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[Aura]

Had Misha decided to become a sign language teacher before she attended Yamaku or after she started?

I'm not sure whether she decided to become a sign language teacher and then enrolled in the school, or she enrolled in the school, took some sign language classes, and then she wanted to teach. She says that she didn't really want to go to Yamaku in the first place and wasn't very good at sign language until she met Shizune. If that's true, then why did she go in the first place? She doesn't seem to have any physical disabilities and the tuition is supposed to be really expensive.

Iirc, before.

[TheHivemind]

Another question that just sprung to mind. I've noticed that writing for a VN is nothing like writing a novel or purely text-based work. What did you do to fit the VN format?

I felt it's like writing a theatre play script. Visualization is the biggest thing that changes the way one must write, and the branching structure the next after that.

Yeah, VN writing is a lot more dialog heavy, I think. A normal novel would spend more time describing the world, but with a VN it's right there in front of you so it's not really necessary to do so. Also you'll occasionally have to restrain yourself from writing any action-heavy sequences that would be too difficult to render in a VN engine (the common retort is 'well that's what CGs are for,' but CGs take time and your artists might want to kill you if you use them too much). Emi, due to her being such an athletic lass, was originally going to be saddled with a lot more CGs before wiser heads prevailed.

Narration in a VN is more about someone's thought processes than describing surroundings--or at least that was my experience in this case.

If you had hired voice actors, would you have done it in English or in Japanese if it were just as easy for you to do it either way?

Actually, I'd like to ask: how much would the visual presentation and such have changed if you'd had access to whatever you guys needed to provide decent voice acting for the game?

Voice acting would've been in English--that's the language the damn thing was written in, after all.

Visually we wouldn't have had to change anything. On the writing side, there would've been a lot less narration.

[Camoufrage]

Is there any particular reason why you guys are openly saying that you will probably not work together on another project again?

I supppose I can understand the complete clusterflunk that was working online from so far away, must have been amazing to see . But I would think you would have bonded with the people somehow, yet you were so fast to say that there was almost definitely no chance of another project happening. Just wondering, because seeing more would be awesome, though I fully understand why you wouldnt do it again.

Which is sad really, because KS is brilliant and I do want to congratulate you on making it. I think its such a brilliant way of writing a story. VNs are alluded as being naughty and disgusting and sick all of the time. This game is a great example of, while a lot of the time they are correct, the platform can still be used in a genuine way to create a story worth experiencing. Frankly, I dont know if it would have been as gripping on paper in a book (or even be possible with the way you guys were working ).

There's another question, do you think KS wouldve made a good book?


Once again, love KS, and was certainly worth the time I've spent in it (which is quite a bit). You guys did a great job of making a serious story despite the flak Im sure you were getting for making a VN on such a concept. Sounds very strange when you pitch it to the general public, huh?

As Hivemind says, the KS team was big, too big. It was inefficient and if we made another project it'd definitely be with less people. Further, some 4LS members feel like making KS was enough for the VN development experience and have no intentions of carrying on with this hobby, so we know for a fact that all 21 of the KS team won't work together again. That's the thing that Suriko wanted to say, but somehow miscommunicated to say that we have permanently split and there's no chance of seeing any of us again. That's not true, we simply had no immediate plans to start another project right away. Maybe we will do more projects at some point, with less people, or with new people, or whatever. Many of us like VNs, and making VNs, and working together. So why not, if an opportunity arises?

I remember when I first found out you guys made this with a team of people online. That sounds absolutely insane to me. It had to be a challenge working together. Were there any problems that arose when working together through the online medium that may not be blatantly obvious when looking at it from our perspective?

[Aura]

I remember when I first found out you guys made this with a team of people online. That sounds absolutely insane to me. It had to be a challenge working together. Were there any problems that arose when working together through the online medium that may not be blatantly obvious when looking at it from our perspective?

Mostly that communication is hard. We live literally around the world, so it was extremely hard to arrange internal communication efficiently due to the timezone differences and the irregular schedules everyone had (this was nobody's job). Good communication is the number one priority for a project like this, so it was important we could find ways to work around the limitations of timezones. I can guarantee that if we all had worked together at a physical location, KS would be a significantly better game.

