Ask!

[Aura]

Question for Aura:
You keep saying that the endings don't need to be labeled, but as far as I can tell, there's only one ending per arc in which music plays during the credits. Is it not fair to say that those are the Good endings?

Sure it is (then again it's also fair to say those are the "Endings with Romance in Andante playing in credits" and attach no further meaning to it). The reason why I care about this is because I wrote the Rin path. In every other path the relative "goodness" or "badness" of the endings is much more clear-cut and I don't really give a fuck about them. However in Rin path, while most readers immediately feel that a certain ending is good and the other is bad, they also usually put to question whether the outcomes of the different endings are actually "good" for the characters, evidenced by the long discussions about this in the fandom. As the author I don't want to ruin this effect, so I am careful, even pedantic about the semantics. In contexts where I don't have to care about it, such as internal discussions with 4LS devs, I use the terms "good" and "bad" etc with abandon.

[Carighan]

That makes me wonder, did you five originally sit down with the idea to roughly "plan for a good and a bad ending each"? And it developed from there?
Or was it just freestyle and see what fits once the story has more form?

[TheHivemind]

That makes me wonder, did you five originally sit down with the idea to roughly "plan for a good and a bad ending each"? And it developed from there?
Or was it just freestyle and see what fits once the story has more form?

The initial plan was that each heroine would have at least two endings and one would be worse than the other, yes.

[Jovereign]

First post, but have read the boards for some time now. Love the VN and you guys did a tremendous job on it .

Did you guys ever thought of not necessarily making a sequel to Katawa Shoujo, but making it from a different point of view? From the perspective of the girls? (Lilly, Hanako, Emi, Rin, Shizune)

What I mean is; make it where you get to start out by choosing one out of those 5 characters, you then start out with either them at school or how they go about their days at Yamaku. As well as reading their thoughts and opinions on certain things.

For example, lets say starting with Emi. We read her thoughts on what's currently going on in her life, what's she thinking, what she is currently feeling, etc (pretty much the same way we read Hisao's). Than we finally get to the part where this "new guy" (Hisao) comes to school, and how Emi takes interest of this new guy. Pretty much, she has her own choices on how she pursues Hiaso and Hiaso would do all the choices that would lead into a romance with Emi.

Pretty much the same story, with a different point of view. Probably a pointless and really random question, but just wanted to hear if any of you ever considered something like this. I'll come up with a better question next time I swear .

-Jovereign

[Suriko]

First post, but have read the boards for some time now. Love the VN and you guys did a tremendous job on it .

Did you guys ever thought of not necessarily making a sequel to Katawa Shoujo, but making it from a different point of view? From the perspective of the girls? (Lilly, Hanako, Emi, Rin, Shizune)

What I mean is; make it where you get to start out by choosing one out of those 5 characters, you then start out with either them at school or how they go about their days at Yamaku. As well as reading their thoughts and opinions on certain things.

For example, lets say starting with Emi. We read her thoughts on what's currently going on in her life, what's she thinking, what she is currently feeling, etc (pretty much the same way we read Hisao's). Than we finally get to the part where this "new guy" (Hisao) comes to school, and how Emi takes interest of this new guy. Pretty much, she has her own choices on how she pursues Hiaso and Hiaso would do all the choices that would lead into a romance with Emi.

Pretty much the same story, with a different point of view. Probably a pointless and really random question, but just wanted to hear if any of you ever considered something like this. I'll come up with a better question next time I swear .

-Jovereign

There was an extremely short-lived idea from way back in the early first drafts, where Hanako and Lilly had a common trunk path before splitting, that had Hanako's point of view being used for a particular third path that wasn't the main Hanako branch nor Lilly branch. It was scrapped pretty quickly before anything was written.

While fanciful ideas of a Miki path were being thought about, the two main possibilities were either a branch off Emi path with Hisao as the protagonist as usual, or a separate path accessed off the extras menu that had Miki as the point of view character (and didn't deal with Hisao).

Any type of followon to KS after release was never on the cards, though.

[Jovereign]

First post, but have read the boards for some time now. Love the VN and you guys did a tremendous job on it .

