Ask!

[Aura]

First and foremost, I just want to say thank you to all of the 4LS staff for the amazing emotional experience you have provided. I think it helped to change my outlook on aspects of my own life.

Now for my question, which is directed to the writers: How is writing the dialogue, narrative, plot, etc. of a Visual Novel such as Katawa Shoujo different from writing a traditional novel? What unique challenges arise from these differences? I ask, mainly because the profound impact KS has had on me, has inspired me to start writing again.

Best Regards,

Paladin

Writing a VN feels much more akin to writing a theatre play script than a novel. The writer must keep the visual and aural aspects in mind while writing, because in a VN you can literally show instead of telling. One also must deal with the limited resources that come with these. Sure, crud might want to suddenly implement a subplot with 3 unique side characters with 2 outfits each, requiring 10 new backgrounds and 5 unique visual effects, but our director and artists would murder him and wear his skin at 4LS parties. Another tricky aspect is the interactivity. Many VNs have branching stories, guided by player-made choices. Figuring out the story structure is immensely hard, so much so that I can confidently say that I've never seen a VN do the branching/interactivity in a satisfactory way.

On the level of the narrative, it's nothing special I think, not that I'm a particularly experienced writer. Compared to my non-VN prose, I use more dialogue and protagonist's inner speech and leave more of the ambience description to visuals and music. I did "learn to write" through writing KS though, so it might be the only way I can really do it right now. I don't know what else to say about the subject, the gist of it is that it's quite different, but the things you have to keep in mind are outside of the immediate sentence-shaping work.

[Mysterious Stranger]

This made me laugh out loud and then my brother gave me a weird look.
My Astronomy teacher once said: "Never use 'those three stars that make a triangle' as a defining feature when pointing out stars to someone. Any three stars make a triangle."

It is, however, approximately a 3:4:5 right triangle.

I suppose you're right (definitely right, even - you've evidently taken classes on the subject), but all the same I do feel rather dense for not immediately thinking of the seasonal triangle asterisms rather than constellations.

[BlackWaltzTheThird]

Hey again devs,

I was wondering to what extent you guys engage in the fan culture of the KS community; that is, do you read much in the way of fan fiction, or view much in the way of fan art? What do you think of what you have seen, if any?

Have you guys actually read much of the finished project? Anyone gone for the 100% unlocks? Or do you feel that having worked on it as long as you have, reading it now is unnecessary or unimportant?

Cheers, BlackWaltz.

[Silentcook]

I was wondering to what extent you guys engage in the fan culture of the KS community; that is, do you read much in the way of fan fiction, or view much in the way of fan art? What do you think of what you have seen, if any?

I try to keep the forums read. Yes, the whole forums. All of them.
Anyway, I am generally unimpressed by anything that uses a crossover in any way, shape or form. More often than not, it's the sign of lazy writing, and shoehorned lazy writing at that.
Radically different story spins, such as "what if the KS cast were... VAMPIRES?" are even worse, though in a different way.
...come to think of it, this kills about 90-95% of fan fiction. Yep.

Have you guys actually read much of the finished project? Anyone gone for the 100% unlocks? Or do you feel that having worked on it as long as you have, reading it now is unnecessary or unimportant?

During beta testing alone, I have gotten through the whole thing at least five times, the hard way. Plus an uncountable number of times using devskip.
So I suppose that being an editor, my response is an extremely predictable "yes".

[cpl_crud]

Hey again devs,

I was wondering to what extent you guys engage in the fan culture of the KS community; that is, do you read much in the way of fan fiction, or view much in the way of fan art? What do you think of what you have seen, if any?

Have you guys actually read much of the finished project? Anyone gone for the 100% unlocks? Or do you feel that having worked on it as long as you have, reading it now is unnecessary or unimportant?

Cheers, BlackWaltz.

I covered the same question in the interview I did with Shintai, but basically I've stopped engaging.

I lack Silentcook's dedication (although I did, at one stage, read everything that was posted here) and the time to execute constant reading. I subscribe to a few threads, but that's about it.

When it comes to writing, I prefer people who don't stick to canon. Not in the "Vampires" sense that Silentcook mentioned, but in terms of allowing the characters to grow, naturally.

What I really hate (more than crappy crossovers or cross-genres) is when people try and pick up from the second the game finishes.

All stories need tension and resolution. Each one of the KS paths builds up this tension and then resolves the major themes. To think that Hisao an "Girl X" would then lurch directly into another adventure is, well, pointless. That's whay Soap Operas do; they just lurch from one arc to the next to the point where they no longer resemble any kind of reality.

My one tip to people who want to write fan fiction would be to leap forward to another "tense" moment in your favourite character's lives. And I don't mean to bend the reality that we have created; I mean think forward. You have job interviews, marraiges, kids, divorce, deaths in the family, buying a house, buying a car, getting fired...

All of those things can be the crux of a story. KS was set in a pretty "vanilla" universe. If you want to stay authentic then you have to keep the same rules as the game.

Oh, and if you do nothing else, ask for feedback and don't act like a little bitch when you get it. I know that even I have a little sulk when people tear shreds of my work, but the only way to improve is to realise your failings and excise them from your daily life.


... did I just go a little too far off track?

Oh yeah. I do occasionally look at the Shimme as art is easy to digest.

[Libra]

I'm sorry if this questions has already been asked.

What are Visual novel do you recommend after some one have played Katawa Shoujo?

Thanks.

[Fluffboll]

I'm sorry if this questions has already been asked.

What are Visual novel do you recommend after some one have played Katawa Shoujo?

Thanks.

In this thread you'll find other VNs people recommend
http://ks.renai.us/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3178

[bradpara]

Do we even....want to know.....what's inside Kenji's room?

[TheHivemind]

Do we even....want to know.....what's inside Kenji's room?

Stacks of pornography involving barnyard animals.

[Eldrazor]

Do we even....want to know.....what's inside Kenji's room?

Stacks of pornography involving barnyard animals.

Don't forget the picture of Yuuko.

[Malkav]

Do we even....want to know.....what's inside Kenji's room?

Stacks of pornography involving barnyard animals.

Don't forget the picture of Yuuko.

Or the pictures of Yuuko involving barnyard animals?

Sorry, 'nuff off-topic comments from me.

[TheTrueCole]

About the intimate scene with Hanako and Hisao; what's up with the condom? To be more specific, was Hisao prepared for something like this to happen (which is the last think I would've expected him to be thinking about at that time) or did he just keep one there, just in case? It's not a burning question, but it did make me raise an eyebrow pretty high.

[mainframe004]

Has the team ever come close to scrapping the entire VN altogether? If so, what caused you guys to almost toss the whole thing out the window? Then, what did you guys do to get yourselves back on track?

[Aura]

Has the team ever come close to scrapping the entire VN altogether? If so, what caused you guys to almost toss the whole thing out the window? Then, what did you guys do to get yourselves back on track?

No. Projects like this aren't really just thrown out of the window, if and when they die it's a slow death:

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

[Mirrormn]

No. Projects like this aren't really just thrown out of the window, if and when they die it's a slow death:

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Did the same philosophy apply to specific parts of the project? That is, there are several large portions of the game (unused scripts, art, etc.) that were scrapped in development. Were the decisions to cut those parts slow and agonizing, or were there moments when one of you just suddenly realized "no, this isn't working, this whole thing is just going to have be redone"? Were there any arguments between the developers about which elements could be kept as is, which needed to be revised, and which should be entirely replaced?