hanakogames

Long Live The Queen was a big success for me on Steam, so things are good for me right now. It's hard to say how much that applies to visual novels in general, as I know some people would argue that LLtQ isn't a VN at all. The English market for VNs has always been small, but the reasons are complicated, and low visibility has been part of it. Steam and console gaming (999, Hakuoki, Danganronpa) are bringing in more people, but in most cases it's not the traditional/'pure' VN experience that seems to get the best results. Still, there haven't been a lot of mainstream releases to compare to. I don't have enough data to see the general picture.

Why VNs? I like story in games and I like being able to explore alternate outcomes and see things from multiple angles. I don't think you could call it a core philosophy, but I do tend to end up with games that are short and extremely branchy. "What would happen if...." questions play on my mind a lot.

I always, always have ideas for games I'd love to make if I had the time and the humanpower, but when it comes to business I do tend to be conservative. I'm always mentally planning for the worst, for things to go wrong and to have to pick up the pieces myself. That means I tend not to start anything that I couldn't imagine doing solo if I absolutely had to.

Every now and then I have daydreams about being able to make the sort of games I could make if I had a clone army of myself. Practically, though, I know that trying to run a significantly larger operation would call for a skillset that I don't actually have, and that my army of minions would not be me and would not do things the way I'd want them done.

If the right person came along I can see one or two more partners fitting into my existing operation, but it would absolutely have to be the right person, and I'm not actively looking for them. It's like auditioning people to be part of your family.

As far as banding together with a bunch of other indies, I can't see myself creatively meshing with a significantly large number of people. Joining together for business purposes is one thing, but all trying to make projects together? I'm too opinionated and too into my own weird things.

I haven't actually watched the movie so I can't really compare, but - I suppose the worst time for me was quite early on, when I was still trying to get established and figure out how to make things that people would be willing to pay for. My first attempts at commercial products sold a handful of copies but didn't look like games were going to be anything more than a fun paying hobby. Which was fine for me at the time, I didn't expect any more than that.

Then quite unexpectedly my spouse, who was paying the bills, got laid off, and all of a sudden we were in a panic wondering where the money was going to come from and what we were going to do. I thought I might have to give up games entirely and throw myself into data entry to pay the bills.

Two things saved me. One was that I'd just finished a project (the original Cute Knight) which would eventually be a lot more popular than anything I'd done before that point. The other was that I was willing to admit I was in trouble, and so a bunch of other friendly indies gave me advice and helped me get my game out there to make sales... and that was how I went from being a hobbyist to being the breadwinner.

Talking to (and listening to) people: it's a surprisingly good idea!

The game I most recently sank a whole bunch of hours into was the free adventure game Heroine's Quest which is in the style of the old Sierra Quest for Glory games. Those games were practically my favorite thing ever as a little girl.

I've only done one runthrough so far trying not to spoil myself too much, and I know I've missed a lot of secrets, so I look forward to playing it again more later.

Don't date the demon if you don't want to flip tables.