A Week of Memories part 6: You and Me

[Synoptic]

How about you make a VN about fans crippled by feels?

[HurricaneHarvey]

Could always start some compound and use the number of people willing to petition to register as a religion so you can dodge taxes.

[Misfile17]

I don't think a lot of us can say thank you enough for KS, You've all accomplished something incredible over the last five years and anything else 4LS go on to do this fan will support you all the way, I loved KS, I cried, smiled, laughed and raged while playing through it, It really is a source of inspiration for many of us and you should all be proud for what you've made many of us feel. Congratulations once again 4LS and when/if the time comes that you announce another project, I'll be here to start spreading the word and eagerly looking forward to it, Thank you once again for Katawa Shoujo and the insane feelings it made me feel.

[Mercutio]

I know I've thanked y'all devs before, but, y'know, it's hard not to do it again. especially after reading the blogs this week and seeing how much went into the game - hell, this was five years of twenty-odd peoples' lives just to make something that you guys had no idea if people would like or not. kind of nifty to see that you guys didn't care if people would like it or not, probably why it turned out to be such an amazing game. but just thanking you doesn't really seem like enough, not for what this game has become.

like a lot of people, I've started working out more after playing KS, even if I'm stupid enough to think of cranking up the speed on the treadmill as "getting my Ibarazaki on". good thing nobody at the gym can read minds. but it's more than that... everyone's got issues, I know that, but KS has really prompted me to take a longer look at mine, to figure out what's going on with me and why I'm not who I want to be. it was Hanako's route that really made me realize some of the shit I've put myself through and the things I've been holding onto, for years, that are just dragging me down. and there was a line in Rin's route, something about how you don't have to like where you are but you don't have to regret what got you there - I can't remember it exactly, and the scene's not the same, I don't think, when I play it in repeat. but those two things together have me really taking a better look at my life, and I know I want to make some changes.

so, yeah. KS has got me to deal with stuff that I'd been shoving to the back of my head for years. the game you guys made is going to help make me a better person. like I said, just thanking you doesn't really seem like enough.

but thank you.

[Milli]

A more serious thought on the fan matter:
Due to all the positive feedback KS got it probably makes incredible good on any resume. You also got a solid amount of people who would be interested in further projects involving anyone of you.
I'd like you to use this platform to advertise for any further projects of you (not as 4LS, any of you).
Or set up a Blog / similar where you do that (if you don't want the people to have the impression KS is "abused" for advertising).

Also: "What is the first name of the purple haired Katawa Shoujo character?" - I'm not a spambot, but colorblind! Had to brute force that one. You dicks.

[Csihar]

Due to all the positive feedback KS got it probably makes incredible good on any resume. You also got a solid amount of people who would be interested in further projects involving anyone of you.

I think you're probably underestimating the amount of knee-jerking the average person does when confronted with a highly unconventional (and extremely difficult to accurately explain) concept like KS. Regardless of the positive reaction it's gotten among those who "get it," the fact remains that most people would only understand it as, basically, a dating sim about crippled girls with dubious origins. If visual novel production were the sort of thing you could even actually get hired for in the west - well, it's such an incredibly tiny niche here that I think it would be safe to assume anyone already interested would likely be familiar with KS anyway. Overall, it's probably not the sort of thing I'd want to tell too many people about if I were one of the devs, despite how much work went into it. Like Aura's mentioned, there's a split between one's online self and one's IRL self in this kind of situation, and really, in today's society I don't think that's a terrible thing.

But even if it can't help pad out a resume, it's not as though their work was for nothing - on a personal level, I mean. There's no substitute for the sense of self-confidence gained when you've put a lot of effort into a creative project and not only been pleased with the result, but were able to bring happiness to others with it, and to be praised for it. I'm a highly amateur artist at best and there aren't a lot of definite, solid successes like that of my own that I can draw confidence from, so I really envy the devs for what they've gained for themselves from what they've accomplished. If any of them continue to pursue the disciplines that they honed while working on KS (which, considering the tremendous about of natural talent on display in the finished product, I really hope many of them do), they'll have a huge jump start in ability compared to where they would be coming from if they had never participated something like this at all.

[theinfinitestar00]

Since my previous two attempts at trying to post have failed miserably, with the first being erased when I tried previewing it and the other because it was wiped off my clipboard, so I'm going to try one more time, albiet in a far more terse manner

Katawa Shoujo has really made me think about my life, and confront some big issues that I've put on the back-burner. KS is an incredible VN, and I'm in awe at the entirety of its history. So to 4LS: Thank You. You've impacted my life in a way I never thought possible, and I can't thank you enough.

[Caesius]

Also, what's your favourite memory of the KS development? Do you have any?

Reading threads like this and learning a hell of a lot. Not directly related to development or waiting for the game or whatever, but still.

[Pl4t0]

You can take all the fans and fashion some sort of giant fan-Voltron robot...thing to take on the haters.

[Demonhorns]

Oh, yes, and about the fans...I suppose if even a few prospective designers have seen and are inspired by Katawa Shoujo, perhaps 4LS can provide some form of assistance or another in making their own new and inspired project along these lines (and I don't mean necessarily about the disabled either). I know you've already written several blog posts about how tough the process is and made a few notes to would-be developers so this is probably kept in mind. Still, with the explosion of interest and want of something more after Katawa Shoujo rolls its credits sequence for the last time, I'd love to know that some dedicated and talented people like yourselves (at least in this anonymous writer's opinion) could take it upon themselves to craft something of around this level of their own.

[kushiro]

I registered pretty much just to share this.


Thank you for everything you've done! I wasn't expecting much five years ago, honestly. I was expecting a sub-par game that I would get for the novelty factor. The first act came out, much better than I had expected already, so I decided to wait.

And it was well worth it.

It may have taken a long time, but you created a great game that touched many people. I'm one of the ones who emailed you about making me cry. No qualms about it. I tried joking about you being horrible, horrible people for making this game, but still no shame.
I am a grown-ass man.
I am a soldier.
I bawled like a child at parts during this game. Especially since my first ending ever was a bad ending.
This game inspired me to change my lifeview and become more positive, and attempt to be a positive influence on others.



As for what to do with the fans, I second the voltron idea. You could also arrange a Katawa Shoujo FLASHMOB. And make a blog post about it. That would be epic. I probably couldn't participate since I'm deployed, but it would sure be awesome.

[Akira]

What to do with all the fans...?

Get them to do all the work on 4LS's next VN, that way you can all just relax and shout orders over E-mail occasionally

[sporkaganza]

Well, after the Sherlock finale recently, there's been some idea of doing some kind of sorta real-life meme thing writing "MORIARTY WAS REAL" or "I BELIEVE IN SHERLOCK" everywhere. Something like that, but we'd need a cool slogan. Maybe the "Can you seize the day?" et al.

[Gerbil X]

"Fans of course make us massively happy, even if we can get kinda weirded out at times. Fans can also surprise us. Something that has really blown us off our feet has been the large amounts of incredibly emotional response to Katawa Shoujo that we've seen. I've seen people confessing having cried after playing KS, or otherwise feeling moved...That gives some really strange perspective to the past five years."

This paragraph made me cry a bit. ;-;