Studio Élan is an

independent video game developer An indie video game or indie game (short for independent video game) is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A ...

and publisher founded in 2017 by Josh Kaplan. They specialised in ''yuri''

visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

s and are best known for their first two titles, ''

Highway Blossoms Highway Blossoms is a 2016 '' yuri'' romance visual novel developed by Studio Élan. Set in the American Southwest, the game follows Amber and Marina on their search for a hidden treasure. The game received positive reception. Plot ''Highway Bl ...

'' and '' Heart of the Woods''.

History

Studio Élan first began as an amateur game development group under the name Alienwork. Between working on another project within Alienwork, Syon Santeria pitched fellow member Josh Kaplan on creating a yuri visual novel as a smaller side project, the idea interested Kaplan and the pair began development of

Sekai Project Sekai Project is an American video game publisher. They are best known for licensing and translating Japanese visual novels into English, but they have also published manga and other non-visual novel video games. History Sekai Project originat ...

announced the game at Anime Weekend Atlanta on September 26, 2015, and in 2016 opened a

Steam Greenlight Steam is a digital distribution service and storefront developed by Valve. It was launched as a software client in September 2003 to provide video game updates automatically for Valve's games and expanded to distributing third-party titles in l ...

page for the game. ''Highway Blossoms'' was initially released without any voice acting and its sound was limited to an acoustic soundtrack. An adult content patch was made freely available. The developer later released a remastered version of the game featuring voice-overs for the characters. ''Highway Blossoms'' received positive reviews for its visuals, story, and soundtrack. Kaplan also noted that the game "ended up being unexpectedly successful," stating that "it found an audience of primarily

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

readers who appreciated what they felt was a more realistic approach to same-sex relationships." Due to the game's success, Kaplan went on to found Studio Élan in February 2017. In October, ''Highway Blossoms''s publisher

announced that Élan would be working on two further visual novels. One of these was ''Heart of the Woods'', which would be released in 2019. The studio's work would go on to garner a reputation for commonly featuring LGBTQ+ and

sapphic Sapphic may refer to: * Sappho, Greek poet of the 7th century BC who wrote about her attraction to women ** Sapphic stanza, a four line poetic form * Sapphism ''Sapphism'' is an umbrella term for any woman Interpersonal attraction, attracted ...

themes. In a 2018 interview, the head of the studio stated that "the majority" of studio members are LGBT women. In 2019, the studio announced ''Lock and Key'', a

magical girl is a Genre#Subgenre, subgenre of primarily Japanese fantasy media (including anime, manga, light novels, and live-action media) centered on young girls who possess magical abilities, which they typically use through an ideal alter ego into wh ...

''yuri'' visual novel. In February 2020, Studio Élan announced that they would begin publishing visual novels under their newly formed "Bellhouse" label, with ''First Snow'' as their first title. They further released ''Highway Blossoms: Next Exit'',

downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...

(DLC) for ''Highway Blossoms'' in 2020. Also in February, the release a trailer for ''Summer At the Edge of the Universe'', which was set for release in 2021. In April 2021, Studio Elan announced plans for a console port of ''Highway Blossoms''. In October 2022, the studio merged with Studio Coattails. In November, the studio released ''Please Be Happy''. In April 2023, ''Heart of the Woods'' received a limited physical release. Later in October, the studio published ''Twofold'', a visual novel following non-binary college student Olive Penn.

Games

Games developed

Games published

References

{{reflist Indie game developers LGBTQ and video games Video game companies established in 2017 Video game publishers Yuri (genre)