Questions about creating visual novels

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How Does One Get Into Visual Novels?

Questions about creating visual novels

Post by How Does One Get Into Visual Novels? »

So this is realistically the first Visual Novel I have ever looked into, and I am very impressed. Kudos to all involved.

But anyway, I have been sitting for the last few days, wondering just how do you get into the visual novel game? Do you have to be a Jack-of-all-trades to begin with and script, write, draw and program on your own for a while? Or do you meet up with like-minded folk and create a team? And if the latter, where exactly do you meet up with other people who want to make something like this?

I ask because I am at a crossroads. I am a writer and ideas man, and at the moment I am unsure what avenue I should be looking into (Novels? Doujin scriptwriting? Video game scriptwriting?), and I thought that making Visual Novels may not be too bad (despite the fact that my artistic and programming skills are at zero). It seems interesting and challenging enough from a writing perspective, so I decided to get more info and see exactly what would need to be done.

My apologies if this isn't on topic.
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Black Saloon
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Re: Questions about creating visual novels

Post by Black Saloon »

Oh wow. I'm OP by the way. Herp derp.
To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever-increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one of the things that training is about.
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Aura
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Re: Questions about creating visual novels

Post by Aura »

Some visual novels are created entirely by one person, some by a team where everyone has their specialized job. You definitely don't have to know all the aspects yourself, as long as you have someone else to do them for you. As for how to find those people... I don't know, I guess it's connections, perseverance and chance for the most part.

I think the go-to place for a prospective visual novel creator is the notorious Lemmasoft Forums. I personally don't fancy it, but it's a very very good resource for anyone who wishes to get into this. I don't know any other English language place on the internet that'd have more visual novel creation talk, and if you choose Ren'Py as engine you get to benefit from the generous tech support the natives give. Plus you might find other team members too (the "I have this really good idea for a visual novel, come work for me" guys are dime a dozen there, though). If you need an artist, looking at forums where idle artists gather, such as deviantart, could be a good idea. If you need music, look at the various music forums etc. Generally speaking, it's very hard to find the kind of people you'd want to work in a visual novel team. Everyone needs to be adequately skilled, productive, dependable and willing to spend considerable amounts of their free time to the project, which means that the idea needs to be sold to them and they have to really believe in it. Nobody works for free if they don't find it interesting, or if they don't think they get some immaterial rewards for their work.
<Aura> would you squeeze a warm PVC bottle between your thighs and call it "manaka-chan"
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cpl_crud
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Re: Questions about creating visual novels

Post by cpl_crud »

I think Aura is right, but I went and made some popcorn and thought about our chequered history so I coudl give some sage advice (and so that Aura isn't the only person posting here all wise 'n' shit).

On places like Lemmasoft (and here, to an extent) you'll have people saying that "all you need is a good idea!" in order to make a game.
To be honest, that's bullshit. For better or for worse, KS was a "good" idea. yet it took us about a year to get a team together.
The only way to move hearts and minds in this game is to release content.

If people are looking at forum posts they are likely to respond, but eventually they will be reduced to just "Good" or "Sucks" replies. But if they have something in front of their faces then they are more likely to say "I want to help this out".
Even here, where there is only a single act of a single game, there are about 1-2 fan fiction threads posted a day. Try reading all of them and giving useful feedback, and you'll see what I mean by this.

Yeah actually now that I think about it my advice is more than likely contradictory and poor. For persoanl experience the best way to get into VN creation is to hijack a forum and claim the project for yourself.
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Rednal
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Re: Questions about creating visual novels

Post by Rednal »

A lot of this also depends on what your skills are. Very rarely is one person perfect at everything. I'll give an example.


There's this guy, ninjagrass, who's working on a visual novel. This is a real example, mind you. To be specific, it's an English Hentai VN based off of To-Love-Ru. He released version 1.00 as a demo, which, while okay, really wasn't outstanding in any way. Being an awesome guy, he decided to make it much longer and better, and that's where I came in, offering my services as a proofreader. Ninjagrass does have a lot of good ideas, and the work itself is sound, but there are some awkward phrasings, misspellings, etc. that were preventing his scripts from really being good. I've dealt with that, and so the final product he'll be releasing, once he's gotten all the scripts done, is going to be quite a bit better than it would have been otherwise.

The point I'm trying to make with this is that you should figure out what you're good at and do that. My art skills suck, too. But I'm fairly good at writing, and now, a game that might have been okay is moving up to pretty good because I've been able to apply what I know to make it better. If you're not, as mentioned, good at art, then find someone who is who's willing to help you. And don't try to be as awesome as the guys here and create a commercial-quality work on your first try. Start off with just a short story and learn all about the system you'll be using, and what it really takes to make a Visual Novel. Make your decisions based off of that. Do you want to make more Visual Novels, or leave it at what you've already done? Experience helps!
DuaneMoody
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Re: Questions about creating visual novels

Post by DuaneMoody »

When I was a tween I wanted to write sci-fi novels.
When I was a teen I wanted to write comic books.
After playing KS I'm intrigued by the challenges as much as by the rewards.
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EmP|ty
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Re: Questions about creating visual novels

Post by EmP|ty »

nice Duane.

Black Saloon, the best way is to learn more about it, is to do what you feel best.

For instance, after reading KS, I decided to give a go at learning myself, the best way for me was to read a quick tutorial on Ren'Py, and then dive in headfirst and sort out any issues that arised with as little help as possible, therefore giving me the experience quickly.

But you might find it better with someone holding your hand, or by reading hours of intricate tutorials.

And also I second what Aura said also.
Anyways, if you ever do start up a project as well, and are looking for help, I would be more than willing to, as either a writer, editor, programmer, proofreader/tester. (I can draw, but not good enough to do VN art, not yet.)
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Black Saloon
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Re: Questions about creating visual novels

Post by Black Saloon »

Fair enough.

At the moment, I'm kicking around one of my smaller ideas (been thinking on it for about fifteen months, not much longer). Seems like it would be a good adaptation. Have to think more seriously.

Thanks for the assistance so far, you guys have been amazingly helpful. If there is anyone else with something to add, I'm always looking to learn.
To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever-increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one of the things that training is about.
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Envy
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Re: Questions about creating visual novels

Post by Envy »

Check out Ren'Py, learn the basics just to get an idea of how it works. Read some VN scripts if you need to remind yourself what writing for a VN actually looks like, it's a lot different from writing a novel, obviously. And then get writing. Don't think about the art or the music, VNs are a great format in that you don't need one thing before you can work on the other, you don't need images in order to write the script, you don't need script in order to make the music etc. etc.

Ideally you can start attracting people to your project if you've got a good idea and can prove that you've done some solid work for it.
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Black Saloon
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Re: Questions about creating visual novels

Post by Black Saloon »

Good advice there, Envy. Cheers for that.

Well, still weighing it all up but I'm leaning more and more towards giving it a bash and seeing what happens. What's the worst that can happen, right?
To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever-increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one of the things that training is about.
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Black Saloon
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Re: Questions about creating visual novels

Post by Black Saloon »

Thanks to everyone who posted advice in here. Decided to go ahead with my new idea, and I created a new thread for it. Cheers again.
To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever-increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one of the things that training is about.
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