Gods of the Twilight Developers on the Unique Strengths and Challenges of Visual Novels

Last week, Gods of the Twilight went into Early Access. Featuring a blend of cyberpunk and Norse mythology, the game tells the story of Farkas and Althea as they discover they might be more than human. After playing through the first five available chapters, I got the chance to interview developer Volutian Design about what it takes to make a good visual novel, how they find the balance between story and gameplay, and what to expect going forward with their new game. Here is what Lead Developer, Ashley Micks, and Narrative Designer, Leandro Zantedeschi, had to say.

There’s a belief in the gaming community that it’s easy to make a visual novel but it’s hard to make a good one. What do you think separates a great visual novel from the rest?

Micks: The same could be said about regular novels. After all, putting words into a document is something most people can do, but making the writing engaging or compelling is a different matter. The key to good writing is feedback and revision, and both of these things can be challenging. Good feedback isn’t easy to find because it takes time and effort to provide and skill and self-awareness for a “feedbacker” to recognize what it is about the writing that gives them a certain experience. So finding people with both the insight and the time to provide quality feedback is the first and most important big hurdle, whether it’s a hired editor or volunteer testers. Next, you need actually to use the feedback! This includes both a willingness to admit when something can be improved and the confidence to recognize when what a feedbacker suggests isn’t necessarily what’s best for the project.

If the writing is great, a visual novel can be great, in my opinion, even if the visuals and audio are still amateurish. For example, the original version of Higurashi When They Cry had very basic hobbyist visuals, and yet the writing was so good that it amassed a following and became a huge franchise with multiple anime adaptations and spinoff games. A game will have a hard time finding an audience if the visuals don’t draw people in, but I wouldn’t say the game can’t still be great.

Once the writing provides characters and a story that people can invest in, the next thing that takes a game up a level is the visuals. This is what defines most people’s first impression of the game, and it can vastly improve the player experience, likewise if there’s a great soundtrack and immersive SFX. But great visuals and audio with basic writing can lead to a hollow experience.

Finally, especially if the foundations above are in place, a game can really go to the next level with quality voice acting. Hiring actors isn’t in scope for every project, but when it is, it can completely transform players’ connection to the characters.

Zantedeschi: There is definitely a delicate balance between storytelling, art, sound effects and music, SFX and visual effects, and user engagement to set a visual novel apart. You need a healthy mix of those elements. Sometimes, one of them can be excused if all the others are extraordinary, so in the end, it’s more about providing an immersive experience.

It’s also interesting that you mentioned the gaming community’s general outlook regarding visual novels. There’s sometimes a misconception that visual novels are just “cheap video games.” The perception is different in the Japanese/Eastern market, where visual novels are embraced as a distinct form of entertainment. I think it’s crucial for more people to recognize and appreciate their value. Visual novels provide a different platform for narrative exploration that goes beyond traditional gaming experiences. Ultimately, if we could better understand the depth and diversity within visual novels, we could open doors for new audiences and creators alike, enriching the overall landscape of interactive storytelling.

Gods of the Twilight is a cyberpunk visual novel steeped in Norse mythology. What inspired the choice to bring those two fairly distant thematic elements together?

Micks: Norse mythology is the part we started with, and originally, it was going to be a Norse-inspired medieval fantasy story. But as we developed those ideas, we realized that the medieval story would lead to something even bigger in the future. So, we decided to start there instead and let the characters slowly remember past lives where something happened centuries ago but was left unresolved. Setting the game in a cyberpunk future also gives us a chance to explore interesting questions about where the real world is headed right now. Not that we have specific solutions to propose, but it’s important stuff to think about, and we’d love to discuss it with players and see what they think.

Zantedeschi: At first glance, cyberpunk and Norse mythology might appear worlds apart, but delve a bit deeper, and you’ll find a surprising harmony between these seemingly diverse elements. The conjunction of magic and mysticism, myth and legend with future and technology is often seen in many highly successful video game titles such as, for example, Final Fantasy VII or the Shadowrun RPG games. Even popular movie franchises such as Star Wars offer a certain mix of technology and magic, past and future, tradition and innovation.

Going back to Gods of the Twilight, both cyberpunk and Norse mythology share many common threads, such as exploring the relationship between power and humanity and the diversity of human nature. In cyberpunk, there is a struggle against oppressive technological advancements and corporate control, how technological advancement confers ‘powers’ to humanity, and how humanity deals with such, and in Norse mythology, there are dynamics of magic power and destiny, with gods and mortals navigating their roles, often with divine figures deciding the fates of mortals.

When it comes to visual novels, casual gamers want more “gameplay” while the core genre fans don’t. How do you strike a balance between adding interactive elements to welcome new players and reining it in to not upset hardcore fans?

