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[TheHivemind]

Man those portraits are fucking gorgeous, what are you talking about "ugly-ass."

[Kon22]

At some part of the project did you feel like "Oh, just put that there. Let's finish this"? More like, rushed something? Just a question. Not that anything in the final release feels rushed. But with a work so extensive, well, I guess something like that might happen.

Also, some of the "side stories" that appear in some routes. Like, Kenji stealing books and Yuuko's boyfriend. At some point did you intended to finish them, or they are already finished? Like, are they there just for giving some clues/background story and nothing more?

[Aura]

Of course. With the combined amount of attention to detail and perfectionist propensities we have and the gigantic amounts of material KS has, there was no way we could fine-tune every single thing to perfect or always even decent satisfaction. Art in general often tends to be like that, more or less.

[Kon22]

Not suggesting or asking to show, as I already know what your answer would be, but, there are any unused sprites in the game?

I was thinking, since Lilly has one where she's backwards (Looking away from the player/Hisao) and is the only girl to have one like this. So, maybe you got a number of sprites for each girl since the beggining and worked with them, or you just got a new one when it was needed for a specific scene.

Since, I guess, drawing them is no easy task, the second option sounds a lot more reasonable. But then, I don't know anything about making VNs.

[Aura]

There's an entire unused outfit set for one of the characters. Some artists drew some silly expressions on some characters that weren't really meant to be used as well, just for fun.

[Guest Poster]

Are you talking about Rin? I recall hearing that the casual outfit she wore in the "Katawa Shoujo Released" picture was meant to be used, but there was never an occasion where it was really needed.

[Aura]

Yeah Rin but we actually just cut the use case out.

[voidrider]

I am curious about the creation process behind the short cinematic animations that play for each girl at the beginning of their separate routes. Which software was used in their creation, any special techniques? I would like to go down that path but I'm not really sure where to start. Any help on the matter would be tremendously appreciated.

My favorite: Rin's.

[Aura]

No making ofs, but the software Mike uses are nothing special; photoshop, after effects, 3dsmax. If you want to try your hand at animation, you can easily find tutorials on the internet.

[Atario]

Have any of the devs ever met AFK, or has it always been 100% Internet-mediated? If the former, how did it go?

[Aura]

Sure. Two of us are siblings, another two are real-life friends from before KS and there's been a bunch of people meeting each other when the geographical circumstances have allowed. I don't belong to any of the above, so can't relate any experiences.

[questioning]

should one use the measurements listed on the official site to draw a bust chart?
what about characters who are not listed or not accurate on the official site? what are their measurements?

[Aura]

Yeah, why not?

The question of accuracy concerns what you think reality is. Some numbers I pull out of my ass? The images our artists drew that can't be measured? What if they are conflicting? The numbers on the website weren't very deeply thought about and used to be literally randomized, except for heights, so it's arguable whether they have any meaning at all. They're the best you'll ever get though, so use them for the chart.

[Kariya312]

Yeah, why not?

The question of accuracy concerns what you think reality is. Some numbers I pull out of my ass? The images our artists drew that can't be measured? What if they are conflicting? The numbers on the website weren't very deeply thought about and used to be literally randomized, except for heights, so it's arguable whether they have any meaning at all. They're the best you'll ever get though, so use them for the chart.

Wouldn't it make more sense to go off of artwork instead of numbers that exist outside of the VN? I know the artwork isn't exactly consistent between the events and the sprites, but the sprites seem like a more reliable reference because they're what the reader would be exposed to the most and probably what had the most input from the whole team. Trying to draw something like that by the numbers would just create confusion for anyone who didn't go and look them up on the website because it lists things like Misha having a smaller bust than Lilly, which is just plain wrong if you've taken a single look at the artwork. Don't you think it would be better to be done relatively, by proportions or whatever, instead of trying to follow numbers that you just admitted can't even be considered believable in the first place?

EDIT: Also, who would you say had the most experience when starting work on the novel? Were there certain devs who were more savvy and pulled more of the overall weight, so to speak?

[Aura]

You'll have to do some guesswork either way, so I feel it's a wash whether you use numbers or the game artwork (disclaimer: I'm not a bust chart enthusiast)

Most people had practical experience about stuff that was relevant to their role in 4LS in one way or another, but nobody had any real experience about making VNs. The older members were more experienced (in a general sense) than the younger just by virtue of age. The amount of weight pulled was totally independent of any previous experience though, and more related to motivation and such. I'd say Blue123, Silentcook and kamifish probably had the best skillsets when coming in.