New Contributor: Aviala

by Aviala

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I'm Aviala, a game design student and a visual novel creator from Finland. I'm also the founder of Lizard Hazard Games, my group and soon to be business. Right now I spend a lot of time working on my project, Skyfish. When I have time, I also do art as a freelancer for other game projects.

Why visual novels/interactive fiction?
I don't remember how I first found Ren'Py, the visual novel engine, but I was amazed by how easy it was to learn how to make a simple VN. After my failed attempts to draw a webcomic I decided that a story-based game would be perfect to tell the story I couldn't bring into comic form.

What was the last thing you worked on?
Last night I worked on some commission work, and earlier today I finished writing a backstory for a Skyfish character. Skyfish is my first big game project so I haven't really worked on anything very significant before that.

Working on anything right now?
Yes, Skyfish. I've been working on it on and off for around 3 years, but there wasn't any significant progress before I started focusing on it a few months ago.

What are a few of your inspirations (artistic, literary, games)?
I don't have many inspirations that I'm directly drawing from, but when I was younger I used to read a lot of fantasy literature. The Hobbit is one of my all-time favourites, because my mother used to read it to me when I was little, and since then I've read it multiple times. Fantasy literature helped me read better and inspired me to try my hand at writing - though it's been a long time since I wrote a story before Skyfish, so I'm rusty.

The TV show Breaking Bad inspired me to write better morally ambiguous characters. The show helped me define some characters for Skyfish. As for art... I don't have many specific artists or works that inspire me. I just suck in inspiration from all around me, I guess. Having many artist friends helps.

Other interests?
Lots. I'm interested in medieval combat, and I'd like to try my hand at that someday. For now I only do boffering aka foam weapon combat. I also have other nerdy hobbies like tabletop roleplaying and LARPing. I have a fabulous sense of style and I love to shop at thrift stores.

Plant, animal or mineral?
Plant.

New Contributor: Meagan

by Meagan

From Faust: Scene II

Tell us a bit about yourself.
In addition to game dev and freelance illustration, I also work part-time in a university archive handling cool old stuff. 

Why visual novels/interactive fiction?
I’m trained as an oil painter, actually, and I have a strong interest in digital art and visual storytelling.  Visual novels seem like the perfect way to combine those interests and bring my 2D art to life.

What was the last thing you worked on?
I did some illustrations for Detective City, a Twine game made for Global Game Jam 2015.  I’m also the background artist and UI designer for the upcoming fantasy VN Queen At Arms.

 
Working on anything right now?
My current personal project is Faust: Scene II - an all-female kinetic novel adaptation of a scene from Goethe’s Faust.

   
What are a few of your inspirations (artistic, literary, games)?
Oh gosh, umm…. Northern Renaissance painters, medieval manuscript illumination, the Pre-Raphaelites, Golden Age illustrators, weird atmospheric games like Year Walk and Limbo, and story-driven indie horror RPGs like Ib and Mad Father.  That’s the short list, anyway.
 
Other interests?
Goth subculture, heavy metal music, mythology, folklore, and world religions.

 
Plant, animal or mineral?  
Animal, I suppose. 

New Contributor: OokamiKasumi

From The Adventures of Prince Ivan

Tell us a bit about yourself; why visual novels/interactive fiction?
As an author, I saw Visual Novels as a fantastic new way to tell a story. I was already creating worlds with words alone. The idea of adding images, music and sound effects to a story fascinated me.

What was the last thing you worked on?
The Walk, a Psychoanalysis Game. It's actually more of a Quiz game than a Visual Novel. Truthfully though, I was testing some coding just to see if I could do it.

Working on anything right now?
I'm in the planning (plotting) stage of a couple of new ideas, but I'm either missing needed assets to complete it, or the idea is just to big for me to accomplish by myself.

What are a few of your inspirations (artistic, literary, games)?
My core inspiration for making visual novels is an older game called "Ballad of an Evening Butterfly" (link), one of the VN's translated by DejaVu. With only a handful of choices available, it was far more Story than Game. I played it and pretty much thought, "Hey, I can do that!" However, several years passed before I found the RenPy VN Engine and started making my own VNs.

I have two other sources of inspiration: The old "Choose Your own Adventure" books and Fairy Tales. Many of the older Fairy Tales actually have riddles and puzzles in them, so they work well as VNs, but studying the style of story branching CYOA books use is where I got my first ideas on how multi-path stories should work.

Other interests?
Photoshop. I became an addict after working with a couple of scanlation groups that translate manga from Japanese to English. I adore experimenting with ways to take photos and make them look like paintings.

After too many years of experimentation I finally figured out how to make VN character sprites. However, the 'paperdoll' technique I use is not a popular style. Unfortunately, I just don't have the drawing skills needed to make each character an individual work of arte, so I make-do with the limited skills I do have.

Plant, animal or mineral?
Animal!

New Contributor: S.

 by S.

From Tell a Demon.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I'm an illustrator by day, visual novelist by night.

Why visual novels/interactive fiction?
Visual novels have a level of polish. As an artist I appreciate being able to focus on a refined style while still telling a story that is immersed in visuals. I also love story-based games.

What was the last thing you worked on?
Recently, I finished making art for Sunrise: A Dieselpunk Fairy Tale. It's about a young noblewoman who has to navigate dicey court politics while under a curse by her former beau. It's a free visual novel available here.

Working on anything right now?
Currently, I'm working on Tell a Demon, which is about a girl who must talk her way out of an encounter with a hungry demon. I won't really know how to describe it until it's done, but for now you can read more about it here.

What are a few of your inspirations (artistic, literary, games)?
James Gurney, for artistic/literary, and 90s adventure games. I generally like story-based games, especially 2D, and stories with an overall moody atmosphere.

Other interests?
Art history, plants, genre fiction, the outdoors.

Plant, animal or mineral?
I have a pet rock? Mineral.

From Tell a Demon.