Words of S.R. Knipe

[Danielle Lewon]

For the back cover of the game, I asked S.R. to write a few lines
about what creative force and influence during the time the game
originally written. I got a great response but, unfortunately, it had
to be edited for space. Here is the entire quote:

"There’s a pervasive sort of dream in the trans-community…that a natal-
woman (that’s what we call women who are born as such) will come
along, take us gently by the hand, and enthusiastically school us in
the mysterious (and largely mythical) ways of “womanhood”. Never mind
how really unfair that is; it exists, and Kagematsu was my attempt at
fulfilling that wish. The plan, obviously, was to switch up all the
gender roles. Only slightly more subtly, I wanted to put a woman in a
position to judge the rightness and wrongness of every other
character’s actions, thereby “teaching” us (about love, as it turns
out).

Further along in my transition, I see things differently. But hey,
the game is turning out to be fun anyway! And always remember…
pronouns are more important than you realize."

I like the game because it subtly layers social issues into play,
similarly to My Life with Master. I have always thought that after
playing MLwM, you are shocked at how easy it is to identify the
Masters in our lives and around us. At first it's kind of a joke
(politicians, business moguls, celebrities etc) but then you get a
serious look, maybe at someone close to you, and it's frightening.

With Kagematsu, there is an overlaying story of townswomen winning
Kagematsu's love to defeat the threat. Underneath that is the male/
female gender switching. I want this game to teach guys to look at
affection and love in a new way, like a woman. Yes, I hope men learn
enough to woo women with this game. Crazy huh? But in the end, it is
all about Love, don'tcha think?