{"id":56179,"date":"2026-01-27T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=56179"},"modified":"2026-01-27T14:25:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T05:25:33","slug":"i-wanted-my-next-game-to-be-entirely-my-own-needy-streamer-overload-creator-nyalra-on-starting-his-own-game-company-and-pursuing-90s-eroge-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/i-wanted-my-next-game-to-be-entirely-my-own-needy-streamer-overload-creator-nyalra-on-starting-his-own-game-company-and-pursuing-90s-eroge-legacy\/","title":{"rendered":"“I wanted my next game to be entirely my own.” NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD creator\u00a0nyalra\u00a0on starting his own game company and pursuing 90s eroge legacy\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For nyalra, the Japanese creator behind NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD, 2025 was a turbulent year. Following the massive success of his hit visual novel, he found himself at odds with the game\u2019s publisher, which ultimately led him to establish his own game company. Called HazeDenki, this two-man company is a fresh start for nyalra, who\u2019s already working on new projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AUTOMATON sat down with nyalra to ask him about HazeDenki\u2019s goals as a company and its upcoming two projects \u2013 the visual novel Sister Other Paranoia and an unannounced strategy game. He also talked to us at length about his creative influences and fascination with communities, otaku culture, alienation and the grotesque. The interview was conducted at midnight, when nyalra is most likely to be active. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2015First, could you introduce yourself?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong>\u00a0
I\u2019m\u00a0nyalra.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0currently making games at\u00a0my newly founded company\u00a0HazeDenki.\u00a0Thanks\u00a0for having me.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/hazedenki.net\/post\/hazedenki<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"HazeDenki\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2015<\/strong>Given your position, I’ll be asking you questions as \u201cnyalra, the CEO of a game company\u201d this time. How do you personally see yourself as a game creator?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
Actually, it wasn\u2019t until you put it that way that I realized, \u201cFrom now on, I have to think about what I say from the perspective of a game company representative.\u201d But sorry, I still just see myself as someone who loves bish\u014djo games (gal games) and is living off the remnants of that. Whether it\u2019s games or anime, I basically have a world inside me, and all I want to do is to express it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because what I want to express changes, the genre I use to express myself changes too. Right now, it feels like I have two themes I want to explore through games. That\u2019s why I started making games again. I myself am more of an anarchist, or rather, someone who just can’t fit into society very well, so a lot of what I want to make is tied to that. Lately, I think that\u2019s turned into me making games for people who don\u2019t fit into society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014What kind of environment are you currently working in, when making games?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
Well, uh, I’m just kind of doing what I always do \u2013 working with my headphones on and my notebooks laid out on the desk. I usually start by writing everything I\u2019m thinking down on paper. I\u2019ll scribble out sentences with a fountain pen, then later type them into Google Docs. Since the paper itself is just for notes, I usually toss it after each session, I don\u2019t think there’s much point in revisiting it anyway. Also, I get distracted all the time while I\u2019m working. I\u2019ll open a bunch of books on Kindle, or start watching videos. I don’t think I’m the type to get super-focused. Yeah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014How do you look for ideas when developing games?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
I like looking at artwork and watching movies as a hobby, so I never really feel like I’m lacking inspiration. If you watch movies every day, you end up finding something you want to do every day. It\u2019s always been like that for me. Although, lately I feel like I\u2019ve been taking in way too much while neglecting my output. Since I\u2019ve never studied anything in my life that I wasn\u2019t personally interested in, I don\u2019t really like the way people talk about \u201cdoing the required reading.\u201d I\u2019ve never learned about something just to \u201ckeep up with the conversation.\u201d Because of that, there are definitely times when I\u2019m out of the loop on the latest content or trends. But I think the secret to creativity is really just being able to do things in a way that comes naturally to you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Are there any games that influenced your own work?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
