Raptor Boyfirend: A High School Romance is a heartfelt dating sim about Stella, an awkward teenage girl looking for friendship and romance with a conflicted Magical Fairy, a sensitive loner Sasquatch and a bold and unpredictable Velociraptor.
Rocket Adrift is a Toronto-based indie team made up of creatives Patrick Smith, Lindsay Rollins and Titus McNally. They make narrative-driven games that engage players on a humorous and emotional level and offer personal experiences. Wishlist Raptor Boyfriend on Steam today!
Q: Looking back, how has your project changed/evolved since the idea was first conceived? Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance actually started as a concept for an animated series that we would be onYouTube. We quickly realized that we wanted to be able to tell a more nuanced and longer-format story that wouldn't work as a two-minute cartoon. We moved over to game dev and the game changed a bunch of times. At one point it was going to be like an instagram game where you would have to choose filters to put on your photos and instant message your crushes. Eventually it took it's true form as a dating sim.
Q: What is something that makes your game unique? Definitely having a dateable raptor, fairy and bigfoot! But maybe more than those the main protagonist Stella. We wanted to write her as a well-defined character that you guide through her romantic journey in senior year of high school. Another thing we wanted to do to stand out was have a unique presentation for a visual novel. Rather than having a static character in front of a static background we wanted to add more animated elements and treat the scenes as if there was a camera moving between the characters.
Q: What (indie?) games have acted as a source of inspiration for your project? The first game that really turned us onto the possibilities of the visual novel genre was Doki Doki Literature Club. Even though our game doesn't resemble it at all, it showed us that you could do something different and exciting with the genre. Also Life is Strange and Night in the Woods were both games that capture the vibe that we're going for in our game.
Q: Are there any game dev resources that you recommend to people who'd like to start as game dev but don't know how? Our best advice is organize, organize, organize. Some great free online tools you can use include Trello, Ganttcharts, Google Docs but don't forget a good old-fashioned white board can be just as useful for getting your ideas across easily.
Q: What is the best way to keep the dev team solid/connected/supportive? Communication is key. Also really bad movies with fun drinking rules.
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