Ask!

[Pimmy]

I hear a lot of people saying "Reen", but the best I could explain it is a sharp "R" (are there even any english words with a sharp R? I can't think of any right now), "I" like in "information" (very short) and N like in "mean". So, I guess I could say it's pronounced like "Rin", but with a sharp R. Similar to, say, gin.

Wait, are you saying that when you type out "reen" you're imagining something that rhymes with gin? Because that just makes things difficult. I pronounce it like "gin" but that's not the correct way. It's more like "reen" as you said before. with a long I sound. ANd if you wanted to be super accurate you could go with a japanesey R sound which is kinda like R and L and the same time.

As for the "stop" in hicchan/shicchan, it's not a full stop like two words, it's uh... I dunno someone else can cover it. EDIT thanks poster below me!

3. One thing that really stood out to me about the game was the interesting side characters (except Hideaki, who I personally found kind of dull). I was wondering, if you didn't have to worry about story and pacing restrictions, which side character (i.e., apart from the main six girls) you'd like to have been able to explore more in-depth within the game.

Yuuko, Nurse, or Kenji

[Aura]

As for the "stop" in hicchan/shicchan, it's not a full stop like two words, it's uh... I dunno someone else can cover it. EDIT thanks poster below me!

It's called glottal stop. Also asking for or giving pronounciation advice through English is a horrible idea, because the language is one of the worst and most confusing to pronounce in the entire world. Learn the IPA if you want to learn how to pronounce other languages.

[Tsundere Lightning]

First off, I'd like to thank you very much for the release of this excellent game.

My personal favorite path in the game was Rin's, mostly because I know people with the same sort of obsessive artistic passions, and frequently am one of them. Would the path writer for Rin say that this was based on personal experience as an artist, or anyone in particular that they knew (not naming names)?

[Aura]

First off, I'd like to thank you very much for the release of this excellent game.

My personal favorite path in the game was Rin's, mostly because I know people with the same sort of obsessive artistic passions, and frequently am one of them. Would the path writer for Rin say that this was based on personal experience as an artist, or anyone in particular that they knew (not naming names)?

She's not based on anyone.

[TheHivemind]

3. One thing that really stood out to me about the game was the interesting side characters (except Hideaki, who I personally found kind of dull). I was wondering, if you didn't have to worry about story and pacing restrictions, which side character (i.e., apart from the main six girls) you'd like to have been able to explore more in-depth within the game.

4. Were there any characters who received a fair amount of development that didn't make it into the game as anything more than a cameo (like the rest of Hisao's classmates, for example)?

5. Related to the last two points, which character had the most undisplayed development: backstory, personality, desires, and other miscellaneous things that just didn't make it into the game because it ultimately wasn't important?

3. Akira would have been cool to have running around more, but it just didn't make sense to do so.

4. Nope.

5. Meiko has a lot going on that we never got into, or at least she has a lot going on in my head, which is pretty much the only place it should ever exist.

[Brogurt]

5. Meiko has a lot going on

She's all I've wanted~
And I've waited for so long~
That was intentional, wasn't it?

[Suriko]

3. One thing that really stood out to me about the game was the interesting side characters (except Hideaki, who I personally found kind of dull). I was wondering, if you didn't have to worry about story and pacing restrictions, which side character (i.e., apart from the main six girls) you'd like to have been able to explore more in-depth within the game.

4. Were there any characters who received a fair amount of development that didn't make it into the game as anything more than a cameo (like the rest of Hisao's classmates, for example)?

5. Related to the last two points, which character had the most undisplayed development: backstory, personality, desires, and other miscellaneous things that just didn't make it into the game because it ultimately wasn't important?

3. Akira

4. Miki had a couple of scenarios planned out that both ended up scrapped before being put into the game.

5. Difficult to say. Probably Akira.

[Gandair]

Many aspects of this game have been extolled to levels that I feel still fall just short of an accurate description. Having returned to writing myself a year ago as an amateur reporter this game has been a great reminded of what one can do with clever and calculated word choice. It helps quell some of the verboseness that's crept into my paragraphs from years of disuse.

Though I'm unsure if they're correct I'm happy with those three sentences, KS made me love words again after prompting me to look up maudlin, magnanimous, disingenuous, and consternation. The scene titles in the game stood out after reading the library a lot. I could write paragraphs on how awesome you guys are and how much I enjoy this work, but questions!