I\u2019ve always loved Monster Rancher 2. In my mind, NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD follows the same kind of gameplay flow as Monster Rancher 2, and I think that\u2019s where my roots lie. Also, since a lot of the games I’m personally hooked on belong to the bish\u014djo genre, I think I was influenced by AliceSoft titles like Daiakuji. AliceSoft games casually pull off some pretty awful stuff, and I think that\u2019s where their uniqueness lies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love that kind of thing. It also ties into why I chose the term \u201cgame\u201d for my new work. To get people to really read the story, a sense of immersion is essential. Especially when it comes to establishing emotional attachment to the heroine, I honestly think immersion is everything. The eroge I loved \u2013 like AliceSoft and ELF titles \u2013 were games that heightened immersion by letting you control the character. I think they’re the reason why I want to make games now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, early on, I did have this idea that I needed to read as much \u201cliterature\u201d as possible so I wouldn\u2019t be embarrassed in front of \u201990s or early-2000s otaku. That was partly because a lot of the eroge I loved were clearly paying homage to literary works. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sister<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Thank you. Could you tell me about how you came to found your own company?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
Right after releasing NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD, I was already thinking up a new visual novel project on a personal level. People tend to think of NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD as something I made completely the way I wanted to, but it was still a team project. So, I wanted to make something even more detached from others\u2019 influence, where I could just do what I wanted with my own writing, regardless of sales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a way, it was also a form of pushback against the big projects, like the anime adaptation work that was waiting for me next. I wanted something I could make purely for fun, like a true hobby project in between the \u201creal work.\u201d  I didn\u2019t want to do just big-name projects as a writer, so I created a proposal with the idea of making a visual novel that would resonate only with those who truly understood it… but in the end, several years passed without the company I was working with at the time (Why so serious) moving forward with the project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had already invited my programmer friend HAYAO to join the development of the new game, but at the time, he was swamped with a massive workload related to NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD and simply couldn’t spare any attention for anything else. Despite having already quit his previous job, the employment discussions with him were left hanging, and he began ignoring my communications regarding the project. Then, at one point, things had progressed to the stage where we could start development. But as you know, the dispute began between myself and Mr. Daichi Saito, the CEO of Why so serious, and the project I’d nurtured over several years was ultimately forced to shut down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After being left in limbo for years only for it to end in cancellation, I was honestly shocked. A lot of people reached out to me then. Some even apologized, saying they couldn\u2019t help anymore. While everyone was sincerely offering me their support, one person told me: \u201cIf you don\u2019t want this to happen again, you should make your own company and hold the rights yourselves.\u201d And I thought, yeah, that\u2019s true. If we didn’t hold the rights ourselves, we wouldn’t be able to get help from others either. So, HAYAO and I talked it over. We decided we wouldn’t let anything be taken from us this time. We were determined to properly make a visual novel this time around, and we resolved to establish our own company. That\u2019s how HazeDenki came to be. 
 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Does the company consist of just you and HAYAO right now?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
Yes. Since it\u2019s just the two of us, these roles don\u2019t mean anything grand, but I\u2019m the CEO, and he\u2019s an executive. We\u2019re not really interested in managing a business in the traditional sense \u2013 as long as we hold the rights to what we make, that’s enough for us. I would say the vibe is closer to a creative circle.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HazeDenki is currently developing two games. One is the visual novel that was previously canceled, called Sister Other Paranoia. That’s a project only me and HAYAO are working on. The other is a strategy game. I\u2019m handling the scenario, and former NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD staff members like programmer Torii, artist Nennai, and sound creator Aiobahn are involved too. They\u2019re participating in development mainly as contractors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/4240150\/Sister_Other_Paranoia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014How would you describe the atmosphere within the team right now?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
I\u2019m working with people I never thought I\u2019d get to make games with again, so honestly, it\u2019s just really fun. To begin with, we didn\u2019t have any major conflicts during NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD either. Of course, there are bound to be conflicts when making games, but somehow, even those feel insignificant compared to the sheer joy of gathering together and pushing the project forward. I\u2019m really happy! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every month, we meet up in Akihabara for progress meetings, talk about what we\u2019ll aim to finish next, and that time is just really enjoyable. It feels like, \u201cYeah, this is how it was supposed to be.\u201d When Nennai sketches things out on the spot in response to what I\u2019m saying, going \u201cLike this, right?\u201d and the game starts taking shape right there, it\u2019s truly delightful. It makes me think, \u201cThis is what indie is all about.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2015<\/strong>What are HazeDenki\u2019s goals as a company?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
