Hallo friends! We’re back with another exciting dev update for Dream & Sugar. We’re still trucking along, and have some exciting updates to share with all of you. First of all, we have an official trailer! That’s right, you can now share your excitement for Dream & Sugar with a convenient video link! See below to check out the trailer, showing off each of our eligible dating candidates and some of the music you can look forward to in the game, created by our very own Elizabeth Allenbaugh.

As our fantastic team of artists and coders continue to move forward with implementation of the Dream & Sugar script, we decided to take a moment to sit down with Dream & Sugar’s creative director, Aurore Gazda and ask her about the process of turning her vision into a reality. (Note: some responses have been edited for length and clarity.)-

Q: Where did the idea for Dream & Sugar come from? What were your main goals for the game?

    Aurore: I wanted to make a wholesome dating game where you could date characters that are not riddled with red flags (I know some people are into that in their dating games, but I am not.) So I had a few game ideas, but this one seemed the most realistic to be able to create at the time. [My goals were] to create interactions that encourage healthy, communicative relationships.

Q: What drew you to creating a visual novel?

    Aurore: Well, I’ve played a few visual novels before, and the game play loop was something I can understand (generally) how to create. I would love to create games in other styles, but this seemed like a relatively simple type of game to start with.

Q: What were some common tropes of the visual novel genre you wanted to embrace? Ones you wanted to avoid?

    Aurore: I wanted characters people can connect with, and fall for. Realistic characters that have depth and passions. I wanted to not have any Yanderes or characters with red flags. I really do not like abusive, manipulative, threatening characters, even in fictional romance stories. They really promote unhealthy relationship models, and I wanted to try to counter that with this game. I quit dating sims for over a year from a surprising route that started out great, but it flipped to the Love Interest (LI) being super controlling and rude.

Q: Where did the idea of each of the suitors come from?

    Aurore: So, Bennett and Hugo came first, and Riley was just going to be your best friend initially. Then we wanted to have her be a secret route, but that just felt wrong. Riley is a feisty fashionista, what does she have to hide? So, she became our third route, because she is clearly a character worth getting to know. (Plus, I’m a sucker for the childhood/best friend trope). I wanted each LI to have a different creative passion that they were pursuing. It was really important that they have their own passions and goals. It is important to acknowledge and support partners in their own goals, and they should support yours as well.

Q: How has it been working as the creative director?

    Aurore: Honestly? Terrifying. Seeing something that has only existed in my head come to life in almost two years has been super cool, but also scary. What if people don’t like it? What if my friends and collaborators think my ideas are dumb/not good enough/silly/anxiety brain. It’s also been amazing though. Working with my friends to create a passion project where some of us have no idea what we are doing, coupled with [others] who do [know what they’re doing]… it’s been an amazing learning experience, and I definitely would like to continue working on games in some capacity for as long as I can.

Q: What’s been your favorite part? Your least favorite?

    Aurore: My favorite part of the process has been working with the creative/art team. There are three of us, and each of us specialize in our own form of art. I am terrible at drawing, but I composite well, and am in charge of the UI and design aspects. Kara is an amazing 2D artist, and Shannon is a super talented 3D artist! They each bring their own vision to the project as well, so I feel it is even better with them working on the project. My least favorite is the [sheer amount of decisions]. Sometimes, they are super important and can impact the very fabric of the universe that we are creating, and sometimes they seem super insignificant, but nevertheless, a decision needs to be made. I have learned about this magical thing called: Delegation. And it works! Most of the time anyway. I am lucky to be working with a team that trusts my decisions and are willing to follow my lead on things, and I trust them to tell me when something might not be right, or even possible for the game. I think it has been a good balance. I have pondered and made sure that every decision that is being made about the game is in service to the game though.

Q: If you could give advice to your past self or other aspiring creators, what would it be?

Aurore: Allow for 4 times the amount of time that you planned on. Game development takes so much time, especially with what computers and systems are able to run graphically. And test the s*** out of your game. Get friends and fans to be testers. But the most important thing is, make things with people you can have fun with. This game has been very helpful in teaching us so many things, but the best part has been making it with friends who are willing and able to work on it with you. Though our meetings are a little wild, they are super fun and very helpful to wrangle games into existence.

And that’s about it for this round of the Dream & Sugar dev diary! Our next step is bringing the last of the dating paths into the game engine, and we’ll be back soon with some more progress reports and behind the scenes moments! If you’re interested in the nitty gritty bug busting our coding team fights every day, feel free to check our dev log! Until next time, roar loud, fellow Couch Lions!