Ask!

[Loonie]

Did the Non-American writers ever experience frustration at having to change their writing-style to suit the others'? Or was it only a slight alteration in spelling with no real problems?

The Australian writers were occasionally annoyed, crud more than Suriko (well isn't it unfair? 3 of 5 writers are non-American and a fourth studied literature in England). Both of their texts had to be sanitized for British-isms, especially in the beginning, so I assume it was at least a minor challenge to swap to AE. Written English is generally very neutral regardless of the writer's background anyway so it's not like it was a big deal. We also never really stressed the small syntactic details, especially since a majority of writing staff don't use American English enough to spot the nonobvious mistakes. Personally, I never really felt writing AE was bothersome or difficult despite also normally using British English vocabulary and spelling, and as I recall I managed to keep to American English better than my Aussie friends. It was still something to keep in mind all the time, I couldn't just "flip a switch"

Not a question, but I just have to pitch in here briefly to say, great answer and thanks Draganada for asking that question. Before this I had (falsely) assumed something else when it came to this exact topic, but this answer helps me understand the differences I felt between the different written paths so much more and puts them into a much clearer context. I just can't wait to spot all the finer details in 1-months time, on my next playthrough, with this knowledge in mind.

[Aura]

Why haven't there been any live performances or covers of Ah-Eh-I-Oh-You or Red Velvet on saxophone yet?

Let me fix that. Heres my own of Red Velvet if your interested.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/cav ... Velvet.mp3

Let me know what you guys think of Red Velvet. Suggestions, comments, etc. (Also, I hope I'm not breaking any rules by posting this here. I posted this in the Sheet music thread as well.

I'll be working on Ah-Eh-I-Oh-You as well, so stay tuned.

Funny you should mention that, because for KS 1.1 we've redone Red Velvet with a live sax. It sounds smoooooth.

[Draganada]

Did the Non-American writers ever experience frustration at having to change their writing-style to suit the others'? Or was it only a slight alteration in spelling with no real problems?

Hell yes.

Americans still don't know what a "servery" is. That caused no end of grief early on.

And they seem to jam "z"s in everywhere so that they can get more Scrabble points.

xD I thought as much.

[kindspy]

*

[Aura]

Why haven't there been any live performances or covers of Ah-Eh-I-Oh-You or Red Velvet on saxophone yet?

Let me fix that. Heres my own of Red Velvet if your interested.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/cav ... Velvet.mp3

Let me know what you guys think of Red Velvet. Suggestions, comments, etc. (Also, I hope I'm not breaking any rules by posting this here. I posted this in the Sheet music thread as well.

I'll be working on Ah-Eh-I-Oh-You as well, so stay tuned.

Funny you should mention that, because for KS 1.1 we've redone Red Velvet with a live sax. It sounds smoooooth.

Do you have a recording of the redone Red Velvet that you'd like to release to the public soon? Also, any intentions of redoing Ah-Eh-I-Oh-You? Once I'm done recording, your more than welcome to use it. (I'd be using a midi rhythm section).

Maybe after the release, if we care to. I doubt the musicians are going to do anything else, but who ever knows about those guys.

[SpecimenSix]

On the topic of music, I was wondering if there were any other video game soundtracks that had an influence on the KS soundtrack. Were there any that had such a big impact that you used some similar elements in your own work, or even inspired you to start working in your respective field?

[Nicol Armarfi]

On the topic of music, I was wondering if there were any other video game soundtracks that had an influence on the KS soundtrack. Were there any that had such a big impact that you used some similar elements in your own work, or even inspired you to start working in your respective field?

I'm a huge, huge fan of video game music, it's what got me into music in the first place. I played Final Fantasy X when it came out and I wanted to learn the opening song, To Zanarkand. After I picked up a keyboard and started teaching myself to play I'd also write down arrangements of game music on paper, and later on I downloaded Finale and started to make arrangements which I would submit to a website called Square Sound. I must've submitted over a hundred of these in the span of a couple years, but most of them were pretty crap. But to this day I still regularly make arrangements of video game music, they're a lot better now.

