Behind the scenes: Interview with Sasquatchii (Patreon)

Greetings guys!

This is the first set of behind-the-scenes interviews I'm going to post month after month. 

This time we had a talk with our long time friend and graphic designer, Laura "Sasquatchii" Henderson, the woman in charge of developing and drawing the User Interface of our games.

Feel free to post any question you might have for Laura here, I will turn them to her to reply!

When did you first learn about Yomi Alliance, and why did you want to be a part of it?
I've been working together with Bruni Multimedia to create the UI for their games for almost 3 years! I was involved in the creation of General Practitioner, The Coroner Saga, and The Devil's Shoes.

When I heard they were working on a sci-fi epic where you can choose your race and profession, and those choices have a profound effect on the game, I was so excited. I'm a huge nerd & sucker for all things science fiction-related.

What do you think about indie productions in general and in the videogame industry?
I love indie games. We live in an amazing time where anyone can create anything they want, and there aren't any gate keepers standing in the way stopping indie game developers from working on their passion projects. I think there are so many amazing indie games that have come out and are also currently being created.

One thing I think that can be really special about indie-developed games is there often aren't any marketing teams, companies, or bosses pushing their own agendas / ideas onto the game. Indie games can be really charming because a lot of the time they're the result of one person or a small team's vision and hard work, and it's clear a lot of love was put into making them.

Is drawing art for a Visual Novel any different from other projects you worked on? In what way?
Sure it is! One thing I always try to keep in mind is the tone and theme of the story - I feel like all of the art and visuals should reflect that in some way. It's also important to try to keep everything cohesive and like it all feels like a part of the same world, from the backgrounds, character sprites, UI, and even the logo. A lot of the time different people work on different parts of the game—maybe one person does backgrounds, one does character sprites, one does CG's, one does the logo, and one does the UI design. It's good to be mindful of all of the different moving (visual) parts of the game and try to make sure they match and compliment each other.

I understand you live in Japan now. Do you plan to work for some Visual Novel company there? Do you think your experience with western VNs is of any value to achieve that?
At the moment, I don't have any plans in place to work with any Japanese developers (though I wouldn't say no to the opportunity). Right now the developers I work with are pretty international, and live all over the world in different countries. I love getting to work with all kinds of people, and being able to work remotely is a huge plus as well!

Was designing the UI for Yomi Alliance an easy task? Why?
I wouldn't say it was easy, but it was fun! One of the challenges of working on the UI for Yomi Alliance was all of the unique screens and menus the game has. There's a codex, a screen that gives players an overview of the different schools you can attend, a weekly planner, a stats screen with skills and skill points listed, and more. I hadn't had a chance to work on menus like those before, so there was some trial and error. But I'm really happy with how everything turned out and hopefully players will be, too.

What are you currently working on? Can you tell us something about it?
I'm currently working on the UI for a dating sim called Ascension. In it, you can date Goddess characters inspired by Greek, Japanese, and Mayan mythology. There is a pretty neat texting system where you can chat with characters, make plans / dates, and receive pictures which I really like. There are also puzzles and stat-raising elements as well! It's been a lot of fun to work on.

If you could change something in indie Visual Novels, what would it be?
I wish more indie visual novel creators considered their UI when working on their game. Sometimes it's an afterthought or not considered as important, which is kind of a shame. They way the UI is in a visual novel isn't just design, it's also art, and can contribute and add so much to the way the game looks and feels when done well.

Feel free to follow Laura on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sasquatchiix