Origins of Mizuchi - Creator’s Inspiration
Hello, Roxie here. The team is extremely pleased the alpha demo was released and overall well received by players. However, there is some confusion about the game’s setting that needs to be addressed from first impressions. It was somewhat explained on my very first post discussing character designs. Which you can find here: Mizuchi 白蛇心傳 Character Designs
If you would like to know “why” I made the decisions as I did, read on. I will bring up some backstory as to why Mizuchi was created as well. There’s also some spoilers if you haven’t played the demo.
You have been warned. Now please bear with me in the below ramble.
Aikasa Collective is a team with a majority of us being of Asian descent. I’ll mention those that make up the general character design and setting. I am Vietnamese-American, Moonsta (Artist) is Taiwanese, and NatalieAO (Colorist) is from Hong Kong. We were all familiar with the Legend of the White Snake 白蛇傳 in our own way as it is that famous.
Character Design Set-Up
I hand over the character profile and country to Moon, advising her to do her own interpretation of the traditional design since it’s a “fantasy”. She did her own research and after a few drafts we settled on the lineart only. Natalie was found after the first artist could no longer commit. I gave her the same profile, and gave her free reign with colors and patterns. She gave multiple color combinations, some internal voting and voila, the characters were completed. I believe some of the designs are wonderful derivatives, but they are only tributes to their traditional outfit.
I will need to sidetrack a little bit now.
Why was Mizuchi 白蛇心傳 made?
As an avid yuri fan and a bi/pan woman, I really wanted to tell a yuri focused story. I wanted a “pretty” visual novel that had a gritty vibe in order to challenge myself writing things that made me uncomfortable. The story of the White Snake left a memorable impression on me when I was less than 10 years old. I remember going to a friend’s house, watching bits of it in Vietnamese dub (oh yes childhood). It was such a tragic story it affected me still as the image is seared in my memory. Reading up on it, I realized there has been many variations of the legend, but none with a yuri version ;D (that I’m aware of...). I’ve avoided watching any recent iterations of the legend to avoid being influenced as I’m encroaching on much different themes.
So... is there any resemblance to the original tale in Mizuchi?
There is a main character that helps the “snake woman,” they fall in love, and the monk character plays a role. The monk’s role has changed through iterations as well, evil jealous villain to man who must save the MC’s soul. In my case I wanted to make a very kind and responsible nun. Jinhai was influenced by the Buddhist nuns who lived in my bedroom once I left to college. (Long story). I’m sure my “former nun now traveler” being a love interest was a very atypical choice. Is the game religious? Not at all. I love folklores, and I wanted to combine them also within this story :D I’ll give you a rough idea.
1) Legend of White Snake (Viet dubs, yep...)
2) Secret - Small Asian Tale (Dad taught me this one first, Puns)
3) Secret - Not really a tale (But I’ll use them...)
4) Beauty and the Beast (Subconscious I swear)
Where is Mizuchi taking place?
“Ancient Asia fantasy land”. Linh is from the “south”, Jinhai from the “north”, and Ai from ... (you play you learn).
But the house looks Japanese!
Yes, I really think Japanese homes would be a culture shock to someone like Linh, it’s intentional. Tatami mats for example is not common in areas that have a high humidity levels. It’s much harder to maintain.
So where are they exactly?
You will find out in the main game. There is a (silly) explanation as to the house itself.
Why did you pick Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese stuff in your game?
Vietnamese - It’s what I wanted to see, but I’m still American so I’m sure I didn’t capture anything right. Even the dress isn’t quite right... on purpose of course. After all, I wore it for every Tết growing up. I played off the timelines a little bit just to make things stand out more, or a bit of symbolism as one may see later.
Chinese - I married into a chinese culture and learned the language. I even studied abroad too.
Japanese - This particular culture also has a large role with my in-laws, and I learned this language first during college. Languages play a role in this game.
No country is ever named in the story. I didn’t want to misrepresent any culture, so I thought providing deliberate differences from the source, it would be a more respectable gesture. I’ve also merged material from other cultures around the world within this story. Why? Well... I think it’s worth noting that some things (such as being stoned to death) still happens in real life somewhere, and that is a real type of fear that some people face. Visual novels have the ability to give you an opportunity to see things from someone else’s perspective. If you gain some level of empathy, worry, or understanding of what Linh and others may have gone through, that would be my greatest accomplishment with this game.
Tell me about the game title. (Spoiler-ish below)
We considered before having the game made in multiple languages, including Japanese and Chinese. Skilled translators are VERY expensive. Roughly it’s 10 cents per word: 5 cents for translating, and 5 cents for making it sound good in that language. If I hit the wordcount I was hoping for, it would cost more than the entire game budget for just one language! (This is why bigger companies can afford this for their games). It’s also a lot of work to put it all together... so we decided against it at this time. We also originally wanted to translate the Chinese title 白蛇心傳, which is roughly “The White Snake Love Story.” But “snakes” carry a mixed meaning/stigma across different cultures. It’s also pretty long for a title. So a short Japanese name felt like a better fit considering what we wanted at the time, and it stuck. It worked for Inuyasha and Naruto haha.
You have Japanese text in the demo, why?
It plays a small role. We wanted English-reading players to be as confused as Linh was. If you do manage to understand the Japanese, it will only add to the mystery (not much is lost). Don’t worry, everyone will understand it one way or the other in the full story :D If the game was ever in Japanese, the text would have been in Chinese instead. It was suppose to be interchangeable either way.
I believe that is all I have left to share. Sorry again for the rambling! I hope you found some of it interesting at least... some details will be found in the full game and artbook commentary.
We are still running a Kickstarter campaign for Mizuchi to be made :D As you can tell, I put a “lot” of thought into everything about the game. I am confident with what I want to accomplish with the story, and have been fortunate to have very reliable and consistent teammates! I really want to share a lot of neat things with you, so I’d love your help and support for the game!
