Lemma Soft Forums

Currently my VN has a short hook of 250 words.

The first chapter concludes with a very impactful moment approx 2750 words in.

The introductory chunk of the story concludes with everything set (first large twist, overarching antagonist for story established, stakes of story established, protagonist motivations established.) approx 8000 words in.

I know that in a regular novel these would be quite good numbers in regards to pacing. Is the same true for VNs or should I adjust faster? Or do I have the leeway to go slower and build better bridges between my characters and the readers?

Most adults read between 200-300 words a minute, so I think that pacing is pretty good.

It means your intro would last about 30 minutes for most players, which I think is normal and not overly long.

The general rule for reference is 10k words = 1 hour of playtime, though depending on the content it could be a little more like 10k = 1:30 hrs. This is for VNs, novels read quite a bit faster.

So that would set up your introductory arc around an hour of playtime. I would say by comparison to most VNs that's pretty quick.
I find most players are comfortable with 2-3 hours of playtime per session and if you're breaking your story up into chapters you can try to pace the ups and downs around player attention span.