How did KS change your life?

[LooperHonstropy]

There's only two games that has legitimately affected and changed the trajectory of my life. Those being:

• Persona 3

• And Katawa Shoujo

For KS, it's not in the way that it cured my depression or something, no. But in a way that it became a catalyst to something that would lead me to my
life's passion.

See once upon a time I played KS and went on Lilly's route. I had done Emi's route prior, making this my second playthrough. I originally aimed to do Bacon Hanako's path, but in the middle of it, I felt this strange longing for the beautiful blondie. So I pivoted, and ended up on Lilly's path.

To make it short, I fell in love with Lilly. I fell in love with not just how she looks, but also her calm and caring demeanor, which hides her playful and needy "desire". I felt extremely compelled to make fan-art of Lilly.

At this point, I was mainly an SFM artist, who gets whatever assets I can get in the workshop. Unsurprisingly, searching up Katawa Shoujo comes up with nothing. If I wanted to make fan-art of Lilly, I had to switch my methods.

Luckily, I have a drawing pad that I got for my birthday which I rarely used prior. I dusted it off and began sketching again.

Needless to say, I had room for improvement.

But the thing is, after that I kept going, and going, and going, and going, and going, and going, and go-

And suddenly, I had an epiphany.

I want to do Art for a living!

I found that one calling that I'm truly passionate about. After years of drifting in life, not sure of what to do with my life, I finally found that one thing I want to do so badly. And all because of some game from 4chan about cripple girls.

A year later, I ended up making a new Lilly Illustration

Personally, I'd say there's a subtle improvement.

This wouldn't have been possible without me discovering KS by chance. I find it scary that there's a me out there who's life hadn't crossed path with KS, and is living a very different life because of it. I am forever grateful that I had the chance to experience Katawa Shoujo because of it.

So yeah, that's my story. Sorry this ended up longer than expected. I would love to hear about other's life changing experience because of KS

TL;DR: Katawa Shoujo made me want to make fan-art. Realize that making art is my true passion, and is grateful that KS came to my life.

[FallenKnight]

I've played Katawa Shoujo last summer and oh boy, did it have an impact on me.

First of all, Emi's route. Of course I knew that I should exercise and lead a healthy lifestyle before, but with Emi, doing all of that became much more pleasurable, I go for runs more often and overall care for my health.

Then, Lilly's route. It was a great experience, it didn't have that much of a transformative experience on me, tho. And it wasn't until like a couple months ago when I kinda understood Lilly's role in my life and what she means to me.

Next one, Rin. I've had some passion for drawing before, but with Rin, what was once something abstract and nebulous became a strong and motivated desire to do art.

Shizune has a special place in my heart. Once again, she rather greatly enhanced my existing desire, this time, to make games. Around the time I've played through her route, I've also participated in my first game jam. And of course I still think of her from time to time to keep me going.

Hanako... I'm still not sure about her. I've delayed playing her route for quite a while, (I probably just didn't want this game to end) and I can't think of anything really transformative. Guess shy girls aren't really my type.

Overall, I could say that after Katawa my priority changed from "I wanna make fun games for people to play" to "I want to make games, that would be able to, at least a little, change someone's life"

Btw, if you'll allow me the question: what, in your opinion makes Katawa so transformative for people? I have a bit of dilemma right now, and it's basically like "Do I make a novel with a choice of multiple girls or just one?" The former would obviously require bigger scope and more writing expertise to create multiple believable characters with unique routes. I just wonder if the latter may work too and if having a choice between girls really affects how impactful the game would be in the end.