Interview: Love and Deepspace developer, Infold, discusses its visually stunning, upcoming otome game
Love and Deepspace is the upcoming otome game by Infold Games which aims to capture players' hearts with stellar 3D cutscenes, and a heartwarming narrative filled with romance.
The eagerly anticipated 3D dating sim entered closed beta testing for Android in select regions earlier in December, giving a limited number of players the chance to experience Love and Deepspace's immersive sci-fi world, and interact with its charismatic love interests.
For those that missed the opportunity to be involved with the beta test, despair not as we have a special treat for you; an exclusive interview with Love and Deepspace's development team. Enjoy.
First off, how has the early fan reaction been to Love and Deepspace?We're honored to see players around the world show their love for Love and Deepspace! It's great they share their thoughts on social media platforms like X , Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Weibo. The content created from their love for the game and its characters is truly heartwarming. Love and Deepspace has gained a lot of attention in many countries. We'd like to thank everyone for their support!
We've noticed players particularly enjoy the game's first-person narrative and 3D interactions. The 3D interactive cards of the male leads have received a lot of praise. We aim to integrate nuanced, emotional expression into our interactive gameplay, allowing players to experience the unique soul and charm of our male leads. In Linkon City, players are not just watching a story; they are the protagonist.
Before the game is officially released, the feedback from players around the world has given us many ideas for optimization. Love and Deepspace will listen to the voices of our players. Let's strive for a better gaming experience together!
What technical challenges have been encountered in realizing first-person narrative and 3D interactive experiences?As one of the few 3D romance games, we've put a lot of thought into our development process. You could say trial and error is our middle name. Our innovation is focused on the player's immersive, romantic experience, integrating technologies and production processes from animated films into the game. We aim to use these processes to enhance players' emotional connection and interactions. This is undoubtedly a challenge. The game is first-person, requiring characters to present their best self in front of the player constantly. Unlike animated films, mobile games have to consider hardware limitations, running in real-time and responding to a player's actions. Despite this, we strive for excellence in emotional expression, artistic beauty, gameplay, immersion, and detail.
Has the pre-registration period met with your expectations so far?Currently, Love and Deepspace has over 10 million pre-registrations worldwide, which has surprised and excited the team. Thank you for your support! We believe this is the start of a beautiful journey. Xavier, Rafayel, and Zayne will accompany everyone through many wonderful stories in the future.
Please allow us a shoutout. Since all pre-registration rewards have been unlocked, everyone who pre-registers on the official website before January 18th will receive lots of in-game rewards!
Many fans will know your studio best for Shining Nikki. Were there any lessons learned or features developed for that project that you've applied to Love and Deepspace?Shining Nikki and Love and Deepspace have separate production teams, each with different ideas in terms of gameplay and artistic expression. Shining Nikki is dedicated to creating a world with infinite styling possibilities, providing creative gaming experiences. Meanwhile, Love and Deepspace is committed to providing players with the most immersive, realistic romance. However, as both teams are part of Infold, quality always comes first.
For example, to give players a better immersive experience, Love and Deepspace uses technology and production processes from animated films to design first-person 3D cutscenes. We're also exploring techniques to let characters interact with the players naturally. We need to pursue areas such as emotional expression, aesthetics, and immersion, keeping the hardware limitations of mobile phones in mind. Love and Deepspace is dedicated to giving players an immersive, realistic romance; whether it's adventuring or interacting with their crush, we want their companionship to feel real.
What would you say is the secret to developing a successful Otome game?We're developers and players, so we strive to create content that resonates with us. This will then resonate with players.
For example, we hope everyone can feel true companionship with our male leads. We think about how to make more realistic, interesting interactions during R&D. We've designed the current interface interactions with this in mind and added many Easter Eggs, such as poking, shaking the phone, blowing air, etc. to get different responses.
Lastly, can you offer any early insight into the storylines and gameplay features players can expect?There will be more content when Love and Deepspace launches! How will your story unfold? How will your relationship develop? What secrets does he hold? Why is there an Aether Core in your heart? We can't wait to share these with you and see your reaction!
In addition, we'll keep trying to improve the experience. Aside from interactive cards and VR, we'll do our best to make your sense of companionship feel real. The current development schedule is already packed, but we're keeping it a secret for now. But we look forward to the day when we can share our hard work with everyone!
If you're interested in being among the first to dive into Love and Deepspace's interactive story when it launches, then you can pre-download for the game now on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store.