May 2020 Q&A

Yes, his character will get more fleshed out, but his content will be largely Asher-exclusive and he won't be a romance option in the end.

Will there be any plans to develop Slade?

Arcane Wuulf

I actually don't personally know any deaf or Deaf people, but when I was starting the VN I knew I didn't want to just create another run-of-the-mill "date your favorite trope" sort of experience. My process with each of the romance options was to try to offer something different, whether it was a non-traditional type of romance or explore more forms of love than just the romantic, ala the different types of love as defined by ancient Greeks. For example, Noah is an exercise in Philautia, (self-love), Emil is Philia (brotherly love), Hugh is Storge (familial love) and Eli is Ludus (playful love). While Hugh is otherwise a fairly traditional romance, the other three have something extra going on. Emil's is a spoiler, but something that can be discovered in 0.1.1 that would make it a somewhat non-typical gay romance, and Noah has both substance abuse and abusive relationships to work through. With Eli, the non-traditional element comes in the form of his deafness and how that can create additional challenges in a relationship. I really wanted to promote the idea that, just because it can be more difficult on a mechanical level, that people with disabilities are no less deserving of love, and I also wanted to change some perceptions that the public have of deaf/Deaf people because of how they are sometimes depicted in popular media, when they are depicted at all (like their speech, for example.) My biggest influence in creating Eli was a YouTuber named Jessica Kellgren-Fozard who you wouldn't even know was deaf if she wasn't open about her condition. I think normalizing marginalized people, while also not shying away from the additional struggles they face, is a good way to help them gain wider acceptance and was also a large part behind my intent with both Eli and Emil. I know I was very thankful for movements that worked to make hetero people understand that homosexuals are just normal people like them, the only difference is who they love.

Okay, so I played through the entire Visual Novel again. After seeing everything again my biggest question is what was the inspiration behind Eli? He just seems like the most out-there character. Did you have a friend like him that could really read-lips that well?

Unagi

I wanted Clearmont to be a big change for Colby both geographically and culturally. When I decided I wanted him to come from a smaller town in the Pacific Northwest, I felt the best contrast would be a busy East Coast city. I felt like New York was a little too boujie and not a very realistic place for them to live in (from a cost-of-living and rent perspective) so I wanted to go for a vaguely Boston-esque feel for it.

What was the inspiration for Clearmont?

Unagi

There aren't any routes that are planned to be canon and the goal is for all of the possible outcomes at the end to feel like they could be considered one. With a story as heavily branched as this one, I don't like the idea of someone finishing a playthrough and feeling unsatisfied with either the journey or the destination. If I had a gun to my head and had to name one pairing as canon, it'd be Colby/Asher just because that's the one that people have told me they wanted the most.

Is the playable pair of characters meant to have an official "canon" route in the end (possibly of them getting together) that, while there are side options, is the main one that wraps up everyone's relationships and connections? Since I notice some other visual novels have that sort of thing going on, such as Extracurricular Activities.

SilverS

While getting over a bad breakup, I gained the emotional maturity to see the part that I had played in it and it made me want to write a story about a relationship of some kind going wrong where the cause was rooted in the emotional baggage that both people brought to it, with the two of them finding a way to move on with their lives as a bit of counterpoint to all the gay furry romance fiction out there that depicted two guys meeting and falling in love and having that be the end of the story instead of the prologue.

What inspired you to make Four-Letter Word in the first place. What's the theme of the series?

Unagi

At the moment, you can't meet Slade and also continue Hugh's scenes. In the future, you will be able to get more Hugh scenes in a limited capacity. I'll be sticking to a monthly cycle, though the amount of content in each build will vary.

Is there anyway for Asher to meet Slade and Hugh or is it one or another? Also do you think you’ll stick on a monthly update cycle or will that vary as well?

Milo Smith