Hatoful Boyfriend

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Where do I start.

Probably the best-known thing I've worked on, and I didn't even write or design it!

Also known as "that game where you date pigeons," Hatoful Boyfriend is the brainchild of the incredible Hato Moa. After learning about the game from a colleague, I reached out to Moa to help with an unrelated translation, and within a week we had the rights to do a HD remake.

I was mostly working on Heavenstrike Rivals at the time, but a fortunately-timed lull gave me the opportunity to take the game asset dump from Moa and spend some time working out how it all fit together -- making game flow charts, learning the esoteric scripting format, translating source code comments, etc. I call it "forensic design," but then I am a bit of a wanker.

Once I'd spent a couple of weeks making sense of it all, I was able to hand something that made a lot more sense over to the porting team, and that was pretty much the end of my involvement. I did later get to translate the Tohri route that Moa added for the PS4/Vita version, which was fun.

It's a weird one -- looking back, I did some pivotal and important work, but also so loosely defined that I only got a "Thanks" credit (and I was fine with that). But ultimately, I'm very proud to have played a part in this game getting the recognition and wider audience it deserved. I'm a huge, huge fan of the game, and I think Moa is an incredibly talented game creator -- which made our later partnership on Murder by Numbers even more special for me.