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Yes, that’s right, it’s finally time for a brand-new interview in our lewd games interview series! And this time we sat down and had a little chat with Exilim from Winged Cloud (the creators of the erotic visual novel series “Sakura”).

Well, we ended up talking about everything from erotic game development, the Sakura series, censorship, cancel culture to Winged Cloud’s plans for the future.

So, with that said, please enjoy our interview with Exilim and Winged Cloud 😉 (you can find Winged Cloud on Twitter, Steam and Facebook)

Robin TGG

I’m going to start off this interview by thanking you for taking your time to do this interview with us =) And with that said, please go right ahead and introduce yourself to our readers.

Exilim – Winged Cloud

Hi, I’m Exilim, the manager of Winged Cloud.

Robin TGG

How did everything start exactly with Winged Cloud? I mean, what’s the story behind the studio name and how the studio came to be? (when, where, why and how)

Exilim – Winged Cloud

Winged Cloud actually started with an otome game (Pyrite Heart) which was released as a free game with the option to give donations.

Back then, most of the team members were working on an anime style browser games which I made. It was difficult at that time to make money with anime-style games, since there was no market to sell visual novels or anime style RPGs of indie size and quality.

Robin TGG

Do you remember when you first got interested in erotic video games? And at what point in life did you decide that you wanted to create lewd games for a living? (what was it that made you make that decision?)

Exilim – Winged Cloud

I got first interested in visual novels in 2008.

For me, having a normal job was just a way to finance the personal projects I was working on privately. I made the decision to work independently from employers after my first internship, when I saw what the daily life in an average company is like.

I thought that life could and maybe should be more exciting than that. There were many failed projects I had to pay for using the income from my job, and things didn’t turn out well until Sakura Spirit was released.

Sakura Spirit brought in enough money that I could work full time on lewd and anime style games in general.

Robin TGG

I think it’s safe to say that Winged Cloud has released quite a lot of erotic games over the years. So, do you have any personal favorites? And which of your games would you say that you are the proudest of and why?

Exilim – Winged Cloud

I personally think Sakura Dungeon is my favorite. After that probably Sakura Nova.

Sakura Dungeon was a lot of work and it took a lot of time. I’m proud of it since it turned out really well. It also sold well, which is not necessarily something a game does just because the production quality is high.

Sakura Nova, because I like the setting. We worked with a Japanese writer to create it, and it has a nice voice acting.

Robin TGG

On a personal level, I truly enjoyed “Sakura Gamer” a whole lot. That’s also I’m curious to know how that game came to be? And are there any plans at all for a part II?

Exilim – Winged Cloud

Personally, I give the team a lot of freedom in deciding their ideas. On the art side as well as on the writing side. Sakura Gamer was the creation of our writer “Waffle”, and I approved the idea because I thought it had the potential to be an interesting project.

Robin TGG

I couldn’t help to notice that you released “Sakura MMO 3” not so long ago. Well, how has the response and feedback been from the players and games media?

Exilim – Winged Cloud

To be honest, it’s difficult to say. Most customers who leave reviews are based in China and we can’t read their Chinese comments (Google translate aside, however reliable that is). But it sold much better than we expected, so I think it was received well.

I think for games media it really depends on the person. I feel many journalists still have the misconception that every visual novel has to be deep, dark or depressing, with a story that will explore the meaning of life or something else which is considered “significant” by the individual reviewing the game.

I prefer more light fun/comedy style visual novels which rather serve stress relief then provoke deep thoughts.

Robin TGG

I think it’s safe to say that the erotic Yuri genre has just kept on growing in popularity over the years. So is that a genre that you will continue to show some love for in the future as well?

Exilim – Winged Cloud

While we are working on a few yuri projects, we think it’s about time we wrote something with a male lead character as well.

Robin TGG

“Sakura Dungeon” has received a lot of positive responses and reviews since its release in 2016. So I’m kind of curious to know why the game hasn’t seen a sequel as of yet?

Exilim – Winged Cloud

That is a good question, I think many people are wondering the same.

Sakura Dungeon is a good game. It also had a unique concept which was something new. I’m not sure if it is possible to surpass the experience people had with the first game.

The game also has around 60 “monsters”. It would be hard to make a new Sakura Dungeon without having too similar monsters and feeling repetitive or re-used.

Robin TGG

I can’t be the only one that has spotted this by now, but pretty much every single game that Winged Cloud has released up to this point contains a lot of beautiful, cute and sexy females. So, I take it that you guys and girls know your waifus more than well? Simply put, you are a company of culture 😉

Exilim – Winged Cloud

Well, thank you! I’m glad you can appreciate and enjoy it! And yes, we’re a company of culture indeed (as seen in many of our games).

