Ask!

[Liminaut]

Heh. I thought that comment meant that Emi and Misha had been friends with benefits at one point. I may have been reading a little too much into it

[ksfan1989]

My guess was that it was just one of those things that everyone thought was obvious and Hisao was just being dense. Because, let's face it, that's pretty in character for him. It's nice to have an explanation for the line though, it seemed a bit out of place.

I can't say the thought of Emi having had a fling with Misha ever crossed my mind. Seeing how Emi is like the anti-Shizune I don't know that she'd be Misha's type.

Thanks for clarifying guys, and y'know, for the game and all.

[TheHivemind]

Heh. I thought that comment meant that Emi and Misha had been friends with benefits at one point. I may have been reading a little too much into it

Ha ha ha yes how ridiculous.
<_<
>_>

[Silentcook]

Mayhap we should just make the Ask! thread redirect to the Fanfiction section, Hive.

[sanduba]

Who came up with the character names? I found some really old forum posts, and apparently Shizune's early name was Rosa.

[Aura]

The main cast's names were decided by voting before 4LS's time. After that, the writers came up with the names for the minor characters in their respective stories with the exception of Hivemind. In addition crud is responsible for many names including Iwanako, Yuuko, Misha, and Kenji while I came up with the names for Natsume, Naomi, Taro, Suzu, Takashi and Miki. As a bonus, all the kanji readings are by me and hir.

[Liminaut]

The story of 4LS is quite remarkable.

-- A group formed itself around a common vision
-- With members from all over the world
-- Established roles without a hierarchy
-- Maintained itself after losing key members
-- Maintained itself over a very long haul
-- Was composed of strong personalities that managed to work together to a common goal
-- And produced something remarkable in the end

I believe that the story of 4L itself is valuable. All the details of what it was like to work across continents; what it was like to maintain moral through cycles of despair, exhilaration, and burnout; what it was like to have arguments without losing respect.

What 4LS did organizationally was something a lot of very bright people are trying to figure out how to make work on a regular basis. For instance, a big goal of Occupy Wall Street was trying to figure out how to have a political movement without having a hierarchy. I believe that the story of 4LS and exactly how you did it could do a lot of good in the world and become a template for other organizations to use.

My ask is: Could 4LS produce a book based on the experiences of creating KS? I could see the 4LS experience becoming a template for other projects.

If one wanted to be painfully PoPoMo, one could suggest producing a VN about producing VNs, but serious contemplation of that project would likely drive Cthulhu into therapy.

The bit about the VN is a joke. The bit about a work about the story of 4LS is absolutely serious, and I genuinely think it would do a lot of good.

[cpl_crud]

The story of 4LS is quite remarkable.


My ask is: Could 4LS produce a book based on the experiences of creating KS? I could see the 4LS experience becoming a template for other projects.

Whilst I would actually enjoy doing something like that, I'm not sure if I would actually be able to do it. Plus the big lesson would basically be "roll with the punches - there will be many".

However, there is a good HBR article about a company that is successful without a defined hierarchy:
http://hbr.org/2011/12/first-lets-fire-all-the-managers

This is not the only company that follows this format, but it was the first one that came to mind (and, through some strange fluke, it appears that you can read it free on HBR.org).

[Bad Apple]

Heh. I thought that comment meant that Emi and Misha had been friends with benefits at one point. I may have been reading a little too much into it

Ha ha ha yes how ridiculous.
<_<
>_>

...And thus, Emisha was officially born...

My God, what have you done!

The story of 4LS is quite remarkable.

My ask is: Could 4LS produce a book based on the experiences of creating KS? I could see the 4LS experience becoming a template for other projects.

However, there is a good HBR article about a company that is successful without a defined hierarchy:
http://hbr.org/2011/12/first-lets-fire-all-the-managers

Fun fact: Valve operates this way as well.

TL;DR on the article: The limits of management and the mention of self-management by name and in practice. Much like Morning Star (the company discussed), it is actually not unusual for groups organized via the Internet to operate this way or that way, etc. Historically (in meatspace) these theories are never put in practice for long before being shot down by the authorities.

Incidentally 4LS was never terminated by the authorities; all their issues were internal. Without external variables, I don't think the comparison presented is well-founded (regarding anarchic integrity) as it does not fully account for such major differences.

Simply put, if you are interested in a "template" that resembles and predates 4LS's success, all I have to say is: peruse literature lurk moar

An autobio chronicling 4LS's history would still be a welcoming read though

[TheHivemind]

Heh. I thought that comment meant that Emi and Misha had been friends with benefits at one point. I may have been reading a little too much into it

Ha ha ha yes how ridiculous.
<_<
>_>

...And thus, Emisha was officially born...

My God, what have you done!

You act as if it wasn't already a thing.

A search of the fanfiction forum would demonstrate otherwise.

[delta]

A Comedy of Errors: The Making Of Katawa Shoujo

[Steinherz]

A Comedy of Errors: The Making Of Katawa Shoujo

Is it bad I would totally pay to see that? I love "Making Of" featurettes

[Aura]

Isn't the blog enough? It's flattering if you think we're special, but most of the development was stupid shit that really isn't worth telling about except anecdotally, I feel.

EDIT: By "isn't worth" I obviously mean "would be too embarrassing"

[TheHivemind]

Isn't the blog enough? It's flattering if you think we're special, but most of the development was stupid shit that really isn't worth telling about except anecdotally, I feel.

EDIT: By "isn't worth" I obviously mean "would be too embarrassing"

"Then we called one another nasty names for an hour. Then one of us quit. Then we argued for four hours about the way someone's trousers looked."

[Bad Apple]

...And thus, Emisha was officially born...

My God, what have you done!

You act as if it wasn't already a thing.

A search of the fanfiction forum would demonstrate otherwise.

With emphasis on officially if I may be so bold... Just like I "officially" could not resist making a godawful romantic portmanteau name for the sake of pun and now will promptly excuse myself as I am running late for my execution by firing squad.