The Birds of Paradise Kickstarter is ongoing until August 25. Please consider backing to ensure this otome/LGBTQ+ game gets made!

It’s no secret that Fiendish Fiction is a team of LGBTQ+ developers. While our approach to queer content tends to be on the subtler side (portraying queer characters in situations in which their sexuality and identity aren’t the primary, driving source of conflict), Birds of Paradise is a romantic game first and foremost. Naturally, these topics need to be discussed in the context of courtship; especially when our Protagonist, Robin, is bisexual.

This update sheds a little more insight into our inclusion of queer characters and topics in Birds of Paradise, along with Fiendish Fiction’s history as LGBTQ+ developers.

Our History as LGBTQ+ Developers

In 2020, we developed our first game, Up All Night, as part of the 2nd Annual Spooktober Visual Novel Jam. While this game is a psychological thriller and is in no way comparable to the wacky rom-com that is Birds of Paradise, the inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters was still important to us in developing unique characters and dynamics.

While it is never explicitly stated, many players quickly caught on that Felix is gay and undeniably interested in Nick. The tension that arises between the two is left purposefully ambiguous, though these interactions might be interpreted as Nick’s first conscious consideration of bisexuality. This was not unintentional.

Both Nick and Grayson are bisexual, with Grayson making a direct reference to this late in-game as she imagines a life in which she settles down with a ‘nice guy or gal.’ While Nick’s sexuality is never directly explored, when developing his identity our writer, Terra, purposefully penned his interactions with Felix as a ‘mostly straight’ man toying with the idea. Johan, our artist and resident bi-con calls Nick ‘the 80/20 bi guy…’ but hey, even a little bi is still bi bi bi, baby.

By the time Up All Night 2 rolls around (yes, it’s happening), perhaps we will reveal a little more insight into this aspect of Nick’s identity as he is now an older, more contemplative, and more experienced man.

The Birds of Paradise Cast and LGBTQ+ Identities

While exploring the characters’ sexualities would not have made sense in the context of Up All Night's narrative, showcasing a diverse LGBTQ+ cast in Birds of Paradise has been one of our primary goals from conception. Below, we’ll discuss some of the cast’s identities and our decisions to develop LGBTQ+ content around them.

Robin - The heart wants what it wants! While Birds of Paradise is primarily an ‘otome’ game (traditionally defined as a genre featuring a female protagonist with majority male romance options), our decision to include a female romance option makes Robin bisexual by default. While she might not be totally aware of this aspect of her identity at first, it soon comes to light as she meets and interacts with other queer characters.

Vega and Zipporah - Early in the demo Robin meets one of her new roommates, Vega. Vega is a lesbian woman in a long-term relationship with her fellow Birds of Prey band member, Zipporah. In developing this romance and establishing their relationship early on, we aim to normalize healthy WLW relationships in the context of the game. After all, Robin will have a chance to woo a woman of her own!

Mavis - While the Mavis demo update hasn't arrived yet (we’re working on it!), her inclusion in the game is critical both to Robin’s development as a character, and to the plot as a whole. As a member of the rival band, Mavis’ route asks Robin to assess her identity as a queer woman, as well as her priorities as the Birds of Paradise band manager… but we promise this rivals-to-lovers romance has a happy ending for all involved.

Jay - If Robin chooses to look up Jay in the prologue, it becomes quickly apparent that this handsome himbo hunk is a total bisexual bro. While Robin’s first impression of Jay is that of a serial dater and playboy (a common stereotype assigned to bisexual people), follow his romance route and she quickly learns that looks can be deceiving. Jay carries a lot of relationship baggage, but we promise that none of it is related to his identity as an openly bisexual man.

Callum - In an attempt to avoid crushing any players’ hopes and dreams, we have made it abundantly clear from the get-go that Callum is gay, and thus non-romancable. Unfortunately our attempts haven’t proven entirely effective, as Callum has already amassed a sizable base of disappointed fans. Fiendish Fiction is sorry. Callum is reveling.

While Robin isn’t aware of Callum’s sexuality upon first meeting, it doesn’t take long for him to rebuff any advances she might make toward him. As queer developers it was important to us to include a route that incorporated unrequited attraction – something many of us are all too familiar with. Still, rather than simply let any potential relationship wither and perish, in Callum’s route we aim to transform this ice king’s original hostility toward Robin into an irreplaceable friendship.

Callum’s route contains just as much content as any of Robin’s potential romances, and adds an opportunity for players who aren’t interested in finding love to instead explore a deep and profound friendship.

Callum’s identity as a gay man comes up throughout Birds of Paradise in other ways as well, including a bit of past history with our resident bi guy, Jay… and maybe even future history if we hit that $25k stretch goal… wink wink.

We hope this cursory look over the primary LGBTQ+ content in Birds of Paradise gives you all a better idea of how we continue to strive for accurate representation of queer people in our games. There are additional characters whose queer identities may or may not come up as Robin progresses through the game as well.

Peregrine is a sapphic woman with a romantic route stretch goal of her own ($30k), and Kestrel is aromantic and asexual. As mentioned in our FAQ, we can also confirm that one of Robin’s romantic interests is trans, which is made apparent quite early in the full game. Robin acknowledges and accepts this, and it does not have an impact on his route.

Conclusion

Again, we hope this update provides a little more insight into Fiendish Fiction as a studio, our history as LGBTQ+ developers, and our dedication to representation and inclusion; not just as passionate creators but as members of the community ourselves.

Normalizing (and in many cases, celebrating) representation is critical in the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ+ rights, and while we don’t aim to conquer that hill all on our own, we hope the passion we put into our projects can serve as a reminder that we deserve healthy, kind, and realistic portrayals of LGBTQ+ people simply living their best lives as their true selves.

Thanks for reading… and Stay Fiendish!