some mushy stuff about auro and cyanide tea
Not too long ago, the two of us were reminiscing about how we first met. In fact, the first thing people usually ask me is how I met Auro whenever I talk about us being partners. It was a lot of little coincidences. Coincidentally, I wanted to work on a little visual novel as a gift for some friends as a side project while writing Machina Jewel. Coincidentally, Auro had commissions open—a pretty big coincidence, that, since she doesn't usually like doing them. (she prefers working for free on projects that she really believes in, which I find really admirable) I was actually extremely shy about contacting her about working on BCM. I wasn't very established in the EVN community yet and I'm the type who assumes the worst case scenario every time, so it took me a week or so to pluck up the courage to contact her. If I'd delayed much longer, she would have gotten her job and closed commissions. This is pretty big because, as many of you know, I eventually had to stop working on Machina Jewel. If I didn't have BCM, I honestly would have given up on making VNs entirely at that point.
Of course, I didn't have to do that because I did finally contact her and we did hit it off, so Cyanide Tea came into existence and is still going strong. It's just scary to think that I was so close to quitting something that I love doing so much now.
I have been a fiction writer pretty much all my life. I've been making up characters and stories since elementary school and have loved every moment of it. However, I've also been something of a flake for most of my life. I would constantly start new projects and chase after new ideas, only to lose interest or motivation halfway through. After failing to complete NaNoWriMo for two years running, I decided that it was ~impossible~ for me to write 50,000 words in a month. I just don't write that fast! Ristorante Amore was the first time I finished a big writing project and in the end, not only did I write 60,000 words in a month, but I also programmed the VN and that's the most annoying part, really. It proved to me that I'm capable of much more than I think.
It's really significant that my first big finished project was something that I worked on with Auro. A recent commenter said, "Wow, just two of you made this VN." when commenting on the BCM demo... And yeah, it's just the two of us. I think that it's a lot harder to motivate yourself when you're all alone. Having someone there with you helps keep you on task. The problem is finding someone who has the same level of enthusiasm and work ethic as you. Even if you want to work hard, if your partner is a complete slacker, it's still hard to get anything done. I think this is part of the reason why it's harder to be super efficient when you have 3+ people in a VN dev group. It's way more difficult keeping 3 or more people's morales at the same level.
Auro is super driven. I really don't think I've ever worked with anyone as driven as she is. Even though she works at a full-time job for a lot of the day, she goes home and is ready to work on art because she loves doing it. She's very focused about this and so she gets a lot more done than people who have 10 times as much free time as she does. This does wonders at keeping me motivated. Because she's excited about our work, it makes me feel more pumped up to write and code. Auro's also my biggest cheerleader. I tend to be pessimistic about my own work, but she's always cheering me on and encouraging me... I try to do the same for her, too. ♥ I feel that I have changed and matured a lot more since I stopped limiting myself and feeling so unconfident all the time... And I wouldn't have been able to do that without Auro's support for the last two years.
I talk a lot about how Auro and I rarely argue (except about facial hair on characters har har) but it goes deeper than just us liking the same things. We're also both easy-going and willing to compromise, which is super important when working on something long-term. We have similar values and consider the same things important, so we're always trying to have more diversity in our games, to create thought-provoking stories, and to experiment with different ways of presenting images and text. We're both not content with doing the same things over and over; we're always pushing ourselves to do better and better. It's important that we both do this because it's like... we feed off of each other's energy? When I'm in a slump, she's in a slump and vice versa. Luckily, that doesn't happen too often. It's definitely much easier working on something I'm passionate about with someone who's just as passionate about it.
Creatively, I think that Auro is basically my soulmate. ;w; She has the amazing ability to take my vague ideas about characters and scenes and fully realize them as beautiful artwork—even better than what I see in my imagination~ She has great aesthetic sense and knows how to make every character look unique and like their own person. I've had and will continue to have some of the best experiences of my life working with Auro and I'm so glad that she's my partner.
Aside from all the work-related stuff, Auro is just a really good person. She's generous, friendly, and always willing to help people out, but she also has a strong will and won't stand for any injustice. I feel like she and I have gotten a lot closer as friends over the last year and I can talk to her about just about anything. I'm so incredibly excited about her visiting and I can't wait to show her a bunch of stuff!
I hope that we get to be friends and creative partners for many more years to come and I can't wait to show everyone what we've got planned. Auro, I hope you're having a great flight! ♥♥
