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IndieGamesOfCohost
@IndieGamesOfCohost

With INDIE INTERVIEWS, I talk to the game developers hanging here on Cohost to learn more about new games you might love.

Something that's always bummed me out is that there's not a lot of games of about couples. Sure, sometimes you're falling in love, or meeting someone, or rescuing someone...but where are all the games where you play as an actual couple? I want to beat up monsters with my partner! Luckily for us, BOSSGAME: The Final Boss Is My Heart is here. I reached out to @ItsMeLilyV to talk about it.

BOSSGAME: The Final Boss Is My Heart is out now on iOS and Android!

Introduce yourself for everyone here on Cohost! Who are you?

Lily: Heyoo! I'm Lily Valeen, and I make games about cool women doing cool things. I'm here to make people press buttons fast and cry. I've been making games part-time for over a decade, and I just released BOSSGAME: The Final Boss is My Heart last month!

Is there a project you're working on currently? Tell us about it!

Lily: Yes, I'm continuing development on Bossgame. It's a lesbian romance boss rush, where you play as two girlfriends who have to hunt devils to pay the rent.

It's got flirting, it's got big boss fights with a rhythmic combat system, and it's got killer music and illustrations by some incredible guest artists! Imagine a game with the energy of a shonen anime starring a trans swordswoman and her buff witch girlfriend.

The mobile version of Bossgame came out in October, and now I'm working on porting it to desktop, as well as adding a side-story and some extra features.


How did you find yourself first getting into game development?

Lily: I grew up trying to make comics, write songs, and basically create... anything. In my teens I found Don Miguel's hacked version of RPG Maker 2000, and I became obsessed. Game development is the one medium I can work in for hours and not get restless. Since then, I've done dozens of game jams, made a few smaller projects, and eventually released Bossgame, my biggest game yet!

Any advice for aspiring indie devs out there?

Lily: Start small and experiment a ton! For your first project, just try to recreate something like Pong, or a text adventure you like, and then put your own spin on it. You'll learn a ton about the process just by finishing a game. Once you're comfortable with the basics, start getting weird with it. Independent devs can't compete with AAA games in terms of raw power, so go sideways! Experiment with control schemes, unique art styles, ignored stories. Take ideas from lots of different places, mix them up, and make them your own <3

I feel like we're living in a new age of mobile games. Developers and players have both embraced that almost any genre of game can work well on mobile as long as the developer figures out "how." Was BOSSGAME originally designed for mobile platforms, and how did you design the experience to be suited to those devices?

Lily: Bossgame was designed from the beginning to be a mobile game. It was kind of a self-challenge to see if I could make a high-tension action game that felt good to play on phone, and I spent a long time experimenting to make the controls responsive and accurate. The "hold & release" action that Bossgame uses for attacking has a similar feel to pressing a button on a controller, and with the help of visual, audio, and haptic cues, I was able to overcome a lot of the phone's limitations.

Outside of the controls, I made sure the bosses were short-but-tough challenges. Most of them take under 5 minutes to beat on average. I tried to make it a game you could easily play on the bus, or, y'know, the toilet..!

BOSSGAME has a strong narrative pull, and has a character relationship right at the center of the story. On the flip-side, it's also like a boss rush. How do you approach balancing narrative and game mechanics? Did you have to take any special considerations to make sure players are getting what they want out of the experience?

Lily: Bossgame is a strange mix of visual novel storytelling and tricky boss fights, and I wasn't quite sure how well those two would flow together... I thought I might just end up alienating two different audiences, haha. But the opposite happened - it drew in lots of different players! I think the cutscenes are a really nice pace-breaker between tough battles, and build up hype as you watch Sophie and Anna argue with each boss.

I wanted to give every player an opportunity to see the whole story of Bossgame, so I added a bunch of Assist Mode options! I implemented a good variety, from battle speed to automatic blocking to invincibility, so players could pick what felt best. So far, people seem totally capable of finding what feels "tricky, but not TOO tricky."

Lastly, are there any indie games out there you've been playing recently? Any favorites to shout-out?

Lily: Yea!! I finally sat down to play Going Under. I'm a sucker for obnoxiously on-the-nose satire, and Going Under is very funny from dialogue to art to design. The combat is all centered around low-durability weapons (think Breath of the Wild) which works really well for a hectic roguelike.

I'm also playing Weird And Unfortunate Things Are Happening, which is a modern turn-based RPG about a town disappearing into eldritch horror. The characters and story have a lightness that perfectly disarms you to the weirder bits of the game, and the combat is strategic and punchy. It's really good!

Thanks so much to @ItsMeLilyV for talking to me! Go play BOSSGAME: The Final Boss Is My Heart on iOS, on Android, and keep a lookout for the PC/Mac version coming soon to Steam and itch.io! Until next time!


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