Search found 119 matches

by Parataxis
Tue Mar 07, 2017 10:15 am
Forum: Asset Creation: Writing
Topic: Route Choices: Free Will vs. Force
Replies: 12
Views: 3578

Re: Route Choices: Free Will vs. Force

I tend to like a mix, where based on earlier choices you've made you earn options at the end of the common route. That way I can leave a save there and not have to replay the whole game right away to get another route, but on the other hand it gives me the sense of organic progression from my own ch...
by Parataxis
Mon Feb 27, 2017 10:31 am
Forum: Asset Creation: Writing
Topic: Eliminating all forms of "to be": Active Voice
Replies: 10
Views: 1952

Re: Eliminating all forms of "to be": Active Voice

Consider "She felt distressed" vs "She was distressed" I think there is a point to be made that not all uses of "to be" are passive voice. However, there are also sentences where passive voice is the stronger choice. Consider the following pairing: Some one murdered her...
by Parataxis
Fri Feb 17, 2017 10:31 am
Forum: We are a Free Project looking for Partners
Topic: NaNoReno 2017 General Recruitment Thread!
Replies: 71
Views: 16520

Re: NaNoReno 2017 General Recruitment Thread!

Hi! I am a bit of everything but I would like to participate in NaNoReno as a sprite/CG Artist. (I can do backgrounds too if you don't mind them looking a bit terrible.) I have been drawing casually for a little over 10 years and I have a non-anime cartoony style. (Samples Below) I am looking for a...
by Parataxis
Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:41 pm
Forum: Asset Creation: Writing
Topic: Any suggestions on how to strengthen this external conflict?
Replies: 16
Views: 2095

Re: Any suggestions on how to strengthen this external confl

So, the thing is, a few days after taking the test before the program begins, there is an assembly in which results are revealed including each citizens spouse. And by his ex-boyfriend not taking the test, he's placed himself in non-citizen status and is no longer allowed to live in the same distri...
by Parataxis
Mon Feb 13, 2017 7:58 pm
Forum: Asset Creation: Writing
Topic: Any suggestions on how to strengthen this external conflict?
Replies: 16
Views: 2095

Re: Any suggestions on how to strengthen this external confl

I mean, perhaps it's just me, but it sounds like you need two external goals: one to drive the character in the beginning and one to drive the character deeper into the conspiracy. Now, obviously for optimal story telling these two things should be related, but they needn't be. In fact, the internal...
by Parataxis
Thu Feb 02, 2017 5:32 pm
Forum: Asset Creation: Writing
Topic: How visual novel writing is different
Replies: 8
Views: 3790

Re: How visual novel writing is different

I guess overall I found the piece focused on the difficulties and not on the opportunities of the format, and perhaps that is what you intended. But as a writer who as gone from prose to VN writing I found the discussion prescriptive. You set up problems with the text box to solve them by introduci...
by Parataxis
Wed Feb 01, 2017 9:17 am
Forum: Asset Creation: Writing
Topic: How visual novel writing is different
Replies: 8
Views: 3790

Re: How visual novel writing is different

I am with Mammon on the textbox issues. I usually find that in the flow of a scene people are unlikely to get confused by a short affirmation text box unless they, I don't know, saved and quit for the night on the "right" text box--which still doesn't preclude them from scrolling back. How...
by Parataxis
Tue Dec 20, 2016 12:48 pm
Forum: Creator Discussion
Topic: Games with 100+ characters
Replies: 17
Views: 2384

Re: Games with 100+ characters

I am still not getting the impression that you really understand what you're undertaking here. How long is this game? Story Arcs are fine, but by my math you have like 10 story arcs, minimum, for this game and not simple ones either if you're introducing 10 new characters in each one. To give you an...
by Parataxis
Mon Dec 19, 2016 10:34 am
Forum: Creator Discussion
Topic: Games with 100+ characters
Replies: 17
Views: 2384

Re: Games with 100+ characters

I have what I'd consider an almost absurdly big cast for a visual novel at 50 characters and I am barely get away with it. I don't even have to make you care enough about 70% of them to make you feel something when they die. I am skeptical that a game with 100+ characters could work unless it's like...
by Parataxis
Sat Dec 17, 2016 6:02 pm
Forum: Asset Creation: Writing
Topic: Using Different Themes Between Routes
Replies: 11
Views: 1892

Re: Using Different Themes Between Routes

This seems to have gone in a different direction, but to address the first post, I actually had a similar idea for my own game and the implementation of it is less difficult than you might think. In my case each theme is weaved into the plot by the focus on a particular character, accessed through a...
by Parataxis
Mon Dec 12, 2016 1:02 am
Forum: Creator Discussion
Topic: Why tell a story through a game instead of something else?
Replies: 10
Views: 2173

Re: Why tell a story through a game instead of something els

Shadow City was originally going to be a TV show, but once the medium shift was suggested it turned out that there were many things I liked much better about the VN genre. For one, I liked the ability to use parallel routes to really integrate different keystone characters into the main character's ...
by Parataxis
Mon Dec 05, 2016 1:39 pm
Forum: Asset Creation: Writing
Topic: What's the best way to write a VN Story?
Replies: 9
Views: 5034

Re: What's the best way to write a VN Story?

I actually do not recommend writing it as a novel first, since there's a ton of things that are incredibly easy to describe in prose that's nigh impossible to translate to the limited visuals/motion of the VN format. You don't really want to be catching those late in the process and then having to f...
by Parataxis
Fri Dec 02, 2016 9:45 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Adult Content Line
Replies: 16
Views: 2541

Re: Adult Content Line

So the issue here is that you need to be specific I think. A lot of the rules fall into two categories: weirdly legally defined and culturally defined and it's easier to tell by a case by case basis than actually fully define the latter. For my understanding, the general costuming line legally seems...
by Parataxis
Wed Nov 30, 2016 10:44 am
Forum: Asset Creation: Writing
Topic: Secrets behind the one-dimensional MC?
Replies: 12
Views: 3134

Re: Secrets behind the one-dimensional MC?

I dunno, I guess I have always found blandly characterized main characters to be distinct from truly faceless ones. Like, you can call Harry Potter an audience vessel if you like but he has a few clearly defined character traits that he doesn't really stray from even as he grows as a person. (With s...
by Parataxis
Tue Nov 29, 2016 12:02 pm
Forum: Asset Creation: Writing
Topic: Keep it real, or make it out-of-this-world weird?
Replies: 7
Views: 1292

Re: Keep it real, or make it out-of-this-world weird?

This is sort of precisely what I was getting at in my Post actually. There has been some conflation in the thread between subject matter and tone. And my writing tends to go rest on completely different ends of those two scales. I am writing a story that has a lot of quite ridiculous and fantastical...