How much is too much?

[playswithtribbles]

I've been working on a game for a while now, and I just ran the statistics report:

Code: Select all

Statistics:

The game contains 2857 screens of dialogue.
These screens contain a total of 18936 words,
for an average of 6.6 words per screen.
The game contains 72 menus.

-72 MENUS?

I'm not even halfway done with scripting!

Now as I have relatively limited experience with visual novels, I'll ask the experts, is this too much? Not enough? Should I keep having lots of choices, or should I cut back a little?

Oh yea and while I'm at it, is it just me or are their a lot of Otome games coming out right now? I'm starting to feel a little intimidated, though my release wouldn't be until next April.

[Fireserpent]

Depends on what style of game you're doing. The game I'm working on is more of a dating sim in style, and the player never speaks without a menu choice being made (I want it interactive), so I already have hundreds of menues.. May probably be a couple of thousand when I'm done..

So as far as I understand it's all up to you, the style and scope of your game.

[lepapillonrouge]

Chances are that a lot of them won't be happening for a while/happening at all XD Regardless, you should keep going on with it.

That is a lot of menus for the amount of text you have...maybe you should cut back a bit. But not too much

It also depends on what the choices are about as well.

[sake-bento]

I think it's really only too much if the choices don't DO anything. If there's only one menu, but you still get the same ending no matter what you choose, it's too much (unless you're doing a VN on fatalism or something). If the menus are for proper decisions that have a discernible effect on the story, you should be fine. At that point in time, it becomes a matter of taste. Some people like having more control over the storyline, while others prefer only a few choices here and there.

[playswithtribbles]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I'll keep hacking it out, and try to make this game as epic as possible for everyone.

As for the menus... I'll... I have no idea right now. But it will work out somehow I'm sure.

Either that, I'll have a mental breakdown from the strain, and then spend the rest of my life sketching out plans for world domination on the walls of a tiny basement with a set of brightly colored crayons. And nothing but a wind-up cymbal monkey to be my friend.

Nah, I'm sure I'll think of something. Hopefully.

PS: (Your post came in right as I was about to submit)

I think it's really only too much if the choices don't DO anything

Yes, I feel the same way. I'll try and go back through the menus and take out/change any that don't affect some relevant part of the gameplay. This might help to slow any encroaching mental breakdowns. Thanks.

[Samu-kun]

The lint's looking pretty unusual, mostly because of the high menu count and the low number of words on the screen at any given time. 6.6 words a screen seems kind of low. Are you sure you're not loading up on too much "... ... ..." or

"cutting sentences..."
"off..."
"too much..."
"and giving everyone..."
"carpal tunnel syndrome..."
"as they keep..."
"clicking on the screen..."
"to make the words..."
"advance?"

Cutting up sentences and adding ellipses every now and then is okay, but the constant clicking can get on people's nerves if it continues straight for an hour.

72 menus sounds like a bit too much, but without seeing the script, I can't really say for certain. Mostly, I think it's going to be a headache for you, since it's going to be a pain trying to remember how and when the story branches and merges. It's also going to be pretty hard keeping the script consistent, since you need to keep track of what combination of choices the player has made in the past.

[Fireserpent]

Again it's -really- about the style of your game. How much is the player involved with the main character's choices? Is it a story directed at "you" or at another/other characters? Is it an rpg or a dating sim? Then you could potentially have -tons- of choices. If it's more of a novel, you may not need a lot of choices at all.

Code: Select all

The game contains 7408 screens of dialogue.
These screens contain a total of 57249 words,
for an average of 7.7 words per screen.
The game contains 678 menus.

This may seem a lot. But it's a dating sim which includes a store for tons of items, menues for eating. Also, the player character only speaks through menu choices, (As 'you' are in control of the character) The word per screen count would go up quite a bit without this stuff. But since it's a totally menu/choice driven game, that's how it's intended. It probably wouldn't work at all with a game that's more story driven (This one is more game driven with interactive dialogues)

Personally, I'd not worry too much about the statistics, especially not if you feel that your game flows well and it's enjoyable. Mine works exactly as intended and it's loads of fun so far!

[playswithtribbles]

The lint's looking pretty unusual, mostly because of the high menu count and the low number of words on the screen at any given time. 6.6 words a screen seems kind of low. Are you sure you're not loading up on too much "... ... ..." or

"cutting sentences..."
"off..."
"too much..."
"and giving everyone..."
"carpal tunnel syndrome..."
"as they keep..."
"clicking on the screen..."
"to make the words..."
"advance?"

Cutting up sentences and adding ellipses every now and then is okay, but the constant clicking can get on people's nerves if it continues straight for an hour.

I know what you mean, I hate that myself.

That's why I was kind of surprised by the low average of words per screen so far. Because most of my writing is longer:
-Example: Random scene from my VN:
('pc' is the main character's thoughts, 'mpc' is the main character, and 's' stands for Seth a datable guy.)

pc "And there he is standing there with that smile like he knows something I don't..."
mpc "Why is it always because of {i}you{/i}?"
mpc "Every time I'm late, it's because {i}you{/i} needed help, or {i}you{/i} needed to ask me something."
mpc "It's because {i}you{/i} are dragging me around somewhere saying it's 'important',"
mpc "And I end up being chased around by jealous women who think I'm your girlfriend, or-"
s "In my defense, I didn't date any of those women, they just sort of follow me around."
mpc "And you just end up dragging me to some statue or something, and ask tons of questions about it."
mpc "unlike {i}some{/i} people I actually go to school, and I don't have endless amounts of free time."
s "...{w} You done?"
mpc "... I think so."

Than I realized what brings my average down so much, scenes like this:
(Hard to explain this one... Just picture a girl, a guy, and a blob-like familiar in a very compromising position.)

mpc "ow..."
f "mmph!"
l "...!"
s "Hello? %(povname)s?"
pc "uh-oh"
centered "Seth enters the room"
s "I heard a crash are you all righ-"
s "!?"
mpc "This isn't what it looks like,"
f "Yes it is! You tried to take advantage of my Locke!"
l "..."
mpc "..."
s "..."
f "..."
s "And you always complain about {i}me{/i} going to wild parties..."

I tend to write in quite a few awkward silences, and the occasional "Ok, then..." moment. But I will go through and fix a lot of them to make it flow more naturally later. However I will still keep some of them just so you can see the character's expressions when they are saying "...".

But thank you for the critiques, I love Drama and I'm used to constructive criticism. Remind me to look you up when I'm at the proof-reading portion of the event.

[Fireserpent]

I've found the sentence length to be a tricky balance to hit.. I don't want too many or too long sentences, and not have it all broken up.. I guess it has to match the feel and pace the characters have when speaking.

"So..." could work in isolation if it's meant to have a beat or a pause to start a new string of dialogues, but would probably get really annoying if used in isolation each time.