Robin TGG

Just out of pure curiosity, how did everything start for you in terms of naming tons of your games “Sakura”? I’m asking this since there’s this super old Swedish meme that goes like this “How the hell is Sakura?” (“Vem fan är Sakura?”).

Exilim – Winged Cloud

I could probably come up with a fancy reason now, but the more accurate answer would be: it’s SEO.

Steam’s algorithm was different a few years ago, and the search function would give you all the Sakura games in a row if you wrote in “Sakura” or “Sakura Spirit”.

It was easier for people to notice that there was a new “Sakura” game rather than remembering the company’s name. I would have personally preferred to give them a few different names.

Robin TGG

Do you have any plans at all for releasing your games to other formats than just PC? (mobile, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and so on)

Exilim – Winged Cloud

Yes, there are plans. However, we had a lot of issues finding reliable programmers after the one from Sakura Dungeon left. He only wanted to work with us on the one project, as he wanted to realize his own ideas after that.

However, there is some great news that I could share on the same subject: Last year we found a reliable programming team that we are working with, so we’ve been creating games with RPG elements for quite some time.

Robin TGG

What’s it been like working with Nutaku and their adult gaming platform? And do you feel like you get the support and love that you need in-order to grow on Nutaku’s platform?

Exilim – Winged Cloud

Nutaku is a great platform. From my personal experience, they are very supportive and welcoming.

It’s sad that Steam is still more significant income-wise and I hope Nutaku has plans to change that in the future by becoming the main storefront for adult and ecchi titles.

Robin TGG

Have you ever had any thoughts on making a lewd virtual reality title based on any of your most popular titles?

Exilim – Winged Cloud

That would certainly be a great idea. I would do it, but as we only have 2D artists it isn’t an option right now.

Robin TGG

What are your thoughts on censorship and cancel culture in the games industry? And what do you think that we could do about it? (gamers, publishers and game developers)

Exilim – Winged Cloud

Well about censorship… Obviously, we like to have all our games uncensored. Usually, platforms are under too much pressure from groups of people which became significant enough to force their view of the world onto other people.

Most platforms lack the power or financial independence to follow through with what they want to do.

There are also platforms that have those things, but lack integrity. So about cancel culture. It is tragic indeed that these days emotional manipulators have it easier than ever.

The access to the “superpower” named public opinion is accessible by a lot of people who lack the responsibility to wield it. What could gamers do? Be more responsible – but let’s be honest, that won’t happen. What could publishers do?

Did you like the product/people before it was attacked? Then work with them. Otherwise, it’s giving in to fear or financial gain. I mean, sure, this is understandable, as most people are not mentally strong so I would consider that as a normal reaction.

What could developers do? Educate yourself on a few things, hopefully before it happens:

– emotional manipulation, so you know what you are dealing with.

– resilience and mental fortitude

– emotional stability

– make your statement without justifying or discussing anything.

– deal with it. Things like that happen in life. You still have a lot of projects to make so don’t let that distract you from your own future.

And don’t forget. They shout loud, rage a lot, but forget very, very fast. You are it today, tomorrow its already someone else.

Robin TGG

We have now reached the very end of this interview. So I’m just going to ask you about your hopes, expectations, and plans for the rest of the year? And is there anything else that you would like to let our readers know?

Exilim – Winged Cloud

There definitely can be more games expected, since we finally found reliable programmers after a few years of searching.

This year will be pretty busy, there will be Sakura Knight series, Sakura Succubus series as well as an rpg called “Leveling Up Girls in Another World”, which I would recommend you to have a look at.

As for what I would like them to know:

You will probably often see a lot of successful projects, visual novels, and games. But I can tell you, from my experience, that before you have a successful project there will be a lot of failures and things that don’t work out.

If you want to become a visual novel/RPG/game creator, I would recommend you to not give in when something fails. Start with small projects, finish them actually and release them. If it fails, do it till it works and try to improve over time.

We definitely need more quality ecchi/hentai games here in the west. Btw, do you remember when I mentioned Pyrite Heart? Our first game as Winged Cloud? It made $80 in donations after release.

***UNCENSORED NSFW IMAGES FOR DOWNLOAD!***



Jonas “O.J” Ek

The Gaming Ground

Twitter: @TheGamingGround

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Tags: Adult Games, Censorship, Erotic games, Hentai, Lewd, Nutaku, PC games, Sakura Apprentice, Winged Cloud