- Episode Selection Fix & Minor Corrections - 26 June 2026
This update (v0.18.31) addresses a small bug related to episode selection in the main menu. Previously, players who owned the Epilogues DLC could find already-unlocked episodes becoming locked again after returning to the main menu. This has now been fixed, and your unlocked episodes will stay unlocked as intended. We've also cleaned up a few typos along the way. Thanks for playing, and as always, feel free to report any issues you run into! The Love-Joint Team
- Small Patch for macOS Tahoe - 8 January 2026
A couple of helpful players brought to our attention that on some devices running macOS Tahoe (26.1 or 26.2), the game was launching in borderless mode, which prevented it from gaining focus. This issue has now been addressed, and the game should work correctly on macOS Tahoe.
- Small Framerate/V-sync fix - 12 December 2025
Hello everyone, We’ve just released a small update to address the following issues: Unstable framerate / slow mouse movement Page Up / Page Down not behaving correctly The first issue was somewhat tricky, as it was not directly related to our code but rather to an engine-level problem. It was introduced in the latest build due to changes in how Windows handles timing, combined with how this affects V-sync behavior on certain GPUs. The engine vendor has since released an update, and we also adjusted a few settings on our end to mitigate the issue. If you’re still experiencing slow mouse movement or incorrect framerate, please go to Settings > Video Options and try disabling V-sync and/or adjusting the framerate limit. This should resolve the issue on most systems. The second issue was related to how Page Up / Page Down behaved during rollback. This has now been fixed. You can also invert…
- Small Fix to Prevent Crashes When Loading - 13 November 2025
A kind player reported a crash that could occur in certain scenarios when loading a save. This issue has now been addressed.
- "Play the Next Episode" second fix - 10 November 2025
There’s another fix related to this button. A kind player let us know that pressing “Play the Next Episode” would incorrectly open the Epilogues DLC Steam page in the browser (if you didn’t own it). This wasn’t a pushy attempt to promote the DLC. It was simply a mistake, and it’s now been fixed.
- "Play Next Episode" bug fixed - 6 November 2025
A few kind players brought to our attention that, in some cases, pressing the "Play Next Episode" button after finishing an episode was launching the Epilogues selection screen instead of proceeding to the next episode. We’ve just released a patch to address this issue.
- DLC Achievements Fix - 5 November 2025
A kind player let us know that the two new achievements added for the DLCs were not triggering correctly. This issue has now been fixed, but a replay may be required for them to unlock.
- Epilogues & Platinum DLCs — Out Now! - 5 November 2025
The wait is over — both DLCs for Shale Hill Secrets are now available!• Platinum Extra Scenes: exclusive non-canonical extra scenes featuring every main character (plus the JPG files for download!) • Epilogues: Extended Endings: post-ending stories that continue each character’s journey.You can grab them individually or together in the new Complete Experience Bundle, now available with a 15% launch discount.If you already own the base game, Steam will automatically reduce the bundle’s price — you’ll only pay for what you don’t have.Experience more stories, more secrets, and more Shale Hill today!Check out the Bundle now!
- Complete Your Collection! Two New DLCs Arrive November 5th - 28 October 2025
Mark your calendars — November 5th!Two new DLCs are coming to Shale Hill Secrets: • Platinum Extra Scenes — 43 exclusive non-canonical scenes featuring every main character. • Epilogues: Extended Endings — nine expanded post-story chapters that explore life after the original endings.These DLCs expand the story, the relationships, and the secrets of Shale Hill like never before.A new bundle will also be released, combining the base game and both expansions at a special launch discount. If you already own the base game or one of the DLCs, Steam will automatically adjust the price — you’ll only pay for what you don’t have.Stay tuned, and get ready to uncover every secret on November 5th.Wishlist the DLCs here.
- Back in Action - With Even Hotter News - 14 August 2025
Hey everyone,As some of you may have heard, the adult games scene has been going through some turbulence lately with banks and payment processors. A bunch of +18 titles have recently been pulled from both Itch and even Steam, and even well-known payment processors have been refusing to process payments for this category in certain currencies…Right in the middle of all this, the Compliance team from the payment provider that handles the money we get from Steam decided to freeze our funds. For two weeks, we were stuck in limbo while they investigated — they wanted to trace the exact source of the money and get all the details about our product. If you noticed that the Shale Hill Secrets page here on Steam suddenly lost all its explicit images and videos during that time… yeah, that’s why. We were genuinely worried about getting banned by the bank and losing access to our funds, which woul…
- Video Fixes, Auto-Forward & More Quality of Life Updates! - 26 June 2025
Hello everyone, We're back with another update packed with fixes and features that you requested. Your incredible feedback has been driving our development, and we couldn't be more grateful. Animations First up: those pesky animation issues. We've completely re-encoded all in-game videos to a more compatible format, which should put an end to those crashes a few players have been experiencing. Please, let us know how the animations are running in this latest build (0.18.20 or newer). Auto-Forward The feature you've been asking for the most is finally here. Auto-forward lets the text advance automatically – just look for the button in the text box (bottom left). Want to customize the speed? Head over to Settings > Gameplay Settings and make it perfect for your reading pace. Borderless Fullscreen Fullscreen mode now runs borderless, which means you can enjoy the full-screen experience whi…
- Solution For Video Crashes - 14 May 2025
Hi everyone, We've noticed that a few players are experiencing issues with animations causing the game to freeze or crash. To address this, we've introduced an alternative animation system using image strips, which should help prevent these issues. You can also choose to disable animations entirely if needed. Note: If you're not experiencing any issues with the animations, there's no need to change your current animation settings. To switch to the new animation system: Go to the main menu and click on Settings. Select Video Options. Under Animation, choose "Strips." Please let us know if this solution works for you. With Love, The Love-Joint Team.
