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Developer Spotlight – Winged Cloud
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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.
Developer Spotlight – Studio Elan
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A Gentle Touch, A Quiet Bond
Not
all stories need to have a grand scale or expansive themes, sometimes
the most profound things can be expressed in the smallest moments
between two lovers. There is an energy and life to Studio Elan’s
visual novels which forms a feel good ethos surrounding the
characters as they come to know their own feelings and is infectious
in its presentation. This is infused into their yuri narratives that
tend to lean into some element of magic or fantasy to support the
bewitching atmosphere as the pair explore their feelings. As a small
indie studio their portfolio is not large, but what is here is some
of the best the western visual novel scene has to offer in terms of
well told and heart felt romances. Above all else it is a studio
never content to rest on the familiar and are always pushing their
ideas out into new stories and characters. Let’s take a closer look
at what Studio Elan bring to the yuri genre and how their approach to
visual novel design defines them.
Developer Overview
At
first glance it might be tempting to characterise the narratives of
Stuidio Elan’s games as simplistic or standard in nature. On a
surface level this is true with a leaning into direct stories that
present their core ideas to the player without any attempt to conceal
or surprise. However, looking beyond this level we can see what the
developers are truly interested in and that is the nature of romantic
relationships, particularly those between women. Each game places its
pairing in the direct light of the narrative and slowly peals away
their masks to reveal the different parts of a person that go into
forming a bond with another. This is often accompanied by the
developers characteristic magical element which reflects some aspect
of the heroine’s emotions and adding a touch of mystique to
proceedings. What results is a brilliant stage upon which the cast
dances, revealing to us and to each other the universal truths about the
closest bond a person can have. It is at once theatrical
in its directness and intimate in its contemplations which is an
impressive line to tread, one that Studio Elan regularly does with
grace.
In
their games there is sensitivity to emotion few other developers can
match. When a character expresses their feelings it is always in a
gentle and sympathetic manner where each word carries a
human fragility. Yet this is never presented as a weakness but
instead a well of strength the characters can draw from to work
towards their dreams together. Every relationship reflects this
positive forward momentum even when the character does not
necessarily end up with what they want and this evenness prevents it from becoming to unbelievable. The greatest benefit of
this angle is way it smoothly integrates the romantic core with the
other themes the game wishes to cover by bringing them into a
cohesive whole that the player will never question. In reverse this
also means that when the chips are down and the lovers take centre
stage, they are never overshadowed or interrupted by side elements or
unresolved ideas since they have already been dealt with in the lead
up to this moment and this gives the couple space to be themselves
without unnecessary narrative burden.
Selection of Notable Works
Highway Blossoms
Road
trips are an exciting prospect where many interesting and unusual
encounters can happen along the way to your destination. Highway
Blossoms taps into this sense of adventure and freedom to push our
two heroines, Amber and Marina, towards each other as the space given
to them allows for a searching of their own feelings as they overcome
the trials. The motivation for this journey is the recently
discovered journal of a gold miner filled with cryptic clues that
promise hidden treasure. So a new ‘gold rush’ is sparked as our
heroines join a race to uncover the hidden riches and this provides a
background sense of this period in American history which acts as a
nice contrast to the romance’s value on the intimate and
immaterial. Overall this is by far the studio’s most grounded work
but even this early on you can see the sensitivity and understanding
of relationships which would come to define their later works.
Heart of the Woods
The
supernatural presence in Studio Elan’s works goes up dramatically
with Heart of the Woods with our protagonist, Madison, actively
seeking it out as part of her role in an online show on the subject.
Of course when she goes to a remote village in the woods she get far
more than she bargained for both in terms of ghost from the past and
love. It also has an ex-girlfriend who is actually present in the
story and Madison has to sort out her feelings about this former
lover as love for someone else blooms, which makes for one an
interesting back and forth as they try to decide where they stand in
relation to each other. This interest in the dynamics surrounding
romantic relationships and how they begin and end is carried over to
the rest of the cast. Each one brings their personality to bare in
this debate of values through their actions even as the supernatural
threat is out to get them. Giving both sides of this divide, plot and
romance, the right amount of time and the sensitivity to the
characters intimate emotions is the game’s greatest success.
Please Be Happy
Knowing
love and loving another are integral parts of being human and Please
Be Happy takes this angle to explore the meaning of having humanity
and its value. This is a tale where the most human people are
supernatural in some way such as our protagonist, Miho, who is a fox
turned human on a quest to find a certain kind human. Despite seeing
the darker aspects of humanity she remains good at heart and this is
very much a tale of good people who are just a bit awkward with their
emotions. Finding their happiness is something the cast struggles
with as their past, affections and commitments pull them in different
emotional directions which leads to the majority of the game’s
conflict. Please Be Happy is by far the studio’s most character
centric narrative with emotions and interpersonal conflict being
almost the entire narrative substance and this clear purpose allows
for their distinctive style to shine at its brightest here.
Conclusion
The
strength of Studio Elan’s sensitive narratives cannot be overstated
and works to make their visual novels some of the best in the English
speaking sphere. Being able to tap into the well of complex emotions
which go into human romantic relationship through the lens of yuri
gives room for a proper consideration of what they mean to each
character. Placed alongside their game’s sympathetic and gentle
presentation of the fragile nature of the human heart and the result
is a series of extremely well rounded titles which are willing to
push their characters within the framework of the plot into revealing
to the player who they really are deep down. Picking up a game from
this studio is always a worthy investment of your time if these are
the kind of experiences you are looking for.
