Azephir explores “die and retry” in the horror visual novel The Gayandere
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The Gayandere is a striking visual novel, with strong black and white art, a disarming story, and a steady soundtrack of dread-inspiring music. Its creator, Azephir, is a French developer who focuses on making gay games. It turns out he was inspired by finding just the right combination of game jams, and the right art partner in adult games guru Mystery Zone.
How long have you been making games?
It’s been a bit more than a year since I try to live from doing videogames. I quit my last job (engineer) in March 2021. But I started making games before that: I’ve done a demo of The Alchemist (my medieval fantasy gay visual novel) for Barajam 2020 and 2 other serious games before.
What tools do you like to use?
Mostly Ren’py for the game itself. I use a bit Unity, Twine and Phaser but I like Ren’py the most. Then for the visual part, Photoshop and Iclone. For The Gayandere, it’s Mystery Zone who made the art so it was really quicker! I use Scrivener to write and Excel for project management haha!
What themes or genres do you like to explore?
I’m a big reader of fantasy (all kinds of) and homo-romance. So it’s what appeals me the most. But with The Gayandere, I wanted to try writing horror that I also liked in books when I was younger. I’m a very narrative person so I like games with a strong story. My next project will mix visual novel with RPG and I’m thrilled about it (I’m a big RPG fan).
“I wanted the player to see almost everything I had written, while leaving him choices.”
What are your favorite and least favorite aspects of making games?
The two best aspects are the freedom and the pleasure of writing the meaningful stories you want to tell. But the counterpart is that you have to be really organized to stay productive, and working alone can sometimes be frustrating. Oh! And also marketing sucks.
Is there a game that has affected you recently?
I recently purchased Coffee Talk and loved it. I was touched by the different characters and their stories… It reminded me of A Tavern for Tea by npckc which I also really liked. You have to be in the right mood to play these games, but if you are, it’s terrific!
[Editor’s note: interesting that these are both time loop games, see below!]
Gayandere is, as the name suggests, a gay yandere horror story. What inspired you to make it?
Well, we wanted to do a small collaboration, Mystery Zone and me. We both had time in January, it was right after the release of The Alchemist and I wanted to do something else for a change. So we started looking at (game) jams that fit into that schedule and we saw 3: horror jam, black and white jam and yandere jam. If you add the fact that Mystery Zone and I wanted to make a gay game (bara), you pretty much have the starting plot!
The looping mechanic after the “bad endings” is really interesting. What was it like programming and writing that?
Actually, it was quite easy! I’m used to writing non-linear stories… And this looping mechanic was a kind of response to a non-linear author’s frustration: I wanted the player to see almost everything I had written, while leaving him choices. Looping allows this without going back. Also, it serves the story and atmosphere well by reinforcing the player’s confusion at the beginning. And it was fun to make a die-and-retry VN!
Main character Leo is on his own after a long relationship. How is that important to the game?
It’s really important. At the beginning, it helps settle a sad mood and create a link between the player and the character. It gives to the character psychological depth with few words. Then, it maintains mystery about Leo bad feelings because it is explainable by his recent break-up (and why he seeks to rationalize them). It also explains why Leo is fragile.
Then, it creates a very odd feeling about the attraction between Leo and Jason. Why would Leo recover so quickly about his recent break-up? When the attraction turns into quite an obsession, the player could know there is something off, and those are little hints for anticipating the final twist. Anticipation (conscious or unconscious) plays a big role in horror.
The use of dread is so effective in this game. Why did you decide to make that feeling so strong?
I wanted the player to feel the suffocating atmosphere and I did my best to create a growing sentiment of dread inside the player (with some relief moments and some misleading, just to feel more intensely the next dreadful moment). It was kind of the most difficult part. The music also helps create the atmosphere since it doesn’t change for all the story and instills relentlessly a spooky mood.
I was, surprised, by, the ending! Something really fun happens. Did you know all along there would be a little twist?
Yes, of course! A good horror novel always has a twist! And it’s why there are some hints about it all along the story. The player can rethink of the weird events at the light of the ending. But explanations are open about it, and I’ll say no more, even if I have mine. The players have to guess 😉
