Ask!

[Reksho]

The creators of a piece are essentially parents. Once their work is introduced to the world, it takes on its own life and its own meaning. They're not too different from ink blots, really. Say someone paints a picture of a beetle, and another person sees this picture and believes it is a rabbit. Are either person "wrong?" I don't think so. It's just a difference of thought brought on by many instances: differences in perspective, differences in upbringing, differences in gender, differences in race.

Katawa Shoujo, to me, puts the reader in a special vantage point where they can experience five different stories- five different stories with multiple branches- at their own pace. There are definitely many people who will have taken the same or similar choices since its birth, but these were all conscious decisions by the player. That brings a bit more investment to the mix.

I'm not so sure about comparing art with something like ink blots. Ink blots are actually specifically made to be as ambiguous as possible. If many people looking at the same ink blot see the same thing, then the artist behind the ink blot has pretty much failed. But in the case of KS, most of the people get the same kind of feeling after experiencing the story, which is the main intention of the writer, I would think.

Of course, there certainly are creations which are meant to be ambiguous as a form of art from the creator. But I don't think something as structured as a visual novel would have this attribute.

[Boppin]

I'm not so sure about comparing art with something like ink blots. Ink blots are actually specifically made to be as ambiguous as possible. If many people looking at the same ink blot see the same thing, then the artist behind the ink blot has pretty much failed. But in the case of KS, most of the people get the same kind of feeling after experiencing the story, which is the main intention of the writer, I would think.

Of course, there certainly are creations which are meant to be ambiguous as a form of art from the creator. But I don't think something as structured as a visual novel would have this attribute.

You have a point, about the ink blot analogy. I'm not sure what a better analogy would be, off the top of my head. I suppose my main point was that the possibility of people continually finding different meanings in established art has happened before, so it is understandable to me why a story such as Katawa Shoujo can have taken on such a life of its own without the authors realizing it.

I don't want to drone on about the idea though. I feel I've already taken too much time away from the "Ask" thread. Sorry, folks.

[OtakuNinja]

It's been almost 5 months since the last artbook was released, but we still haven't seen a digital version. When will it be released?

[Kyvos]

Did you guys anticipate how positively people would react to certain parts of the game? (eg: lemons or "The problem must be in your pants")

[Pseudogenesis]

If the writers didn't anticipate positive feel reactions then they probably didn't anticipate memes spawning all over the place. Just saying.

[Aura]

Did you guys anticipate how positively people would react to certain parts of the game? (eg: lemons or "The problem must be in your pants")

It was given that some things would catch on, but exactly which ones is pretty much unpredictable.

[Kulthozuer]

Hello I am fairly new to KS, I just ran into it on the internet about a week ago and started playing it Sunday. I have to say without a doubt that it is one of the best games I have ever played and I have played a lot of games in my life. I'd like to start by strongly thanking everyone who worked on this project the more I read the more it seems that not only is this game amazing but the story behind it's creation is amazing as well. I have been really looking for a work quite like Katawa Shoujo lately and that's probably why it hit me so hard when I played it. I know you aren't going to be working together on another project as a collective group but I'd be extremely excited to follow the developers of the game as individuals in the future. I guess none of this is really a question I just thought this might be an appropriate place to post how I felt about the game where the developers could see it. Have a good one!

[OtakuNinja]

Hello I am fairly new to KS, I just ran into it on the internet about a week ago and started playing it Sunday. I have to say without a doubt that it is one of the best games I have ever played and I have played a lot of games in my life. I'd like to start by strongly thanking everyone who worked on this project the more I read the more it seems that not only is this game amazing but the story behind it's creation is amazing as well. I have been really looking for a work quite like Katawa Shoujo lately and that's probably why it hit me so hard when I played it. I know you aren't going to be working together on another project as a collective group but I'd be extremely excited to follow the developers of the game as individuals in the future. I guess none of this is really a question I just thought this might be an appropriate place to post how I felt about the game where the developers could see it. Have a good one!

It isn't. There's a whole thread about that topic.

[Kulthozuer]

Hello I am fairly new to KS, I just ran into it on the internet about a week ago and started playing it Sunday. I have to say without a doubt that it is one of the best games I have ever played and I have played a lot of games in my life. I'd like to start by strongly thanking everyone who worked on this project the more I read the more it seems that not only is this game amazing but the story behind it's creation is amazing as well. I have been really looking for a work quite like Katawa Shoujo lately and that's probably why it hit me so hard when I played it. I know you aren't going to be working together on another project as a collective group but I'd be extremely excited to follow the developers of the game as individuals in the future. I guess none of this is really a question I just thought this might be an appropriate place to post how I felt about the game where the developers could see it. Have a good one!

It isn't. There's a whole thread about that topic.

Well thats alright. It doesn't really matter anyhow.

[Reksho]

A question for the writers.

I assume that most, if not all, of you are male. Since a large chunk of the text consists of things said by female characters, how was it to write these parts?
Was it different than writing lines for a male character? Did you have difficulties with those?

I have heard of writers of books and manga having trouble writing lines for the opposite sex and sometimes consult the help of others for this.

[Kulthozuer]

I actually do have a question now, is it at all possible for me to get a copy of the Tomorrow/Today artbook without going to the Anime Expo save for someone getting it for me (Which I can't do either). If it was at all possible for me to get there to get it I would but that is tragically extremely far for me to travel. Will you only be distrubuting them there and no where else? I would love to buy one even if I had to pay extreme shipping costs.

[OtakuNinja]

I actually do have a question now, is it at all possible for me to get a copy of the Tomorrow/Today artbook without going to the Anime Expo save for someone getting it for me (Which I can't do either). If it was at all possible for me to get there to get it I would but that is tragically extremely far for me to travel. Will you only be distrubuting them there and no where else? I would love to buy one even if I had to pay extreme shipping costs.

That was about 4 months ago. We're still waiting for the digita release.

[Aura]

A question for the writers.

I assume that most, if not all, of you are male. Since a large chunk of the text consists of things said by female characters, how was it to write these parts?
Was it different than writing lines for a male character? Did you have difficulties with those?

I have heard of writers of books and manga having trouble writing lines for the opposite sex and sometimes consult the help of others for this.

Not any harder than writing the parts of characters who have other traits I don't, such as any of the disabilities, being a nurse or whatever. In fact, I'd say I can write female voice a lot better than a disabled voice, due to having had quite a bit more contact with females than disabled people.

[Aura]

I actually do have a question now, is it at all possible for me to get a copy of the Tomorrow/Today artbook without going to the Anime Expo save for someone getting it for me (Which I can't do either). If it was at all possible for me to get there to get it I would but that is tragically extremely far for me to travel. Will you only be distrubuting them there and no where else? I would love to buy one even if I had to pay extreme shipping costs.

We'll release it digitally at some point.

[Kulthozuer]

I actually do have a question now, is it at all possible for me to get a copy of the Tomorrow/Today artbook without going to the Anime Expo save for someone getting it for me (Which I can't do either). If it was at all possible for me to get there to get it I would but that is tragically extremely far for me to travel. Will you only be distrubuting them there and no where else? I would love to buy one even if I had to pay extreme shipping costs.

We'll release it digitally at some point.

Ehh it isn't the same as having a hard copy but what am I to do, I'll take what I can get at this point I really want to collect as many memories as I can with this game, just finished Rin by the way which was my last storyline and it was absolutely amazing, thanks Aura.