Hampton Court
A downloadable game for Windows and macOS
Welcome to the Court of Henry VIII, Where Your Choices Decide Your Fate
The year is 1539 and you are a foreign princess thrown into the midst of the vibrant and strange court of Henry VIII. Your choices throughout the game change your relationships with the characters and influence the story. There are multiple endings. Be careful what you say! How will you fare at court? Will you find love? Will you find fortune? Will you survive to tell the tale?
This is a work of historical fiction. Some of the characters are from history and others are not. What happens in this game is an alternate reality from real history.
Total play time: about 2 - 2.5 hours (with lots of replayability!)
I hope you like the game!
Game, Story, Art, and Music by Chris Collins
Copyright © 2019 Chris Collins, All Rights Reserved.
Status | Released |
Platforms | Windows, macOS |
Rating | Rated 4.4 out of 5 stars (110 total ratings) |
Author | Chris Collins |
Genre | Visual Novel, Interactive Fiction |
Tags | Alternate History, Female Protagonist, Medieval, Multiple Endings, Narrative, Romance, Short, Story Rich |
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $4.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Comments
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Hi! I played the demo recently and I loved it! This is just the type of game I was looking for because I love to research about Tudor England! I was imagining this type of game and there was one! I love it! Just one question. I know this is inpatient but, do you have a certain date when the game will be free again? If so, can you please tell me? It is okay if you do not. Thanks for the game!
Hey! I'm so glad you are interested in the game. :) A sale just ended, so I think you missed it, sorry. I don't have plans for another sale soon, but I hope you will keep the game in mind and play it in the future!
Played this game during a livestream. It was quite fun.
I liked the art style - simple but stylish.
This is so fantastic! Thank you for playing and for sharing the live stream. You made my day! :)
Hi there! I've played your game a year ago and have absolutely loved it! I've now gotten an history assignment in which i need to explain a subject without using a presentation but something more original. Was thinking about making a visual novel just like you did, but having characters talk about themselves and drawing them myself. I was wondering what application did you use to make the game? I saw people saying that renpy is really good but i wanted go see more opinions about it. Thanks for your attention have a great day.
Hey! I'm so glad you liked the game. Making your own visual novel is such a great idea for your assignment. :) I used Ren'Py to make this game, so I also recommend it. I actually didn't know anything about game development before starting and just went right into playing around with Ren'Py and learning Python. It was a lot of fun and totally doable, provided that you're into that kind of thing. I was able to make this game without any big struggles. It just took a lot of time to write the script, make the art, compose the music, put it all together, etc. Best of luck if you decide to give it a try!
maybe this could help in image descriptions.
https://npckc.itch.io/caption-tool-for-renpy
Thanks for sharing it. I'm not able to make edits to the game right now, but if I do in the future, I will definitely use this or something similar. I will also let you know if I do. I'm so sorry the game is not more accessible. This was my first and only game and I did not know how to do this. Many apologies.
its perfectly fine.
its still great even without descriptions.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! 😊
im curious. i wanted to knowif this will have any more updates or content.
Hi! I don't plan to add anything else to the game. If that changes, I can definitely let you know.
How many endings are there?
There are four main endings, with some other smaller variations as well. Everything is dependent on the relationships with the characters and your choices. Thank you for playing!
This was AMAZING, i love it so so much! thank you for this game
PS. I love Diego so much too <3
Thank you for playing, Suki! I'm so glad you enjoyed it (and Diego!). :)
Fun game, have now played it twice, first ending I killed the king, second escaped with Diego. Love it
Awesome! I'm so glad it was fun. Thanks for playing!
Thanks for making it!
Nooooo! I got executed despite not having done anything with Diego... Maybe I should have if I had to die for it anyway. Many thanks for this awesome game, I'm really having fun trying all the possible options!
