#all projects

[gb-patch]

What inspires you to write romantic stories as an aromantic person out of curiosity? Obviously not all of your stories are romantic in nature but so many of your games hinge off of at least a cursory romantic idea and I'm curious why you wanted to make a career out of writing experiences like that even though you don't personally relate to them :0 (I hope that doesn't come off as judgey or naïve or anything I'm legitimately curious and want to be educated!)

It's fine to ask! I like stories where you can pick who you care most about/want to spend your time with. That's fun. I originally started out with no romance, "romance" played for comedy, or had games where romance existed but there were minimal romantic scenes. Ultimately, the focus was always on getting to know the characters in general and, in some cases, a focus on the story. Our Life: Beginnings & Always was the first game I made where I decided to take a swing at writing a romantic way of playing that was sincere and significant. I did it because OL1 was meant to let players have the type of relationship they wanted and I didn't want the romance path to be almost identical to the friendship version.

I didn't know if I'd be able to pull off this concept, but I believed in Cove's personality and the type of feelings he would have even if they weren't mine. I'm happy with what I managed to do and now I want to keep allowing players to choose what kind of relationship they get into!

[gilsart]

Will your Graphic Novel come out in English?

i don't have a contract yet so i don't know!

aside from having to think about getting my BA first, i really don't know how that is going to work. i do hope it will be, so it can reach wider audiences, but again – i don't know yet.

i can only say that if i don't manage to get hired by a publishing house (and i really hope it doesn't happen) i would turn it into a webcomic, and that will of course be in english.

thanks for asking tho!

[gb-patch]

I’m really nervous to ask this because I’m not sure I’ll want to know the answer, but have you used/do you plan to use generative AI in your games at all?

Thank you for being such a light for me in these dark times ❤️

Definitely not. We've always made our games without generative AI, before it even existed, and nothing has changed now that it does. There's no need or reason for us to use something like that.

[gb-patch]

Who is your type among all your OCs?

I don't have a type of person I'd actually be interested in. I'm aromantic, never dated and never will.

But when it comes to which type of fictional character I tend to like reading about most, it's usually the quiet, somewhat/fully stoic, and often mysterious, type. If you've heard of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, my favorite girl is Pilika and my favorite guy is Cuilang.

That's a character trope I almost never make myself. There's Pran from XOXO Droplets, but his attitude is for comical purposes and in a super immature way. He's funny but doesn't truly count as the type of thing I'm talking about.

There's The Guide from Lake of Voices, and I do like him a lot. But, spoilers for a several years old game, he isn't a true love interest despite having a route and the fact that the MC of that game can fall for him. It's not a good time, ahah. Very interesting character, not a possible partner for anybody.

Cove has his moments where he skirts that vibe, but overall he's highly emotional and not mysterious.

Kinda interesting.

But I do have other types of personalities and story tropes that I'm a huge fan of. The most obvious is the childhood friend to lovers trope. I think it's such a sweet concept and have two games focused on showing the world how special it can be. So, in the end, Cove, Tamarack, and Qiu are probably the leads that would most count as being "my type". Not a surprise.

[gb-patch]

What software do you use to create Our Life? Or what would you recommend to someone with the idea of creating a visual novel of their own?

All of my games so far have been made in the Ren'py engine! I recommend it for VN creators for sure, especially if you're new to creating games. Good VNs can be made in things like Unity, but a lot of basic VN features have to be manually created instead of being built-in like they are with Ren'Py.

[gb-patch]

Hi! I mean this in the nicest way possible, but are there any plans in place to minimize scoop creep for future games? I love OL:NF but it seems to have outgrown what was initially planned.

Yes and no. I'm not planning for our next VN to be way shorter or less customizable, however there were two big things with OL2 that I won't repeat. Hopefully not doing those things will avoid many of the issues OL2's production has had.

The first is that I'm going back to limited prose for future projects. I like that OL2 has detailed descriptions that can really draw you into the story, but it takes way longer for me to write than dialog/straightforward thoughts. For games as long as these, it makes the script and the hours required to finish them exponentially longer. Going forward, the character expressions/poses will carry the deeper nuance of emotion instead of text descriptions. More like a comic than a novel again. Just that one change should have a major impact on the development process.

The second is that I'll be changing when things are announced. For OL2, I wanted to share the game from the very beginning. I thought it'd be neat and that people would be interested in watching the project form. However, OL1 was still the main project in the early years of making OL2. Instead of sharing previews and a demo all the way back in 2021, I could've waited until fall of 2023 after OL1's last DLC and final bonus Moment were done. Waiting about three years for a game is still a long time, but it's pretty common for a next edition in an indie game series. That's why there won't be so much as a screenshot for another VN until OL2's final DLC is done. That way, it can feel like less time for the game to come out despite the fact that it may have been in development for a similar length.

[gb-patch]

What would be the best course of action for someone who wants to have a career writing for GB Patch? Especially presuming this person is fresh out of High School. Thank you🤍

That's really cool you'd want to work with us. Unfortunately, I write the games myself and there's not a high chance I'll hire other writers to work with me again. OL2 and then Project W are gonna be written by me for sure. But there's a lot of groups working on VNs these days! I hope you can find a project to join up with.