Choose your own skillset

[Tenchuu]

I have a number of skills that might be of use to the dev team, but rather than state one thing specifically, it might be better to write of my background to see if I fit any of your needs.

I am an American law graduate working on advanced law degrees (LL.M.s) in Intellectual Property Law and International Commercial Arbitration. I was trained at a law school that teaches both common and civil law, and I have a strong grasp of international law.

I have lived in several states in the United States, Australia, Japan, and Sweden. I have traveled the globe extensively my entire life and have a keen grasp of cultural differences and the nuances of various cultures.

I lived in Japan for three years as a high school English teacher. I was involved in a number of clubs at the school, including Track and Field, Kyudo, Shodo, and the English Speaking Society. My extracurricular activities included Iaido, Aikijujutsu, and a large amount of time in local arcades and anime shops. I have an excellent understanding of the Japanese mindset and way of communication. I also sometimes have a thick Hakata accent in Japanese.

I was a copy editor for one of the largest newspapers in the world for over half a year, post college graduation and prior to moving to Japan. I was the Layout Editor for my college for a year, as well as being the occasional article writer and photographer.
During college and high school I had several short stories published, but nothing recently enough to be readily available. I am prepared to create samples as required.

I was a professional photographer for Texas Lawyer Magazine for several years, as well as for my college newspaper. I'm classically trained with a view camera, but now work with DSLR.

I am impressed with the work this team has so far produced, and would be pleased to help in whatever way required.

[Raide]

You could tell us your interest, what you think of Katawa Shoujo and what you think you plan/can do for this project.

Though it's pretty unlikely we need more person in the dev team any moment.

[Tenchuu]

Well, so far I've been impressed with the story and writing; I've only seen one particularly awkward sentence in the first chapter, and that's a first for any bishohjo game I've played, though y'all don't have the problem of translation from an original to deal with. Of course, making a character seem original and real at the same time is always the hardest part of writing, but it's been done well here. There are characters that fit the traditional roles in a bishohjo game, but others that skew the boundries, and I like that. It makes the game more interesting, and occasionally even the stereotypical characters throw a curveball that makes them more entertaining. The art is sharp and lively, so it conveys the characters with professionalism and feeling. I was a bit surprised by the low resolution; I know it's standard for this type of game, so that's not really a problem so much as a consideration of the difficulties of scaling things for different resolutions. I may also be spoiled by high res.

I would say that sometimes the choices made can create unexpected railings; for instance, at one point I found the main character was stuck with Emi because I chose to try and keep him in shape. That's pretty common in bishohjo games, and certainly, this being your first go, I can see the difficulties of making it any more complex, but I'd try to avoid the "one choice every hour of mouse clicking" problem that pops up.

Overall, I think it's a very professional production, which is why I'm here.

As for what I can provide, I'd say that given you're inundated with writing/editing/proofreading requests (which I am willing to do and have a great deal of professional experience with), I'm most useful with the intellectual property legal stuff (with the caveat that I'm not a lawyer yet, but will be by the end of August, so I can only write things and make suggestions while saying the requisite "You should seek actual legal advice from an attorney" in the meantime), and possibly location shooting/editing. I'm also a good person to come to for those awkward bits of cultural translation about Japan that are difficult to convey to a universal audience. One of the most irritating things I see in bishohjo work is awkward attempts to convert a Japanese concept or tradition to fit an American tradition. It rarely works properly, and there are better ways to convey such things. Given my first-hand knowledge of Japanese schools and clubs, I can help with the idiosyncrasies of those areas as well, helping make them more (or less) uniquely Japanese. I can also organize people, events, and schedules effectively, and I'm flexible, so I'm willing to give anything a shot.

Ah, and one last thing. I'm very honest with my time constraints and availability. This project has great potential to be helpful to me personally because of my (extremely long) journey to becoming a video game lawyer. If I was involved, I'd have a very real interest in seeing everything through to its conclusion so that I could add it to my CV. That said, I've got the bar exam in July, so I'd be almost unavailable for about a month before then for anything but small tasks. Other than that, however, I'm working on my two theses on my own schedule, so I'm fairly free.