#akademia

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September’s Featured Game: Akademia

DEVELOPER(S):Somni
ENGINE: RPGMaker VX Ace
GENRE: Horror, Exploration, Puzzle
SUMMARY: Akademia is a 2D horror RPG currently being developed in RPG Maker VX Ace. In the province of British Columbia, Canada, there exists a private school in the woods, Rayfair Academy, that is known for its wealth and ambition. The academy follows the motto, “Pearls are worthless in the pursuit of gold,” and it has a reputation for producing highly motivated and overachieving students. However, in a bout of curiosity late at night, six students uncover a secret, and the story of the school’s origin–and the being responsible for it–begins to unravel.

Download the demo here!

Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself!
*Hello! I’m Somni, and I like to draw and write stories! I’ve been interested in RPG Maker games since 2013, and I’m a big fan of horror ones! I recently dived into community and I love how encouraging and positive everyone is. It motivates me to work hard!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially?
*Somni: Akademia is a story-heavy horror game about six second-year students in a prestigious academy accidentally coming in contact with a strange and powerful being. As Margaret attempts to find her friends and lead them to safety, the story of the academy’s past comes to light, and the otherworldly hollow they’ve all found themselves in starts to pick apart at the threads that hold their friendship together and prey on their minds.

I was always fascinated by occult and alchemy since I was small, and wanted to build on my love for them. However, I wanted to challenge myself and make the protagonists as ordinary as possible so I wouldn’t have to rely on using magic to solve everything in the story. Akademia was also created when I was at a very low point in my life, so my struggles have made their way in. I’d say it worked out well in the story.

How long have you been working on your project?
*Somni: I’ve been working on Akademia for more than three years now! The first two years were spent solidifying concepts and doing research, and the third year was spent doing game development. I kept the project to myself until I had a good grasp on everything, so it’s only been public for a year.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project?
*Somni: The Witch’s House and Ib brought me into the RPG Maker engine, and they all have a very solid plot and cute character designs. Haunting Ground was also one of my favorite horror games because it delves into alchemy as well, and it lit a fire in me to work on my game.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them?
*Somni: The first thing I always groan about is the discovery of bugs. Sometimes, I get careless or tired and add in weird things that mess with my game, and I can never find them until I backtrack or one of my beta testers points it out. Always add comments in your events so your mistakes can be found more easily, and remember to thank your beta testers, especially if they pick out lots of errors!

There are also times when I lose faith in myself and wonder if my game will ever be good enough compared to other games. I received so much love and support from the RPG Maker community, and I don’t want to let them down. In these times, I remind myself that Akademia is for me as well, and I need to do my best no matter what.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept?
*Somni: Akademia’s gotten a lot more sombre than it originally was. The first drafts I had were very campy, and the story didn’t glue well with character development. I guess time and experience allowed me to reconstruct everything and make the plot and character development a lot better. I can take the story seriously now, and I love it a lot!

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone?
*Somni: I like to work alone. I’m very picky about how things are made and written, and it would be a nightmare for everyone if I started micromanaging. A lot of things in my game are personal as well, and I’m hesitant to share them with others who can bend my experiences. In the future, I’ll think about voice actors, but that’s as far as I’ll go.

What was the best part of developing the game?
*Somni: Writing dialogue and making cute sprites! My characters have pretty different personalities, so I have a lot of fun making them interact and switching between individuals. I also wanted to make expressive sprites, so having small things like Jude tapping his foot or Austin rubbing his eyes makes development more fun for me.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing?
*Somni: I like to explore things on my own. I have a better understanding of the engine if I experiment and play around with things and see it fit the image I have in my head. Besides, you can do pretty much anything in RPG Maker if you get creative. I think getting inspiration from other games is the best and a very solid way of learning, but it doesn’t work for me personally.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?)
*Somni: This is a bit of a hard question for me because all of my protagonists have a part of me in them. I’d have to say Mai is the one I can relate to most, but I can’t say why because of spoilers. However, my favorite character is Austin because he’s genuinely sweet and supportive. He’s always there for his friends and wears his heart on his sleeve. There are other things I like about him, but they’re all secrets!

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently?
*Somni: Not really. Sometimes, I wish I released my game earlier. I spent three years on it and only just released a demo, but I also don’t feel too badly about it. All that time I spent working on it allowed me to polish the story and characters, and if I released the game too soon, there could’ve been some huge oversights. Knowing this, I don’t regret anything I’ve done.

Once you finish your project, do you plan to explore game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is?
*Somni: I think I’ll release some cute side stories in the future so the player can see how things are with the characters when Akademia’s done and over with! As for the plot, there won’t be anything else after the game.

What do you look most forward to upon/after release?
*Somni: Definitely fan reactions! A lot of players gave me their thoughts and plot predictions, and they also gave me very suspicious messages about a lot of carefully worded things in the game. The full game has a lot more stuff to analyze, and I can just sit back and rub my hands together in glee. I can also draw more indulgent stuff with the characters when the game’s finished, so it’ll be a wild ride!

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game?
*Somni: Lack of time. I’ve had some health struggles all the way during development, and I’m going to be busy with work starting September. I’ll have to dedicate all my free time to game development, and I’m hoping I can balance those well and give updates on Akademia’s progress whenever I can.

Question from last month’s featured dev: If you had to change the main genre of your game, what would you change it to and why?
*Somni: I’d make Akademia a friendship simulator. Bonds between characters are an important part of the game, and if it can’t be horror, it might as well be a cute and adorable thing.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs?
*Somni: This might not work for everyone, but try not to write your characters’ dialogue as a long script before you put it into the game. What feels right in a word document might not sound natural in the game itself. If you can, stick to a skeleton of dialogue and flesh it out as you event it in the engine. That way, you can consider the environment and situation the characters are in while you write what they say.

We mods would like to thank Somni 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 Akademia if you haven’t already! See you next month!

- Mods Gold & Platinum