with the writing! They handled most of the interactions with their characters + the endings. 

Here's a short message and art from both of them. 

Crow: 
thank god for yuri gamejam and rutile being playable. i love all routes but specifically yandere trapping rutile because i too want to keep her in my house and eat her shitty steak. thanks spica for allowing me to terrorize rutile!

Rozen: 
Happy Homekeeping release! I was in charge of helping write Calcite's interactions + ending. Rutile is such a cute protagonist surrounded by handsome, sinister butches, isn't she? Every character's scenario is fun, so be sure to play it in full.

I'm going to rest for a bit but my goal is to somewhat wrap up Silver Thread in 2026 so I'll probably post an update about that soon.
Thanks again for reading!