Ask!

[Suriko]

First of all, thank you very much for the inspirational and heartwarming work that you guys made...You guys must know that 4LS had made a Visual Novel that made a big impact in OELVN community, and become the inspiration for aspiring developers to create more visual novels. Once again, thank you very much.

For the questions,
I guess the following are intended for writers :
1. In your working days (don't count days with no writing done at all), how many average words (rough estimation, ofc) per day that you guys did for KS? (ex. 1000 words per day,etc)
2. Did you write some other fiction writings before writing scenario for KS? If you did, what are they? (and if you shared it in internet, can you share them here?)
3. Personally, usually what did you do when you meet writing-block?
4. Is there any of you (writers) that had other language than English as mother language?

For general development process :
What was 4LS working flow during development process for KS? Specifically, where do you guys work faster: In the beginning, middle or the end of development stage?

1. I liked to keep a pace of one scene a fortnight when doing the first drafts. Later on, if I had everything in order and was on a roll, 1000 words per day was doable. There were instances of doing one scene a day when crunch-writing.

2. I had never written anything before KS in any form.

3. Usually I just gave writing of the main path a break. I'd read/watch different media, or talk with other writers about their progress and/or ideas. All the time, even if I had writer's block, I'd be constantly adding to notes.txt with random things.

4. Only Aura is a non-native English speaker. That said, my native tongue is Australian English, not US English, which did cause quite a few problems (which Silentcook will no doubt be grating his teeth over reading this).

[no one important]

will the soundtrack ever be available for download?

[Suriko]

will the soundtrack ever be available for download?

As per the Game FAQ, yes, it will be made available.

[shangz]

Just some questions for the developers

1) I read somewhere that the developers didn't really like to draw the H-scenes. Is there a reason to include them? Having played through all paths, feels like only Rin's and Hanako's were justified..otherwise I didn't feel as much emotional connection for the others.

2) Having completed Rin's story last, her route was by far the most amazingly well written. I'm assuming you guys spent the most time writing her story. I was wondering if the developers had the same conclusion as I did or it was meant to be interpreted differently for everyone. I felt that her story was one of true love. Loving each other for who they were and accepting each other's shortcomings. Is this what the developers had intended? Just curious

In any case, thank you to the developers for creating such an amazing game..rin's route is more than worth it to pay 50 bucks for it. The melancholic music in the game is really the best and I would like to thank the developers who created the music for the game. Thank you so much 4LS.

[Guest]

Like many others, I would like to thank the people who worked so hard on this game for so many years. Katawa Shoujo was a wonderful experience, and I truly appreciate everything within it.

What's Rin's favorite food?

[Guest]

I like how your music is in the game but have you guys noticed all the squeeks in the music?

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Per the discussion elsewhere in this forum, is there a particular reason that Hanako doesn't have pubic hair? Rin doesn't seem to have pubic hair either, though it could be hidden by Hisao's hand.

[sporkaganza]

Just how much material was ultimately discarded?

Also, reposting another question I asked that slipped through the cracks

Speaking of music, I've always been really interested in soundtracks, so I'd like to ask: What was the process for writing music for Katawa Shoujo? Did you ask the people in charge of the music "We need a track for this character/setting/mood, could you write us something?" Or did they see what you had written and then get inspired from that and write things on their own? Was it both of these? How exactly did you decide which tracks needed to be reworked and which didn't? On a more specific note, how did you end up choosing the Bach piece for the music box in Lilly's route?

[Hivemind]

For the questions,
I guess the following are intended for writers :
1. In your working days (don't count days with no writing done at all), how many average words (rough estimation, ofc) per day that you guys did for KS? (ex. 1000 words per day,etc)
2. Did you write some other fiction writings before writing scenario for KS? If you did, what are they? (and if you shared it in internet, can you share them here?)
3. Personally, usually what did you do when you meet writing-block?
4. Is there any of you (writers) that had other language than English as mother language?

For general development process :
What was 4LS working flow during development process for KS? Specifically, where do you guys work faster: In the beginning, middle or the end of development stage?

1. Probably three or four hundred words a day when all's said and done. In reality, I tended to write in fits and starts, sometimes churning out two or three scenes in a day if I had the time.
2. I have written fictions before and after my work on KS. Some of it went on the internet, some of it didn't. Unfortunately for y'all, it's also all got my actual name on it, so no, I won't share it here. It's not hard to find out what my normal nom de plume on the internet is, but I live in a fantasy world where people respect my privacy.
3. When I meet writing block I do one of two things: If I'm on a deadline, I've always found tea helps me to concentrate. If I'm not, I generally walk away from whatever it is I'm doing, read, play a game, watch a movie, go for a walk, whatever. It helps an awful lot to clear the mind. Failing that, drink heavily.
4. I didn't, but Aura did.

[Foba]

Hello, KS devs. Just a quick question, I hope it doesn't bother you any.

I've finished all the routes, I'm at... 94% completion, I believe, and I STILL don't know what Misha's disability is. I know that Yakamu does not discriminate between healthy and disabled students, but I just wanted to know; Is Misha as healthy as she appears, or does she have a disability that I missed or was not revealed?

[Suriko]

Just how much material was ultimately discarded?

