We had the pleasure of chatting with the creator behind the visual novel Living The Dream. Be sure to check out their Kickstarter to help them fund their amazing and inspiring project. SUPPORT HERE
1. Tell Us about Living the Dream?
Living the Dream is a visual novel game about fairy tale characters who dream of reality. Close your eyes and you might wake up in a new world, in a different body – and you might not ever want to go back home.
2. What inspired this visual novel?
I have always wanted to write a story about fairy tales retold. Fairy tales are stories we all heard as kids, so we all have an emotional connection to them. Yet in many ways we also didn’t really feel included in them – especially LGBTQ folks. So I want to retell the classics with new moral messages and more representation there. There’s a really diverse team which is helping bring this dream to life, and you can watch my interviews with them here.
3. What can fans expect to see during gameplay?
The dream world, the real world, and the characters all evolve with your choices. For example, at the end of the demo, Naleth is offered the chance to swap souls with Reeve, and trade lives forever. Would you accept the deal – even if it meant you had to leave your soulmate behind?
The game also features a unique story structure, where each chapter features a different character telling their own story from their own perspective.
4. An interesting theme about exploring dreams and identity. Can you tell us about that?
Dreams can transport us to another world, and another identity along with it. For example, Naleth, a warrior princess, dreams of becomes Reeve, a mild mannered man working in a office. And meanwhile Reeve has always dreamed of becoming someone like Naleth.
Along comes Lavinia, the sea witch, who has a plan to swap their souls – for a price of course. Lavinia has realized she’s in a fairy tale and dreams of transforming herself from a villain into the protagonist.
Not everyone has a dream quite so grand. Oogni, the giant goblin, grew up in total isolation in the forest, dreams merely of finding a friend.
So different characters all have different dreams, and they all reflect their unique backgrounds, circumstances, and identities.
5. Where can folks support your work?
You can support the work on our Kickstarter page!
6. Goals for the visual novel
I want to tell a unique story in a unique way. We also have some stretch goals for the campaign, including an original song by Chi-Chi of Hazbin Hotel fame, and a spinoff chess game, where the characters from the game will become custom chess pieces with unique abilities.
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