Love Through Chaos: Interview with ds-sans!

Today I had the great opportunity in having an interview with ds-sans! You may have heard some of their works such as “Lost Impressions”, “Sounds of Her Love”, or upcoming Visual Novel “Chemically Bonded”! I sit down with them asking about their upbringings, games, and the Patreon! 1. When and how did you start making VNs?

“I'd say I 'officially' started making VNs around the start of Autumn 2015 when I began work on my first project, Lost Impressions, but I'd always had an interest in making them and made a few 'attempts' before that. They weren't really anything besides failed ideas, but my interest in making one goes as far back as the January of 2014. I'd developed enough of a passion in them and enough drive to make one by the time I started Lost Impressions, learning to code and managing to get a few artists to work for free or for art trades that I could finally release my first VN in July the year after.”

I need to play Lost Impressions.

“It's not all that good but if you're interested in seeing where my roots are then go for it.” 2. What is your top priority for both your VNs and your players?

“I guess that's a hard question to answer without being too vague. 'Quality' would be the word that comes to mind, but that could really be one of many things. As long as people walk away from my VNs with the feeling that it wasn't terrible, then that's my baseline reference for doing a good job. With Lost Impressions, while it doesn't stand up on its own with my current standards, I wanted to make something beyond that of "my first Ren'Py game", which is why I put a lot of effort into getting as much original artwork as I could and similarly with SOHL(Sounds of Her Love). Chemically Bonded's a little different. That I had the commercial backing to make it 100% original, I've still been committed to making the experience as enjoyable as possible not only for myself but the people who'll play it.

Full voice acting, animated backgrounds, artwork variation and a unique user interface are just some of the things I've done to try and polish that experience. The people that I've worked with on the project have added to that drive for quality, all of them being extremely talented and capable people. I hope that reflects well on player's once the game's out. Short answer would be making my games the best I can given the resources I have with each one I make.”

That... is a wholesome response. :’)

“Yeah I love my players and I want to give them something worth playing. ^w^”

That's good! Your players(and I) love you too! ^^ 3. What are some VNs, movies, anime, games, etc. that inspired you when developing Sounds of Her Love?

“As far as I can remember, SOHL was inspired by a lot of general romance animes I'd watched up to that point. Stuff like Clannad (VN was also great), Kanon and a whole bunch of others I can't really list off the top of my head. VNs like Katawa Shoujo, Narcissu and Homeward also drove a lot of that inspiration, but similarly they're what sparked me to get started in the first place. I'd say a lot of the inspiration of SOHL came from Lost Impressions though. I don't think I would've made a second VN if I didn't think I could do a better job, and people seemed to like it so I stayed around for Chemically Bonded. Ceri's overall design just game from what I considered people would find cute and wholesome, given the nature of the game. There's an aura of sweetness around timid 'library girls' which I wanted to capture and use to make the main plot points of the game more emotionally crushing.”

Oh my, Katawa Shoujo, Narcissu and Homeward! VN's I have enjoyed too! ^^ Haha indeed, Ceri is ultra loved in the community! 4. What types of challenges did you encounter when developing Sounds of Her Love?

“In terms of development, there weren't many challenges besides a few programming related hurdles but I'd only consider them minor. I'd managed to get a hang of making a VN at that point after Lost Impressions and I didn't face similar challenges to obtain art as I was commissioning people as opposed to praying on other people's generosity. Building a community was probably one of the biggest aspects. Lost Impressions hadn't got much attention, and I wanted to make a name for myself alongside getting enough Greenlight votes to get onto Steam when that was still a thing. For what it was, a short free VN from an unknown developer at that point, I think I managed to achieve what I was after and the positive response from the community is what drove me into Chemically Bonded's development.

The worst challenge was dealing with personal issues at that time. My father died around half way through SOHL's development, so getting through that and having the energy to finish the game was a lot to overcome. I talked about that in a little 'thank you' letter I put into the itch.io release of SOHL's bonus content ~We'll Always Be Together~, but as dark as it is to say I think it helped in a way to give me the resolve to accomplish my personal goals.”

I'm sorry to hear about that. I'm sure he would've been happy to see what you've made, especially using it as closure for your goals.

“It's fine it's just something everyone has to deal with eventually and I agree, thank you. :D” 5. Everyone's favorite grill, I'm sure Ceri went through a lot of changes during the concept of her character. Were there elements you decided to scrap?

“That's kind of hard to answer since she didn't really go through all that many changes aha. xD It'd pretty much come up with the idea and design and stuck with it throughout the entire development process. There's nothing I can remember scrapping besides stuff like UI design concepts.”

Wow! Ceri's been perfect since day 1 haha!

