Making a VN out of Katawa shoujo fanfics!

[jozzarozzer]

My previous post on reddit was here Here and my current post is Here

So, i got confirmation from Aura Here that it is fine to go ahead with this, as long as we don't pretend it is an official sequel, and we don't rip any assets directly from the game.

It's more work than when I first formulated the idea, but the main idea still stands. The fanfics are out there, they just need custom assets (sprites, BG's and music) and possibly to be converted into text more fitting to a VN and this can happen.

If you are interested, please respond, i would like to set up a group of volunteers from all areas before setting out to start making this happen.

What is needed for this to happen, is the ability to make sprites and music, and to be able to get backgrounds for it.

Also a Fanfiction to work off of, with the authors permission. The author would most likely be a big part of development as well, if they so choose.

[Mirage_GSM]

The fanfics are out there, they just need custom assets (sprites, BG's and music) and possibly to be converted into text more fitting to a VN and this can happen.

I have a feeling you're dramatically underestimating the amount of work this requires...
For one thing "just" is not the qualifier I'd use for sprites, BG and music, and furthermore don't forget the directing! More than half the lines in the scripts are not text but direction commands.

Any plans on which story you'd like to use?

[Firewind]

The fanfics are out there, they just need custom assets (sprites, BG's and music) and possibly to be converted into text more fitting to a VN and this can happen.

I have a feeling you're dramatically underestimating the amount of work this requires...
For one thing "just" is not the qualifier I'd use for sprites, BG and music, and furthermore don't forget the directing! More than half the lines in the scripts are not text but direction commands.

It depends on the platform, I think. For example, I was able to make a side story all by myself using this (with custom sprites(the green screen was kinda bothersome), BG, music, sounds and decisions to make) and it took me less than a week, but it was kinda short and mostly for fun, but it was VERY easy.
Yes, I know that it's not the same as actually making a VN from scratch because this one is kinda "bundled" (can't find a better word to describe it) with that VN. Only if it was possible to use this method, I believe everything would've been a lot easier.

[LorSquirrel]

I hate to be the negative one on this, but...

[Oddball]

I give you permission to use my stuff.

I can't see why you'd want to, but you've got permission.

[Comrade]

I am assuming he will want to gather all of the popular route fics. I think most of them are in the archive now. You will have to ask the authors for permission, which could be difficult in some cases.
Good luck with your project thing.

[Mirage_GSM]

Well, of course you may use my stuff as well, but I wouldn't recommend it.

My three larger stories all have a copious amount of characters ("Katawa Kijo" has 19 characters with lines, "Tripping" has 20 so far, and I don't even want to count those in "Victory Day") and I believe it would be a nightmare to draw all the sprites needed.

You could to use "Catharsis" as a test. That needs only sprites for Lilly and only one, maybe two backgrounds.

After that you can reevaluate if this is really a good idea.

[jozzarozzer]

The fanfics are out there, they just need custom assets (sprites, BG's and music) and possibly to be converted into text more fitting to a VN and this can happen.

I have a feeling you're dramatically underestimating the amount of work this requires...
For one thing "just" is not the qualifier I'd use for sprites, BG and music, and furthermore don't forget the directing! More than half the lines in the scripts are not text but direction commands.

Any plans on which story you'd like to use?

No idea what story to use yet, want to get a team of people together first before getting that set up.

Also I'm not really under or over estimating the work required, it's just that personally i always found that writing the story is the hardest part of something like this and I was more just saying that a big chunk of the work is already done for us.

[Comrade]

If you want to try to recreate the VN style of KS, I suggest you use some of the finished routes here.
You also have my permission to use "zombies" if you want, I don't think that you would want to, but yeah../

[Legocam96]

Hmm... This sounds very interesting and looks like it has a chance to work. I will be watching this for updates and news. Good luck to you sir!

[Aura]

Something to note is that there's a reason the word official was in parenthesis. The sequel clause means that we aren't in general cool with fan VNs that directly expand the actual story of KS, for example epilogues or such.

