Announcing "Robot", my NaNoRenO project featuring mystery, romance and science-fiction.
Lelia, a 17 year old girl does not return from an evening stroll in the forest near the city on the river. Her sister and best friend are worried to say the least.
This is my first time to write such a large project and my teeth are clattering and my knuckles white from equal amounts of anticipation and fear. I'll just keep on writing and try to keep my wits together..
Your VN will have mecha in it? Yay! I'll wait eagerly for your game ^_^
So what kind of tip? I love mecha and draw lots of them. Well, for starter, you'll want to think what kind robot you'll make. Super type, Real type, or mix?
Super -> Mazinger, Getter Robo G, Combattler, Godannar, Gravion, Guren Lagan
Real -> Gundam, Patlabor, Macross, Votom, Armored Core, Nadesico
Mix -> Evangelion, RahXePhone
And then, how strong your robot is? Godlike, super strong, or just so-so (realistic). Usually real type have so-so strength while super tends to be godlike.
Godlike -> RahXePhone, Ideon (could even destroy whole universe in a blink of an eye)
Strong -> Evangelion, Wing Gundam and several newer Gundam (like G Gundam, Double X, etc), Mazinger, Grandizer, Getter Robo, Armored Core, Virtuaroids (Virtual On)
So-so -> Valkyrie (Macross), UC Gundams (Universal Century Gundam, like RX-78/79, Z/ZZ, F-90/91, V, GP-01/02/03), Votom, Labor (Patlabor), Gundam Turn-A/Turn-X, Aestivalis (Nadesico)
After that, how plentiful your mecha is? Mass produced where everyone could have it? Or everyone will have their own unique mecha (usually in form of prototype)? Or it's only one of a kind?
Mass produced -> Valkyrie, Labor, Votom, Armored Core, Virtuaroids, Aestivalis
Rare -> Gundams, Godannar
One of a kind -> Mazinger, Evangelion, Combatler, RahXePhone, Ideon
* Note: Gundam offer both plentiful and rare mecha (prototype). Usually side kick or normal soldier will pilot mass produced MS while main guys pilots prototype Gundam/MS.
* Note2: in one of a kind type, there are two kinds of mecha. One is where the mecha is extremely rare but still replaceable (so if it's damaged/destroyed, you could still replace/repair it). The other is where the mecha is really only one, usually considered as living entity/unknown being/mecha.
Finally... the pilots, one who riders the mecha. First, are the pilots normal human beings, super beings, or just simply must have some condition fulfilled before piloting the mechas (but still normal human)?
Normal human -> Valkyrie, Labor, Armored Core, Mazinger, and lots more.
Special condition -> Evangelion (high synchro rate)
Non-normal human -> Candidate for Goddess (human with EX abilities), Gundam (new type, coordinator), SRW Original Generation (Psycho Driver)
And then is there any special condition to activate/pilot the mecha? Is everyone could pilot that mecha? Or some special condition must be fulfilled? Or only one person could pilot it?
Everyone -> Valkyrie, Gundam, Labor, Aestivalis, Armored Core, Mazinger, Getter Robo, etc
Special Condition -> Evangelion (high synchro rate and need lots of adjustments), some Gundam (like Unicorn Gundam/DX Gundam which need a newtype to activate the machine)
Only one person -> RahXePhone, Eva-001 (you know the reason), Goddess from Candidate of Goddess (must be selected by the Goddess herself).
* Note : Usually, a godlike mecha will select its pilot (or simply couldn't be piloted by anyone)
Well, that's all tips I could give at the moment, I think. The rest is depending on your story.
"Double the princesses, quadruple the fun!" - Haken Browning (SRW-OG Endless Frontier)
Don't forget Western Mecha (Battle Tech | MechWarrior) as one of the styles of Mecha.
Also, what are the uses for Mecha, are they strictly military? Are there comercial non-combat models? Are they used for entertainment (arenas competitons etc). How much of the culture does it permeate? Is it as popular as nascar and have some fans and well known, or is it part of every day life where I would wake up and eat Robo-shaped Cereal, read a romance novel about two mech fighters, and then go to classes with everyone else to mecha school?
Also AI can also be important if you want it to be. Are AIs (completely artificial intelligence, as opposed to 'virtual intelligence') legal? If not, are there negative rumors surrounding them? If they are legal, how common is there use? Are people generally considered weak for using them? What kind of problems happen with AI?
Also, where did the technology come from? Did it come from aliens or an amazing discovering (Other technologies in the world wouldn't have time to build off of it, so you could have very advanced machines but only modern medicine)? Was it top-secret millitary science (Futuristic mecha and other future tech, but it'd likely be controlled or very expensive)? Was it completely or mostly developed in the private/commercial sector (The advancements in the robotics would be concurrent and even bleed over into other sciences, and because of the commercial sector these future techs would be relatively affordable and common)?
