#leirin

[dianasroom]

hal and beatrix for @leirin birthday ! ! !

[gaming]

Indie Game Spotlight: Tales From Toppletown

This week’s Indie Game Spotlight comes bearing the gift of Game Boy nostalgia. Tales from Toppletown is a short quest-based RPG that allows you to play as a reclusive critter—your choice of a mouse or cat. You start out going into town to run some errands and, like the beginning of so many games, everything is just fine. Along the way you learn of a dangerous giant lurking in the mountains. Yikes.

We had the opportunity to chat with the game developer and illustrator behind Tales from Toppleton, Kayla D. (@leirin), and ask them what inspired the game and how they keep from burning out as they finish it for release.

What inspired the story behind the game?

Having no prior experience with creating games, I didn’t want to create a novel-length story for my first project. I knew I wanted to make something a little like the Hamtaro games, especially Ham-Hams Unite for the Game Boy Color where you were basically just interacting with a small area of characters and everyone’s needs would sort of overlap. It’s a similar motif to some other RPG-Maker games like Very Pink Game and Melon Journey, which I have enjoyed.

Developing video games can be tiring, how do you keep yourself from burning out? 

Taking breaks to work on other projects so you don’t burn out all your creativity in one place is helpful. As an illustrator I always have new pictures in mind [that] I want to create, along with my webcomic Sugar Stars (@sugarstarsofficial), and other projects still in the pipeline…

How did you choose the style for the game?

The visuals are sort of a Game Boy pastiche with a very specific, slightly muted color palette—there’s a lot of white so it has this kind of cold, wintry look, but dotted with lots of flowers and colorful characters so as not to be gloomy. Admittedly I hadn’t done much pixel art since grade school (back when we all made sprite comics) so it was difficult at first to adjust. I think making sure all of the graphics are satisfying has taken up the most time of the whole process.

Would you rather be able to breathe underwater, or have the agility of a cat?

As sweet as breathing underwater sounds, having a cat’s agility would come in handy far more in day-to-day life. For instance, when you’re with someone you don’t actually like and they’re about to ask if you’ll be free on Tuesday to hang out, you can leap onto a rooftop before they finish the question.

Wanna stay in the know with updates to Tales from Toppletown? Follow @leirin on Tumblr!

[rpgmgames]

January’s Featured Game: Tales From Toppletown

DEVELOPER(S): Leirin ENGINE: RPGMaker 2003 GENRE: Quest-based RPG, Comedy SUMMARY: As a reclusive critter living in the woods, your roommate Pip one day urges you to head into town and meet new people. But there exists a strange giant lurking in the mountains to the north...could this be a friend, or a looming threat?

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! Hello! I'm Leirin - a freelance illustrator looking to get into the fine arts. I love video games very much and this is my first time trying my hand at them. Hopefully there will be more to come!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially? *Leirin: I really liked the sort of "mental snapshot" aspect of games like Pen Pals, Very Pink Game, etc - and wanted to create something that was short, but warm and personal, too. Illustration can feel difficult to immerse people in, so giving them something directly interactive like a game is very challenging, but so far rewarding.

How long did you work on your project? *Leirin: Work began in late spring of 2018, so almost a year! (With many, many breaks to do other things along the way.)

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *Leirin: I loved the Hamtaro games for the GameBoy and wanted to implement the format of interwoven character quests. The game's map is fairly small and confined, but I hoped it could still feel lively and populated like the areas in those games do. I also love For Frogs the Bell Tolls and it influenced a lot of the overworld graphics.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *Leirin: I use a Mac, so everything has had to be run through Wine - which has its hiccups! Mainly, copying and pasting doesn't seem to work?? So if text needs to be repeated, I have to manually type it all over again. In the future, I might like to look into something more efficient, but even with the hurdles, I'm happy with how things are turning out. The other obstacle is just the fact that I am doing this all by myself, minus my two excellent composers, so it can be easy to feel overwhelmed! Just take breaks, and work on other things too - it'll help keep creative juices fresh for your project.

Did any aspects of your project change over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *Leirin: There were a few points where I wanted to increase the scope of the game - I considered having battles and a more involved story at one point - but I knew that if I turned my first project into something really big, it just wouldn't get finished. So for the most part, it's been about sticking to the original vision of a short, whimsical game.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *Leirin: The only other people on my project are my two composers - it was initially only Dustin van Wyk, then Twinkle Park joined the project and I am so thrilled with the music they both have written for the game. Indirectly, but I have also asked friends to contribute a few characters/character designs, as I wanted this to feel like a diverse town of people. I really love what they've come up with!

What was the best part of developing the game? *Leirin: Playtesting it. There's something a little unreal about interacting with your own creations, even if they just do everything exactly as you planned. (Well, if you programmed it right!)

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *Leirin: Yes, I do. It can feel limiting at times but when I play the other terrific things made with 2003, I realize it's still got a lot of potential in it. I'm really looking forward to the new Melon Journey that's coming out, which looks amazing!

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *Leirin: Most relatable--Waffle Boy, who is malnourished and miserable from exclusively eating food from his workplace. As for favorite...she must stay a secret for now!

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *Leirin: There are maybe certain graphical aspects that are a little too plain/pedestrian that I would do more efficiently if I were starting the game now, but I think for a first project it looks pretty ok. What matters most is getting it done.

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *Leirin: Everything I create more or less exists nebulously in a shared space I've termed the "Fluorescent Zone". Everyone and everything is connected, but not always directly. I might create additional material for Toppletown after its release if people want it - detailed character profiles, for instance - but otherwise, if the characters resurface, they will probably be in very different roles.

With your current project, what do you look most forward to upon/after release? *Leirin: I just really hope the game puts a smile on people's faces. It's a very simple and concise experience, but knowing that someone downloaded it and spent an enjoyable afternoon with it, or laughed at something in it, is valuable to me. And of course, I do hope people will draw fan art - receiving fan art makes me ecstatic!

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *Leirin: Again, some of the complications with creating the game from a Mac do make me worry on the technical side of things. There's also the usual catastrophes like everything getting destroyed in a fire or my laptop getting stolen, but that's the usual faire.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *Leirin: Don't get too ambitious if you're approaching something new. Simple can still be really good and finishing something gives you the confidence to aim higher next time.

Question from last month's featured dev @torch60: What is the one biggest impression you want to leave on your players when they finish your game? *Leirin: A caring person is always nearer than you think.

We mods would like to thank Leirin for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Tales From Toppletown if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

[vigoburrito]

Happy birthday to my good friend, @leirin! She’s always been a huge inspiration to me when it comes to design and color! :D Here’s to all the good years and the many to come! 

By the way, you should all check out her game, Tales from Toppletown, if you haven’t! Definitely worth a play! 

[growingupgerudo]

Wanted to share this adorable birthday fanart my good friend @leirin made for me! Make sure to check out her webcomic @sugarstarsofficial as well - her style is charming and endearing as all get out! 💕 -Mod Junior

[leirin]

[vigoburrito]

A very happy (and belated) birthday to my dear friend, @leirin! Here is Holly from her adorable music-themed webcomic, Sugar Stars! You can read it right here -- @sugarstarsofficial! 

[vigoburrito]

Streaming with Leirin!

We’ll be streaming in 10 minutes! We’ll just be doodling OCs and assorted things whilst solving the world’s problems.

https://picarto.tv/vigoburrito

https://picarto.tv/fluorescentzone