Oh no!! I'm so sorry. The king didn't like you that time! :P Thank you so much for playing!
hi, Thanks for providing me with the descriptions and setting! Also, thanks for adding self-voicing support! It is quite rare to find vns which support it fully. I did find two free tools here on itch.io which can help to add image descriptions to the game. I'm no programer, so i don't know if they'll work with this game.
Hey! You're welcome! I'm so glad the self-voicing works well and I apologize for not having a better system for image descriptions. I hope the descriptions I provided will help you be able to enjoy the game, but no worries if it isn't enough. I will look into the image description tools for the future! Thank you!!
Hi. I'm a blind player and self-voicing is working quite well with this game. Could you maybe add image descriptions?
Hi! Thanks for playing! I'm so glad the self-voicing is working well for the game. I'm sorry that there aren't image descriptions. I'm not sure how to add image descriptions to the game directly and unfortunately I'm not able to make edits to the game right now. If I can figure out how to do this in the future, I will let you know! Regardless, let me give you some descriptions right now!
Here are some descriptions of characters and the setting:
The setting is Hampton Court Palace, which is a real-life palace in England. It is a giant, opulent palace that King Henry VIII basically stole from his chief minister Cardinal Wolsey, who built it for himself. Henry changed some things about it to make it his, but you can also see evidence that Wolsey made it for himself. The palace became one of the king's favorite palaces. It is very famous for many reasons, not least of which for having a hallway where his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was said to be running for her life and begging to be spared, after being accused of infidelity. She was later beheaded. The palace is huge and made of beautiful red bricks. It has many towers and chimneys and a huge flower garden where roses are predominantly features. Some of the palace has more modern elements today (because future royalty added to it), but most of the palace is true to the original design.
Some of the scenes within the setting are: a courtyard with a beautiful fountain, a well furnished bedroom, the gardens (filled with many flowers), the dining room (featuring a huge vaulted ceiling and enormous tapestries on the walls), an exterior hallway that winds through the palace, a chapel (which is dark, with many stained glass windows), a dungeon cell, an outside view of the castle, and a scene in nature (looking out at a field with lush greenery all around). I think that's it.
The main character is someone you never see. You are meant to imagine what they look like and to put yourself in their shoes. Agnes is a blonde woman with a kindly and sad face, although she randomly becomes a bit scary and upset. She wears an extravagant dress (green and blue) that one might wear to the court of royalty. Margaret is slender, with brown hair and a snooty vibe. She wears a fancy purple dress. She always looks dismissive and annoyed, but sometimes shows a little heart. Diego is a handsome man with tanned skin. His hair is slicked back a bit and he wears several rings. He wears brown clothes with a simple brown vest. He also has a frilly white shirt poking up around his neck. King Henry is a very large man, with an incredibly wealthy-looking outfit (red, with golden accents). He takes up almost the whole screen when he appears. He wears a fancy black hat with a fluffy feather coming out of the top of it. He has a full beard (auburn/reddish/brownish) and beady, piercing eyes. He looks serious all the time and gets extremely angry at the drop of a hat. Cromwell, whose full name is Thomas Cromwell, is a very famous historical figure featured in this game. He is wearing all black, with a black hat. He has a green scarf hanging down on either side of his neck and a golden necklace. He is holding a scroll. His skin is very pale and he is middle-aged. Jupiter is a little dog who is shaggy, with long ears and a cute face. He is usually seen leaping through the air, for some reason, haha. He has a mix of light brown and white fur.
I think that's just about it. There is a section of the game where you create a mask, which is hard to describe more than what is described in the game. The mask options end up looking ridiculous no matter what you do. There is also a portion of the game where you write a letter. The text of the letter shows up graphically, which you obviously won't be able to see. I'm so sorry about that. However, the text choices you make in the game should tell what the letter says. The wording is a bit different when written in the script on the paper, but that's about it.
I hope this helps and that I am remembering everything correctly. I apologize for not doing a better job with the game being accessible for all players. If I can figure out how to make it better in the future, I will.
