Ask!

[Jolon]

Suriko, would you sign off on having an official fanclub? This historical-setting visual novel you speak of- what would convince you to work on it, if such a thing is possible?

[Zahlman]

For Aura and Suriko: It seems pretty clear that Rin and Lilly's routes attempt to follow the nakige formula much more than the others (although Rin's is clearly more experimental while Lilly's is traditional), even down to the forced removal of the two characters - Rin to the atelier and Lilly to another country altogether, and awkward/occasionally inappropriate timing of appearances by Kenji (Lilly) and Emi (Rin).

1. Was there much collaboration between the two of you specifically, discussion of the writing techniques? Or did you both just study other VNs independently from each other?

2. (I guess this applies somewhat to the other writers) As a programmer, I appreciate that the creative process involves reading more often than writing, applying a critical eye to everything (even before an editor gets a chance). Did you ever find it difficult to continue writing the story due to being overwhelmed by the emotions evoked by what was already written? Or do you become immune to it, like trying to tickle yourself? I imagine that Rin's lines about observing an artist's work in progress must have been particularly bothersome ("ironic" doesn't seem quite right) to review.

And a bonus for Suriko: Did you find that working on Hanako's route changed your perception of Lilly's character? Do you feel there are any lingering inconsistencies in her characterization between the two routes that you'd rather have been able to fix?

[TheHivemind]

2. (I guess this applies somewhat to the other writers) As a programmer, I appreciate that the creative process involves reading more often than writing, applying a critical eye to everything (even before an editor gets a chance). Did you ever find it difficult to continue writing the story due to being overwhelmed by the emotions evoked by what was already written? Or do you become immune to it, like trying to tickle yourself? I imagine that Rin's lines about observing an artist's work in progress must have been particularly bothersome ("ironic" doesn't seem quite right) to review.

Some things in Emi's path I went back to later and thought 'yeah, that was pretty good, I think that will hit people in an emotional way (discomfort, sadness, satisfaction, whatever),' but as for whether or not I ever got overwhelmed, no. When you're the one writing the emotional thing, it's difficult to be caught up in the writing of the thing. So while I was definitely drawing on my own experiences (as one does when they write) in order to help create the emotion that I wanted to convey in a scene, it was not something that had me weeping at the keyboard.

A few scenes caused me to chuckle as I wrote them, but probably for the wrong reasons.

[Brogurt]

Now, from what I've heard, the only Bad End in the game that ends in Hisao actually dying is Kenji's bad end in Act 1. Is there any reason that death was avoided for the other bad ends?

Obviously Kenji's bad end isn't nearly as jarring as, say, Hanako's bad end, partially due to the fact that you don't have a relationship with anyone if you've gotten Kenji's bad end. And with the given bad ends, it wouldn't be feasible to shoehorn death into them the way I see it. But I think it would have been possible to write a bad end -earlier on in the development process- that had both death and depression, no?

Or would something like that be way over the line for the tone KS tried to convey?

[Suriko]

Hey Suriko !
I noticed there was a few scenes of wine drinking in Lily's route. are you a big wine drinker yourself and if so; what is your favorite brand ?

I drink the occasional glass of wine with dinner, but that's about it. Riccadonna Asti is my favourite, but I'm not particularly well versed in wines.

[Suriko]

For Aura and Suriko: It seems pretty clear that Rin and Lilly's routes attempt to follow the nakige formula much more than the others (although Rin's is clearly more experimental while Lilly's is traditional), even down to the forced removal of the two characters - Rin to the atelier and Lilly to another country altogether, and awkward/occasionally inappropriate timing of appearances by Kenji (Lilly) and Emi (Rin).

1. Was there much collaboration between the two of you specifically, discussion of the writing techniques? Or did you both just study other VNs independently from each other?

2. (I guess this applies somewhat to the other writers) As a programmer, I appreciate that the creative process involves reading more often than writing, applying a critical eye to everything (even before an editor gets a chance). Did you ever find it difficult to continue writing the story due to being overwhelmed by the emotions evoked by what was already written? Or do you become immune to it, like trying to tickle yourself? I imagine that Rin's lines about observing an artist's work in progress must have been particularly bothersome ("ironic" doesn't seem quite right) to review.

