Ask!

[cpl_crud]

Have any of the details or events is the characters lives ever come from writer experiences or were they just created completely out of thought. It just feels like the writers had to be emotionally connected with a determined mindset to make such in-depth storylines

I'd have to mostly agree with Aura.

Whilst early versions of Hanako drew upon my "real world" experiences, there is not much that comes into the versions of Hanako that came since.

Little things, like the tile game, and maybe some lines of dialogue, may have roots in reality, but I think that Hanako was more of a fantasy girl for me, and hence a lot of her storyline (as far as my hand in it, anyway) came mostly from fantasy...

[YZQ]

And yet, we have a forumer who has a very similar life experience to Hanako's. Life is stranger than fiction sometimes.

[Xanatos]

And yet, we have a forumer who has a very similar life experience to Hanako's. Life is stranger than fiction sometimes.

A few, actually. Odd.

[pandaphil]

She's a made up character but I'm sure her behavior and reactions are grounded in reality.

As someone who's terribly shy, and with self-esteem issues, I can definitely relate to her in a lot of ways.

[Reksho]

So how was it to write different branches for your route? Did it ''feel'' like there was a branch which you would consider a ''main'' branch (maybe as the story you'd want to tell the most) and wrote the remaining branches to fill up the route? Did you plot out everything from the beginning or did you come up with branches as you were writing?

[Aura]

So how was it to write different branches for your route? Did it ''feel'' like there was a branch which you would consider a ''main'' branch (maybe as the story you'd want to tell the most) and wrote the remaining branches to fill up the route? Did you plot out everything from the beginning or did you come up with branches as you were writing?

It was a headache. Branching narrative is really hard to do well, and I don't think any of us did a very good job with it. Then again, I also think nobody has ever made a really awesome job of figuring out branching narrative, and I've read quite a few attempts at it. The methods varied between writers. I planned everything pretty meticulously for both Rin's path and Act 1, while some of the writers did most of the branching structure only after writing the main branch, which invariably was the "good ending" one. Most did at least some vague planning beforehand.

[fireye9]

This may have been asked before, but what tips or suggestions would you give to newbs who want to develop an original VN?

[Suriko]

This may have been asked before, but what tips or suggestions would you give to newbs who want to develop an original VN?

Start small.

Renpy is probably the best choice for a newcomer to making VNs - its documentation is in English, and it's very easy to make a very basic VN.

High school romance is a really tired genre.

Try to plan ahead, which will help prevent the game from growing out of control, and guage what writing, sound, and art assets you'll need.

Basically don't do anything like KS did.

[Xanatos]

Basically don't do anything like KS did.

But KS is internet famous. Everyone knows imitations of famous things always work well.

Was all the internet fame and cult fandom worth the work of making the game?

[Silentcook]

The game was worth the work of making the game.

[Carighan]

That's the best kind of result! \o/

[Merloficus]

by Silentcook » Thu Apr 25, 2013 3:38 am
The game was worth the work of making the game.

It's nice to read these things every once in a while. Seeing all the posts about how you hated the genre, the setting of KS, how it focuses on the same problems as the million other VN's out there, ect... Heck even the fact you all feel so strongly about not doing a sequel, which i don't judge; Better to leave at an A-class product than to continue and leave at something utterly craptastic
It just, somtimes feels as if you don't take any pride out of your work

[Aura]

by Silentcook » Thu Apr 25, 2013 3:38 am
The game was worth the work of making the game.

It's nice to read these things every once in a while. Seeing all the posts about how you hated the genre, the setting of KS, how it focuses on the same problems as the million other VN's out there, ect... Heck even the fact you all feel so strongly about not doing a sequel, which i don't judge; Better to leave at an A-class product than to continue and leave at something utterly craptastic :lol:
It just, somtimes feels as if you don't take any pride out of your work :(

Sometimes it feels as if nobody reads what we say about KS. We don't hate the highschool romance genre, and definitely did not six years ago. It's just overused and unexciting, and thus somewhat unattractive to work further in. I don't get why you think a sequel would be "craptastic" either. I pretty much can guarantee (because I don't have to prove it) a KS 2 would be a significantly better VN than KS is.

We're immensely proud of the work we did and the end result. That, however, doesn't mean that we should be uncritical of KS or ourselves. I'd rather be honest and straightforward even publically than hold a facade that gains me nothing.

[BananaPudding]

I pretty much can guarantee (because I don't have to prove it) a KS 2 would be a significantly better VN than KS is.

mad respect, I'm not sure if I can articulate why, but I'll try

there is something to be said about the integrity of an artist/author who turns down a guaranteed success in order to pursue what they want to do that might not go over as well.

although I guess an artist/author without that kind of integrity would be hard pressed to have a big hit like KS in the first place

[Aura]

I pretty much can guarantee (because I don't have to prove it) a KS 2 would be a significantly better VN than KS is.

mad respect, I'm not sure if I can articulate why, but I'll try

there is something to be said about the integrity of an artist/author who turns down a guaranteed success in order to pursue what they want to do that might not go over as well.

although I guess an artist/author without that kind of integrity would be hard pressed to have a big hit like KS in the first place

Well you know. What is success? To be popular, receive acclaim and lots of fans? To me success means overcoming a challenge, doing something daring or going against odds. We certainly did that with KS, not only actually completing the project against all odds but it also becoming one of the most popular visual novels of all time. A sequel would almost automatically be popular, as you say. It wouldn't feel the same.

You have to understand that I'm in a very special position that allows me to say things like this. I don't want anything from anyone. Money, stroking my ego, anything like that. If I had some motive like that, some metric to measure "success" by, maybe if KS had tanked, I'd certainly be more calculating, more driven by these external goals. It feels a bit disturbing, kind of like selling my "artistic soul", even if it's just a little. Many creative people who have to deal with external factors in their jobs are brought down by them. That's why I'm wary of bringing money into what 4LS does, because it would change the ways we go about things in ways I'm not entirely comfortable with. I'm not against it or anything, and I like money as much as the next guy, but it's something to be cautious of. Maybe we could try it, see how it feels, but maybe it's just better to keep on going as we have.