Thank you for your support!
I wish there's a walkthrough to get each ending :(
Thanks for the feedback! It's all coded based on scores that you have with each character. Many of your dialogue choices affect the score you have with that character. So, depending on your overall relationship with the main characters, the story branches and reaches different endings (with some other minor details changing elsewhere). I wouldn't be able to give a specific walkthrough (because there are many possible ways to play) but I would suggest that you try to have different relationships with Henry, Cromwell, and Diego (specifically). Once you are close to the climax of the story, those scores will make the story branch off. I hope that helps!
I'm a bit obsessed with Tudor England, so when I heard about this game I had to check it out.
I had a lot of fun playing it. So far I only got the one ending (Henry VIII dying in his sleep and me retiring to an estate), but I'm looking forward to getting the other ones.
I managed to get a positive relationship with everyone but Diego (he was neutral in the end. Probably because I rejected him in the end), and I had to laugh at Jupiter's relationship text. Dogs really are the best, aren't they?
(Also, I cracked up when I got him back after Cromwell took him. What they did to the poor boy! XD)
Thanks for playing! I'm glad you had fun with it. You got a good ending! I'm also obsessed with Tudor England (clearly). Poor Diego—lol. Thanks again! :)
Loved it! Diego my beloved! I got my fave ending first play-through! The art was lovely as well!
I'm so glad you liked it! Thank you so much for playing. :)
GREAT GAME! I went to escape with Diego, he's the cutest!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for playing. :)
THIS IS A COOL GAME! the Creator did a really good job on making this game, keep up the good work! I managed to have a positive relationship with everyone, and yes including Henry. :) And again keep up the amazing work!
Thank you, Margaux! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Good job on getting positive relationships with everyone. That's impressive, haha.
Hey! I was wondering if you were going to release more historical fiction VNs in the future, I'd love to read more from you. 👀
Hi! Oh, that's so nice! Thank you. :) I wasn't planning on it, but if people are interested I might consider it for the future. I really love learning about history and I'm sure I could come up with more ideas. It was a lot of work to make this first one though, so I think it would take a lot of enthusiasm from people for me to make another! Thank you so much for your enthusiasm either way. That truly means so much to me!
+1 to please release more historical fiction VNs. I enjoyed this one.
Thank you so much!
AGHSHAFHW I love this game soooo much!! I was able to have a Positive relationship with everyone (except for Cromwell and Henry, i mean who wants a relationship with them??) and I am obsessed with the art! I wish there were more games like these!! Love it :)
Thank you so much!! I'm so happy you liked it. 😊
This was a great game! The outcomes were unpredictable. I loved it.
Thank you, Sofia! :)
I only got through it once so far, and it's really nice to not be able to anticipate what's happening despite already being aware about King Henry's nature and the fates of his wives. It's a good game, thank you!
Thank you for playing!
I usually don't write reviews for itchio games, but this one definitely deserves one! It's such a good story and it' s really nice to see more realistic period based games! I really enjoyed my playthrough of this.
Thank you so much for playing it and reviewing it! It means so much to know that you liked it. :)
I'll just put my review here:
This IS a great game!! I knew from the start I was gonna die, and I did die, but hey I had fun along the way. I already want to replay it just so I can get a better relationship with Margaret, yes, just for that. Anyway, I LOVE THIS GAME :D
I'm so glad you liked it! Thank you so much for your review!! Sorry you died. I hope Margaret likes you next time! :)
i love this story! but i wanted queen is birth a child because her widowhood make her ending is so sad and depressing :^(
(i'm not a native english speaker and i'm sorry errors in the text🥺)
I'm glad you liked the story! I understand how you feel. 😝
Thank you for playing!
I've succeeded in one try, yay !
I did Diego's route of course (How could I not? He's such a cutie 🥺 ) I didn't like Margaret at first but she really grew on me as the story went on. 🥺
Really loved the artstyle and the soundtrack btw, great job!
