Interview with Dragonroll Studio

The indie studio Dragonroll Studio is getting ready to release its first game, Pivot of Hearts. We managed to interview two of its members, Lívia Amaral Santos, art director, and Livia Maki Yoshikawa, sound director, so they could tell us more about the game and the everyday life of a Brazilian indie studio.

You can read the Spanish translation here.

Thank you for answering our questions! First things first, we want to know where the idea for Pivot of Hearts comes from, and what we can expect from this game.

LMY: Wilson and I met in a game-development group in college and had the desire to make our first commercial game, but Wilson didn’t have much time then. We opted to start developing a visual novel because it required less programming than usual, and to tackle themes that were familiar to us. So this is where the idea for Pivot of Hearts came from, a slice-of-life set in São Paulo, our hometown, telling a story about nerdy characters with interests similar to ours, and navigating through relationships that don’t fit the norm.

What kind of story are you trying to tell through this visual novel? Because it contains a wide range of topics, such as queer identities, alternatives to monogamy, the Asian Diaspora in Brazil… all of which is enclosed within Sao Paulo and Brazilian culture.

LAS: We want to tell a story about the importance of connections and how different bonds can enrich our lives. As for the wide range of topics, I feel like all of them are part of our lives here in São Paulo, and they’re all related to representation that is often lacking in media.

How important are the culture, society and folklore from Brazil and Sao Paulo in this game? Because Brazil is known as the cradle of several musical genres, and indeed a place rich with musical culture.

LMY: I think Brazilian culture is present in the game as a whole, since we reference countless aspects of our day-to-day life here. The characters get to go to the bar around the corner that plays Pisadinha music, they take São Paulo’s subway, bring marmita (a lunch box) from home, dance quadrilha at the Festa Junina (Brazilian June festivities), and many other activities you can take part in the city. About the music, Brazil may be famous for Samba, but there’s a whole lot of other genres that are present in our daily lives. Pivot of Hearts’ soundtrack is inspired by a lot of these genres, such as Forró, Bossa Nova, Funk Carioca, Marcha Rancho… We hope that players can recognize some of these musical references!

What are your references? Did you have to research to write any part of this game?

LAS: We took a lot of inspiration from experiences in our own lives, so that saved us a lot of time in terms of research. Although we did do quite a bit of research on tarot symbology, as well as consulting with people of Taiwanese and Okinawan descent, to make sure our characters’ stories reflected reality. And of course, we had a lot of inspiration from anime, especially stuff that was popular in Brazil in the 90s and 2000s, like Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Saint Seiya, and even references to Evangelion and Utena show up here and there. In terms of games, some of our references include Doki Doki Literature Club, Dream Daddy, Ace Attorney, Danganronpa, and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.

What was the working process like, from conceiving the idea to its completion?

LMY: At first, we were only working in our free time, so we didn’t have a rigid working process. Conceiving the idea involved a lot of brainstorming and drafting. We then proceeded to develop a rough prototype to have an idea of how the game could look. After we received our first funding for the project we started to really delve into production aspects, like organizing our workflow and elaborating a roadmap. I was in charge of the soundtrack, Livia of the art, and Wil of programming. The three of us wrote the script and did a whole lot of other miscellaneous activities such as community management, posting on social media, having business meetings… Luckily, we now have a producer to help us with all that. But that’s how I think the working process looked overall, with us having to wear many hats during development.

As we’ve seen, it’s a very flashy and colourful game, very vibrant, featuring spectacular art. How did you work on this, which is a most important aspect in visual novels?

LAS: I’m very happy to hear that! We were very influenced by the art of 90s and 2000s anime, so we chose a palette that reminded us of that, and at the same time could reflect all the diversity that exists in Brazil. The same goes for the character designs, we went for something “very anime”, but that also felt close to our reality. We also made it a point to feature real locations from São Paulo, so we went to places, took photos, and had our background artists draw based on that.

What challenges have you faced during the development of Pivot of Hearts?

LMY: I think one of the main challenges was getting funding for the project. When we didn’t have money for development, we only got to work on the game in our free time. We even spent practically a whole year looking for investments. That really slowed things down. Thankfully, we received a grant from the government that made it possible to finish the game this year. Aside from financial challenges, it was pretty hard to write some scenes where the narrative branches a lot; things got very messy, haha.

It’s the first time we have the chance to interview a Brazilian studio, so tell us, what is a typical day like for a Brazilian indie studio?

LAS: We are a very small studio, so we all work from our homes and have online meetings twice a week to figure things out. We often meet up IRL to take photos, gather references, record stuff, and go to events. The core of our studio is us three: Maki, Wil and me – But now we also have a producer, Ariel, and we’ve had many freelance artists and musicians contribute to the project.

What do you feel is the state of the indie industry in your country? What do you think is needed right now so that Brazilian studios can stay in business? Does the Brazilian government offer some kind of public funding, like in Spain?

LAS: Fortunately, there are public grants, and that is the only reason we were able to get this far in production. It really is vital for studios that are just starting out. I’m glad to hear Spain also has that sort of incentive!

LMY: I think the indie scene in Brazil has been having some great initiatives over the last years. We’ve participated in a lot of game-development events organized by the indie community, and they’re always packed with great games. Like Lívia said, public funding is really important for studios to start and stay in business, even more so in a country such as Brazil, where most of the population doesn’t have access to the resources to do so. That and depending on private initiative is just too risky, given the state of the video game industry as a whole.

What do you think is the state of the industry on a global scale? Considering the current context, filled with mass firings and instability? Do you think Brazil is exempt from this situation, which mainly affects big companies, or are you suffering from it too?

LAS: Many game devs in Brazil also provide services for foreign companies, or rely on foreign publishers for funding, so we’re not immune to lay-offs. I myself got to experience it last year… It made it clear that stability can be taken from you in the blink of an eye. It kind of pushed me to invest more time and energy into our own studio.

Lastly, we would like you to recommend a typical Brazilian dish for us… but also ask you about croquettes, one of Spain’s most typical dishes (and a symbol of our website). If you know them or have tried them, what’s your favourite filling?

LAS: Food is a big part of our game! One dish that gets mentioned a lot is fried polenta – which isn’t exclusively Brazilian, but is very common here. And we actually have something very similar here, called “Croquete” as well. It’s usually filled with shredded beef. I love it!

LMY: I’d like to recommend the good old “arroz e feijão” (rice and beans). We eat it every day, it’s the basis of our diet, and it’s delicious — to be eaten with a protein and a side dish. I don’t know if our “Croquete” is the same as you guys’s, but I love it too! My favorite filling is shredded beef; creamed corn is also great.

LAS: Oh yeah! Kabocha pumpkin filling is great too. Love that too.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions. Good luck with the launch!

LAS: Thank you so much!! Everyone, don’t forget to Wishlist Pivot of Hearts, and get ready for the release on May 21st!