Did you guys ever thought of not necessarily making a sequel to Katawa Shoujo, but making it from a different point of view? From the perspective of the girls? (Lilly, Hanako, Emi, Rin, Shizune)

What I mean is; make it where you get to start out by choosing one out of those 5 characters, you then start out with either them at school or how they go about their days at Yamaku. As well as reading their thoughts and opinions on certain things.

For example, lets say starting with Emi. We read her thoughts on what's currently going on in her life, what's she thinking, what she is currently feeling, etc (pretty much the same way we read Hisao's). Than we finally get to the part where this "new guy" (Hisao) comes to school, and how Emi takes interest of this new guy. Pretty much, she has her own choices on how she pursues Hiaso and Hiaso would do all the choices that would lead into a romance with Emi.

Pretty much the same story, with a different point of view. Probably a pointless and really random question, but just wanted to hear if any of you ever considered something like this. I'll come up with a better question next time I swear .

-Jovereign

There was an extremely short-lived idea from way back in the early first drafts, where Hanako and Lilly had a common trunk path before splitting, that had Hanako's point of view being used for a particular third path that wasn't the main Hanako branch nor Lilly branch. It was scrapped pretty quickly before anything was written.

While fanciful ideas of a Miki path were being thought about, the two main possibilities were either a branch off Emi path with Hisao as the protagonist as usual, or a separate path accessed off the extras menu that had Miki as the point of view character (and didn't deal with Hisao).

Any type of followon to KS after release was never on the cards, though.

Wow that was quick! XD Thank you for answering! Very interesting to hear.

Ok I just thought of that better question. How exactly did the process begin of creating KS? Did one person come up with an idea to make a VN and already written all of Act one as well as the characters, personalty, and than just got a group to write each route separately. Or did you all get together and wrote the entire thing together while being assigned to write a character path?

Really quick question too...but Who wrote the Kenji ending? Not sure if it's worth a spoiler or not but did it just in case. XD

Once again, thank you so much for answering .

-Jovereign

[Aura]

Wow that was quick! XD Thank you for answering! Very interesting to hear.

Ok I just thought of that better question. How exactly did the process begin of creating KS? Did one person come up with an idea to make a VN and already written all of Act one as well as the characters, personalty, and than just got a group to write each route separately. Or did you all get together and wrote the entire thing together while being assigned to write a character path?

Really quick question too...but Who wrote the Kenji ending? Not sure if it's worth a spoiler or not but did it just in case. XD

Once again, thank you so much for answering :).

-Jovereign

I've written a two-part blog post about the history of the project. The first part covers the beginning of the project. Basically, it was more like your latter description but not quite. http://katawashoujo.blogspot.fi/2009/05 ... houjo.html

The scene was written by A22, with delta chipping in a few bits.

[ArcCain]

A little from column A, a little from column B.

Here goes my innocent Misha image... :'(

Well she did sort of regret it, all though I believe she tells Shizune if you do sleep whit her.

[Jovereign]

Wow that was quick! XD Thank you for answering! Very interesting to hear.

Ok I just thought of that better question. How exactly did the process begin of creating KS? Did one person come up with an idea to make a VN and already written all of Act one as well as the characters, personalty, and than just got a group to write each route separately. Or did you all get together and wrote the entire thing together while being assigned to write a character path?

Really quick question too...but Who wrote the Kenji ending? Not sure if it's worth a spoiler or not but did it just in case. XD

Once again, thank you so much for answering .

-Jovereign

I've written a two-part blog post about the history of the project. The first part covers the beginning of the project. Basically, it was more like your latter description but not quite. http://katawashoujo.blogspot.fi/2009/05 ... houjo.html

The scene was written by A22, with delta chipping in a few bits.

Wow. After reading part 1, I wonder how you guys still ended up toughing it out and finishing the game with the struggles you guys dealt with.

You also mentioned in that blog that now you look back, you would have done things a lot differently compared to when you and the rest of the team actually started the project. What exactly would you have done differently back than now that you look back on it?

Lastly, for anyone that was inspired by KS and wanted to start their own VN, what kind of advice would you give to those people based on your experiences with making VNs?

