Happy fourth birthday, Crème de la Crème! I’ve been writing in this setting for five and a half years now and as the years have gone by, I’ve found I have more and more ideas to explore.
When I first pitched Crème de la Crème - more about that process here, from CdlC’s third birthday last year - it felt risky. I’d made romance-focused games before, but they were short, and focused on one character per game. My first CoG game, Blood Money, is action-packed, fantastical, violent, and moody, where CdlC is generally much lighter - in overall tone, if not in all the events that happen. But I’d been yearning to write a school game for a long time - I was idly thinking about it sometime during Blood Money - and this was my opportunity to do it.
And I’m really glad I did! Crème de la Crème has reached a larger audience than I ever thought possible, it won XYZZY awards that I was absolutely stunned to receive (Best Writing, and tying for Best Story and Best Game in 2019), and it continues to bring people enjoyment even after all these years. It feels really magical that people who don’t even know me have enjoyed this story, characters, and world.
I learned a huge amount from making it and it’s been a jumping-off point for future games in the same setting - so even though it came out four years ago, it’s still very much part of my life which is really lovely.
To think I was initially worried that people wouldn’t enjoy a game with so little combat in it!
Thank you to everyone who’s played, gave feedback while it was being made, who’s talked about it, who’s made art about it, and who’s supported it in any manner of ways. I really appreciate it. And particular thanks to @abbytrevor for editing, Kris Lorischild for copyediting, Paula Tuazon for the beautiful art and my wife @FayI for helping at every step of the way.
