Boys Laugh + was founded in the summer of 2018 by Felix and Rohan. The name is an incredibly clever pun on 'boys love' or 'BL', a genre of Japanese media featuring romance, often between handsome young men, which targets a female audience. Although not exactly part of the female audience, Felix and Rohan appreciate good queer stories written with empathy. The 'boys love' genre was their first topic of discussion of many to follow about narrative games and depictions of romance and sexuality.
With due respect to the original genre, they discovered that it could benefit from an upgrade. The duo wanted to produce queer content beyond a gendered target group. Like the '+' behind LGBTQIA, for them, the '+' became a symbol of inclusivity.
As BL+ Felix and Rohan want to create interactive experiences which address diverse audiences as well as represents them. Luckily, the range of skills, each of them has, complements the team perfectly for this ambitious objective.
Felix (eZombo)
Quiet and polite. And with an immense tenacity that comes to light when Felix has set their mind on to something. They have been working on creative projects since their school days, during which they learned web development, graphic design and 3D modelling. By the end of school they also picked up music production.
They took all of their skills to the next level during university, majoring in animation and game production, where project teams were so small that a diverse set of skills was invaluable. It was around the time they met Rohan in their second year, that their passion for writing manifested and was given a stage with BL+. It's most impressive how Felix unites all of their skills with an emotional sensitivity, essential to every BL+ project.
Their day to day work for BL+ include:
Story Development, Writing, Narrative Design, Programming, Music Production, UI Design, Technical Support for players and Social Media Maintenance.
If not developing games Felix is:
Working a day job, freelancing as a game music producer or manga retoucher, making music for themself, weaving, writing stories, building instruments, babysitting their niece and nephew or taking care of their dog.
Games that changed their life:
Ghost Trick, Mother 3, Undertale, Ace Attorney, 999, Monster Hunter, Sayonara Wild Hearts
Rohan (Pectin)
If Felix were the resilient embers of BL+ then Rohan would be the sporadically rising and flickering flame. Since smallhood he has been fascinated by realising his narrative visions through drawing. During school he discovered that coding could be used for creative expression as well, eventually leading to his enrolment in the same university as Felix to major in animation and game production.
Combined with his sensibilities for aesthetics and trends he naturally gravitated towards design, concept art, illustration and art direction. All of which he also honed during his university time. In that regard every new BL+ project is an artistic playground to him. His curiosity for human nature and societal issues had him return to university to study psychology.
His day to day work for BL+ include:
Story Development, Art Direction and Concept Design, Illustration and Team Management.
If not developing games Rohan is:
Knitting or sewing, figure skating, ballet dancing, singing to his ukulele, expanding his OC universe and pursuing a degree in psychology.
Games that changed his life:
Sims 2-4, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Skyrim, 999, Undertale, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Professor Layton
@Pectin_
instagram.com/pectin.art/