Thank you!! I'm so glad you liked it (and good job)! 😊
This is scarily accurate. Me likey.
This game is so thrilling and terrifying once you consider the historical events. Once you put yourself in the main character's shoes all you could think is "oh- I'm in danger"
Can't wait for the full version of the game!
I'm so glad you like it! :) I'm not sure if you tried the demo, but the full version is available already! It's a fairly short game (about 2 hours to play the whole story). If you end up playing the full game, I hope you will enjoy it!
I was finally able to play the game - I was definitely not disappointed! The story is so well written and the visuals are simply amazing.
However, I may be praising the game only because I survived the King's wrath.
Excellent job! Worth every
dollarpenny.Thank you so much! 😊
I lived! I shall see another day! Away from the wretched King and with my Jupiter and Diego! The mass amount of relief I felt whilst getting away was amazing.
Yay! :) Thank you for playing my game!
Such a fun game - historical fiction is my favorite, so this is an immediate winner! I enjoyed the music and sound design especially.
(Deigo and Jupiter are such cuties.... Margaret was hilarious and awesome too.)
Following you on here, looking forward to any future works you might publish!
Thank you so much! You are so sweet. I'm super happy that you enjoyed it. 😊
Very good game, I look forward to Chris Collins next games. Great art/great music, very nice story and nice variety of endings.
I didnt get bored even when I was replaying to get another -and another, and another- ending
Thank you so much! 😁
an absolute 10/10. I got 3 endings (i think)
SPOILERS
1. the king dies naturally2. you kill the king3. stab cromwell(are there anymore other then these?)
I absolutely loved this game, but cant make a donation normally. does BAT from brave go to you or itch.io?
Thank you for playing my game! I'm so glad you liked it. There is another significant ending (if you don't do #3), but I think you got the big ones! There are small differences as well depending on your relationships.
Thank you for offering to make a donation! You could always purchase the game or use paypal here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/chriscollinscreative 😊
Thanks, looks fun and interesting
Deigo is definitely my favorite! Great game and beautiful artwork! But may I ask, how many endings does the game have?
Thanks! I'm so glad you liked it. There are about 5 significantly different endings and many smaller differences scattered throughout the story, depending on how you play. 😁
really good game, i love the story and characters (especially Diego)
Thank you! I'm so glad you like it. 😊
Hi, I have a twitter where I list free games, so I made a post with your game, if you want me to add a link to your twitter, let me know ;)
https://twitter.com/jvgratuit/status/1396092279425835008
Thank you for sharing it! I really appreciate that. I don't have a Twitter currently, but thank you for offering. 😊
This game is incredible, it's actually so immersive but strangely I don't feel stressed out when I play it like most court intrigue games, it's incredibly fun to play <3
*SPOILERS* I got the endings where I got executed, ran away with 'blank' at the end and the one where I stuck to the king until he died *END SPOILERS*.I have no idea how to get the other ones. I keep trying without much success, are there any hints you could give me?Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. 😊
*SPOILERS* I would try to get to the ending where you stick with the king until he's on his death bed, but then choose the more extreme (and violent) option. You got most of the big endings already, but there are some other possibilities. You could escape alone instead of with 'blank', for example. I think those are all the big ones! *END SPOILERS*.Thank you for playing and reviewing!
I got this game for free during the Spring 2021 Giveaway, and I am so happy I stumbled upon it. The art and music are fantastic, and I love that the dialogue is relevant to the time period. That's one of the most crucial aspects when creating a historical fiction, and it's rare when someone pulls it off consistently. You did your research, and it shows.
Thank you so much! :)
I was looking back through my library and remembered how much fun Hampton Court was! Are you planning on developing another visual novel?