And a bonus for Suriko: Did you find that working on Hanako's route changed your perception of Lilly's character? Do you feel there are any lingering inconsistencies in her characterization between the two routes that you'd rather have been able to fix?

1. Me and Aura (as well as most of the developers, especially Delta) talked a lot about visual novels in general. Many, many hours were spent doing so. From story construction, to direction styles, to art direction, to H-scenes, we debated at length about many different aspects of them.

2. Became immune to it, basically. At the beginning I was a lot more invested in my writing, but as time went on it because a lot easier to step back and look at it in a detached way.

3. Not really. By the time I was doing stuff for Hanako path, Lilly path was for the most part complete, and I had all the thoughts I had about her down. I'm fairly happy with the consistency overall.

[Reiraku]

Pardon if I missed it from earlier in the thread, but are any of the writers currently working on any new projects? I would love to hear about any upcoming works (VN or not) from Suriko or Crud. (Lilly's path being my favorite with Hanako a close second.)

[Dylan]

You guys have the word counts for each path handy?

[xaolindragon]

Since this is my first post, I feel the need to congratulate everyone at 4-Leaf Studios for finishing this masterpiece. But more importantly, I want to thank you all for producing this. This was my first VN and I'm glad it was. I will never forget my experiences with this VN.

Now onto some questions. Forgive me if they've been asked; I tried going through all the pages, but unfortunately, I don't think I can remember precisely which questions were or were not asked.

1) I can kind of understand why 4-Leaf Studio might dissolve after putting 5+ years into this making and I have read Aura's answers as to why/how 4LS was able to stick together and pull there to the very end. But I don't know how this all began. I vaguely know that it all started with a sketch in 2000, but what else was gave the spark for this massive project?

2) A question to who ever wrote Shizune's arc. I just finished Shizune's route. Not one of my favorites, but I still loved nonetheless. My question is how come Hisao couldn't salvage the situation in the bad ending? I feel like someone could have in his shoes, unless I'm reading the entire situation wrong. For comparison, with Emi's route, the reader had a chance to make it up and still end up with the good ending. Again I'm asking the main writer for Shizune: Did you feel that the situation could not be salvageable? That a second chance would not have been possible?

I hope I made my points clear as possible.

[Ashai]

No question here, just wanted to say thanks for this thread, as it has been a very nice read and opportunity for closure on this game. I can't wait to try some of the VN's you guys were inspired by, and will stay tuned to this thread and board!

Congratulations!

[AutisticPsycho]

1) How much did you bribe the mods in /a/ to get them stickies?
2) Any advice for people like to making their own VNs?

[McBaggin]

What would each girl dress up as for Halloween ?

[Jintor]

Any chance of a new artbook?

That might be contributable towards?

[Guest]

Hey Suriko !
I noticed there was a few scenes of wine drinking in Lily's route. are you a big wine drinker yourself and if so; what is your favorite brand ?

I drink the occasional glass of wine with dinner, but that's about it. Riccadonna Asti is my favourite, but I'm not particularly well versed in wines.

We should have some together.

Tell me where you live and I'll drop by later, k?

[Smoky]

What would each girl dress up as for Halloween ?

Emi: She would be wearing her running attire but have a "Last Place" medal around her neck.
Rin: A paintbrush with no bristles.
Lily: As a geshia.
Hanako: A ghost. For obvious reasons.
Shicchan: Lily.
Misha: A box of popcorn. (Not everyone has to dress as something scary, Hicchan~!)

Yuuko: The Doppler effect.
Nurse: Grim Reaper, or, Death.
Mutuo: Doesn't dress up, says he's "too old".
Kenji: Kenji would dress as himself since he would believe that dressing up as something scary, or what you may fear, is how the feminist will take that knowledge and use it against your. Alternatively, he would just stay in his room.