Katawa Shoujo Forums

Until a week ago, I had only seen glimpses of Katawa Shoujo before even investigating further after reading a discussing about the game on 4chan. I was intrigued, and a little concerned; how does one approach a somewhat "dating sim" about girls with disabilities?

I was so wrong in my concerns:
1. It was hardly a dating sim, rather than an interactive experience.
2. The game couldn't have been handled more tastefully.

I was more than impressed. Over a course of four days, I invested approximately twenty-five hours into Katawa Shoujo.

I am the first to admit that I am a little fickle when it comes to interests; within a week my short-lived conquest is tossed aside. But not KS. I have downloaded the soundtrack, read every developer blog post dating back to 2007, downloaded the art books, I have scoured this wiki, enjoyed the fantastic fan art at Shimmie, and still wish I could do more!

I am quite artistic, but my manga attempts leave something to be desired, simply because I have always approached a more abstract angle to art. If the devs needed any help, technically or otherwise, I'd jump right on board. Unfortunately, there is nothing.

What can I do to contribute to this wonderful society?

For starters, make sure that you never, ever get rid of that Gabe Newell Misha avatar.

And that's my new signature

ByFutureShaun wrote:And that's my new signature

I am honored.

ByFutureShaun wrote:And that's my new signature

Get rid of it. It scares the hell outta me. XD

Well, this thread's been derailed.

Read the TVTropes page, make fanfiction, maybe read fanfiction, start running, start drawing, start drinking tea, start playing the tile game, join the science club...
Choices are limitless

You said you were artistic, and don't let your abstract style keep you from doing fanart. If you've looked through the shimmie then you've seen a lot of different styles already, so go for it.

My my, I'm amazed by how easily threads get derailed... Always a good source for signatures, and mostly funny as hell.

And this, my friend, is a question we all go through. If you can draw, try to draw. If it's abstract, the better, think of it as something more Rin-ish. Bet people will like it.

The TVTropes page was actually pretty kind. Usually tropes show how unoriginal something is, but half of them were anti-examples.

Pseudogenesis wrote:The TVTropes page was actually pretty kind. Usually tropes show how unoriginal something is, but half of them were anti-examples.

Frankly, I never read TVTropes for some kind of 'review' or even a 'deconstruction' of any finished work of art. Reading TVTropes is great if you need some guidance with the process of writing or also for nothing more than shits and giggles. But for analysis I always get the feeling that they're desperately reaching and trying to pin labels on things that never really needed any in the first place. Yeah, I suppose for deconstruction purposes you have to do that. But IRC/RL discussion circles or writer workshops are a shitton more productive in that regard rather than just reading a label from anything on the internet, official or unofficial, and taking that as gospel.

So...if you want to do more for KS on TVTropes my advice would just be...think twice before sticking a label on it. To its credit, the contributors there do show some restraint, but still when you see things like the KS chibis accompanying the KS menu boxes being overanalyzed, with that analysis often ignoring the fact that they can be quite random at times,...yeah, you know you're reaching for things that aren't really there at that point.

Loonie wrote:

Pseudogenesis wrote:The TVTropes page was actually pretty kind. Usually tropes show how unoriginal something is, but half of them were anti-examples.

Frankly, I never read TVTropes for some kind of 'review' or even a 'deconstruction' of any finished work of art. Reading TVTropes is great if you need some guidance with the process of writing or also for nothing more than shits and giggles. But for analysis I always get the feeling that they're desperately reaching and trying to pin labels on things that never really needed any in the first place. Yeah, I suppose for deconstruction purposes you have to do that. But IRC/RL discussion circles or writer workshops are a shitton more productive in that regard rather than just reading a label from anything on the internet, official or unofficial, and taking that as gospel.

So...if you want to do more for KS on TVTropes my advice would just be...think twice before sticking a label on it. To its credit, the contributors there do show some restraint, but still when you see things like the KS chibis accompanying the KS menu boxes being overanalyzed, with that analysis often ignoring the fact that they can be quite random at times,...yeah, you know you're reaching for things that aren't really there at that point.

I wouldn't say it's overanalyzed or that they're striving to apply a label to things. They have criteria, and if it fits then they list it.

Pseudogenesis wrote:The TVTropes page was actually pretty kind. Usually tropes show how unoriginal something is, but half of them were anti-examples.

Nothing is original. Hell, I bet somewhere, The Simpsons have a cripple episode.

And nobody should ever read TVTropes to review something.

Pseudogenesis wrote:I wouldn't say it's overanalyzed or that they're striving to apply a label to things. They have criteria, and if it fits then they list it.

Yes. And once the troper making the entry believes it fits that criteria...they have to list it under the corresponding label. Otherwise, how could they even list that trope?

Understand I'm not against labels. As I said, they're critically important for TVTropes to function. I just meant exactly what I said: "Think twice before you decide on that label." Nothing more and nothing less.

Well, cheers for all the replies, guys.

I think I'll be spending quite some time on this forum.