1500+ downloads special Q&A!
Hello everyone, Y here! :D
We wanted to thank you for your amazing supports through these past few months, so here’s a little Q&A we’ve prepared for you :)
If you have any other question, just post it on the twitter post and we’ll be delighted to answer it! :)
Since I’m in charge of writing the scripts, I will try answering these questions on my own as best as I can.
1. Why did we make this game?
To be perfectly honest, I’m not a huge fan of zombie stories? So my knowledge is a bit lacking in that department. I usually prefer ghosts or witches stories.
Still, I’ve read/watched/played a few of them, like The Walking Dead, Resident Evil, World War Z or a few other well-known ones. My favorite one possibly being the I am a Hero manga.
Usually, I found myself pretty dissatisfied by how dehumanized the genre has become, and how little work is put in the characters for a lot of them.
Still, believe it or not, 96 is inspired by the DLC of a HOG game called Twisted Lands: Shadow Town. When I was much younger, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
2. About the story
I’ve had the idea for 96 almost 10 years ago at this point.
It kept haunting me from time to time, but I always thought it wouldn’t make for an interesting plot, so I discarded it for years, unsure of how I could develop such a simple premise.
I guess the lockdown gave me an extra reason to think back to this particular story after we replayed most Silent Hill games with Hoshiko.
In the original idea, a few things were different.
Niles and Sixten were truly brothers, so it wasn’t a love story at first, although Niles’ despair and ending didn’t change much.
There also were more characters in the story, perhaps a group that had to assess the island state after so many years, instead of only Elise ending up on it. In the end I chose to only have one single person meet Niles, as it was easier to manage, and she was as stuck as him.
I was so unsure of what I was doing that every single day I’d think of a different development, and I hesitated to add more gameplay mechanics, like lock-picking or being able to fight, but in the end I ended up with a pure story-driven game.
I sometimes end up feeling like too much gameplay can make a game stray away from its initial intent, or change the atmosphere completely.
3. How was it made?
I chose RPG maker MV this time, although I’ve used VX Ace for a much longer time.
It was a nice experience to try out the new engine!
I used aseprite for the few custom sprites I had to draw this time, as I wanted to mainly make a game with the amazing Pop Horror pack. (I know a looooot of games have used it, but it’s still oh so pretty!)
As for the script, I usually write scripts on Scrivener, but this time I ended up writing it on my phone xD It was surprisingly fun.
4. About the title
I’ve read all sorts of interesting theories about the title! (especially on youtube)
The project name used to be “Queer Horror”, while I was working on it, “96” was chosen well after the game was made. (I like puns yes)
To be honest they’re all better than the real reason behind it, so I think that whatever you think is the meaning behind “96” will be a thousand times better than what I thought of.
Really.
5. About Niles
I’ve seen some people say Elise was the protagonist of 96. I guess for me it’s Niles, but it might be a tough question indeed.
Overall, I really like Niles. He’s my child of some sort xD I feel like we’re very alike, and I've cried over his death myself.
I do feel bad for him even now, almost a year after the script was written.
His name is a reference to 9S/Nines from Nier:Automata, although I do consider myself a much bigger Nier Replicant simp.
6. About Sixten
Ah, he’s a difficult one to understand.
I had a hard time writing him in Another Story, since I had no idea what he was thinking of, in the main game.
Everything we know about him comes from Niles' flashbacks and memories, so I sometimes did wonder if he was in truth a different person.
I know he’s kind, I know he’s trying hard, and that he always thinks about his brother first.
I do think he feels very lonely when Niles is not around. The rest is shroud in mystery, when it comes to the main game.
Yet again, the reason why we picked his name is pretty funny, but not very mysterious nor very thought-out, so I might let you guys keep your headcanons for it as well.
7. About Elise
Elise, oh Elise. I thought her name sounded very pretty, so I gave it to her.
She’s honest, determined and hardworking, I’d say. She has her own ideas about life and fate, and maybe that’s why she might be the only character who knows what she wants exactly.
I always think it’s sad in mlm media when women are depicted as mere tools for the scenario to make one of the boys jealous, so I didn’t want to do that.
She’s there to balance the story out, in more ways than one.
I hope she lived a happy life after the game ends.
8. About Sixten's last words
I was very surprised to see most people interpreted them as a love confession?
By all means, you are free to see them as anything you want, I guess they’re vague so that people can think what they want.
I have a weird personal opinion about them, so I like seeing everyone’s response to those few sentences.
8. About the future
It’s been a few busy months here, so I couldn’t work on my personal projects as much as I wanted to, unfortunately. My dominant hand is in a bad shape as well.
I do plan on releasing some snippets on twitter eventually, when I will have more graphical assets ready.
The next game will be much longer than 96, and will require a lot more sprites and facesets.
The script is finished, and I’m almost done with the main character’s spritesheet. Hopefully it will be done soon.
Yes, the title will have a pun in it, rest assured.
As for the genre, I tend to try my hand at a lot of different ones, depending on my mood or inspiration, so it won’t always be horror-ish themes, although I usually like them more than other genres.
Still, if you’re up for sad love stories, I will do my best to deliver. (the next game will have 2 endings built-in, a good and a bad one)
I also plan on making my games lgbt+-focused, at least for now.
Finally, a BIG thank you to everyone who has the patience to read this page :)
Or even just some of the comments!
I hope I will see you all soon on itchio or twitter ～