February’s Featured Game: Aria’s Story DEVELOPER(S): LydiaENGINE: RPGMaker

February’s Featured Game: Aria’s Story

DEVELOPER(S): Lydia
ENGINE: RPGMaker VX Ace
GENRE: Horror, Puzzle, Exploration
WARNINGS: Blood, minor jumpscares
SUMMARY: Aria is a bookworm who loves adventure stories and always spends her free time in the library. One day she falls asleep while reading a book and when she wakes up the library is closed. Believing that they forgot to wake her up, she tries to find a way out… In that moment she becomes the protagonist of her own story.

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself!
*Hi! I’m Lydia, the developer and artist of Aria’s Story. This is my first time developing a game but I’ve been in the RPG Maker fandom for almost 4 years!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially?
*Lydia: Aria’s Story is a horror game about the adventures of a girl trapped in a library. She will interact with many books while trying to find a way out! One of the main characteristics of the game is the contrast between cute and creepy.

What inspired me were games like Ib and The Witch’s House. I love writing stories and they inspired me to create my own game.

How long have you been working on your project?
*Lydia: Almost 2 years, I started working on this game on March 2015.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project?
*Lydia: Basically other horror games like Ib, The Witch’s House and Dreaming Mary. Also, many tales and books influenced maps of the game. Madoka Magica and Harry Potter also influenced some aspects of the game!

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them?
*Lydia: I think the biggest challenge was the beginning. I didn’t know how to use RPG Maker so I spent a whole month trying to learn how to use it! Sometimes it was a bit frustrating because some events didn’t work how I wanted.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept?
*Lydia: It doesn’t differ much from the initial concept, I always wanted this to be a game about a girl trapped in a library. I think the biggest change was the true ending of the game, but this happened before the game was announced.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team?
*Lydia: It was just me and two friends (Kali and MerúM) that helped me with character designs and sprites. Before the release of the demo I recruited the voice actors (Rindre, HonorPress, Adox) and the composer (Adam). Rindre, Aria’s voice actress, also made the english translation of the demo!

What was the best part of developing the game?
*Lydia: Programming cutscenes and making maps! I love when I see what I had in mind turned into a part of the game and the characters interact with each other, I feel like all the effort was worth it. Also, another important part of developing a game is that it allowed me to meet wonderful people!

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently?
*Lydia: When I was planning the game I decided that different actions and decisions would affect the ending the player would receive.

However, I recently decided that only the actions and decisions that the player makes during the last area will affect the ending they will receive. This way, the player won’t need to replay the whole game only to obtain another ending. I had to change some dialogues and it was a bit tedious, I wish I had planned it better.

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is?
*This game doesn’t need a sequel or a prequel. If I decide to make another game, it will be something new.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release?
*Lydia: I hope people who aren’t very interested in books will find them more appealing after playing the game!

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game?
*Yes! I hope the game doesn’t have bugs when I release it, or at least not a bug that will crash the game or something like that.

Question from last month’s featured dev: Is there anything you’ve added to your game for no other reason than because you’re hoping fans will get a kick out of it?
*Lydia: Yes, the game has a lot of jokes and interesting dialogues related to books that I hope the players will enjoy! I thought about making references to other games when the player interacts with some bookshelves, but I decided to discard the idea.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs?
*Lydia: Just do it, don’t be afraid!

Take your time thinking the plot and what kind of game do you want to make, take a rest if you need it! Keep in mind that you don’t need to do all of it by yourself, you can make your own team! There’re many talented people in the community, you can try asking them for help.

It will be difficult at the beginning, but it will become easier as you progress. All the effort will be worth it, I promise! You just need to have a lot of patience and keep a positive attitude!

We mods would like to thank Lydia for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Aria’s Story if you haven’t already! See you next month!

- Mods Gold & Platinum