PixelFade – Developer Spotlight
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Knowing What You Are Good At
Sticking
to what you know is a fairly common feature for a developer and it
makes sense given the monetary and time investment required to make a
game. Most developers tend to at least try to somewhat off the beaten
path in order to keep their games feeling fresh, but there are some
that stubbornly stick to one template for all of their titles and
PixelFade is one of them. This is by no means a bad thing with a
focus on a single framework leading to a refined and polished
product. As such PixelFade make for an interesting test case as to
the pros and cons of this approach while also showcasing the amazing
work possible within the western visual novel scene. They have craved
a niche from themselves in a way common among their peers but in a
far more direct and unapologetic manner which is impressive in its
own right. Let’s dive into a whirlpool of romance and drama to see
what makes PixelFade tick.
Developer Overview
For
PixelFade the maypole around which their games rotate is the romantic
adventure. This being a series of conflicts acting as a flavour to coat
the romance between the protagonist and their chosen heroine to
distinguish itself from the many other romance stories and provide
pacing to that romance. It takes many different forms in PixelFade’s
work, from mecha combat to isekai, but all share the characteristic
of being background elements placed in such a way as to overwhelm
what the game is really about. In knowing exactly what they want from
their visual novels, PixelFade has had the time to pin down the parts
of the experience they see as its core and they seem to have settled
on the idea of the romantic journey. The beginnings of this approach
can be seen in Ace Academy through the directed nature of the common
routes core conflicts, it then comes to the forefront in Crystalline
where everything about the game is pushing the player forwards and in
Ethereal Enigma they find the happy middle ground between the two
previous extremes. Over the course of their lifetime as a developer
they have made dozen of similar changes to their formula and it is
like night and day when it comes to the overall quality of their
later games.
Even
from their very first visual novel PixelFade have maintained a sense of
quality through how they effectively use their specific skill set.
The most immediately striking example of this is the exclusive use of
live 2d for character portraits with not a single static one in
sight. Before anything else this marks it out since there are few
other visual novels making sure prolific use of it at the moment due
to the technical know-how required and this gives their work an extra
avenue to stick in the player's mind. On the practical level it animates each
scene with a sense of playfulness as the exaggerated emotions of the
scenario play out in motion in front of the player and sells the
tone in a way few others in the medium can match. In setting itself
apart in this way PixelFade can ensure an instantly recognisable
standard of quality that any prospective player will associate with
them no matter the context in which the see those games.
Selection Of Notable Works
Ace Academy
Mecha
school action was the starting point for PixelFade’s production of
visual novels and what a way to state your intentions it is with a
stylish basis from which all their other work would diverge. It set
up the features that the studio would become know for such as full
English voice acting and the extensive use of live 2d and still
managed to be a solid example of its genre. Following the protagonist
as he transfers into the titular Ace Academy and discovers that his
hand me down mech might not be as outdated as it seems. What results
is a game drawing heavily from its shounen influences to the point of
spending a good degree of its duration focused around a tournament
arc. At the same time the romantic elements are ever present as the
decision about which heroine to pursue keep the downtime feeling
exciting as each one of them offers something distinct to the group
dynamic. With all this said it is the most flawed of all their game
and suffers from a variety of issues from pacing problems to
characters behaving as the plot demands rather than what makes sense
for them. However, despite these shortcomings the title saw success
and started PixelFade’s path into the realm of visual novels.
Crystalline
After
the route based structure of Ace Academy there is a noticeable shift
into a more curated and controlled direction for PixelFade’s games.
Crystalline makes this immediately felt with a story that leads the
player from event to event with PixelFade acting as a kind of absent
dungeon master who is attempting to keep the pacing even. The
consequences of this methodology are profound as characters now exist
in a shared space where they cannot expect to be given their own
screen time and so the focus shifts onto the dynamics of
the group creating a selection of very human party members. As for
the content of the story itself, it is a fairly predictable isekai
narrative which is carried by the sincerity of its teller and
PixelFade clearly have a love for this genre and it shows. There is
nothing here to convert someone into a fan of the genre but for those
who already are it is a fun time. The presence of a fully formed
romance not involving the protagonist is a nice bonus and helps make
the world feel as if it does not whole revolve around the player.
Kaori After Story
Existing
as a fandisc like expansion to Kaori’s ending from Ace Academy,
Kaori After Story has none of the pressures for a forward moving
narrative since all the work has already been done by its
predecessor. Instead, this is a game focused on the relationship
between Kaori and the protagonist to the point of spending the
majority of its play time having the protagonist be accepted by
Kaori’s family. Concise and to the point perfectly describe this
visual novel, it knows what it wants to be and head right for that
goal with none of the diversion of PixelFade’s other titles. As the
relationship with Kaori is what the game wants to sell, there is a
thick air of romance and every opportunity is taken to create cute
moments which relies of the player already having a strong bond with
the pairing. This can be an issue at times since it puts no effort
into setup and can feel like it is spinning its wheels with nothing
to contribute to these characters. Its short length ultimately
prevents this problem from distracting from what is an entertaining
demonstration of the pair’s bond.
Conclusion
There
appears to be no slowing down for PixelFade’s output with the
upcoming Astral Ascension taking their stories to space for an
adventure across the vast black. Their fixation on a single
style of narrative has served them well in refining their ability to
give their audience what they want and maintaining a strong
presentation to their games which immediately tells the player who
made it. If what they are selling is to your tastes then you are
guaranteed a good time and should pick up whatever setting among
their games takes your fancy for the best experience.
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