Visual Novels and Other Visions: An Interview With Hanako Games

Visual Novels and Other Visions: An Interview With Hanako Games

As places to discover and publish games seem to be growing more accessible, we often take for granted how interests of the previously niche were hard to find and unapproachable, especially in online spaces. Although tracking down obscure media remains a challenge—and games preservation in particular remains a contentious issue—the influences left by fleeting memories of something seemingly lost has inspired many developers today to turn what was old into something new for contemporary audiences to indulge in.

Otome games, story-based games that originated in Japan targeted towards women, for example, have seemingly left an imprint on visual novel and romance elements that exist in games of other genres. I had an opportunity to discuss that question and more with Georgina Bensley, founder of Hanako Games. We discussed what goes into doing work as “Hanako,” and how the continuously changing landscape of the games scene—especially for independent games development—has offered both challenges and opportunities for visual novels and other forms of interactive fiction. From its early beginnings working within the narrow scope of its influences through Cute Knight, to expanding into even wider themes with more recent titles like Night Cascades, Hanako Games has every intention of growing its library while continuing to work in an ever-evolving industry.

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Take a Break With These 3 Short Games

Take a Break With These 3 Short Games

I am a very picky gamer. Last summer, when I purchased that giant, amazing game bundle for racial justice and equality on itch.io, I figured it’d be easy to take some time, scroll through and pick out a few things that worked with my interests. I’m usually only interested in dating sims and visual novels, the weirder and queerer the better. However, perusing through the 1,741 items in the bundle quickly became intimidating. Several months later I’ve only played a handful of games, and I get a bit tuckered out just scrolling through the giant list. (more…)

Review: Crime Opera: The Butterfly Effect Doesn’t Get Away with Anything

Review: Crime Opera: The Butterfly Effect Doesn’t Get Away with Anything

I don’t like visual novels. They’re usually not fun or entertaining for me. They don’t have enough choices for my liking, and I often find that they’re poorly written, or riddled with grammatical and spelling errors, often due to the fact that their platform allows them to sidestep the traditional editorial process of a longform narrative. Consequently, I am not generally the person to review them here. I do, however, love a good bit of gossip, so when I heard that the game Crime Opera: The Butterfly Effect had been rejected by Valve for their Steam platform, well… I had to at least look, right? (more…)

Mystic Messenger Trash: Gals Being Pals in Jaehee’s Route

Mystic Messenger Trash: Gals Being Pals in Jaehee’s Route

Welcome back to Mystic Messenger Trash, a gaming diary that chronicles my experience playing Mystic Messenger for the first time. The following contains spoilers for Jaehee’s good route of the game (and one of her bad endings).

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Yaoi Game Jam 2018 Gives Me Hope for the Future of BL

Yaoi Game Jam 2018 Gives Me Hope for the Future of BL

The boys’ love (or BL) genre, and yaoi in particular, fills me with all sorts of complicated feelings. BL was my first time seeing myself actually represented in the media I was interested in, and I’ve been ravenously consuming it ever since. As many long-time fans of the genre can attest, that’s kind of a mixed bag when it comes to psychosexual development. (more…)