[Camoufrage]

I can guarantee that if we all had worked together at a physical location, KS would be a significantly better game.

But then the story of how it was made would not be as interesting. I know a lot of your popularity came from the idea that it was made by a bunch of 4chan users

[Pseudogenesis]

KS is not a very remarkable visual novel in the wider scheme of the medium, but the response to it is indeed pretty remarkable.

Psst, stop selling yourselves short.

[Xanatos]

I can guarantee that if we all had worked together at a physical location, KS would be a significantly better game.

Somehow, I doubt it could be much better. It's already great to the point of people claiming it helped if not outright changed their lives (for better or worse). I don't think you can add much to that. XD

Though, I would have loved a path with Yuuko...She was an interesting character to me. But she's not what this was about so I guess that'll never happen.

That this entire concept came from a sketch drawing is certainly different. That a bunch of randoms around the world somehow successfully collaborated against all odds to complete this thing is insane. That it came out as high-quality as it did (writing, characters, artwork, and that music) AND had such a deep and lasting effect on many (myself included) is nothing short of amazing. There are plenty of VNs where the devs ARE physically together that Katawa Shoujo easily matches, if not surpasses, in quality.

You're either not aware of how good this thing actually is or just humble (which is nice to see for a change) but either way, if I ever meet any of you, you're getting a hug.

Also, you guys should totally make some KS cards for sale. Not a game, mind you, just some collectable types. I love those. :3

[Karl_Ravech]

Can you confirm that Yuuko is in fact Kenji's ex?

[grissy]

If you could go back in time and change one thing in the game, what would it be?

Dunno. I might nuke the epilogue from Lilly's path. The asymmetry it creates is annoying.

I can understand the feeling, since no other routes have epilogues, but I really think Lilly's was perfect. If the story ends with the reunion in the hospital room it still feels like things have been left hanging a bit. Lilly's probably changed her plans and she's probably not doing it out of guilt/fear for Hisao's condition but it's not terribly satisfying. The epilogue in the field where they've made plans for their future together really puts a period on the story, and Akira's line about getting a passport for her boyfriend instead of just giving up and moving makes it seem like Hisao going for it and chasing after Lilly inspired her to do the same. It's a good feeling, and a very satisfying conclusion to the story.

You could always just do some sort of "some time later" wipe after the hospital, then the scene in the field, THEN the credits. No asymmetrical epilogue, but no losing a great ending.

[Pseudogenesis]

Can you confirm that Yuuko is in fact Kenji's ex?

Huh. They never did give an end to that subarc in Emi's path, did they? Interesting.

[Xanatos]

Can you confirm that Yuuko is in fact Kenji's ex?

Huh. They never did give an end to that subarc in Emi's path, did they? Interesting.

Kenji was totally the Yamaku Cat Burglar. I can't imagine him and Yuuko though...His crazy ramblings with her adorable skittishness...Mismatch from Hell.

[Raxiuscore]

Well perhaps you are not the right person to ask but why did hanako's route end so fast? I mean the ending scene is REALLY good but i feel like there should be more, as we never even got to see them grow. (Sorry my writing im on my phone)

[spirizu]

Apologies if any of these have already been asked:

1. How have the devs found settling back into "normal" life after the game's release? I imagine that finishing something that you've been working on for something like 20 hours a week (according to cpl_crud's blog) for 5 years must leave a pretty huge gap, even if it's a welcome one;

2. How many times has the full KS game been downloaded from the website?

[CuriousCat]

Did the team ever facing any heavy debate or really heated up situation among devs when making KS (regarding writing, visual translation or correction)? Did the team ever suffer bad times because of it? (leaving dev, slower progression, stop communicating, etc)

Assuming you answer yes, how does the team handle such kind of situations? On that time, were the team tend to get along as solid as they can or (some) were fine with cold interaction (we don't need to be lovey dovey partner, as long as you done with your works)?

Are there any story related that can be shared (for our learning) to us?


Sorry for the strange question, curiosity kills the cat I suppose..

[Aura]

Can you confirm that Yuuko is in fact Kenji's ex?

I didn't the previous times this has been asked, and am not going to now either : >