1. What inspired the scene title Nc5xB3? That's left me befuddled since I read it in the library.

2. What's the cause for not releasing individual images in high-res? Further, what led to the decision to hold back any of the other individual parts, sprites, music, backgrounds, and/or whatever "game assests" means? I'm really interested to know because I expect it has to do with information control and I'm getting into broadcasting and video production. It'd be really helpful to me if you could explain your thought process and reasoning so that I could have a better understanding once I begin working with musicians, artists and other creative people. I don't want to step on anyone's toes and would appreciate the insight.

3. Is there a complied list of contact info for the artists, musicians, writers, and other team members so that we may see their other non-ks work or even contact them about new business?

4. I forget where to view the license within KS, but are live-reads and performances (not for profit) permissible? I remember reading something about them, but can't recall it all in detail.

5. Who came up with the idea for the little images that show up on the title screen? The ones that appear as you unlock new chapters. It was cute to see them pile up in the corner as I progressed and wanted to thank that person for such an adorable detail. Also, who drew them?

6. Same question as 5, but in regards to the drawings of the girls in the "Extras" menu.

7. Did you think to add hidden scenes/images/music or other eastereggs? If so why did/didn't you?

8. In the scene "The Other Green" where Hisao and Rin are talking and painting there's a line that's always made me curious near the end of the scene. "As if there were some need to conserve words and breath and sound." I wondered if that was intentionally written that way, or if it should have commas, or if there's just something I don't know about sentence structure if it's correct, a typo, or artistic license. It's left me wondering for a bit.

9. The little heart with the bandage on it is copywritten right? I want to make a plushie of it for myself and maybe one for a friend, but I'm around cameras a lot and don't want to display anything which may violate IP. Do crafted things qualify as fan art? Should I make it slightly incorrect to save from any confusing of it being realated to KS? This is kind of like question 2 where I'm still learning these things because of my broadcasting.

Feel free to add any more clarification about the display, use, or reference to KS. I'm in love with that sort of knowledge and it's useful in my new work.

[Aura]

Many aspects of this game have been extolled to levels that I feel still fall just short of an accurate description. Having returned to writing myself a year ago as an amateur reporter this game has been a great reminded of what one can do with clever and calculated word choice. It helps quell some of the verboseness that's crept into my paragraphs from years of disuse.

Though I'm unsure if they're correct I'm happy with those three sentences, KS made me love words again after prompting me to look up maudlin, magnanimous, disingenuous, and consternation. The scene titles in the game stood out after reading the library a lot. I could write paragraphs on how awesome you guys are and how much I enjoy this work, but questions!

1. What inspired the scene title Nc5xB3? That's left me befuddled since I read it in the library.

2. What's the cause for not releasing individual images in high-res? Further, what led to the decision to hold back any of the other individual parts, sprites, music, backgrounds, and/or whatever "game assests" means? I'm really interested to know because I expect it has to do with information control and I'm getting into broadcasting and video production. It'd be really helpful to me if you could explain your thought process and reasoning so that I could have a better understanding once I begin working with musicians, artists and other creative people. I don't want to step on anyone's toes and would appreciate the insight.

3. Is there a complied list of contact info for the artists, musicians, writers, and other team members so that we may see their other non-ks work or even contact them about new business?

4. I forget where to view the license within KS, but are live-reads and performances (not for profit) permissible? I remember reading something about them, but can't recall it all in detail.

5. Who came up with the idea for the little images that show up on the title screen? The ones that appear as you unlock new chapters. It was cute to see them pile up in the corner as I progressed and wanted to thank that person for such an adorable detail. Also, who drew them?

6. Same question as 5, but in regards to the drawings of the girls in the "Extras" menu.

7. Did you think to add hidden scenes/images/music or other eastereggs? If so why did/didn't you?

8. In the scene "The Other Green" where Hisao and Rin are talking and painting there's a line that's always made me curious near the end of the scene. "As if there were some need to conserve words and breath and sound." I wondered if that was intentionally written that way, or if it should have commas, or if there's just something I don't know about sentence structure if it's correct, a typo, or artistic license. It's left me wondering for a bit.

9. The little heart with the bandage on it is copywritten right? I want to make a plushie of it for myself and maybe one for a friend, but I'm around cameras a lot and don't want to display anything which may violate IP. Do crafted things qualify as fan art? Should I make it slightly incorrect to save from any confusing of it being realated to KS? This is kind of like question 2 where I'm still learning these things because of my broadcasting.

Feel free to add any more clarification about the display, use, or reference to KS. I'm in love with that sort of knowledge and it's useful in my new work.