- Animation Issues & macOS Achievements - 12 May 2025
Hey everyone! This update addresses the achievements bug on macOS (you'll have to replay to trigger achievements) and adds new checks for video playback. If you're experiencing crashes during animations, you'll now receive a better error report that can be screenshotted. Plus, the game will generate a debug.txt file in %appdata% if it crashes, which you can send to us. To find the log file after a crash: Right-click on Shale Hill Secrets in your Steam Library. Select Properties... Go to Installed Files. Click Browse (this opens the game’s install directory). Click on Saves Location shortcut. If the game crashed, the debug.txt file should be there. Email the file to [email protected]. If Animations Are Crashing: Try adjusting the game's refresh rate to match your monitor's. If not available, set it to "Free." In the main menu, click Settings. Go to Video Options. Choose Refresh Rate…
- Small patch for the Gallery - 11 May 2025
Hi there, We just released a small patch to fix a bug with Gallery persistence data across different save profiles (previously, Gallery data was always being stored in the Default profile). We’re still hard at work investigating the crashes and the achievements not unlocking on macOS. We’ll have more updates soon! Cheers!
- The achievement issue on macOS is currently under investigation - 9 May 2025
Hey everyone, We’ve just released a new macOS build that includes support for Steam Screenshots (). We’re aware that achievements are not being triggered for some macOS players, and we’re currently working hard to fix this as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!
- Steam Screenshot Feature Added! - 9 May 2025
Hey everyone, Steam Screenshot Feature has been added. Press to trigger it. If you want to have a local screenshot that is not send to Steam, press instead. Cheers!
- Mark Your Calendars: Shale Hill Secrets Hits Steam May 8! - 5 May 2025
After a whole lot of sweat, tears, and hard work, it’s finally time to announce the official release date for Shale Hill Secrets here on Steam — and it’s coming sooner than you might think! On May 8th, next Thursday, the full game will be available right here on Steam for everyone to enjoy! 🚨 Exclusive Launch Discount! To celebrate the release, Shale Hill Secrets will be 15% off during launch week (the first 7 days). Don’t miss your chance to grab it at a special price! And now, a huge thank you to everyone who’s already added the game to their wishlist — your support and patience mean the world to us. Haven’t wishlisted it yet? Now’s the perfect time! That way, you won’t miss our big Steam debut on May 8th. Spread the word! We’re a small indie team, and every bit of support helps us out. Want to give us a hand before launch? Add Shale Hill Secrets to your Wishlist — the more wishlists…
- Shale Hill Secrets Release Imminent! - 3 May 2025
Hey everyone, We’re excited to announce that, after a few challenging months of hard work and adjustments, Steam Support has officially approved Shale Hill Secrets for sale! Right now, our entire team is putting in every effort to finalize and polish the last details so we can launch the game as soon as possible. While we don’t have an exact release date to share just yet, we’re aiming to release within the next couple of weeks — which means the game will definitely be out this month! Our next post will share the official release date, so stay tuned! Thank you all so much for your patience and support. The Love-Joint Team
- Shale Hill Secrets development update | 2 - 28 February 2025
Hello everyone, how's it going? Just dropping in to say hi and share an update on the game - we're in those final adjustment stages for our Steam release. Being our first time launching here, we've hit a few more hurdles than expected with the process as a whole... Also, since our game has some, let's say, "spicier" content, we're having to be extra careful with everything. The good news is that development finished up several weeks ago, and we're really close to seeing it pop up in the store! All the best and thank you for your patience and support! Love-Joint team
- Shale Hill Secrets development update - 8 October 2024
Hey everyone, how's it going? We wanted to say hello and let you know we haven't forgotten about Steam! We're still working and adjusting some things to launch the game here. Unfortunately, we’re having some headaches that every game developer faces along the way… To be more specific, some parts of the game's original code need updating and reworking for this platform, but it's nothing too serious and we're already finishing up with all of that. We're also taking the opportunity to touch up the animations, remastering all of them, increasing the videos resolution, improving the loops, and, especially, tweaking the sound effects. Anyway, we're a very small team and some tasks end up taking more time than we expected, but the game is 95% ready for Steam and very soon we'll have a launch date. Stay tuned and thanks for your interest!
