It’s time to take a deeper look at the futanari x monster girl story, Reborn in Sin. Earlier in the month, I sung the praises of a high quality story with tags that rarely get any love. As the month progressed, Aphrodisia’s project took off with the support for the best of both worlds. In fact, it went so far up, the team expanded their Kickstarter stretch goals! For the last week of the campaign, Aphrodisia hopes to rally more futanari supporters in hopes for full animation. Yes, that includes the lewd bits. As someone who is so desperate for high quality futanari content, I took to Twitter to direct message Aphrodisia and ask her a few questions regarding the game’s development. All of this in hopes of attracting more backers so we reach the promised land. This is the result, enjoy!
Let’s start with the formalities. Who is this magnificent human being that’s leading the development behind Reborn in Sin?
I go by aphrodisia in the adult games world, which is a name I chose based on the ancient Greek festival held to honor Aphrodite (goddess of love, sensuality, and beauty). I’m a proud bisexual woman dev and am happily married with 2 cats in lieu of children ?. I suppose I qualify as a “gamer” (among my favorites are Dark Souls, Nier Automata, XCOM, and the Yakuza series). I also am a classically trained soprano singer and used to be a composer. In day job hours, I work in healthcare technology. I suppose that’s about it, really? Talking about my personal life isn’t my strong suit, in truth. I enjoy letting people have their own perceptions of me.~
Reborn in Sin is a fantasy story that follows a fallen angel’s journey in a world full of sin with many beautiful faces. I personally love it and, because I love it, I want to know what the inspirations were for the story and characters?
I’m a bit of a deviant (whoops), and I enjoy playing with themes of heresy, sin, and the reality of human nature. A fallen angel represents a great taboo, and who doesn’t love breaking taboos? In regards to the setting… When I was younger, I played an ancient MMO called Mabinogi. As the name implies, it was very much inspired by Celtic mythology, especially the Mabinogion. It was my first exposure to Celtic mythological fiction, and I fell in love.
Lastly, the characters. I actually “create” my characters by blending a combo of people I know in real life with tropes I enjoy from fiction. Auryn’s personality, for example, draws from my husband’s mannerisms a bit (he’s also a feisty redhead). This sometimes makes for interesting conversations when the human inspirations meet their counterparts!
At the time of writing these questions, you just revealed a very nice looking throwback art of Leora, now known as Fiona. Upon seeing this, I’m quite curious. What was Reborn in Sin like early in development? What survived the test of time and what had to change?
Not too much changed, actually! Two ladies got renamed to names with more Celtic roots: Fiona and Ciara (who originally was named Silana). There were some early changes to character designs, but the main framework didn’t change much. I tend to plan very carefully and then stick with it!
One notable change, I think, is that Ciara started with more normal “elf-like” ears. I swapped those out for the cute lion ears she has now. After all, she’s supposed to be based on a chimera, so she needed a bit of lion somewhere. The biggest part of the game that I actually scrapped was a 4th romanceable character (I know, I know!! It was a hard decision, but scope limitations are crucial for indie devs). She was a serene, big-sisterly merrow (mermaids of Irish folklore) who lost her magic crown and couldn’t return to the ocean. Perhaps I’ll find a way to bring her to life in a future title.
It’s not too often I get to chat with a creator who truly appreciates futanari. What’s your history with this wonderful tag and how did your curiosity eventually lead to it being at the center of your game? Furthermore, who is your favorite futanari artist and author?
To me at least, futanari is a very idealistic and fantastic genre. I think it aligns very neatly with bisexuality, because it combines the beauty of the feminine form with the viscerality and function of the male sex. This might be a bit of a controversial or unusual stance, but I often joke that if we lived in a scientifically-advanced future where we could freely choose our bodies, I’d definitely choose a futanari-style one. I don’t have a favorite artist per se–I’m discovering new gems daily, it seems. I do, however, have a longtime soft spot for faustsketcher’s work.
The implementation of futanari allows for many wonderful lewd hijinks. You already provided a delicious preview within your demo. Could you spare any details regarding the kind of 18+ fun we’ll be seeing in the full game? In addition, what’s it like to write these scenes?