I just finished the game and I must say... Wow. I thought it was going to be a short and sweet game, I didn't have my expectations very high, but this has surpassed anything I've thought previously. The art, the music, the story, the characters, the overall atmosphere... amazing!! I'm a huge history and fashion history enthusiast, and I must say how impressed I am with all the research you've done, especially regarding the clothing! And as an artist, I must admit that I love your art style so much, it's so expressive, unique and aesthetically pleasing, I just adore it!
Truthfully, I was so scared that I'm going to make the wrong choices and get executed, but the plot twist and the fact that I was able to run away safely with Diego and my dearest Jupiter has made me so happy! It was the ending I strived to get. Yes, I did have to stab Cormwell, but it was especially pleasing to piss Henry off, since he definitely deserved it. Also, I was so happy to see that I was on good terms with Agnes- she honestly deserved better, I truly love her. Same for Margaret- such a strong character, and I was happy to be on good terms with her as well. Regarding Diego, I absolutely love his character! I did tell him that I love him, which is exactly what I wanted, and I do appreciate the fact that you don't have to sleep with him in order to be his lover; as an asexual, I thank you for that!
And lastly... Jupiter, the best dog ever! I love him so much, and my love for dogs certainly was satisfied. Thank you for adding this good boy to the game!
I'm sorry for rambling, I just felt so much while playing this game, I just had to get it out!
amazing game, absolutely recommended!
5/5 stars!
can't wait to see more games from you! :)
Thank you so so much for this kind and heartfelt review. It means so much that you liked the game. Your reactions are exactly what I was hoping for. And thank you for saying that I did my research — I tried very hard in that respect. The only thing I did not attempt was the make the language historically accurate because I wanted it to be accessible for everyone. Anyway, thank you so much!! :)
Enjoyed the game, and I liked the ending I got - my main takeaway from this game is 'if you ever get sent back in time and end up in an English court, make sure to keep a knife in your boot at all times' haha
Just got this game and finished it, This game is very good! Great gameplay and art styles and music, and you may have added a book to my reading list thanks to the credits, it also gave me a perspective of how difficult it was to be a female in the medieval times, when men where valued more. Just a question though, how many endings are there, and how much time did you spend on developing this game? as a fellow begginner developer, this must've taken atleast 3 months if you didn't encounter a lot of bugs?, (which i doubt that you didn't).
all in all, a 10/10 game
Thank you for this nice message! I believe there are about 4-6 significant endings, with many more small differences throughout the game. Overall, the story is the story, so it's not one of those games where literally everything can change. You can miss large sequences of the game, however, depending on how "well" you play the game of court. There are a couple of people you can kill and of course you can die by the end of it. But you will always be trying to escape and go through similar steps to do so. I wanted the main character to have a distinct personality and motive, but also allow the player some control. I'm so glad you liked the game and that it gave you some new perspective! I hope you will read the book that you mentioned. Tudor history is an addicting rabbit hole to lose yourself in!
I think it took about 8 months to complete this game. I worked on it all the time. The coding and writing took a while, especially because of the complexity of certain things. For example, the scene where you make a mask took a lot of time to get just right (without any dead ends). Same with the puzzle of how to poison the fountain. It also took me a while to play around with the relationship scores for the characters. I wanted to make sure it was easy enough to influence the characters in a natural way to change the story. I had to go back through the whole thing to adjust the scores because I made a mistake and everyone would have gotten the same ending.
The most time consuming part, however, was probably all the art and media. Since I did everything myself, I had to make a lot of art, designs, music, and sound effects. There were many iterations of this until I was happy - haha. Then, of course, there was the business of making marketing materials to promote the game, setting it all up on my website (and here). It took a lot more work than expected, but it was such a fun project to do! I hope people will enjoy playing it. :)
I really love this game
Thank you so much! :)
Excellent discovery! The story fascinated me from start to finish, with incredible replayability. The music immerses us in the story and the drawings are very good: a mixture of satire and art. Can't wait to see Chris Collins' next works! To play absolutely!
Thank you so much! You are too kind! :)