Ask!

[Brogurt]

I speak fluent Japanese.

I've also left most of my weaboo ways behind me, but these things happen.

Did any of those weeaboo ways influence (or on a more positive note, supplement) KS's development? For instance, did knowing the culture make you want to put stupid things in KS that shouldn't have been in it, or did it just help with the minor details about Japan that were hard to nail down?

[cpl_crud]

Did any of those weeaboo ways influence (or on a more positive note, supplement) KS's development? For instance, did knowing the culture make you want to put stupid things in KS that shouldn't have been in it, or did it just help with the minor details about Japan that were hard to nail down?

Yes, but thankfully most of them were purged from the script.

A lot of the settings came from your typical high school anime, like lunches on the school roof, school festivals etc.

[Suriko]

Forgive the inane questions, but it's late and I'm bored.

-With whom, among both 4LS and out of anyone ever, would you most like to have a beer/other beverage of your choosing?
-What would your dream project be (whether a VN or otherwise)?
-Were you guys ever friends on like Facebook or similar things, and did this have an effect on your working relationship(s) with them? (Just FYI, I'm asking that for a reason, not just out of curiosity.
-Did you personally ever have to quote-unquote "fire" anyone, and how'd it go (other than "not well")?
-What is your favourite colour?
-What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen sparrow?

- I've met Crud, A22, Gebyy, Weee, Loss, VCR, and Doomfest, and shared a few meals with the latter five. Looking likely that Moekki and Kamifish will go on that list too. Only Aura, Delta, Silentcook, Nicol, Hive, and Climatic to go. Aura would probably be foremost on that list, to answer the question.

- My dream project is the project I'm currently working on. :3

- We talk shit on IRC a bunch, and a number of the artists are on MSN. I'm a pretty private (read shy) person, so my circle of private contacts is pretty small, and I don't bother with things like Facebook.

- People were less 'fired' so much as 'welcomed to resign'. Reluctant to go into details on specific people.

- Blue or green.

- African or blah blah blah you know how this goes.

[Twinkle]

I've wondered since I finished the game recently, how did you decide on each characters themes? Parity and The Student Council are some of my favourite tracks in the game, but both of them seem to be the opposite of their characters. The student council is very relaxed and lazy sounding, which definitely isn't like Shizune. Parity is more exciting and fast paced, which isn't like Rin.
Was that intentional?

Thanks for the awesome game!

[Nicol Armarfi]

I've wondered since I finished the game recently, how did you decide on each characters themes? Parity and The Student Council are some of my favourite tracks in the game, but both of them seem to be the opposite of their characters. The student council is very relaxed and lazy sounding, which definitely isn't like Shizune. Parity is more exciting and fast paced, which isn't like Rin.
Was that intentional?

Thanks for the awesome game!

I didn't really know anything about any of the characters at the time so I more or less just wrote a bunch of stuff and said "here, I think this should work!", and they just rolled with it. This was way back in 2007 when the script was still very small and Grid 1 was the only thing that existed.

[Gamera Ramen]

What is Grid 1?

[Aura]

What is Grid 1?

The codename for the first ever playable thing we produced, sort of proto-KS.

[baconater]

hey i have three questions i would like answered if you have the time
1: What happens in Lilly's and Emi's beta routes? ive read the scripts for Shizune's and Hanako's and someone else told me Rin's story didnt change too much. So i must know for completeness sake
2: Why didnt we see the yuri scene with hanako and lilly?
3: Why didnt Hanako originally have her own good ending? You had to go through 3 bad endings, then do Lilly's route and switch to hanako which results in Hiaso becoming a daddy.

Thanks for your time and thanks for a great game,
The Flying Baconater

[Aura]

hey i have three questions i would like answered if you have the time :)
1: What happens in Lilly's and Emi's beta routes? ive read the scripts for Shizune's and Hanako's and someone else told me Rin's story didnt change too much. So i must know for completeness sake
2: Why didnt we see the yuri scene with hanako and lilly?
3: Why didnt Hanako originally have her own good ending? You had to go through 3 bad endings, then do Lilly's route and switch to hanako which results in Hiaso becoming a daddy.

Thanks for your time and thanks for a great game,
The Flying Baconater

I'm not going to answer questions about stuff that we did not want the public to see.

[Twinkle]

I've wondered since I finished the game recently, how did you decide on each characters themes? Parity and The Student Council are some of my favourite tracks in the game, but both of them seem to be the opposite of their characters. The student council is very relaxed and lazy sounding, which definitely isn't like Shizune. Parity is more exciting and fast paced, which isn't like Rin.
Was that intentional?

