LGBT visual novels- How do you like your endings?

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rincewind
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Re: LGBT visual novels- How do you like your endings?

#16 Post by rincewind »

papillon wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2017 4:59 pm For yuri fans specifically, a lot of them will flip tables if any bad end includes "so now I'm going to go marry a man and have babies". I suspect many of them would much rather have a bad end of "and then my girlfriend turned into a yandere mad scientist and chained me up in her basement and I slowly lost my mind"
Oh yes. More than flip tables I would probably crush the table into the wall. And douse it with gas to set it on fire.

But the other kind of bad endings, I like having them as long as there a chance to get a good one. That's the thing that I like about videogames, the interactivity, that you can change the story!
And in the end I like stories with happy lesbians, not sad ones. But if they must pass hardships to earn their happy end, that could even make the good end even sweeter.

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Re: LGBT visual novels- How do you like your endings?

#17 Post by neowired »

It's not about endings being good or bad, but about satisfying endings and unsatisfying endings.
For example, take a horror game, you can have 10 endings in which the character dies in multiple different gruesome ways, and it can be very satisfying.

It's about knowing how to write in a satisfying way. Learn to write bad endings in a way which is satisfying to read. There are many ways to do it. Try to make every ending deeply satisfying, no matter how good or bad it is. I don't like sad endings, but even sad endings can be satisfying if written well.

Differentiate between good/bad endings and happy/sad endings, because it's not the same. If we twist the semantics, both, happy and sad endings can be good (satisfying) or bad (unsatisfying). Make all your endings deeply satisfying, it doesn't matter if they are happy or sad, dark or bright, or something in between. Try to have the type of ending received pander to the sort of choices the player made in a satisfying way, because that's the sort of ending they want. If the player makes aggressive choices, end everything in a bloodbath, if the player makes cuddly choices give them a fluffy happy ending where the good triumphs. Ah, I know what, undertale is a decent example!

Write strong endings, dial it all up to 11. Make things exciting. Don't write meaningless endings, every ending should have a strong punch and be larger than life. Note, this response is more about writing satisfying fiction rather than writing realistic fiction. Let your imagination run wild, it will be more fun to read.

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Re: LGBT visual novels- How do you like your endings?

#18 Post by ggenogold »

sugarberry wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2017 12:53 am Hi everyone <3!!!! I've got The Monstrous Heart, an LGBT visual novel, in the works, and I wanted to know~

Would you prefer only happy endings, or would you prefer the traditional good, neutral, and bad endings?
I'm on the manner of thinking that you should do what your story requires of you, regardless of genre conventions or outside peer pressure. All in all, if you wanted an escapist happy ending, you should have chosen an escapist happy story to begin with. But even drama could have a happy ending if it's meant for catharsis after a really shitty turn of events for your main character, but eh....

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Re: LGBT visual novels- How do you like your endings?

#19 Post by Zylinder »

I read more LGBT books than LGBT games, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. The thing that I'm quite unfond of is the rehashing of bad endings that stem from their LGBT statuses -- people being ostracized, kicked out of their house, commit suicide etc. for their sexuality. While it's a real and serious issue, a lot of media use it as a quick fix and a shorthand for angst.

If done well and actually relevant to the characters at hand, I'll say just go for anything you want to do. I personally prefer human endings, an ending tailored to the person, their thoughts and their approaches to life instead of an objectively good-bad-great ending. Something that a character considers a great ending might be at contrast with what the player thinks is a great ending, which is an interesting scenario.

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Re: LGBT visual novels- How do you like your endings?

#20 Post by sugarberry »

Woof! I've not seen this thread in months because I've really been in the thick of it with the creation of this thing, and I've actually come to a decision regarding this???

Some clearer backstory: All of my characters save for ONE in this story are on the LGBT spectrum, simply because I'm pansexual myself and I'm making a story that I'd personally love to play as well as an otome for an LGBT audience (they're so rare!).

My characters all exist in a world where sexual orientation was never really a question of ~~~what is and isn't normal (bleugh)~~~, simply just?? Something that happens. People just.....fall in love and like the people they like. There, it's truly nbd. So, that being said, there's not really a massive focus on LGBT suffering- they're not humans, they're cryptids/fae/monsters, so they really have no reason to have the same prejudices as humans do!

My question was a bit poorly-worded, but I guess the heart of it would be if people would rather have an LGBT fluff game than see LGBT characters in tough situations, since, life is tough for us anyway. I've kind of made the choice that I want to make a sincere from-my-heart game with three separate endings. None of the endings involve any LGBT character dying horribly (like is much too common in general artistic media), nor does anyone suffer any huge flack for being LGBT in any way (Not that stories about those struggles are invalid! I just wish for a world where we aren't questioned, so I made one! ), so I'm really hoping this will be a really beautiful and interesting fantasy the community enjoys, without the worry of distressing fates often foisted upon us through storytelling <3.

And no, the wlw endings in TMH will most certainly NOT end with "one of them runs off with a dude". That R E A L L Y burns my biscuits. LOLOL <3 <3 <3

Thank you guys so much for all the thoughts!

Lmk if you have questions <3!!!
The one-girl game studio!

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