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Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 1:09 pm
by UncleJellyfish
For Lilly's route, I figured that him introducing himself (especially after the depressing hospital stay) would show a tiny bit of personal growth, which I feel would help solidify their relationship from his perspective a bit more. As for Shizune's route, the very reason she spends time with him is not just because he's the new guy, but also because he's depressed. If he doesn't introduce himself to the class, it would give her more of a reason to be around him and help him. I felt that would likely be a better course of action. However, Shizune's route is still a ways away, considering that after Lilly, I'll be doing Rinā™„.

Also, I just realized that we completely hijacked this thread. Once I get more done and start sending out proofreadings, I'll make a new thread.

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 1:18 pm
by Althamus
For reference:
Topic containing a link to The flowchart of how to do act 1

I'll sideline the Shizune argument then until when her arc comes up :P

And point conceded re: Lilly.

Also, I thought this thread was for discussing turning the VN into a N? :S How can discussing it hijack the thread? :P

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 1:29 pm
by UncleJellyfish
Althamus wrote:For reference:
Topic containing a link to The flowchart of how to do act 1

I'll sideline the Shizune argument then until when her arc comes up :P

And point conceded re: Lilly.

Also, I thought this thread was for discussing turning the VN into a N? :S How can discussing it hijack the thread? :P
Well, the original topic of this thread was asking whether or not it would work. I sorta hijacked it for my own project.

As for the flowchart, I already have a complete one for all routes (the Feuver v2.8 ).

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:03 pm
by Althamus
Huh, point. I thought you were the OP for some reason.

Also, soemthing that really needs to be addressed before any project along these lines goes any further - do we have permission to do something like this? No matter that no money is made, we're taking someone else's work, adapting it and publishing it. Given that it's being adjusted by strangers to the original project, but heavily associated with the original project, I can't imagine the devs would like it happening.

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:13 pm
by UncleJellyfish
You have a point, there. I was going to give them full credit for the story (Story written by 4 Leaf Studios, with names if they so choose), but I suppose I really should ask permission before publishing.

Another note, I've encountered my first real problem: Misha. The way she translates what Shizune is saying can be confusing in the VN (as in, not knowing who is talking), but in the novel it's even harder to tell them apart. Not to mention that her "Whahaha~!" laugh is an awkward thing to put onto paper.

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:16 pm
by yipyapper
UncleJellyfish wrote:You have a point, there. I was going to give them full credit for the story (Story written by 4 Leaf Studios, with names if they so choose), but I suppose I really should ask permission before publishing.

Another note, I've encountered my first real problem: Misha. The way she translates what Shizune is saying can be confusing in the VN (as in, not knowing who is talking), but in the novel it's even harder to tell them apart. Not to mention that her "Whahaha~!" laugh is an awkward thing to put onto paper.
Some replacements for her laugh could be "Yet again, Misha responds with her signature laugh." Or something along those lines.

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:25 pm
by Althamus
I would've thought that her "Wahaha~!" would've worked equally well in a novel as in a VN. Once you understand that ~ on the end of a word creates emphasis (which perhaps should be better represented by italics...?) it's clear that it's just a way of showing Misha giving an outburst of emotion. Also the frequency which she utters that word would mean that replacing it with a phrase would add significantly onto any book, particularly Shizune's arc.

The way she translates Shizune's speech is difficult though, and to replace it by a:
Shizune makes another set of complicated gestures. Misha looks at them for a second before turning back to Hisao "Shizune says that you should be more daring when you play Risk Hisao!"
every. single. time. would probably double the length of Shizune's arc.

I'll have a think on that one.

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:30 pm
by UncleJellyfish
I PMed Aura. Hopefully we'll hear good news.

As for using italics for Misha's laugh, that is actually a pretty good idea. The ~ is a symbol that doesn't carry over well into books, but italics would reflect the emphasis quite well.

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 3:34 pm
by Althamus
UncleJellyfish wrote:I PMed Aura. Hopefully we'll hear good news.

As for using italics for Misha's laugh, that is actually a pretty good idea. The ~ is a symbol that doesn't carry over well into books, but italics would reflect the emphasis quite well.
I must admit that I've seen *s on either side of a word to create emphais "I would *never* do that!" and similar but have never seen ~ on the end of a word to create emphasis. Took me half of Act 1 to work out what it meant. xD

I think the best that we could hope for re: getting permission to move forward on the project would be that we have permission to adapt it, but they want to see proofs periodically throughout to ensure that the quality of the original KS would be maintained. Having said that, they chose to publish it as a VN not a N, so that fact in itself kinda hints towards them preferring to it being accessible in that format.

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 4:46 pm
by UncleJellyfish
About 14 pages, ~5,200 words, and I'm stopping for my lunch break. (My hands are making more mistakes since I'm hungry. @_@ I'm so useless when I'm hungry. >.<")

I've decided to wait until about halfway through Act 1 before sending out my first proofreading set. If anyone wants to be added to the mailing list, PM me with an email that I can reach you at. I don't need too many proofreaders, but the more there are, the better.

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 4:53 pm
by GIRakaCHEEZER
The story should transcribe to a "Choose your own adventure" book I think, but yeah of course it would work well as a written novel, that's practically what it is and the game depends so much on writing that I think it would translate easier than other games (non-VNs).

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 4:57 pm
by UncleJellyfish
GIRakaCHEEZER wrote:The story should transcribe to a "Choose your own adventure" book I think, but yeah of course it would work well as a written novel, that's practically what it is and the game depends so much on writing that I think it would translate easier than other games (non-VNs).
Problem with it being a CYOA novel is that, as stated before, it would be at least 1,600 pages long. Not only is that size a turn off to most readers, but the production of such a large book would be very difficult. I feel that five separate novels (with a sixth mini-novel for Kenji's route, but I'll save that for last) is the best course of action.

Anyways, I'm off to eat lunch and watch some more Bakemonogatari. XD

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 5:33 pm
by Althamus
GIRakaCHEEZER wrote:The story should transcribe to a "Choose your own adventure" book I think, but yeah of course it would work well as a written novel, that's practically what it is and the game depends so much on writing that I think it would translate easier than other games (non-VNs).
The other problem with it being a CYOA novel is that generally, those kind of novels (or at least, every one I've read) has a choice at the end of each page. Thinking of Shizune's route in particular, but all the Act II-IVs, there are very, very few choices (and even fewer of those actually affect things) that a CYOA novel would be a little superfluous.

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:55 pm
by UncleJellyfish
On my 19th page, ~7,300 words, just knocked on Kenji's door. Progress slowed earlier today due to work stuff, but I've been plowing on again. It seems that on an average weekday, if I work diligently, I could get about 2,000 words typed in a couple hours. I work 12 and 10 hours on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, so I can get more done on those days when I find the time. Still have another hour or so of work, so I'll see if I can get up to 8,000 words before concluding for the night. So far, I'm quite impressed at what it's looking like, and I've been rereading parts of it to make sure that they make sense. I'll have to see if I can find some proofreaders that haven't play KS, to get a more objective opinion, but that'll wait till it's almost done.

Re: Would Katawa Shoujo have worked as a written novel?

Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:28 pm
by Althamus
I really would advise slowing down until you get word back from Aura... I haz bad feeling about that. But otherwise you seem to be getting on real well :D