AMA: Tlaero's answers part 1

Here are my responses to the AMA questions so far. If more questions come in, I'll do further posts.

Will there ever be another Keeley or Christine game?

The challenge there is that I made the last two games have multiple paths and didn't declare one of them as the canon one. Did you choose Christine or her sister? Is Keeley reconciled with James or is she with Claryce now? How would you feel if, now years later, I declared that your choices were "wrong"? It puts me in a bind. This is the reason why Claryce's girlfriend is always offscreen in the various Tara's Tales. I do intend to someday do a game called "Writing with Tara." So, we'll get another game in that universe. But I don't have a way to involve Keeley or Christine in a significant way.

What was the deciding factor in your full-time return?

There are a few ways to read this question. I'll try to answer all of them. Even before I officially came back, I started doing things to shore up Mortze's patron base. I was extremely concerned about him. So, one of the factors was definitely Mortze.

Another aspect is that I didn't actually come back "full-time." When I melted down I was devoting a larger percentage of time to my "Tlaero" persona than I am now. So, another of the factors was that I found a better balance.

Finally, I still had stories I wanted to tell. I didn't like where I had left Won and I especially didn't like where I had left Keeley. Being an artist/creator is not "normal." We struggle and toil for days, months, and years, for little external benefit. (No one likes "writing." We like "having written.") But, internally, the benefit is real. (In other words, we REALLY like having written.) I don't really choose to write. It's part of who I am. So, the other factor was me.

How did you two build such good chemistry and creativity? What's your secret?

Trust.

Where does your inspiration for writing VN stories come from?

I'm not sure if this question is specifically about VNs or stories in general. And I'm not sure if it's asking how I got started or if it's asking about ongoing inspiration. I'll answer all of the above. The start of all of it for me was Ariane Barnes' "Virtual Date with Arianeb." When I first played that, I was blown away, and I wanted to play more games like it. I did various things to encourage people to make these games, including writing a game engine to make it easier for non-programmers to create them. That helped a little bit, but I also wanted the games that were coming out to be more to my liking. So, I decided to "lead by example" and started writing games like the ones I wanted to play.

I'm not actually inspired to write VNs. VNs are one storytelling medium, but I don't feel bound to them. I especially don't feel bound to the rather narrow definitions of VNs that people on various forums seem intent on pushing for. I'll use any medium appropriate to tell my stories.

As for inspiration to write. I'm a writer. I can't not write. Sources of story inspiration come from all over, though. TV shows, movies, AAA video games, etc. For instance, I was clearly inspired by The Abyss and Mass Effect when I wrote Toro 7, etc.

Are you going to do a sequel to Pandora (or Star Wars)?

Pandora and Star Wars are Mortze's solo projects. If he wants to do either or both of them, I'll support him however I can. They're his stories, though, and it's hard for me to step in and write what's on his mind. (I tried, but it didn't work.) I will say that before we started Toro 7, we discussed what he wanted to work on, and he chose Toro 7 over those two. We've also had some early discussions about what to do after Gemini, and neither of those games were mentioned. The future is unwritten, so anything is possible. But you should temper your expectations.

How about a return to Darkness Falls?

While we've been including Blake and Won in various post-DF stories, we don't currently intend to go back to the "A crime investigation per episode" format that DF followed. That's totally on me. The stress of writing a new DF episode every other month was part of what caused my melt down. And even if I took the time stress out of the equation, I've got an association with it that scares me. I'm open to the idea of an occasional one-off story in Blake's POV where he and Won go and solve something. But I'm not in a place where I could go back to an ongoing series.

How did you two meet and start working together?

I had done four or five (depending on how you count them) games with a different artist, and he and I had gone our separate ways. I was trying to decide what to do when Mortze approached me and offered to be my new artist. I had him send me a few images, and they were heads and tails better than most of what I was seeing. I've never looked back.

What are your favorite games in recent past?

The original question specifically asked about AVNs, but I haven't played many of them recently. I tend to spend my "Tlaero" time working on my games rather than playing other people's. However, if we broaden the question to games the real me plays, then, hands down, the best game I've played in a long time is Alan Wake II. This was made by the same company that did Quantum Break, which I feel is the best time travel story ever told in any medium.

Is there anything you're excited about playing or creating in 2024?

I'm excited about creating our next game (Gemini). I'm almost done with the script, and Mortze is starting on the images. Getting the images for stuff I wrote is always fun. As for things I'm looking forward to playing, I haven't played Baldur's Gate III yet and expect that to be fun.

Since it is difficult to live on the income from an AVN, a lot of creators struggle. They have limited time between a day job, friends/family, and sleep, and also the cost of the tools can be difficult to cover. Keeping the inspiration for the time it takes to complete can be difficult. What are your thoughts on this? Your strategies to keep sane?

A few things. First, my day job is such that I don't need revenue from this, so I can donate my share to Mortze. Second, where I live, I couldn't afford to live on a job that pays as little as this, but where Mortze lives, he can. (Though I perpetually worry about his finances.)

As for keeping the inspiration for the time it takes to complete a game, I think it's important to tell the story you want to tell and not try to chase the current money makers. If you're telling your story, you may not make a lot of money, but you'll stay inspired forever. If, on the other hand, you're just trying to cash in, you're most likely going to be both poor and unhappy.

A lot of people go into this because they see someone making a lot of money and figure that it must be easy to do so. It's not easy to be successful at ANYTHING. There are a ton of factors that go into success, one of which is luck. If your primary motivation is getting rich, there are FAR better ways to do it, including studying computer science. If, on the other hand, you define success as, "Having written the game that you would like to play," you've got a much better shot at that success.

Tlaero