Ask!

[Aura]

It's somewhat typical for readers to greatly prefer some parts of KS over others, since not only is KS 5 separate stories instead of one, but all 5 were primarily worked on by different people and have their unique stylistic characteristics. Rin's story was written neither first nor last since all routes were written simultaneously. Rin's main artist, kamifish, did some contributions to other routes too, though mostly as a colourist (she also did draw Misha's sprites) so her personal style isn't particularly visible outside of Rin's route.

The only "meaning" behind that is that that was our development method. So sure, it was on purpose, but there was no other goal than to actually get the project done and that was the way we did things.

As for aný other questions you have, that's what this thread is for.

[eternaltears4]

Hey guys!

My thoughts about this game (I would technically call it a game...like a visual novel type game):
1: After playing all the routes, I feel like Emi's route is the best out of all the other routes. So, I would like to congratulate you TheHivemind (If you wrote the whole choice and the story and stuff). I say this because Emi's route is forgiving. If you make one wrong move, you have a chance of redeeming yourself and get the good ending. I think the other routes aren't forgiving as in if you choose a wrong choice, you won't get a good ending.
2: The other routes are very good as well. But I have a problem with Shizune's route. (Question about it is below).
3: I'm guessing that if Emi is going to be a pirate...She could be called....Peggy the Pirate! (Spongebob reference).
4: I really like the sketch Rin drew on Hisao. Apart from him looking sad...he also looks pretty bad ass with his pose. (Just gotta give him a tired look on his face and he would look like he's the king).

Well anyway, my questions about Katawa Shoujo:

1: On Shizune's route, why is there only one choice? Or rather, why do you think it's not necessary to add more choice path onto this route?
2: Is V.1.3.1 the final version? Or would there be some future updates?
3: Rin's route is a bit...confusing.I can see why Hisao would like Rin..but why does Rin like Hisao? I'm guessing there's a sign that she likes him when she was overdosed on cold pills and started kissing Hisao or perhaps when she was dreaming, she dreamt about Hisao holding a flower...perhaps she's thinking of him as some sort of prophecy or something but I have no clue.
4: Is it alright if I ask questions relating to the beta version of the game?
5:

The exact same group of people who created KS will not be producing another game.

Darn, well, I think with the blood, sweat, tears, and likely the enjoyment of making the game it would tire out the people who made the game. Still, why wouldn't you want to make another game like this? I'm just curious. Still, thanks for making the game free as I've never played a bishojou or dating sim type game before.
6: Lilly's route does not have a bad ending.Why do you feel like the route wouldn't need a bad ending? I'm guessing it's because of Lilly's personality combined with Hisao's personality where the relationship's good enough to never have a bad ending or something.

[Aura]

1. It doesn't need more, and more importantly, the lack of choices communicates something important about the nature of their relationship.
2. As the release post said, it's very likely the final version.
3. Rin doesn't particularly like Hisao, he's just something she latches on for a while.
4. No.
5. Making other things might be more interesting to us.
6. There is a bad end.

[Komamura]

6. There is a bad end.[/quote]

I think what the guy is trying to say is that the bad ending is a neutral one, i saw lots of people thinking about that, they seems to deny theres a "bad" ending on lily

[eternaltears4]

1. It doesn't need more, and more importantly, the lack of choices communicates something important about the nature of their relationship.
2. As the release post said, it's very likely the final version.
3. Rin doesn't particularly like Hisao, he's just something she latches on for a while.
4. No.
5. Making other things might be more interesting to us.
6. There is a bad end.

1: Oh, well, how does it communicate something important about the nature of their relationship? My guess is that their relationship and personalities would be well structured to the point where Hisao wouldn't need to decide what to do in order to maintain the relationship...until Misha wants some comfort.(I do gotta admit, that was a clever trap.I simply thought that Hisao should comfort her since she's rather sad. Then I saw the point where Hisao's stripping her and is about to do her and my reaction was: "I SAID COMFORT HER NOT FUCK HER!!" What were they thinking at that point anyway? I guess I should've figured out that would happen when Misha tried to kiss Misao. Apart from that, I guess I pity her so much that I fell into the trap easily).I guess the nature of the relationship is that if Hisao just joined the council and remained as friends, things would be fine...but if Hisao made a relationship with Shizune, then the relationship with Shizune and Misha would have been critically damaged. If Hisao did comfort her, then their guilt would finish off the relationship for good. If not, then guilt isn't involved and they can live a happy life...I think. That would be my guess, either that or I should replay that route again.
2: I wasn't aware of the Release post. Can you tell me where it is at?
3: I see, thanks. Might've brought a whole new meaning to the question and answer of: "Q: So How did you two became a couple? A: I don't know".
4: I would likely suggest placing that in the FAQ just in case others might ask something like this in this section. (If I"m the only one that asked that though, then now I'm aware).
5: I understand. I'm interested, what are you guys making?
6: So Lilly going to the airplane with her sister and Hisao deciding not to risk his heart and run to her counts as a bad ending? Because if it does then I guess it makes sense, since it means their relationship would've been dead like the relationship with Hisao and Iwanako because of the physical distance.Either that or there are three endings.