For now, we\u2019re focused on doing our best to complete the two games we originally set out to make. But as I mentioned earlier, HazeDenki is something I founded together with HAYAO, our programmer. He\u2019s someone who\u2019s worked as a programmer since graduating, and after we release the games we\u2019re currently making, I\u2019m really looking forward to seeing what kind of game he creates on his own once he\u2019s built up more experience.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HAYAO is a friend I’ve been hanging out with ever since we met on Twitter ten years ago. All this time, he\u2019d been bottling up the frustration of wanting to make games for a living, but not being able to. Now that he\u2019s finally in a position where he can make games freely, he\u2019s extremely fired up. He quit his job to make games, but it took years to get here. Being able to properly make a game at all makes him incredibly happy right now, so I\u2019m already looking forward to what comes next. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Could you tell me about the visual novel you\u2019re planning to release first among your upcoming projects?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
It’s called Sister Other Paranoia, and we recently launched the Steam store page. Personally, I’m creating this game hoping to express \u201cthe grotesque\u201d more openly than I did in NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD. Back when I was really into eroge, macabre expressions existed as a kind of culture within that genre. I don\u2019t think you can just recreate that as-is in the modern day, and it\u2019s become a type of expression that people are reluctant to interact with. But I also believe there are people who can only find salvation in works like that. So I thought, now that I\u2019ve reached a point where I don’t care how much I get criticized, I\u2019ll be the one to make it. I want to lay bare everything I hate, and then crush it all in a grotesque way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sister<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2014So you\u2019re fully aware the game may be criticized for its content, but still want to make it for those who can only be reached through that kind of expression?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
To explain the story within the limits of what I can share right now, the protagonist is a 19-year-old who writes light novels. After winning a light novel award, the attitudes of people around him \u2013 like seniors in his club, friends, or even women he interacted with online \u2013 start to change, even though they used to treat him normally before. He grows increasingly irritated by this every day, to the point where he begins to obsess over the thought, \u201cI want to kill them.\u201d \u2026Yeah… I don\u2019t think this is a game where anything good will come from playing it. At the moment, I expect it to take about 10 hours to clear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The choice of theme was heavily influenced by the brutal eroge of the 2000s. In particular, I\u2019ve been strongly influenced by the works of Ren\u2019ya Setoguchi. I\u2019ve always wanted to make something like his CARNIVAL, it\u2019s a work that feels like it\u2019s made entirely out of self-consciousness. Sister Other Paranoia doesn\u2019t really have as much of the bish\u014djo elements you\u2019d find in male-oriented eroge from that era, but if I were to put it in a cool way, you could say it\u2019s what you get when only the literary aspects remain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Just hearing the synopsis, I can tell the game deals with very bleak themes. The genre is described as a \u201cdark visual novel.\u201d Is it correct to understand the system as a fairly standard visual novel where you mainly read text?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
At its core, it\u2019s a game where you just read text, but I also really wanted to test how far we could push the visuals using modern development tools, since we’re making a visual novel in the present day. As HAYAO has been blogging about on the HazeDenki website, we realized we can manipulate the game screen far more than we expected. It feels like we\u2019re able to do about ten times more of the kinds of effects visual novel fans back in the day probably wished for. Effects that would\u2019ve taken an incredible amount of time ten years ago can now be done pretty quickly with tools like Unity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once we realized that, it became clear we could do a lot of cinematic-style presentation too. So if we\u2019re going to release a cutting-edge visual novel, we want to put real effort into the system side as well. I love movies myself, so with this game, I want to push as far as I can in terms of how much we can pull players into a novel game through its presentation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sister<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Could you tell me about your current planned release schedule? <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
First, I\u2019d like to sell the physical version at Anime Expo in Los Angeles in July, and then at Comiket in Japan in August. We\u2019ll release it on Steam afterwards too, of course, but I want to cherish these sales channels. For overseas audiences, we plan to translate the game into Chinese and English. Since it\u2019s a work that leans heavily into my personal tastes, I’m not really thinking about large-scale expansion. I just hope it resonates with people who genuinely love visual novels, especially the grotesque kind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Moving on, could you tell me more about the second title, the strategy game?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
