Interview With Adult Game Developer

RNGEUSEX (Extra Life)

We all have that moment or two where we wish we could go back and do over. Maybe it’s the chance to get the one who got away or undo a mistake that’s cost you so much. This is what RNGeusEX’s Extra Life is about. In this 2d adult game, you play a man who gets the chance to go back to a summer of his teenage years and change his and others’ lives. This game, still early in its development, has gained quite a fanbase with its great concept and beautiful artwork. It’s no wonder that Extra Life was SpicyGaming’s 2021 Game of the Year, which was voted on by you, the fans! Extra Life was the little game that could, beating out some heavy hitters on the list like Paradise Lust, City of Broken Dreamers, Love and Sex: Second Base, Love of Magic, and Treasure of Nadia. I got the chance to ask RNGeusEX a bit about winning Game of the Year, a bit about his game, and even a few words of advice for future devs who might be inspired by his game.

Q1) First, let me congratulate you on winning the SpicyGaming Game of the Year award, which was voted on by the fanbase. How does it feel to have so much support behind you so early in your project that you beat out some big names like Light of my Life, Love of Magic, City of Broken Dreamers, and even our January Game of the Month: Treasure of Nadia?

RNGeusEX: Thank you very much, I am pleasantly surprised to see how much support the ExtraLife community has given me, I spend a lot of time communicating with everyone, whether they are Patrons or just visitors, I make no difference. As for the fact that I beat some of the big names, let's just say that it was the very first contest of this type, I guess that next year defending my place will be much more complicated. Let's say it's beginner's luck!

Q2) In your game Extra Life, you play as a man who gets a second chance at life and getting to make his life better this time around. What were some of the things that influenced you that lead you to this story?

RNG: I have always been fascinated by the stories of reincarnations, second chances, and isekai. Life nowadays is not easy for everyone and to imagine having the chance to go back in time to correct some mistakes is a dream I have to share with many people. For the inspiration, I think at first to "Tales of demons and gods" or "Relife".

Q3) The artwork in Extra Life is fantastic, reminds me of ZyX games like The Sagara Family. Do you do the illustrations yourself or do you have a team behind you? What programs do you use to make your art with?

RNG: I'm alone to take care of the code, story, design interface, communication, the characters are made by Montie, he draws mainly on a graphic tablet, backgrounds are made by Shinasty, she makes a model beforehand on google sketch up and once the render is finished she colors in photoshop.

Q4) Your game hints at some darker themes, mostly in remembering what happened to the other people in the MC's life. Are these more like possible bad endings or will we have to deal with more of them in the future?

RNG: Some themes will be quite dark and the worst is yet to come. That's the advantage of adult games, except for anything related to sex, we can talk about things that would not be allowed in games for under 18s.

Q5) I saw this in discussions about the game and I had a similar feeling about it: When we first meet Minato, he's the MC's best friend and tries to help with some bully issues but later when we see him with Chiaki, it's like he's a different character. And even worse when MC asks about his feelings about Asami, he calls her ugly like he's an asshole. Why go with this Night and Day difference in character with him?

RNG: Minato's character is linked to the main story, I can't say more about it because I don't want to spoil the content of the story but tell you that there is a reason behind every action.

Q6) So what other characters should we expect in the future? Will the MC end with a harem of women?

RNG: There will be other female characters to seduce so we can certainly say that he will have his own harem.

Q7) Is this your first game or have you worked on other games before?

RNG: Extra Life is my very first game, I didn't know anything about Renpy or video game development in general. I started with an ugly prototype and every three months or so I understood better the development, so I started again my game, it's from the 5th prototype that I decided to take real artists to make the backgrounds and sprites. It took me 1 year to make the alpha, and another year to make all the scenery and sprites to make an acceptable demo.

Q8) How much has the game changed from the start to where it is now? What have you learned in that time?

RNG: The game has evolved in its content, in its story, the more you progress the more you realize that starting a new life will not be as simple as expected. As for me, I learned a few months ago to organize myself much better.

Releasing a demo is quite simple, it just requires time and rigor, the most complicated is to continue to keep your game up to date.

At first, I was too stressed and I couldn't sleep anymore. Today I have imposed a rhythm that finally works for me. I can work on the next version of extra life without sacrificing my family life, I work on it 2 days a week at full speed the rest of the time I interact with the community.

Q9) I'm glad that you found that balance, something I know from personal experience is hard to do when you are starting a project. With everything you've learned working on Extra Life, what advice would you get to anyone who might be interested in doing their own game?

RNG: The advice I can give is that on the surface, developing an adult game may seem simple at first, but in reality, it takes a lot of work (if you do it right). Once the first version of your game is released, it's over, you'll have to update it regularly, it requires daily work.

The update will not be done by itself, you can only rely on yourself.

So my advice when you start is to prepare some content in advance, that you can propose every two months that will give you time to think about how to organize yourself for the future.

Oh and most importantly, never get angry with your lead artist, ever!

Q10) With so many adult games jumping on Steam, do you plan on a Steam release somewhere down the line?

RNG: I'm going to try again, I wasn't accepted the first time, I'll try again, there's no reason why I can't do it.

Q11) Your game is in its early stages, so this might be a few years off, but what does your future in Adult Gaming hold? Do you have other games you want to work on later down the line?

RNG: In the future, I would like to become more professional, create my own development studio and be able to offer people more ambitious adult games. This is my long term vision and I hope I can achieve it one day:)

Most of the adult games on the market are either visual novels, RPGs, or even puzzle games. There are some developers who already offer different experiences like platformers or VR games.

I hope to go even further and why not one day proposes the very first AAA for adults.

All that sounds exciting and we are looking forward to seeing Extra Life’s growth and RNGeusEX’s future in the Adult Gaming space!

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