Sunday, October 22, 2023
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Flying In A Straight Line
Stick
to what you know might well be Winged Cloud’s company moto and why
would it not be in the face of their continued success as a
developer. Most well know for their Sakura games, Winged Cloud has a
specialisation in short romance visual novels which focus around a
single idea shown in their title and have some sort of erotic element
to spice things up. On the surface it is surprising to see the degree
of their continued popularity despite their output not being
dissimilar to the many other developers who produce throwaway romance
titles, yet they all do not have the staying power of Winged Cloud.
Is this a case of being in the right place at the right time for
their early games or is there something more fundamentally attractive
about the bite-sized worlds and characters they produce? This mystery
demands a closer examination of what is perhaps the oddest Western
developer. Let’s find some cute girls with a very specific gimmick
and uncover the strengths of Winged Cloud’s brand.
Developer Overview
Sometimes
being direct with an audience can be exactly what they want, no
complicated plots or tormented characters, just what the game says in
its title. It can be refreshing to sit down and not have the game
demand anything from you and this appeals to those who just want to turn off and
relax. Here is where Winged Cloud have made their
home with titles than do not aim for the stars, but instead provide a
level and consistent experience that is familiar while each one still
having enough distinctiveness from the last to separate them. This
aim makes romance the perfect genre to centre each game around since
it is an immediately recognisable and understandable narrative
foundation and love is an emotion we can all instinctually comprehend
without the need for explanation. Combine these two elements together
and the result is a light visual novel where the player can be
enveloped in a warm fluff narrative that makes its one unique feature
stand out to provide a bit of stimulation, but not enough to
overpower the sense of familiarity they will be consumed by during
their play time. Romantic fluff is a form of escapism which has a
long history in a variety of mediums and its continued longevity even
here showcases the appeal of playing out this type of fantasy. Winged
Cloud know this fact and have not deviated away from producing games
in this space for their entire existence. Their continued success
should speak for how they have mastered this particular niche of the
visual novel world.
What
is known and familiar can be at once comfortable and warm while also
providing a source of emotive symbols we can all easily recognise.
Such is the nature of the cliché, at once the most looked down upon
part of aspect of the medium and yet one that still manages to hold
people’s hearts. The reality of its use is that moderation and
short play time are its best bedfellows and allow it to invoke
specific and predictable emotions in people. It also presents easy to
identify signals for the player and they know what this cliché is
likely to include which holds them in suspense for the inevitable. Just as romantic fluff can lead to a form
of escapism so too can a well placed core cliché and this is
something Winged Cloud understands well. Each game they create
employs a single cliché around which the entire experience rotates
around and this is signalled to the player before they even start the
game through its title. Be this Shrine Girls, a Maid or a Cupid, there is
never any attempt to conceal the core of the game and this ensures
the only people who play the game are those who are willing to go
along with the ride. A bond forms between player and game whereby
there is an agreement about how the player should behave based on
their prior encounters with the cliché in question. They know what
emotions they should be experiencing and engage with the visual novel
on these terms to gain a sense of familiarity and comfort from the
old idea made into something slightly different.
Selection Of Notable Works
Sakura Succubus 1-7
If
there is one series within the Sakura franchise that embodies Winged
Cloud’s philosophy for narrative and game design then it is the
Succubus games. This seven game long story centres around the simple
idea that the protagonist Hiroki has a natural sent succubi find
irresistible. It stats out relatively simply in the first game with
three succubi and piles on more succubi as the games go on until it
takes another turn into a more direct romance. All of this is very
obviously a form of male fantasy escapism and follows a lot of the clichés
associated with it, such as the sudden and inexplicable attractiveness
of our otherwise normal protagonist and the assembling of a harem of
women who are all in love with him. These games make absolutely no
attempt to hide what they are and wear this identity with pride to
the point of poking fun at itself in later game as if to signal it
knows how increasingly silly its premise has become. However, it is
in this unabashed attitude where the Succubus games derive their
staying power within the minds of players. Knowing your audience and
catering to their desires and expectations holds a lot of potential
desirability to counter any lack of memorable features. When players
know what to expect from a series they will always return to it so
long as it continues giving them the hit they crave.
Sakura MMO
On
the other end of the wish fulfilment spectrum for the Sakura games is
the MMO series. These titles follows a female protagonist who finds
herself in a world that bears a remarkable to her favourite mmo and
gets involved with a colourful cast of characters. This basic
description should immediately cue you into the fact that this is an
isekai story and the game goes along with the tropes of this type of
narrative by having our protagonist be overpowered. The choice to
have a female main character recontextualises the many women who
flock to the protagonist from a standard harem into a yuri harem
which changes the nature of their relationships. Not everyone wants
the almost lustful and direct tones of a normal harem which a yuri
harem avoids by emphasising the ideas of female purity and sanctity
associated with yuri in general to frame the bonds in a positive
light. By using this technique the games can shift their appeal to a
slightly different audience which other Sakura games would not be able
to cater for. This selection of various approaches is
at the core of the Sakura franchise’s broad appeal since it offers
a lot of different audiences a bit sized morsels of what they desire
to keep them coming back.
Sakura Dungeon
Every
so often Winged Cloud decide to do something different. While they
never deviate too far from the formula which made them successful,
what is added does make these games stand out from the rest of their
titles. Sakura Dungeon is one such visual novel and the unique
addition it makes is presence of dungeon crawler mechanics. This is
no pure visual novel like the majority of Winged Cloud’s output but
instead a hybrid which pushes them in front of an entirely new
audience of DRPG fans. From a narrative point of view it is exactly
what you would expect of a Sakura game with all the expected clichés,
although it leans more towards the MMO end of the spectrum rather
than the Succubus with its female protagonist. When it comes to the
dungeon crawler mechanics it uses, they are fairly basic with the
only noticeable exception by the monster capture system whereby you
can recruit the enemies you fight as party members in a loose
collectable element. Instead of the complicated mechanics the DRPG
genre is known for the result of Sakura Dungeon’s design choices is
a light and accessible version of what, for many, is an impenetrable
section of gaming. This way Winged Cloud can hedge their bets by not
alienating their old audience with overwhelming gameplay while still
testing the waters with another potential group of players.
Conclusion
There
is an undeniable staying power to Winged Cloud’s games for they
understand exactly what their audience wants and provides them a
condensed dose of it. Focusing on simple romance narratives is a the
heart of many of their titles with an eye to creating a short and
sweet experience that does not demand much from the player. To enable
this approach the stories lean into familiar clichés to set the
player's expectations and cue them into the exact feelings they can
expected to have in order to prevent any surprises. Add to this a good
helping of various kinds of wish fulfilment from normal and yuri
harems to overpower isekai and the result is a warm, fuzzy and
unchallenging time which can often be what people want from a game.
Sometimes Winged Cloud do slightly step out of their comfort zone by
introducing other game mechanics in an attempt to attract in new
audiences. Even if you might not like their style of visual novel,
there is still much to learn from their example when it comes to the
audience expectations and how to play into them.