I can\u2019t reveal much about it yet, but it\u2019s a project being made by the core members who worked on NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD. While implementing a completely different game system from our previous work, we want to take ideas we couldn\u2019t use before, and a world we wanted to expand further, and turn that into a much more substantial game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because it was our first time making a game together, I think our previous work still had areas that weren\u2019t fully refined, including game mechanics. This time, I want things like number management and multipliers to feel satisfying, and first and foremost, I want to make a game where a single playthrough is genuinely entertaining as a game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"HazeDenki\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Since it\u2019s a strategy game, what kind of gameplay are you envisioning?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
I\u2019ve been really hooked to the Tropico series, so it\u2019s going to be a community management simulation game. In NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD, the \u201ccommunity\u201d was depicted within a very narrow scope, basically one-on-one, or through fans\u2019 posts that spontaneously gathered online. But in our next game, I want to properly depict what it means for people to actually live within a community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to steadily increase the number of people in the game. As the population grows, the number of people who can be saved increases, and so does the number of people who become enemies. If character relationships are locked into one-on-one interactions, the game world inevitably starts feeling very small, and that\u2019s not good. I realized I needed to break out of that way of thinking myself. I wanted to move from a game where the player decides whether or not to save a single heroine, to one where they think, through numbers, about how to save, or not save, an entire community. I think it\u2019d be great to express that through a heavy setting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014What kind of change in mindset led you to become interested in communities as a theme?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
Over the past few years, my work has become known to many people, and I\u2019ve gained both fans and haters all over the world. Through that, I\u2019ve seen all kinds of people. For example, I\u2019ve exchanged replies with overseas fans, and I even personally made an English-speaking Discord server. At the same time, in Japan, I\u2019ve been bombarded with harsh words from people who are aggressive about everything, so-called antis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having made aggressive posts myself in the past, I understand it’s inevitable I get criticized for it. But because of that, I\u2019ve also started to notice that there are people who are constantly \u201csetting things on fire,\u201d and not just me. I began asking myself, how should people like that, who are burning with complexes and resentment, be saved? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When people are forced to live as \u201cthe weak,\u201d they usually can\u2019t find salvation without believing in something. Historically, religion has always been what saved people, especially overseas. In ancient Egypt, the pyramids were objects of faith for people. In Islamic societies, there are many people who find self-affirmation through praying five times a day. I love traveling abroad, and even in regions that seem less affluent than Japan, the \u201cquality of happiness\u201d often appears much higher. But when I think about what might save people living in modern Japan, nothing really comes to mind. VTubers feel too physically real to be objects of faith, and devotion to otaku content fades as people get older. I can’t think of anything that seems capable of saving us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communities, and the people within them who can\u2019t be saved. My interest in how those people live led me to the worldview I want to depict in my game. That’s the idea, I suppose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Does that mean the target audience for your games is \u201cthe people you want to save\u201d?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

nyalra:<\/strong> 
No, whether the people who play my games are actually saved or not doesn\u2019t really matter to me. Ultimately, it\u2019s the people who are able to take a step forward on their own who find salvation. Even if I were to create a game that presented some kind of answer, nothing would change unless the player themselves felt something. But when it comes to those kinds of people, I\u2019ve always had this sense that I\u2019m looking at another version of myself from a \u201cparallel universe\u201d. When someone says something aggressive to me, I think, \u201cIf things had gone a little differently, I might\u2019ve said the same thing.\u201d It’s always a mix of sympathy and dismissal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s one way I differ from other creators, I think it\u2019s probably there. Other creators probably don’t make their haters think, \u201cI could have been you.\u201d But just as I genuinely believe \u201cIf my circumstances were different, I’d be saying the same thing as you,\u201d I think there’s probably something about me that makes others genuinely feel the same way about me. 
 
In Tropico, which I mentioned earlier, you play as a dictator of a Caribbean island nation and manage the country. System-wise, no matter how much you strengthen your dictatorship, you can still make the citizens feel happy. That idea of what a community can be like was a huge hint for me. If it were me, I\u2019d have everyone build a pyramid. You know, something grand, something that can make everyone happy if they get together and work hard for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n