Interview With Max Field of SBN3

By Justin D Williams

We had a chat with Max Field of SBN3 to talk about Max’s visual novel game “Class of 09.”

Otakus & Geeks: Can you tell us how the concept of Class of 09 came about and what inspired you to create this game?

 Max Field : The inspiration for Class of ‘09 really stemmed from what’s felt like a total lack of inspiration in video games for the last decade or so, combined with my own personal real-world experiences to fuel something totally different. Every video game feels like it’s made by the same person, with some rare exceptions, and it feels like that’s why many people have trouble referring to the medium as an art form. I had been doing videos on my Youtube for years with the similar old school setup-punchline comedy found in Class of ‘09 which we practically never saw anywhere else in gaming. The only time visual novels attempted humor it would always be some basic irony-fest by a bunch of introverts or just plastering memes from 5 years ago all over the dialogue and branding.

Comedy elements aside, just the overall attempted aesthetic of this VN feels rare as so few games are made to accurately depict a culture by people who actually lived it. In this case, giving a voice to the kids in high school who really didn’t give a shit about any of the assignments or clubs, they were told to, people who realized that none of it really mattered and acted accordingly. Even in the film, I watch The Breakfast Club and scream at the TV “What kid actually cared this much???”

 Real-world communication in video games feels practically non-existent. The last game I could think of which was the culture bomb I’m speaking of is Tony Hawk’s Underground 1-2, it was a game heavily influenced by various parts of the skate culture and was so impactful that I know people (born 1990~1998) to this day who’s personalities and tastes were largely shaped by T.H.U.G. To make a long story short, the amount of games made by people who actually get out and see the real world are few and far between.

Otakus & Geeks:  What are some of the challenges of writing and making a visual novel?

 Max Field: With a background in traditional screenwriting I had gotten the grasp of how to set up and pay off major plot points, as well as directing the viewers’ minds to various themes I felt were important. With a game that lets the player have some control on where the story goes, that plot craftsmanship becomes trickier.

 There is no guarantee the player gets an awesome story payoff on their first playthrough, just about all of the negative reviews of the game were people who picked objectively lame options which ended them at the bad ending stem, without understanding there are another 13 endings found in the rest of the game. It was a design choice to make it so playing it safe or boring would lead the player down the depression path, they don’t deserve a fun experience if they don’t pick fun options. Just like in Mario, you don’t deserve to save the princess if you keep running into the goombas.

     Of course there is a bit more nuance with Class of ‘09 in this regard, but games that test a player on a social level are extremely rare so filling that niche seemed novel. The problem is when you’re among the few who attempt it, many players are quick to blame the novel idea game instead of themselves.

 This is all aside from the copious mentions to drugs, self-harm, suicide, sexual harassment, and so on. In my experience the people who have been around these things the most are numb to them when it comes to viewing a piece of entertainment. The people who barely get out in the party scene took the most issue with it. There is an entire world featuring the things featured in Class of ‘09, do we blame the game or work on the society which created the inspiration for it?

Otakus & Geeks: Class of 09 has one of the most troubled, rude, no-nonsense protagonists we’ve seen in a visual novel. However, you can’t help but love Nicole. How did her character come about?

Max Field: Nicole is inspired by so many girls I encountered growing up in middle and high school. If you attended a predominantly white high school from like 2005-2015 you knew at least one girl with various thoughts, fashion choices, and vulgarity that Nicole displays, with the exception of her neverending sociopathy. Girls who shopped at Hot Topic (before it was all anime and Disney) trying to emulate Avril Lavigne, Hayley Williams, or even Amy Winehouse. Girls who’d flippantly say the sweatband on their wrist was to cover up them cutting themselves from last night. Some might read that with shock, but the people who knew girls like that are just nodding. Emo girls were bipolar between “Nothing matters...” and “let’s try ketamine!” and Class of ‘09 will be the most accurate depiction of that until another game cares to top it.

Now that is the background for a few of the girls in the game, but the special something I added to Nicole was the general viciousness you’d see in teenage boys, but combined with the social opportunities of a pretty girl. When you combine the two it leads to some of the most wild scenarios you might ever find in a video game.

The recent attempts at female protagonists from other games just confuse me. They want a girl going on this illustrious fantasy adventure shooting arrows at monsters rather than actually making a game which tackles the female experience. The average 20-something girl isn’t on a quest to fight dragons, she’s being sent unsolicited dick pics while working a dead-end job at Pier 1 Imports.

Otakus & Geeks: One of the impressive things we liked about Class of 09 is the game is fully voice acted. How important was it for you to have the game fully voice acting as opposed to just a couple of sections?

 Max Field: Almost everything I learned about entertainment was through filmmaking, so I was a fish out of water to VN’s with the philosophy of every character having to talk I guess. I would see other examples of games where it was fully voiced however each line only appeared when the user clicked ahead. But what if there is a big reveal and they need to wipe the Dorito dust off of their fingers before clicking again? Now the reaction timing of the next line, and scene, is entirely destroyed. Also being a comedy game, timing is everything in comedy, it was very important to create an interactive experience where the flow of the drama and comedy was exactly how I envisioned. It was a pain to implement into Ren’Py because that engine was never designed to flow dialogue in such a way. As a bit of trivia, if we couldn’t figure out how to get it working the way you see now, I would have never pursued making the game in the first place.

Otakus & Geeks:    Are there any future projects you have planned that you can tell us about?

Max Field: From what I’ve seen so far the game has been a success in my book, and the books of a few others but it’s really hard to compare the success of one’s game when it feels like all the sales figures  for other indies are top-secret. A few sequel-expansion type things could be down the pipeline for Class of ‘09 given the right circumstances.