“I'm glad you think so. :)”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeBagoabB6c

6. During the character concepts for Chemically Bonded, what changes did Naomi and Kiyoko go through to reach their current state?

“That's a lot easier to answer, as Chemically Bonded's had a lot more changes over the course of it's development and the characters are a big factor in that. In terms of their design, Kiyoko's probably changed the most. She was originally supposed to have short black hair, but I decided to make her a brunette based on my personal preferences. She was originally supposed to be a biologist too, rather than a chemist. This is going to sound like a joke, but one of my first ideas for her route as to make it about protecting bees but I quickly scrapped that idea fast as it really doesn't suit a visual novel in my opinion. As with Naomi, her appearance was designed a lot later into the process, so it really didn't go through any changes.

She was originally supposed to be on the basketball team instead of the track team, but her personality has always been generally the same. A lot of the changes were to do with the relationship and backstory between the two of them, which is the main focus of the game. In the beginning, it was as simple as Kiyoko having spilled a drink on Naomi, but I'd decided to give them a shared history as I felt that'd be a better foundation to push the emotional aspects of the game that I'm after a lot earlier in the story rather than only just during each girls' route.”

Haha Trackstar and the bee safety advocate. I can see it now. “WHY ARE YOU RUNNING NAOMI?! IT’S JUST BEES!”

“She was going to host a 'bee day' at the school but realistically I can imagine it going horribly wrong. uwu” 7. This one you’ll have fun explaining. You're introducing some new features in Chemically Bonded that weren't in Sounds of Her Love such as the Scene Library. Will there be other new features added?

“I'll definitely have a lot of fun explaining! It'd introduced a lot of cool features in SOHL that a lot of VNs didn't have at the time, which'll still be in Chemically Bonded. Those being a CG camera that zooms and pans and the ability to do the same with high resolution CGs in the gallery. As for original things, there's a lot that I've done for CB which should hopefully prove interesting for everyone who plays it, the scene library being one of those things. I'm planning on using that not only as a way to replay scenes, but to have a separate section dedicated to bonus scenes unlockable after the game is complete. Stuff like things I'd want to write which would've never fit canonically into the game's story and a lot of silly things in general. The encyclopedia is also another big feature which'll be in the game. I haven't shown it off yet since it's still a work in progress, but it's function will be more on the entertaining side as opposed to usefulness. There's not a lot of specific jargon in the game. In-game choices made through an in-game phone is something that I've worked hard on. Originally the phone was supposed to have a bigger purpose, but I scaled down those ideas as they were hard to implement. I still think that giving the player a choice of messages to respond with, or the option to accept/decline calls is still a cool feature, although realistically most people are going to accept them anyway. Finally, stuff I've already mentioned like animated backgrounds, full voice acting and an expanded side character cast is also something I want to emphasize. It's a first step I want to take before releasing a title with more than three romantic options, and building those connections and learning how to handle a variety of characters has been a fun experience. As for original things, there's a lot that I've done for CB which should hopefully prove interesting for everyone who plays it, the scene library being one of those things. I'm planning on using that not only as a way to replay scenes, but to have a separate section dedicated to bonus scenes unlockable after the game is complete. Stuff like things I'd want to write which would've never fit canonically into the game's story and a lot of silly things in general. The encyclopedia is also another big feature which'll be in the game. I haven't shown it off yet since it's still a work in progress, but it's function will be more on the entertaining side as opposed to usefulness. There's not a lot of specific jargon in the game. In-game choices made through an in-game phone is something that I've worked hard on. Originally the phone was supposed to have a bigger purpose, but I scaled down those ideas as they were hard to implement. I still think that giving the player a choice of messages to respond with, or the option to accept/decline calls is still a cool feature, although realistically most people are going to accept them anyway. Finally, stuff I've already mentioned like animated backgrounds, full voice acting and an expanded side character cast is also something I want to emphasize. It's a first step I want to take before releasing a title with more than three romantic options, and building those connections and learning how to handle a variety of characters has been a fun experience.”

That CG camera will definitely be fun to use! The separate section reminds of one of my favorite VNs "Dysfunctional Systems: Learning to Manage Chaos". Basically had their own encyclopedia on their lore, and a separate section to show off fanart. It's nice to see that being planned for CB!

“I was planning on having a separate gallery for fan art but there isn't all that much of it for CB so I had to scrap the idea. xd”

I see! Psst, ds-sans community! Fanart is always appreciated! 8. Amber Barile will be reprising her role as Ceri but also doing the role of Naomi. You'll also be having Nyanners as Sae. Will there be other voice actors joining the cast?