Micks: I suspect that many of the people who ask for additional game mechanics in visual novels do nonetheless still enjoy similar stories in other forms, such as anime, manga, and other graphic novels, or regular books and audiobooks. So if they were to approach a visual novel realizing that it’s like an anime where they get to make choices or a webtoon that’s interactive, their expectations might be different. They may enjoy it more than if they try to fit it into some specific idea of what “a game” is. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure book with character art and voice acting–what’s not to love?

That said, there are a lot of cool and creative mechanics that different devs have mixed into their visual novels: puzzles, hidden object games, resource management, and all kinds of minigames, depending on what suits the scene. But the bottom line is how well the additional game mechanics complement the rest of the game. A detective VN might have you collect evidence and solve crimes (see Hauma), or a medieval fantasy VN might have you manage the resources of an empire (see Imperial Grace). Perhaps inspired by our background running D&D campaigns, we include stats similar to an RPG, which track changes in the player characters’ skills, personalities, and relationships based on the player’s choices. One player may end up with versions of Althea and Farkas with completely different “character sheets” from another player’s. Also, since we have two protagonists, these stats determine how each protagonist will behave when the player controls the other.

Zantedeschi: In developing Gods of the Twilight, our primary commitment was always to be a visual novel first and foremost. We embrace and celebrate the essence of the genre, ensuring that the narrative remains the focal point of the player’s experience.

When you can introduce fun mini-games and gameplay elements, such as puzzles, to enhance that experience, that’s great! But you have to be careful that such ‘gameplay’ portions don’t end up distracting and annoying for players who just want to go back to the story.

So, instead, we’ve woven interactivity into the fabric of the narrative itself, so the choices presented in the game are not mere branching paths; they are pivotal moments that dynamically alter character lines and personalities. This deliberate choice creates an integration of choices into the overarching story as part of the gameplay itself, making each decision feel substantial and impactful.

It took me a little over 9 hours to play through the five episodes currently available in Gods of the Twilight. How do you see the game growing over time through the Early Access period?

Micks: We’re planning 20 chapters in Season 1, and I would expect the total content in the season to be roughly three to four times what is currently released.

Zantedeschi: Moving forward, our vision for the game’s growth is centered on two key pillars: expanding content and refining the player experience based on player feedback. We will be listening closely to feedback and make changes, if needed, to our planned goals. So, while we have an outline of about 20 chapters, we’re more focused on using Early Access as a dynamic phase, where the game grows organically, shaped by the community’s input.

Voice acting is not a common trait of a visual novel but all the dialogue in Gods of the Twilight is fully voice acted. At what point did you decide to include voice acting and how did that impact the game’s development?

Micks: In late 2021, I started running calculations on how much dialogue we had in the demo and what it would take to voice all or part of it. A version of the demo was already on Steam, but it looked and sounded like a completely different game from what you see now. I knew it could reach many more people if we revamped it to become truly professional quality, which would mean hiring a character artist and a composer. I also knew from experience that there’s a quantum leap in the level of immersion I experience when a narrative game includes voice acting. We were able to budget for the demo’s dialogue, so we moved forward with casting in early 2022, and from the first casting calls until all the recordings were edited and in the game, voice-related work was the primary development task. An incredible amount of work goes into it–coordinating with the actors, directing and recording, finding the takes we want, cleaning up and balancing the audio, etc. But we loved the results so much that we were determined to continue fully voicing the new chapters as well. The actors brought their own creative fire to the project, and we discovered things about the characters by working with them that we may not have on our own.

Zantedeschi: By integrating voice acting early on, we were able to shape the characters with the intention of their voices becoming integral to their identity, including tone, accents, and mannerisms. Voice acting allows us to convey nuanced emotions, subtle nuances in dialogue, and distinct personalities in a more immersive and enjoyable way. However, it also required a lot of work and coordination, from casting the right voice actors to syncing the performances with the narrative flow and the game lines as written. I wouldn’t say it’s absolutely necessary for all visual novels to have voice acting, but I would say voice acting is definitely a powerful enhancement to any narrative experience that can really help bring your product to a higher quality level. In essence, the choice to include full voice acting in Gods of the Twilight was about enriching the storytelling experience.

That’s it for the interview. I hope you all enjoyed the look behind the curtain at Gods of the Twilight. You can click here to read my review of the game so far. Be sure to also check out the game on Steam. If you want to try the game first, there is a demo that gives a lengthy look at what to expect. A big thank you to Ashley Micks and Leandro Zantedeschi for taking the time to answer my questions. These sorts of conversations are always insightful and appreciated. Best of luck to the team at Volutian Design on the ongoing development. I look forward to seeing where the story goes.