Good luck and I hope my questions can help you work out a setting. If you need any help coming up with ideas, I have ADHD so I'd me more than willing to toss ideas your way if you need them.
Having spent the afternoon shaping and molding the story, the mecha aspect got concentrated into the titular robot. I will have to do some sketching tomorrow.
And yay! I will be conducting a writing retreat this weekend. Just me, my T61 and 8m2 of total solitude. I just have to avoid being distracted by hunger..
PinkMagus wrote:
Don't forget Western Mecha (Battle Tech | MechWarrior) as one of the styles of Mecha.
Design-wise, BTech started off borrowing mecha from Macross (Warhammer, Marauder, Stinger), Crusher Joe (Locust) and Dougram (Griffin, Shadow Hawk). It's pretty obvious where they got their inspiration, just as it's pretty obvious where the Heavy Gear guys got theirs.
Category-wise, they're just the same mass-produced military-mecha that LVUER called 'Real' - it's just the ones in BTech are a bit larger than the ones in VOTOMS. A BTech Warhammer isn't really that different to a Macross Tomahawk destroid so far as any categorisation scheme is concerned. I can't think of any western-produced mecha franchises offhand which don't fit into one of LVUER's categories.
Anyway, I'll be sure to check this one out when it's done - I'm contractually obliged to give anything with mecha in a go. ;-)
Today was spent tinkering on a possible main menu concept. In the end, it got scrapped because it doesn't fit the image I have of the game. Or maybe I realized what I wanted after I had finished this?
I want to do at least my own lineart, but colouring takes a terrible amount of time. Is it realistic to have someone else colour my lines? How much time would organizing it take versus the time I would have to spend doing it myself?
Today I wrote the first 1000 words. The introduction, along with the first menu. How many words per screen is usually ok? Currently lint gives me 8.5 which I think it's a bit on the short side, but quite comfortable to read. Since I'm writing in third person, 'she' and 'he' are quite difficult to avoid.
Also, why does every other visual novel insist on introducing the characters one by one? I understand the need to do that with eroges, where you might want to go for a girl with a specific personality, but with a regular story? No need, I feel. This is how I do it instead:
Lelia is a 17-year old high school student. After her parents perished, she moved to this nondescript small town with her older sister, Nina. Her deskmate, Denise keeps telling her how boring this little town is and how great it would be to escape the clutches of normalcy for a while and find some nice guy to cuddle with. But Lelia doesn't really care about that. For her, this town looks beautiful in summer, with the clear blue skies, dusty flower-sided roads and the mysterious robot standing in the middle of the quiet pine forest..
This menu screen works for me a lot better. I'll have to tweak the colours later, it's a bit saccharine at the moment. But the feel is right.
Also, this is a generic placeholder mecha. My own design is starting to differ a lot from the usual bipedal designs, because this is what the story calls for. Something truly different.
I'm quiet interested in your design... will you present us a picture?
And I think your new titel-screen is far too empty ^^ Isn't it about robots/mechas? Then you should use some brushes to make it look "dirty" or maybe futuristic?
Colo wrote:And I think your new titel-screen is far too empty ^^ Isn't it about robots/mechas? Then you should use some brushes to make it look "dirty" or maybe futuristic?
I think he's going for something a bit different, if you read the earlier entries. I really like the minimalistic design, though. I liked the earlier one too, but I can see you're going for something quite different. Looking forward to seeing a bit more.
Mental weather report: Cloudy with a possibility of brain storms.
Colo wrote:Oh, sorry! I'd just read the thing about robots and was skipping the story part ^^"
Ok, on that basis, I have done my interpretation for a Main-Screen background:
I'll admit, it does look very nice. But yes, it's about 120 degrees different from what I'm writing.. Well, especially after the yesterday evening's rewrite.
I'm sorry, I didn't know mentioning a mecha would get so much attention..
If I can get schoolwork out of the way, I can get back to writing tomorrow evening. My goal is to have the basic story down at 2500 words by sunday night. This means I can start drawing and editing/ rewriting as necessary. I want to get something done before those 21 days are up, but will probably push out a re-release later on.
We all love robots and there is not much robot VN (at least in this forum). I also have been thinking of making a robot VN, but right now I have better VN in my mind... specially made for NaNoRenO 2010, hehehehe...
"Double the princesses, quadruple the fun!" - Haken Browning (SRW-OG Endless Frontier)
Well, especially after the yesterday evening's rewrite.