Despite that, I can't say the KS soundtrack specifically was inspired by any video game music. When I started working on KS I was just learning about visual novels so I was exposing myself to the medium and absorbing all the terrible VN soundtrack archetypes, so there were a number of pieces that were designed solely based on the assumption that "any visual novel has to have this kind of piece" (ie, "Comfort" was meant to be a generic music box track). Specifically, I liked the VNs by KEY and their anime adaptations, so I drew a lot of influences from those. The most direct nod at KEY was "Hokabi". I wanted that track to sound sort of like "Yuki no Shoujo" from Kanon; the drum riff is identical to the one from "Yuki no Shoujo", and the instrumentation is largely the same.

Also, any intentions of redoing Ah-Eh-I-Oh-You? Once I'm done recording, your more than welcome to use it. (I'd be using a midi rhythm section).

I'm always up for some live recordings, send me a PM sometime and we'll see what we can do. Thanks for the offer.

[SpecimenSix]

On the topic of music, I was wondering if there were any other video game soundtracks that had an influence on the KS soundtrack. Were there any that had such a big impact that you used some similar elements in your own work, or even inspired you to start working in your respective field?

I'm a huge, huge fan of video game music, it's what got me into music in the first place. I played Final Fantasy X when it came out and I wanted to learn the opening song, To Zanarkand. After I picked up a keyboard and started teaching myself to play I'd also write down arrangements of game music on paper, and later on I downloaded Finale and started to make arrangements which I would submit to a website called Square Sound. I must've submitted over a hundred of these in the span of a couple years, but most of them were pretty crap. But to this day I still regularly make arrangements of video game music, they're a lot better now.

I myself have also been a huge fan of video game music, from the old school 8-bit days to where it has evolved to now, so I know where you're coming from, except for the being talented part. Final Fantasy has always had some of my favorite music in any video game franchise as well, and X is my absolute favorite. I had a hunch that you may have been a fan as well when I heard the intro of Painful History and first thought of To Zanarkand.

[neio]

Also, any intentions of redoing Ah-Eh-I-Oh-You? Once I'm done recording, your more than welcome to use it. (I'd be using a midi rhythm section).

I'm always up for some live recordings, send me a PM sometime and we'll see what we can do. Thanks for the offer.

Your PM button is, uh, missing

[Mirage_GSM]

I cal see his PM button perfectly well, but it's also possible to simply open a new PM and enter his name in the recipient box manually.

[neio]

I cal see his PM button perfectly well, but it's also possible to simply open a new PM and enter his name in the recipient box manually.

Either I was drunk or he put it back

[Jobriq]

I cal see his PM button perfectly well, but it's also possible to simply open a new PM and enter his name in the recipient box manually.

Either I was drunk or he put it back

it wasn't there earlier lol

[kindspy]

*

[Nightfish]

Well the whole self-improvement thing (which is a common theme for many reactions!) was quite bewildering at first. People out of shape exercising, socially reclusive people connecting with friends, etc. I had, and still have, a very hard time understanding why it was reading Katawa Shoujo that became a catalyst for so many people for such a drastic, in some cases life-changing reaction.

Yea, I've looked at some of the threads around here (also my own reaction), and that puzzled me, too. I can see how one would get emotionally engaged, because, well, I am too, but some of the reactions really seem to go up to 11. This probably varies from person to person, but it would be really interesting to know why this is. On a scale from 1 to 10, the things I change are at about 2, but that is still 2 more than most other stories manage to prompt me to change. Maybe it's a lot of small things that just come together really well. Good writing in general, relatable protagonist in particular, etc. I guess Hisao works well as a mirror for a lot of people that just need a little nudge to break out of any given situation. In contrast to many other characters in fiction, especially video games, which are usually all about empowerment. Part of it might be that Hisao has relatable problems and starts out pretty low but in many paths ends up overcoming the issues in a believable way. In contrast to... hm... Let's say Commander Shepard's problems in Mass Effect. For me, it might also be that a visual novel was not a place where I'd expect to find viable live advice and the surprise adds an extra level of emphasis. Either way, I find it pretty interesting.

For five years we thought we were making a mediocre love story, so this all caught us off guard.

Well, I guess we can safely say you failed at mediocrity. :3 But seeing how much effort went into it, I'm really happy for you guys that it got received this well.

[mav807]

Are any of the devs/team members/ etc. working on anything, or is this the end as far as projects for everyone? Suppose this has been asked a million times but... doesn't hurt to ask, eh?