Anyway, there's something I didn't mention in the reply, because I was on the fence about it and thought I'd just let it go. But I think I should anyway, to give myself peace of mind: It's probably a bad idea.

This kind of idea has been done before. Dandelion Girl project also took an existing story (though not a fanfic, a famous short story of the same name) and adapted it to a VN. It has very little art, script was done for them, and the project still took something like a year. Making even a fairly simple visual novel with any quality standards at all is a huge undertaking. Making a VN where your square one involves cutting some fundamental corners while (it looks like) keeping ambitions in other aspects high is dangerous. Dandelion Girl turned out more or less okay, mostly because the story was of significant literary value to begin with. On the flip side, a friend of mine started a VN project some time ago as an inside joke with some people in his community, you know a story full of references and memes and stuff like that. They thought they'd get it done in like four months, tops. 11 months later they realize they've wasted 11 months on a joke, and felt really underwhelmed. It wasn't bad, but the content had already gone a bit stale, and couldn't really be appreciated by anyone outside of their group anyway. They started over, salvaging what they could, and purging the referential crap out. They're now going for a work with ambition fit for the time spent on making it. Lessons learned.

Obviously, if you really feel like this is the thing to do, do it. People doing creative stuff is most of the time a net positive thing. I'm just saying that if you're willing to put a team together for a project that, if you take it any seriously at all, will take most of your free time for months and months, you might end up regretting any corners you cut because you thought it'd be "easier". I know I sure did.

[Mirage_GSM]

What is needed for this to happen, is the ability to make sprites and music, and to be able to get backgrounds for it.

it's just that personally i always found that writing the story is the hardest part of something like this

Pardon me for asking, but you're looking for people to do sprites, music and BGs, and you say that writing is not your forte either...
What exactly are you planning to do in that project except providing the idea?

If you want to try to recreate the VN style of KS, I suggest you use some of the finished routes here.

Definitely not! Don't try to run before you have learned to walk.
Take a short One Shot with as few characters as possible, and see if you can make it work. Then you can even reuse the assets you created for that for a larger project - if you still want to - and if it doesn't work, you'll at least not have wasted months of your time.

[BlackWaltzTheThird]

a friend of mine started a VN project some time ago

Dare I ask about this? Going by the description, I hypothesise you refer to one project in particular that I know of, but of course I could be wildly wrong and the similarity is merely a coincidence. I understand if you wish not to speak about it, though; I imagine the vagueness was there for a reason.

[Guest Poster]

Stuff like this takes a VERY long time and is easy to underestimate. You'd need some extremely dedicated artists and scripters and even then you'd run the risk of ending up with a result that's deemed a knock-off or sub-par. If you want to bring popular fanfics to life, there are probably less ambitious and more feasable ways to do it.

[jozzarozzer]

Anyway, there's something I didn't mention in the reply, because I was on the fence about it and thought I'd just let it go. But I think I should anyway, to give myself peace of mind: It's probably a bad idea.

idk... I'm not 100% about it yet, but it's worth a shot, if this all succeeds, that'll be great, but if we fail, it'll still be a good experience! once i get some people together, we'll probably start on something very small, there is no point blindly dedicating ourselves to a big project, and then if that goes well, maybe something a bit bigger. I really want to at least give this a good shot, and see how it goes.

Pardon me for asking, but you're looking for people to do sprites, music and BGs, and you say that writing is not your forte either...
What exactly are you planning to do in that project except providing the idea?

writing is not my forte... but i can help with it, and i never said i couldn't do the other things, i can help with coding, and with some of the art (although i would be limited, lacking a graphics tablet) I know my way around music programs and can play a couple instruments, and the place i live would possibly lend itself to some good backgrounds. I'd just be generally helping around and be managing the whole thing (not by myself of course) without specializing in anything in particular, although, if i was going to specialize in anything it would be in coding.

there are probably less ambitious and more feasible ways to do it.

as in...?