Also, reposting another question I asked that slipped through the cracks

Speaking of music, I've always been really interested in soundtracks, so I'd like to ask: What was the process for writing music for Katawa Shoujo? Did you ask the people in charge of the music "We need a track for this character/setting/mood, could you write us something?" Or did they see what you had written and then get inspired from that and write things on their own? Was it both of these? How exactly did you decide which tracks needed to be reworked and which didn't? On a more specific note, how did you end up choosing the Bach piece for the music box in Lilly's route?

A tremendous amount of stuff was discarded, but it's impossible to give a real measure. At least twice the final game's worth of content, but that's extremely rough.

Lilly's music box piece actually has a bit of history. At the beginning of the project, she originally played the cello as her primary hobby. We poked around for a music piece to use for her that was both public domain, and not woefully overused. In the end, Sarabande was chosen as filling both criteria, and having a nice tone that wasn't too happy, nor too melancholic. After Grid1+, the old prototype of Act 1, we decided to cut Lilly's cello hobby. Despite this, the Sarabande music recording remained in the game just floating around unused.

Writing continued, and eventually the subject of a birthday came up. Originally, Hanako's in-game birthday event was actually Lilly's birthday (those with good memories for pointless detail might have caught when we updated the website years ago to account for this). If memory serves me correctly, this is when the music box first appeared; it was Hisao's birthday present for Lilly. It served both as an excellent present, being audible and fitting for her, and was a way to reuse the Sarabande piece. Nicol changed the music to a music box tone rather than a full recording, and the Sarabande music box was born.

Later, during further writing of the first draft, Crud and I decided to switch the birthdays. This was to give the - at the time, somewhat anemic - early Hanako path a special event (which would be picked up on later in Hanako path's writing as a larger element of the overarching plot). Not wanting to waste the music box, it was kept as a special 'side present' that Hisao gave Lilly despite it not being her own birthday.

Finally, the hospital scene. Initially, the music box wasn't present in this - it was only added in the second draft. It was written in as a returning plot element and a way to communicate the moment audibly as well as visually and textually, and as luck would have it, the tone of Bach's Saraband was perfect for the moment.

And that's the history of the music box and its music piece.

Edit: As for the other part of that question: It was a mix of both. Sometimes we'd ask for a specific piece for a specific mood or scene (a good example of this is Red Velvet, where we asked Nicol for some jazzy bar/nightclub music and linked a few Youtube samples to show what we meant, then we did his thing and came back with a really cool piece of music), and other times, he'd make a piece or two and we'd integrate that into the game.

Per the discussion elsewhere in this forum, is there a particular reason that Hanako doesn't have pubic hair? Rin doesn't seem to have pubic hair either, though it could be hidden by Hisao's hand.

Textually they all had pubic hair (except Shizune, I think, who just didn't have it mentioned). The artists just hated drawing it, so the references to it in the text were later edited out for most of the paths.

[Otakumon]

Cries because his question on page 22 was deemed unworthy of an answer. Blames self for adding comment about Hisao being able to hear the shower at the end of the hall while sitting in his room. Promises not to point out any more bloopers and hopes next questions will be answered.

Does Misha have a disability?

If yes, what is it?

If no, why does she get dizzy on stairs?

[the_phenom]

Per the discussion elsewhere in this forum, is there a particular reason that Hanako doesn't have pubic hair? Rin doesn't seem to have pubic hair either, though it could be hidden by Hisao's hand.

Textually they all had pubic hair (except Shizune, I think, who just didn't have it mentioned). The artists just hated drawing it, so the references to it in the text were later edited out for most of the paths.

I just find that really baffling . . . "Nipples? OK. Vulvas? OK -- but I draw the line at pubic hair! Actually, that's where I stop drawing lines!" . . . tsk, tsk, young people today . . .

They don't like dicks either.

We never get to see how big Hisao's penis is. Is he big enough to drive the thoughts Emi has of her first love out of her mind?

So, my next question is: how big is Hisao's penis? By length and girth.

[VIVI]

how nobody ask this before...
(a tipical ask from a bit pervy fujoshi who no likes common pairings)
"I wanted to write a Kenji path, but was shot down due to technical issues." said Losstarot (Guest Art by Kamifish) in the blog long time ago.(July 24, 2009)
what was the original "path" of Kenji? i have the heartilly (i wrote this right?) who all that little hints and that strange-awesome scene without glasses is a hint of part of "his path",same with the rooftop scene,the bath scenes and even when he appears, enter to his room and want eat pizza with him(with Hisao money, of course)in the Shizune´s path. finally in Shizune path exist a kind of "Kenji friendship path"like bonus im really curious about how he was in the begin and how would be engaged with Hisao. was friendship route, love route (why not? more breaking barrriers in this kind of games) or both?

[Ozymil]

First of all, I'm still having trouble accepting that this game is really out after all this time. Many props to everyone involved in the project and congratulations to all of the KSDevs for seeing this through!

That said, I was wondering if the concept of writing culturally Japanese characters as English authors was ever an issue. Did you decide from the get-go that you would refrain from using honorifics (e.g. san, chan, kun, etc.) to produce more natural sounding speech? I can't recall, but I also believe there might have been a few English idioms that found their way into the game. Did you have someone advising on Japanese language/culture?