[Aura]

1. I'll leave it up to you to interpret the story.
2. http://katawashoujo.blogspot.fi/2015/06 ... nd-of.html
4. The FAQ says pretty unambiguously that bringing this topic up is grounds for getting banned.
5. Secret.
6. Yes.

[HereticNine]

So I've been trying to answer this question on my own, than even tried looking it up and I still can't grasp this.

Why does Lilly continue to pursue a relationship with Hisao, knowing she was to move to Scotland at the start of summer holidays?

Was Lilly just curious to see how the relationship will go, and in the end if it doesn't work out just Christian-Bale it? Or was she intending to mend both Hisao and Hanako before she leaves, but accidently slips into falling in love with Hisao? Or, did Lilly already fall for Hisao before knowing about her transfer to Scotland. Maybe I just answered my own question. But I still get this question stuck in my head, and none of these answers gives me any closure.Up to act 4, I thought this route would be the only route where nothing really bad happens and all of a sudden Akira drops the A-bomb. I'm just like, why? Why? This is so unnecessary. The fuck Lilly? "Don't leave me"! Because ya, you'll do it yourself. Makes a fucking lot of sense. Got the good ending, thought I'm still bothered by this.

[Kon22]

As far as i know, no money was invested in the making of KS, right?

If so, was it hard to find artists and musicians? Was it hard to keep the drawing style consistent during the game? And, how many artists did the team had?

[Aura]

Yeah. 4LS didn't have a budget.

It was challenging, but not impossibly hard to find artists or musicians. What was hard was keeping artists. A project like KS is a huge committment and turns out many young artists get scared of it once they realize just how much work there is. So, we spent around a year going through artists who'd get on board, produce sketches and other non-production level art and then disappear forever. The art of KS is very inconsistent and we knew from the start it would be. See many other replies I've made about writing for insight to why we chose to work like this. I didn't work as an artist, but as far as I understand, the artists did their best to keep some minimum level of stylistic continuity, same as us writers. It's like imitating any characteristic of another person, takes a fair bit of effort. 4LS had 8 artists for KS, plus a number of those who flaked out like I described above, so I don't count them.

You didn't ask, maybe because of the built-in prejudice towards writing most people have, but yeah we had some challenges finding writing staff too.

[Rice-chan]

Just asking, but between blue123 and NicolArmarfi, who did the most work on the music and what brand piano did they use?

[Aura]

Nicol composed something like 80% of the soundtrack, so he did by far the most work on the music.

[Nicol Armarfi]

what brand piano did they use?

When I did KS I didn't record anything, it was all synthesized. The piano sounds I used were mostly the Garritan piano sounds that came with Finale.

[erundil]

Question 1 - Music - directed to NicolArmarfi:
The music that plays in main menu is called "Wiosna", which is a Polish word for spring. Since an overwhelming majority of song titles are in English (few French, few gibberish), what made you use a word from such an unknown language for such an important song? I mean - it's kinda the main theme. (Been curious, since it's my language and you don't seem to be Polish yourself.)

Question 2 - Writing - directed to writers and everyone else who might know:
I'm curious who wrote which path, who helped with which path...
Suriko has tagged herself as Lilly Writer and Hanako Co-Writer here on the forums, so I was curious about the others, especially Aura, since she's still active after all those years.
Also was there a main writer for Act 1?

[Nicol Armarfi]

Question 1 - Music - directed to NicolArmarfi:
The music that plays in main menu is called "Wiosna", which is a Polish word for spring. Since an overwhelming majority of song titles are in English (few French, few gibberish), what made you use a word from such an unknown language for such an important song?

I'm a huge fan of Chopin! I don't think it's an exaggeration to say he's my favourite musician/composer. I've always really liked a Chopin song called Wiosna, so I wanted to give him a shoutout by naming one of my own tracks after it. In fact, a few months ago I actually wrote a set of 10 variations on the Chopin Wiosna.

[erundil]

That's quite heart-touching.

And thank you for your (so amazingly fast) answer!