STATiC [Semi-Autobiographical]

[Rozume]

You are in a mental hospital.
You will have constant therapy.
You will be put on medication.
You will be static.

Hi guys, so I recently had this idea for a short VN/KN that will be based on certain events in my life. It's going to be really short about 10k words or less, with minimal art and sound so I hope I can get it out sometime this summer (for real).

There's not much for me to add since this is just a recent idea so, uh, I leave you with some questions:

1. Would you like to have choices/interactivity in this? If so, to what extent?
2. What are your feelings about a semi-autobiographical Visual Novel?
3. Any other questions/comments you'd like to add?

[Asceai]

1. Not at 10K words.
2. Doesn't matter one way or the other. Just know that narrative doesn't get an automatic pass just because it's about events that happened- rules of pacing and flow still apply.
3. What does static mean in this case?

[Rozume]

@Asceai

I thought so too.

Hmm, I'm actually thinking about making this in a non-sequitur format. Sort of abstract. I really am going for something raw, yet artistic.

"Static" means actual static. P:

[Haze]

Some answers to the questions:

1. Would you like to have choices/interactivity in this? If so, to what extent?

Since it's going to be short, I wouldn't put choices. However, if you want to(for example) show a feeling of helplessness by having all choices result in the same thing(i.e asking a doctor "Who are you?" "Why am I here?" or "When can I go home? I miss my cat." all result in the doctor saying "Please wait until a personal therapist comes to assist you." or something) then that would be fine.

2. What are your feelings about a semi-autobiographical Visual Novel?

Well, semi-autobiographical means that you'll have more of yourself in this VN, which can give it an open, honest feel. This also means, though, that you'll probably get more angry/insulted when people don't like your game. So, keep in mind that it's a bit of a tradeoff.

3. Any other questions/comments you'd like to add?

I know you said

"Static" means actual static. P:

above, but by that do you mean TV static? Static can also mean "unchanging" or "unmoving", and, when applied to a character, it can mean "a person who's unwilling to change". So, depending on the story you're going to tell, the word "static" can be a metaphor for something.
Also, I'm a bit curious about why the "i" in "STATiC" is lowercase. Is it because you/the protag didn't feel that the mental institution gave enough attention to individual people?

Hope you get this out soon! You'll finally get a completed game under your belt, yay!

[NekoNutchi]

1. Yeah, maybe 2 choices (and 4 endings) would be suitable considering the scope? But it really depends more on if they add anything to the story. For example if the main character faces a crossroad-situation in their life, and there was an option you faced in a similar way, maybe you could explore both a semi-autobiographical event, as well as something you didn't experience (which could be ANYTHING).

2. DESPAIR! (At least when i made one inspired by my own life, but i strongly believe anyone else would handle it better. So change that to INTEREST).

3. Hmm, i guess i could say something on what i did wrong, or what i hated so much about my own project of a similar genre. First of all, i was kinda depressed when i wrote the thing, and it ended up quite dark, in general something i didn't want to show anyone. One of the main characters (there were two siblings, randomly assigned to play as) took herself too seriously and brooded on existential questions a lot, which i think most players would find boring and/or depressing (feel free to correct me if i'm wrong about this). Another thing; i wasn't careful enough when including taboo topics, and somehow thought i could manage to portray incest, rape, avoidant personality disorder and suicide within 20 000 words. -.-'
That said, this isn't me trying to prevent you from including whatever you want and succeeding with it, i just wanted to raise a bit of caution to some of the points that lead me astray.

Anyways, good luck with your project, i'd definitely be interested in reading it!

[Alte]

1. About 10k amount of words, Kinetic.
What I like to try in a kinetic novel would be a few linear choices to show minimal interaction with characters based on their response to a question or choice. Even with a little interactivity it can still be a kinetic for following the flow of one ending.

2. I'm eager to read how it flows through in a visual novel format.

3. Great title, it stands out.