Thanks for the awesome game!

I didn't really know anything about any of the characters at the time so I more or less just wrote a bunch of stuff and said "here, I think this should work!", and they just rolled with it. This was way back in 2007 when the script was still very small and Grid 1 was the only thing that existed.

Alright, thanks for the answer.

I'm always curious about what musicians think of their own music, so I'm wondering what's your favourite piece you wrote for KS? Thanks for the soundtrack, your music made me pick up the piano again after a stopping for a few years

To everyone: How do you feel about the fanbase in general? The fact that there are still people posting who've been here since release? The people who say they've genuinely fallen in love with the characters and are depressed that they aren't real? That there's a 4chan thread still getting new fanart? I'm surprised at the amount of people still posting about KS. I thought all the people who played it at release would've stopped posting by now since the game is the same each time and doesn't have a lot of replay value, but apparently I'm wrong.

[Silentcook]

Someone else asked me pretty much the same question, so I hope you won't mind if I repeat much the same things I said then.

I have mixed feelings about our fans, our fandom, and the concept of "fandom" in general, now that we have some of those focusing on us.

First, understand that the huge splash made by KS was completely unexpected. I mean, get some praise in the VN scene, sure. Gain a small niche following of fans, okay. Make the news for a week or so, we should be so lucky. What actually happened went a tad beyond this.

With that out of the way, I have read too many comments on how KS changed somebody's life to feel entirely comfortable with that.

I didn't participate in KS with the intent of changing people's lives. I participated in KS with the intent of making an enjoyable visual novel. So, on the one hand it's great to find out that our work became such an inspiration to so many people, but on the other, I feel some responsibility for the changes we seem to have wrought. And those are a little too far-reaching for my personal comfort.

Also, fans can be scary as well as wonderful. No surprise, since the term has its roots in "fanaticism", but finding out the crazy things some people will do is still unsettling. Luckily, the heartwarming things balance that out.

Mostly.

[OtakuNinja]

1. When do you expect the DDL will work for the full version?

2. When will the latest artbook be released as a digital copy?

3. To Silentcook: Who's your favorite of the girls, and the characters in general?

[Shadowyeclipse]

Someone else asked me pretty much the same question, so I hope you won't mind if I repeat much the same things I said then.

I have mixed feelings about our fans, our fandom, and the concept of "fandom" in general, now that we have some of those focusing on us.

First, understand that the huge splash made by KS was completely unexpected. I mean, get some praise in the VN scene, sure. Gain a small niche following of fans, okay. Make the news for a week or so, we should be so lucky. What actually happened went a tad beyond this.

With that out of the way, I have read too many comments on how KS changed somebody's life to feel entirely comfortable with that.

I didn't participate in KS with the intent of changing people's lives. I participated in KS with the intent of making an enjoyable visual novel. So, on the one hand it's great to find out that our work became such an inspiration to so many people, but on the other, I feel some responsibility for the changes we seem to have wrought. And those are a little too far-reaching for my personal comfort.

Also, fans can be scary as well as wonderful. No surprise, since the term has its roots in "fanatism", but finding out the crazy things some people will do is still unsettling. Luckily, the heartwarming things balance that out.

Mostly.

True.

I can see where you are coming from here. Do you ever wish you had just never made Katawa Shoujo, if only to avoid all of this publicity (Good and bad)?

But on the "Changing lives" topic, why would you feel any responsibility? Either you should feel happy that someone changed something about themselves for the better, or don't blame yourself for any change. How someone interprets the VN is of no fault to the creator(s).

[Aura]

1. When do you expect the DDL will work for the full version? :)

2. When will the latest artbook be released as a digital copy?

3. To Silentcook: Who's your favorite of the girls, and the characters in general? :)

1. When someone donates us the bandwidth to host it. So could be tomorrow, could be never.
2. After Winter Comiket probably.

[Silentcook]

3. To Silentcook: Who's your favorite of the girls, and the characters in general?

Emi.

I can see where you are coming from here. Do you ever wish you had just never made Katawa Shoujo, if only to avoid all of this publicity (Good and bad)?

No. I don't do regret in the first place. As long as we're talking about the publicity, so far it's been quite bearable.

But on the "Changing lives" topic, why would you feel any responsibility? Either you should feel happy that someone changed something about themselves for the better, or don't blame yourself for any change. How someone interprets the VN is of no fault to the creator(s).

This may or may not be true, but while I have no duty, I feel a sense of duty regardless. It's just the way I am. Not that I've lost any sleep over this.