1. The scene introduces the chess theme in Hanako's path, and the scene title is in algebraic chess notation.
2. We don't see any reason why we should release the game assets. We made a complete product that we feel is more than the sum of its parts, not a random collection of words, pictures and music.
3. There's not. Our email, IRC, forum PMs and if everything else fails, trying to get other 4LS members contact the one you want are really the only way.
4. Live-reads and such are fine.
5. They were moekki's idea iirc, and Mike Inel's work.
6. Moekki's idea and work.
7. We thought about having some stuff as extras but no energy.
8. You mean the chain "and"s I guess? It's intentionally written that way, and not exactly grammatically correct.
9. Yes, it's copyrighted and a part of the KS IP, but we don't mind you making a KS logo plushie.

[Csihar]

1. Who did the final CG that unlocks once you get 100%? It doesn't look like the regular artists' style to me.
2. Who's responsible for that damn sweater vest?
3. Although SanCom characteristically blew it out of proportion, it's undeniable that the KS' name has been the source of a bit of controversy among Japanese-speaking players, since "katawa" seems to be a somewhat politically incorrect word. Is there any sense of wishing you could go back in time and pick a different title, or do you just not care? Or was it more of a conscious subversive move, along the lines of, say, making a VN with a black main cast, calling it "Nigger Girls," and then writing a story without any hints of racism?
(Edit: Just found the relevant blog post so feel free to ignore this question.)

This isn't the first time someone's mentioned that Stride felt ominous. That was never my intention, so I was a bit surprised. As a whole I intended the track to just be relaxing, but this is one of the first tracks I made for the game, back when I was 14, so I didn't really have a good grasp of effect back then.

Dude.

[Aura]

1. Who did the final CG that unlocks once you get 100%? It doesn't look like the regular artists' style to me.
2. Who's responsible for that damn sweater vest?
3. Although SanCom characteristically blew it out of proportion, it's undeniable that the KS' name has been the source of a bit of controversy among Japanese-speaking players, since "katawa" seems to be a somewhat politically incorrect word. Is there any sense of wishing you could go back in time and pick a different title, or do you just not care? Or was it more of a conscious subversive move, along the lines of, say, making a VN with a black main cast, calling it "Nigger Girls," and then writing a story without any hints of racism?
(Edit: Just found the relevant blog post so feel free to ignore this question.)

1. Climatic
2. Moekki
3. For what it's worth, I would pick a different name if we would go back to January 07. No controversy is preferable to controversy. We've never regretted keeping the name though.

[Guest]

About Lilly's dreams: first of all, I want to say that I liked this dialogue in particular because it contributes significantly to make her all the more real to me, by showing that she's preoccupied with small things and aspects of her disability despite being outwardly grounded (perhaps to a fault) but at the same time she's characteristically willing to share these concerns with her closest friends, though not without some reluctance.

Now for the question: if she's blind from birth, how can she know for sure whether she's "seeing" in her dreams or not? Of course nobody literally sees in dreams, and since her brain is (as far as we know) like anybody else's, shouldn't she experience the same visual perceptions as people with sight do, with the notable difference of seeing more or less random things instead of the more usual approximation of things and people from the real world (since her subconscious couldn't know what they look like)?

[Guest]

I didnt find stride omnious. I think most people feel like that ust becuase of the start.
What was Innocence supposed to be ? I get a mix of both happiness and sadness hearing it.

[Yotsuyasan]

Oh, I have a question about the music and sound used in two of the movies.

Two of the movies, the opening and Emi's Act 2 scene, had sound effects. The opening was a unique animal, so that didn't seem unusual to me. But Emi's Act 2 scene was the only one of the five with any sound effects, those of their foot falls upon the track as they ran.

Was there a reason for this? Was it a decision of the animator, the music composer, the sound editor, or some colabrative decision?

Back to the opening, however... On the soundtrack release, the music from Emi's animation was clean, without the sound effects. The music from the opening movie was not clean. You still had the sound effects of heart beating, IV dripping, clock ticking, etc. Was that an active decision made by someone, and if so, why? And might there ever be a clean version of that music available?

Don't wish to sound ungreatful, mind you. I was very happy that a soundtrack was released, and enjoy listening to it. And if the opening movie music still has the sound effects for some reason such as the composer prefered it that way, or the seperate sound elements were lost and that was all that was available, then I can live with that. But it just seemed to stick out a bit to me, so I thought I'd ask.

[Nicol Armarfi]

What was Innocence supposed to be ? I get a mix of both happiness and sadness hearing it.

Aura asked me to write Innocence after he heard another track of mine. I'm not really sure what his exact intentions were for the piece, but I was just instructed to make it as similar to the original as I could. If I had to pick a single word to describe it I'd call it 'nostalgic', though.