I would love to talk about the hijinks ?. I’m not ashamed to admit I put a lot of my own tastes into my games. I believe strongly in focusing not just on the mechanics of sex, but the atmosphere, the mindframe, the magic of arousal. In terms of upcoming goods, I can say that among others the game is planned to have a variety of content. In addition to more “traditional” erotic fare, there is also a public sex scene and a couple scenes with extra participants ?.
Lastly, on the subject of the best of both worlds, and I know you’re focused on Reborn in Sin right now, but hear me out. Fellow futanari enthusiasts will understand how there seems to be a severe lack of quality futanari storytelling. After playing your demo, I’m sure many have come to express their love and gratitude for catering to them in this drought. Is this a tag we can expect to see from your future works beyond Reborn in Sin?
YES! I can’t spill the beans yet on what the future will bring, but I truthfully can’t imagine making a new game that doesn’t have futanari or monster girls in it. I suppose that’s my “brand”? I’m not knocking quality vanilla, but I’m just in this for the extra something.
Let’s bring it back to the present and talk about your Kickstarter. First of all, congratulations from all of us on the staff. Over $10,000 with 19 days left! I’m sure now it’s a joyous occasion, but I want you to tell me about the feelings prior to this. As a young and ambitious developer, what were you feeling as the countdown to launch approached?
I’ve worked quite hard and put a fair amount of time into fostering a supportive community before this Kickstarter. It’s not the first time I’ve ever been part of a Kickstarter, but it’s the first time I’ve run one. I was very nervous. There was a lot of razor’s edge math being done to keep the budget low because I didn’t know where I’d be able to reach. The turnout has frankly been astonishing! Day 1 I was positively glued to my screen in awe. I actually had to think up more stretch goals mid-campaign because as I’m typing this, the current last one is about to be hit. It’s incredible!
In contrast, as you celebrate not just getting funded but easily hitting stretch goals, how do you feel now about this campaign, your project, and your fans? Do you have any advice you’d like to offer to developers about to launch their own campaigns?
I feel very proud of this project and extremely grateful to my fans. In truth, this was a leap of faith for me. In the adult games community, the amount of devs who make it to and actually succeed at Kickstarter is very low. It’s a tough nut to crack.
To any developer launching a campaign, I would suggest three things:
Know what your audience wants and needs, and connect with people in your community long before you try to gather any funding. Let them guide you in the right direction and help spread your game via word of mouth.
Feedback is king. Listen to every bit of feedback you get–even the stuff you think is garbage. And do so graciously. You can’t and shouldn’t implement all feedback, but you should be seeking it at all times. That’s how you polish your product. As an example, I made an exit survey to go with my demo for players to easily give their thoughts after playing.
Prepare extensively, and don’t neglect marketing. Take some time to learn how, when, and where to advertise/post, and have things like a presskit, promotional artwork, banners, and all that ready long before you hit the launch button. Same goes for bug testing. Rigorously test your game before it’s up on Kickstarter! Can’t stress that one enough.
As we near the end of this interview, I always make a point to talk about the real side of game development. It’s not easy making visual novels, they take a lot out of you. May I ask what’s been the most difficult part of making your game and what keeps you motivated to keep pushing forward?
There have definitely been times where I struggled to keep my game dev projects on course. I’ve been open with my community about medical issues in my life that limit my capacity to do dev work, including a recent surgery. I’m very perfectionistic and exacting in what I want from my game, and I used to basically refuse to rely on anyone for help. Don’t do that, by the way ?. Ask for help when you need it. Other people often find opportunities to improve your game that you never noticed before.
Finally, and this is pretty standard, do you have anything you’d like to share with fans new or old, on the fence or deep inside, about your campaign?
I’ve talked your ears off if you’ve read this far, so I’ll keep this one short and sweet. I like to think my work speaks for itself, so the biggest thing I can ask from you is just to play my game. If you are impressed by what you see, please consider supporting the campaign. Thanks for taking an interest in my game either way! It’s the best gift you can give to a game dev (short of, like, a Ferrari. If you’re offering, I accept.)
That’s all she wrote! Ladies and gentlemen, if you love what you see consider supporting the Reborn in Sin campaign here. With your help we won’t just get a great futanari read, but an all-time classic. Thanks to Aphrodisia for accepting the interview. Thank you for reading and I hope to see you for the next interview piece!