-Jovereign

[Aura]

Wow. After reading part 1, I wonder how you guys still ended up toughing it out and finishing the game with the struggles you guys dealt with.

You also mentioned in that blog that now you look back, you would have done things a lot differently compared to when you and the rest of the team actually started the project. What exactly would you have done differently back than now that you look back on it?

Lastly, for anyone that was inspired by KS and wanted to start their own VN, what kind of advice would you give to those people based on your experiences with making VNs?

-Jovereign

You have to understand that none of us knew what we were doing back when we started, but now we have years of experience and wisdom with us. We'd do almost everything differently, production-wise, so it would take a couple of long essays to give a proper answer to your question. Especially planning, documentation and communication should be more meticulous than what we did. Content-wise we'd go to a different direction too. KS wouldn't be set in a Japanese high school if we started making it today.

Don't be inspired by what KS is, be inspired by how it was made. We set a goal and reached it, against all odds. Also, don't set a ludicrous goal like we did, start small. Finishing a project is the most important thing, so you learn every aspect of creating a VN, and completing something big is very hard. Finally, understand what you're doing. Lay out a map of your project and plan every aspect of it, don't just start from square one and go blindly from there.

[KeiichiO]

KS wouldn't be set in a Japanese high school if we started making it today.

Whoa, okay, this has peaked my curiosity.

So what you mean is that the setting would be elsewhere? For example, America? Or do you mean just not at a high school? It's kind of a silly thing to be curious about, but I'd like to know how the game would work with being set at a different location, weather it's in a totally different country, or just a different location set in Japan.

I'm not sure if KS would have quite the same feel if it wasn't set in Japan, if that were the case, but I'm pretty sure I'd like it despite its location.

[Aura]

KS wouldn't be set in a Japanese high school if we started making it today.

Whoa, okay, this has peaked my curiosity.

So what you mean is that the setting would be elsewhere? For example, America? Or do you mean just not at a high school? It's kind of a silly thing to be curious about, but I'd like to know how the game would work with being set at a different location, weather it's in a totally different country, or just a different location set in Japan.

I'm not sure if KS would have quite the same feel if it wasn't set in Japan, if that were the case, but I'm pretty sure I'd like it despite its location.

Either, or more likely, both.

[TehLandshark]

This question goes out to any or all writers of KS: What was your favorite route to play other than your own when playing KS?
I personally liked Lilly as a girlfriend, Rin as a character, Hanako as a story, and Emi as a route in its entirety. Shizune doesn't stand out in any way, but is still pretty good overall.
Edit 1: I found a cpl_crud interview where he (writer for Hanako) said that Rin was the most well-written while Lilly had the most heart. I can agree with that for the most part.
Edit 2: I found a TheHiveMind (Writer for Emi) interview where he said Rin because of its uniqueness. That leaves 3 to go.

[Erpi]

I'm sorry if this question has been answered before but the fact that Hanako is 18 y/o and not 19 like Emi has been bugging me for some time now. Assuming things went like Cpl Crud's "H29 – Future", Hanako should not have been able to complete that year of school.
The fire happened during the winter meaning it was the middle of the school year (I think). I have a rl friend who is also my classmate and he is a year older than me. He had a nasty virus around the same age as Hanako had the accident and was in the hospital for 2 months resulting in him having to redo his year.
The art is always a little bit different but I'm assuming Hanako has up to 40% 3rd degree burns. I searched for stories of burn victims and how long it took them to recover and just to put forth an example one person with 20% burns said he had intense pain years after it happened. Yes Hanako most likely had a lot of nerve damage but some parts must have remained intact causing her to experience a lot of pain. This in combination with the psychological trauma of losing ones parents leaves me to doubt that she would be thrown back into school after only a few weeks. You could argue that I underestimate Hanako's intellect and that she is a lot more capable than I think but the friend I was talking about is slightly autistic. This results in him being able to memorize almost anything he reads with ease and has an IQ of +-120. My point being that if he had to redo his year, then how come Hanako didn't?

[Suriko]

Nothing outside of the game is canon. This is also one reason why we dislike releasing previously cut scenes.