To Heart - Development

Development

After completing Shizuku and Kizuato, main planner and scenario writer Tatsuya Takahashi began conceptualizing the third entry to the Leaf Visual Novel Series, which would later become To Heart. Takahashi originally considered creating a story with dark fantasy and gothic themes, but changed his approach in order to avoid making three consecutive works with dark themes. He then settled on creating a romance, and later incorporated comical elements. Early in development, Takahashi consulted frequent collaborator Tōru Minazuki for the creation of the story. The two originally considered creating the story and characters entirely by themselves, but after Minazuki expressed his concern that having only six heroines is not enough to exemplify a romance theme, the two asked writer Saki Aomura and illustrator Hisashi Kawata to assist in the project's development. Out of the ten heroines created, Takahashi wrote the scenarios for Akari, Multi, Tomoko, Serika, Aoi, and Ayaka; Aomura authored the scenarios for Lemmy, Kotone, and Shiho; and the scenario for Rio was written by a third writer named Udaru Harada. Minazuki designed and illustrated Takahashi's characters, while Kawata illustrated the remaining characters.

The writers did not begin work on the story until the characters were created. Takahashi felt the game's story is simply actions that represent what becomes of the characters. He mentioned the story exists not because he wanted to write the story, but because he wanted to "illustrate" the characters. Takahashi believed that such a writing style was unique even within the game industry at the time, but has since become the norm. Although the story contains futuristic elements such as maid robots, Takahashi stated the story takes place during contemporary times. Parts of the school in which the game takes place was based on the alma mater that Takahashi, Minazuki, and Aomura had attended, and Takahashi said the game's story reflects the staff members' school experience during the 1980s. To Heart was released as an adult visual novel for Microsoft Windows PCs on May 23, 1997, following the releases of the previous Leaf Visual Novel Series titles.