“Amber has always been a great person to work with and I'm happy to have her back reprising her role as Ceri and doing a wonderful job as Naomi. Taylor (Nyanners) has also been great to work with so far too. I have to give a lot of credit to Kiyoko's voice actress though ("N i i"). She's had the biggest workload as the titular character and always delivered wonderful lines and helped make Kiyoko the character I'd imagined her to be. We'll also be working with more actors and actresses for some of the minor characters and I'll be sharing a lot more of them on my Twitter page in the near future.” Quite exciting!

9. Currently, what is the hardest part of developing Chemically Bonded?

“The hardest part of Chemically Bonded has always been maintaining motivation, organising the project and balancing it with my personal life. There's a lot I've learned over the course of its development that I hope will benefit me for future projects. Despite the game being almost a year behind what I'd imagined it to take, I've spent that time making it even better and making improvements I never would have otherwise done, which has given a silver lining to all those challenges.”

Totally understandable, burn out can be a creator's worst enemy! It's great to see you in high hopes with CB's development now!

“Thank you!" 10. From Lost Impressions to Sounds of Her Love to Chemically Bonded, what kind of things have you learned up to this point?

“I've learnt a lot over the course of developing the three titles. The biggest thing being that no matter who you are, someone out there is surely bound to be interested in what you have to offer. It's been amazing seeing the support for what I do grow from just a few other VN developers to a whole community of people all with the same interest. It's really been touching to see that and hear people's thoughts over the years and I hope that the release of Chemically Bonded will be a big boom of positive energy not just for myself but everyone who's been involved with and followed its development.

I've also learned a lot of skills throughout the process. I'd always dabbled in graphic design, but I've developed that skill a lot through visual novels, not just for my own projects but others too that I've worked on as a UI artist. The case is the same with a lot of other skills. Besides the main artwork and sound behind Chemically Bonded in particular, everything else has been handled by myself (coding, writing, user interface, marketing) so having to rely and develop my own strengths has been a fundamental part of every project.”

That's pretty great, seeing where your strengths lie while also doing so much! I'm sure when Chemically Bonded releases there will be just a huge burst of love going everywhere! Did you do the UI for a different VN recently? I forgot whether it was "Nekodeito"(NoGood) or a different one...

“I've done UIs for so many VNs I've lost count aha, but Nekodeito is my most recent one.” 11. Once Chemically Bonded fully releases, how much would it cost?

“The standard price will be 10 USD, but I hope it'll cost people a few heartstrings by the time they're finished with it. :)”

Haha, and once again a large mass of people's hearts will be enraptured by wholesome girls! (or lewd, I’ve seen that Christmas art!)

“There's a few lewd CGs but nothing NSFW. ;)”

12. As a patron of your Patreon; I see that you put tutorials on how to make Visual Novels. This is the first time I've seen that. What motivated you to not only provide updates to Chemically Bonded, but also help your community make their own games?

“Now'll be a good time to thank you for your support, so thanks. It's really appreciated and I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! One of the biggest factors was necessity. I can't really post that many updates about Chemically Bonded and I needed something I can reliably post to keep people interested and tutorials was one of the first things I considered. It doesn't really take much effort to share some of my knowledge and experience and I'm hoping it's not only helpful but interesting for people to see how I work on my projects and how they can do the same.”

Hehe no worries, I enjoy what you do afterall! That's real nice of you as many are aspiring VN devs and surely will need some help! Especially yours, since you can also contain ways for something specific!

“I'm glad and I hope I can do a lot for aspiring devs. :D” 13. To your current and future fans, what would you like to say to them?

“I'd tell them to look forward to what's in store! Chemically Bonded is just the first step towards something bigger, and the support I've had from both new and old fans is what helps me to grow!

And I'm not going to announce who best girl is in my opinion either. *puts on sunglasses*”

It's obviously Ceriyomi hehehe

“O.O How did you know?”

o>o uhhh secrets of the trade! 14. Would you like to add anything else?

“There isn't anything else I think I can add. I think we've covered everything but I'm happy to have had an opportunity to answer some questions as it's always fun and flattering to do so!” Once again, an extraordinarily BIG thank you to ds-sans for taking the time to have a chat with me! It’ll be exciting once “Chemically Bonded” releases! Hopefully, I’ll start playing “Lost Impressions” soon! Follow ds-sans on Twitter ds-sans itch.io page ds-sans YouTube

ds-sans Patreon

Chemically Bonded on Steam

Sounds of Her Love on Steam Lost Impressions [Interview with ds-sans] June 5, 2019 Interview Start Time: 4:06 AM

Interview End Time: 6:33 AM Far2close - Visual Novel Playthroughs