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[Aura]

Have you guys ever or will consider releasing a detail map of how Yamaku Academy looks?

If anyone ever cares to draw a good map of it, why not. Don't hold your breath though.

[Aura]

There was a line in the first act: "My parents, I think, were hit harder by the news than I was. They practically had two hemorrhages apiece."

Was that a reference to The Catcher in the Rye?

yes

[Aura]

Where'd you guys get the miscellaneous sounds (people chatting, rain, the airplanes in Lilly's FMV) from? Did you record them yourselves?

They're from random sound libraries an such.

[Aura]

Have you ever heard anything from RAITA after you completed the VN based on his sketches?

No.

[Aura]

My ask is:
Which font was used for Katawa Shoujo, specifically the logo, but the text ingame as well?
Also, it's obvious that the pictures used ingame are pretty darn huge, as sometimes (Hanako's snooker scene for example) it'll do a closeup of her face which is still in great quality, despite only being maybe 1/10th of the original picture.
I've made a set of desktop pictures for myself from the pictures, but the game runs in an 800x600 window, and my monitor is larger, so they aren't as good a quality as they could be. I was wondering if it were possible to get hold of higher res versions of them.

The font is Playtime with Hot Toddies
We aren't going to release the original images, most likely.

[uwa]

I did, and still do, struggle a lot with getting my English to sound good in prose, which is a lot harder than fluency is casual everyday speech.

I think that's true for a lot of native speakers, too. What sound okay out loud looks like crap when you can sit there and stare at in on a page.

Does that problem not exist for you when you write prose in Finnish? Or is it just less of a problem?

[Shockproof Jamo]

A question for Aura (not strictly related to KS though): how did you get to the point where you can write a story that is thousands of words long in a foreign language, and write it better than a lot of native speakers could do?

In addition to formal education and osmosis through using English every day, I read a lot in English and try to pay attention to how the language is used in literature. I did, and still do, struggle a lot with getting my English to sound good in prose, which is a lot harder than fluency is casual everyday speech.

Did the other devs, who are native speakers, at any time help you with wording and vocabulary and such?

[Guest]

Hi, and thanks for the wonderful VN. I hope you will consider doing more in the future! Here's a question- how does it feel seeing your free title more popular than most current multi-million dollar releases?

http://nowplaying.gamedifferences.com/

Thanks!

[Aura]

I did, and still do, struggle a lot with getting my English to sound good in prose, which is a lot harder than fluency is casual everyday speech.

I think that's true for a lot of native speakers, too. What sound okay out loud looks like crap when you can sit there and stare at in on a page.

Does that problem not exist for you when you write prose in Finnish? Or is it just less of a problem?

It exists but feels different. Can't really quantify how.

Did the other devs, who are native speakers, at any time help you with wording and vocabulary and such?

No. I'm fluent and can use a dictionary. Obviously my text was edited just like all the text in KS, but then again our head editor is not a native speaker either. Anyway, I probably changed the other writers' wordings more often than got mine set straight. It was a real problem for me to get involved despite being "head writer", because whenever some wording bothered me I couldn't tell whether it's because I don't know English well enough, or whether their text was actually bad.

[Aura]

Hi, and thanks for the wonderful VN. I hope you will consider doing more in the future! Here's a question- how does it feel seeing your free title more popular than most current multi-million dollar releases?

http://nowplaying.gamedifferences.com/

Thanks! :)

What can I say? It's of course wonderful to be popular and have enthusiastic fans.

[Mahorfeus]

I hate asking questions like this, but a minor detail from Hanako's route jumps out at me for no apparent reason. I suppose this is down cpl_crud's alley.
Right before the H-scene, Hisao retrieves a condom from his pants pocket, preparedness which he seems to lack in some other routes (I know, different writers). Perfectly normal for a lot of teenagers of course, but I was wondering, was any particular rationale was used as to when/why he got them?

[Aura]

I daresay, you put together a project that well matches commercially made ones, and has impressed people who have played it all the world over. Hats off to you guys.

That being said, i wonder exactly what resources you utilized to make this envisioning into a reality masterpiece.

RenPy is obvious, but i ask if knowledge of Python / C++ i.e. having general knowledge in programming beforehand is needed to utilize RenPy well.

Image manipulation: Photoshop = GIMP? or any decent image manipulation program recommendable; opinions on them also welcome.

CG: Hand-drawn or tablet(?)-drawn, and general process of 'touching 'em up' from roughsketch to final. All methodologies with good final results welcome. No, not asking for KS samples, but you are welcome to provide related examples if you want.

Audio: ??? or more like: what program/s did you use, output encoding /format /file.ext , etc. (also, how do i loops sound?)

Animation: I humbly ask the great Mike Inel for recommendations and tips (recommended hardware/equipment, software and techniques) to get started in making good animations.

Thank you all very much for any and all responses.

The specific programs or techniques don't matter much, as long as they are powerful enough to do what you want them to do and you know how to use them. You can get pretty deep into Ren'py without knowledge of python, but at some point it starts being helpful. All art in KS is digital (if by "hand-drawn" you mean "made on physical media"). Also, a version control system and a project management tool are very useful. We used SVN and Trac respectively, but like with the other programs, anything that works for you is fine.

[Swoopie]

Nice, a question thread, and a pretty popular one

I was wondering, are you all extremely empathic and gifted writers or could some of you relate to the strong emotions of the characters because of personal experience?

[Suriko]

I hate asking questions like this, but a minor detail from Hanako's route jumps out at me for no apparent reason. I suppose this is down cpl_crud's alley.
Right before the H-scene, Hisao retrieves a condom from his pants pocket, preparedness which he seems to lack in some other routes (I know, different writers). Perfectly normal for a lot of teenagers of course, but I was wondering, was any particular rationale was used as to when/why he got them?

[Woody Alien]

Why did you choose not to give Nurse a name? Didn't it become awkward to refer to him only as "the nurse" in conversation?