Let me introduce you to Bee, the lead developer of . Amor. They have a collection of autographed cherish In the background are goods such as a relatively flat Tactibear and framed autographed fan art. We’re talking about the recent VCT circuit, where Bee and his team finally unleashed Amorant onto the world. But what catches my eye are the two giant cardboard cutouts depicting a Phoenix and a Sage. These clippings managed to make their way from Texas to London to Paris. “At customs, they just check it like any other bag. They just say, ‘Hey, here are two cardboard cutouts. It’s got an air tag. As you can see on my phone, it says ‘wife.'” I start laughing. “I had to label something!”
All of this is because of the Valorant dating sim that, for many, lived and died on April 1, 2021. I remember writing the “reveal” for Agents of Romance and have been following Bee’s project since its inception (remember Radiants and Romance!). It’s great to see them competing and having their own booth at Champions, the biggest tournament in FPS gaming. Almost five years later, a small indie project I thought would die out is still going strong.
Before catching up with Bee, I played the VCT version of the demo, and it was everything my inner fanfiction demon wanted. Cast as Valorant Protocol’s new caretaker, you’re thrown face-first into the fire (literally) when the eternal Phoenix accidentally sets the kitchen on fire while trying to bake a cake for his second-in-command, Viper. The serpent himself catches him in the middle of it and goes wild, forcing you to pick up the sticky sweet bits (again, literally). Several dialogue options are offered to soothe the distraught Phoenix, but Phoenix’s confidence is further shattered when he hears Viper lamenting his impatience with Brimstone.
The demo I played was about 10 minutes long, but the full version is considerably longer. Bee said he received a “very positive response” at Champions. “We had a lot of people who had never heard of us and had no idea who we were and people who had been following us for years who were like, ‘Oh my god, you guys actually did that. I can’t believe you guys are here!'” Then there were others who said, “I thought it was a joke.” Those who understood it understood it, and those who did not understand it felt like it was introduced quite abruptly, but the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. ”
But as Bee says, Amorant is not a “traditional dating sim.” Putting aside Valorant’s roots in the constant “schmoozing” of character selection in most romance games, Amorant is “a real story experience with romantic options, but Bee emphasizes that it’s not, ‘Hey, I have to make you like this character,’ it’s, ‘This is why you’re supposed to like this character.'” It’s certainly a friend system. The only thing you get with this romance might be some alternate splash art and a few extra lines of dialogue. All romantic options are also clearly marked – if you want to hold hands, I won’t stop you!”
To keep the focus on the agents, each of the 11 launch characters (up to Killjoy) has their own story track. “For example, for Cypher’s route, we’re planning an Ace Attorney-style detective story and want the final chapter to be a turning point, which means we’ll need all-new artwork and mechanics that aren’t necessarily in the game at the moment,” they told me. “With Brimstone, we’re playing a DnD session, so we want to completely change the art style. We want the[Agents]player characters to be completely different from their in-game sprites.” As a result, not all Agents will be there at launch because “what we want in our hearts takes time,” but don’t worry. Later character tracks are already in development.
“We know a lot of people are waiting for their favorite agents to drop, but just because they don’t have a full-fledged story yet doesn’t mean they won’t be in the game, probably sooner than you expect. , we already have sprites for agents that you won’t see for a long time, but they will still be involved in other agents’ stories.There will be a break room area where you can interact with agents in very short stories. Let’s go to the meat.”
But what struck me about Amorant was its reliability. My comment elicited a smile from Bea as I praised the depiction and design of the Phoenix. It turns out that he is his writer. “I’ll be the first to admit that I’m 30 years old. I write fan fiction,” they laugh. “I have two 80-page Valorant fanfictions. Please ignore the other fanfictions and Amorant. Come on, we’re way beyond critical here. The iceberg has left the glacier!” We were melting with laughter.
“Being authentic means a lot to me,” they say upon recovery. “I did a lot of research, not just playing Valorant, but listening to Phoenix’s voice line. As I was writing it, I was asking myself, ‘Will this sound like Afolabi’s (Ali, Phoenix’s voice actor) voice? And if I do, it’s in the right direction.” They also cite various TV shows as well as their stepfather’s British heritage as a small inspiration.
“For the other agents, we have a specific role within the team called cultural consultant. For Sage in particular, we’re really lucky that her route is written by[a person of Chinese descent]. We try to be respectful and make people feel seen. Because especially in a game that’s a love letter to these characters, it has to come from a place of authenticity. Otherwise it won’t be palatable to the target audience.”
However, Amorant always fails. As I mentioned earlier, I had my eye on this project for a long time (shaking my fist at the clouds and remembering the good old days). And now that we have it, we can’t wait to see what happens next. With the release of the Amorant demo today, October 13th, we’re reminiscing about the original article I wrote in 2022, and how while they wanted to hold hands with Cypher, my eyes were firmly on Viper.
“I never thought I would make it this far. I’m still like, what happened?” Bee laughs. “The biggest takeaway is that for people who watch this and think, ‘I wish it was me,’ it can be. I’ve met people I wouldn’t have met otherwise, and I have friends all over the world. I made a fool of myself by standing next to the 2XKO demo in Paris, and it still worked out. So just flinch a little, follow your heart, and let it become your reality.”
