All Of Us

Last month we chatted with the Book Team for a heartfelt and early look at All of Us. We're here again with the All of Us team for a little more behind-the-scenes info!

Can you give us a quick look into the book(s)?

Olivia: Our main characters (yes, there are two! more on that below) work at a queer-owned cafe in San Francisco where you and your friends are trying to make ends meet. If you play your cards right, you just might have a shot with that cute regular you've been crushing on…

Emi: This bad boy can hold so much found family.

Speaking of... Any new characters you're excited for fans to meet?

Emi: Maybe because I'm secretly a jock at heart, I have a soft spot for Brad. He's really out there channeling positive masculinity, and we love to see it. Plus he's got a dog named Elvis. I mean, come on.

Jeffrey: Team #BattingForBrad

Olivia: I have to give some love to Tess. She's cute, not-so-secretly nerdy, and she drives a motorcycle. Catnip for me personally. Also, shoutout to Blue, the most chaotic friend in your group who is also beloved by the whole team.

Emi: Also I still can't believe we got away with naming our ally character Allan.

Olivia: I also love Max and Mateo and Yaz! Okay, I just love all of our characters. It's a pretty great group. You'll see when you meet them.

We're excited to meet everyone, including Elvis! Okay, next Q, what's new that players should look forward to?

Olivia: This book is the first Choices book that's actually two books! We have two main characters, and you can choose whose route to play and live out two parallel - but also different - storylines! This gave us a chance to really tailor parts of the story to each character and their journey, even as other parts overlap. We hope players will enjoy checking out both stories and exploring the things they share and the places where they diverge!

An exciting time for us! Were there any challenges with creating this book?

Emi: This is also the first Choices book to focus purely on a queer story, which came with its own challenges. We wanted to be authentic to everyone under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, but also recognized that one story can't be everything to everyone. We really tried to find a balance between player expression and side characters with a variety of identities, and I hope we succeeded.

Olivia: Big plus one to everything Emi said. It was very intimidating - but also rewarding! - to try to showcase some things that are very personal to a lot of us (a.k.a. Making a book that is very, very gay). Very grateful that the team encouraged us to do this story, and I hope that even if none of it is exactly like your experiences or those of your friends, there are still parts you can relate to.

Kelly: Finding a balance in the closet was true on the art side of things too! We wanted to create an unique experience that would let specific kinds of fashion shine that we don't always get to explore as much in other books! 

Jessie: Each main character and their love interest appear in both books regardless of which book you choose, so we had to decide early on how to handle the appearance of each character across books. We landed on having the MC you aren't currently playing on (along with their LI) being set to a default appearance. You may recognize their looks from our cover!

Good to know! Alrighty, what did you enjoy the most about creating this book?

Emi: I'm happy I finally got an aquarium date into one of the books I've worked on.

Jeffrey: Around the time we were brainstorming this, I went to a roller derby race and saw first-hand how wholesome and... violent the sport could be. Now, there's a roller derby section in the book!

Olivia: Shoutout to Jeffrey for his dedication to research. The whole experience of working on this book has been very special, but our art team also was very indulgent and let me base a cat that you meet later in the book on one of my own cats, who passed away last year. There's a lot of love and heart in this book on a lot of different levels, and everyone working on it really made it special 💗

That is such a sweet detail. T_T We can't wait to experience it for ourselves. <3 Let's wrap up this interview with one final Q: What do you hope fans will get out of this book?

Emi: For our queer players, I hope that they can see pieces of themselves in every part of this book. For our players who are questioning, I hope this helps you on your journey of self-discovery. And for our non-queer players, I hope you walk away with a new perspective on life and love.

Olivia: I hope that wherever you are on your journey, this book helps you feel seen and loved. You're going to be okay. And we're really glad you're here ❤️ 🌈

There's already so much love felt here - thank you all for sharing and creating these stories. And to all our players: thanks for taking time from your day to read what our book team has to say. We hope you enjoy the release of All of Us tomorrow!

<3 The Community Team