Behind the Games - Interview with Raikon Kitsune

Hey Hey Heroes, Travelers, and Wandering NPCs, I’m back with another Behind the Games post!

For those of you just joining the party, Behind the Games is a new segment where I interview the folks ‘behind the games’ I review. The series is meant to act as a complement to the reviews I write, giving you guys a chance to get to know the developers that spend so much time carefully crafting the games you enjoy. For each interview I send the Devs five questions (and one random bonus question), to kind of flesh out who they are, while also getting a bit of insight into their inspirations for their games. It’s completely voluntary and meant to be a fun way to get you guys acquainted with content creators.

Last time around I spoke with Jessinia aka Chouette, the creator of the sci-fi romance VN, PAIRS and the upcoming spin-off game SINGLES, so if you missed that, I definitely recommend checking that post out too! This time around, I had the chance to chat with Raikon Kitsune, the dev behind the upcoming modern fantasy game, Reimei no Gakuen!

Raikon Kitsune is an artist, who has recently tried her hand at game developing. With her team, Raikon Kitsune Arts, they are currently working on their first project a modern fantasy game, Reimei no Gakuen. Even though this is her first ever game project, this certainly won’t be her last, as she has tons of great story ideas to share with the world. When she isn’t working on games, Rai is a seasoned artist, specializing in anime styled artwork, with years of experience under her belt! So, without further ado, let’s turn things over to Raikon Kitsune…

Could you tell me a bit about yourself? What do you do when you aren’t making games? (Interests, hobbies, etc)

A. About myself? Well, I’m a 23 years old girl with a great passion in drawing and creating stories. Most of my time is taken up by game developing and freelance work right now, the rest I spend with watching movies, reading books, listening to music or being with loved ones. Besides that, I also like learning new languages^^ (just started learning the 3rd one)

What sparked your interest in developing visual novels? Is this something you’d like to do for a living or is it mostly a hobby?

A. My interest was first sparked by some free indie games and from then I got into playing visual novels. And after watching my first Let’s Plays of some big titles, I was convinced that I wanted to try myself at creating a visual novels. The possibility of adding music, adding voice acting and exploring different plotlines of a story was something that made/makes me really excited. Along the way of working on my first project, I became even more fond of this genre and now I can definitely say, it’s something I’d like to do for a living.

How would you describe your style? Do you typically create games with a specific audience in mind or do you try and create works that appeal to a more general audience?

A. Honestly, I don’t really think about an aimed audience when creating. Over the years, I came up with a long list of story concepts which I would like to realize and only think about what audience would like it after I started working it out. The themes of my planned games vary greatly, but what they do have in common is a deep, meaningful story enriched with funny and sweet moments.

What was your inspiration for Reimei no gakuen? Did you draw inspiration from your own experiences or was this a wholly original concept?

A. I get inspiration from a large number of things; movies, music, books, illustrations, real life experiences, and with this inspiration I come up with different stories and one of these stories was Reimei no Gakuen.

This is your first visual novel project. What new ideas/concepts do you hope to bring to the genre?

A. Yeah, this is my first project and in the visual novels I create, I would like to put more emphasis on side characters. I think it adds a lot to the story, if the members of the side cast have a well-worked out personality and background.

Bonus: If you were a heroine in an otome game, who would your ideal love interest be? Why?

A. That’s a hard question and I’m not good at choosing… but I can tell that the ones who call the heroine ‘honey’ or ‘baby’ are definitely out of the question (being called those always gives me goosebumps).

I can’t thank Rai enough for agreeing to do this short Q&A with me, she is an absolute delight and her upcoming game, Reimei no Gakuen is an impressive undertaking. She’s hitting the ground running, and I can’t wait to see what other projects she has in store for us in the future!

If you have not met this phenomenal creator or the demo for Reimei no Gakuen, I strongly urge you to now! Below are some links to Rai’s social media and game related pages/sites. I strongly suggest subscribing to their pages and checking out their content, she is AWESOME!!