Looking to form/join a hobbyist VN group.

[LordShiranai]

Good day to all Lemma Soft forum goers.

For the past several months, I have been experimenting with Ren'Py's capabilities, brainstorming, creating bizarre functionality way outside the intended scope of the engine, and trolling the forums engaging in intellectual debate on the forums. During this time, I have formulated several visual novel ideas, some of which I feel are fairly well laid out. I have also tested several types of accompanying game mechanics for use with a VN.

My educational background is in computer science, but since my day job does not actually involve writing code, I am looking for avenues to make use of this background before my skills become too rusty. I figure that putting games together is a good avenue, since I have been an avid gamer all of my life. I still consider myself new with Ren'Py, but I love how it is flexible and can facilitate more complex games than other VN engines.

Unfortunately, writing and being able to code are only small pieces of the VN puzzle. Truth be told, I am not a very good artist, and thus it will likely be very difficult for me to see any of my ideas to completion my own. After much deliberation, I have decided to seek out other hobbyists who possess the skills I lack (mainly the ability to draw better than a third grader) to form a VN creation alliance. Since I do not have the capital to start a commercial VN group (yay crappy economy), I am looking to start off as an "amateur" group.

Before I get ahead of myself, these are the general types of things that interest me in games:

• Traditional, D&D-like fantasy settings.
• Some supernatural elements, such as seen in Fate/Stay Night.
• Mysteries.
• RPG elements, or other elements that are beyond simplistic VNs such as card games or dice games.
• I prefer plots where romance is a secondary / optional (similar to what you'd see in a Bioware game), but am open to ren'ai games if the characters are compelling.
• Complex characters that stray from stereotypes and are generally complex individuals. I do not like Moeblobs (except maybe as a mascot), Useless Sues, etc.
• I prefer games designed with older teenagers or adults in mind, which might contain mature or complex themes. I am comfortable with a light amount of "fan service," but I am not seeking to make eroge.
• I often enjoy when games have throwbacks to the 16-bit or 8-bit eras, and also enjoy silly pop-culture references.

With all this being said, I am very open to feedback and I am looking for collaborators who share similar interests. Though I have several story and character concepts formulated, I am looking to ideally get together with other hobbyists and so can "bounce ideas" off of each other to improve the process as a whole. (So I'm not just looking for someone to tell "Draw This.")

Below are the type of people I'm looking to collaborate with:

• An artist. Someone who is reasonably skilled at manga-styled art, and who also enjoys drawing things commonly placed within fantasy and/or supernatural settings.
• A composer. Someone who can put together background music and some character themes.

If you think that you might share my general interests in game genres, and are perhaps looking for a writer / coder to team up with, feel free to PM me and I will happily discuss some of my more developed concepts with you. If you have any of your own concepts that are similar thematically but need someone with more technically-oriented skills to help, I would also be open to discussion on helping you develop that concept into a game.

[Nicol Armarfi]

Composer here; I think it is nice that someone is actually looking to set up some kind of semi-structured VN group. I'd be glad to join in

[LordShiranai]

Composer here; I think it is nice that someone is actually looking to set up some kind of semi-structured VN group. I'd be glad to join in :)

I appreciate your interest. I want to form a collaborative group, since I know that there are actually very few people with all the overlapping skillets needed to make a decent, original VN with a reasonable scope. I've seen impressive results, however, from groups that have managed to come together. While I can continue to experiment with Ren'Py on my own, I know that I'll need collaborators to make a decent game.

Hopefully we can get a few more responses here and then start discussing ideas with interested parties. :)

[DaFool]

Can't you just join projects here and there though? It doesn't really matter if it's Team Alpha or Team Beta as long as you contribute to a finished release.

Many groups I see tend to have quite the... political... arrangement.

[LordShiranai]

Can't you just join projects here and there though? It doesn't really matter if it's Team Alpha or Team Beta as long as you contribute to a finished release.

Many groups I see tend to have quite the... political... arrangement.

Just to be clear, my goal is not to monopolize people within one group or tell people "if you collaborate with me, you cannot collaborate with others."

However, I also have noticed that there are quite few established people on these forums are working on commercial projects. My goal is to put together a group that is comprised of people who are currently hobbyists, like myself, which is why I made a post tailored along those lines.

I would personally like to create a VN with entirely original content, and have several ideas worked out. However, I recognize that I do not have the artistic skill or music composition skill to pull off a project on my own. However, I think it would be more interesting and fulfilling to get other people involved in the creative process. Ideallly, I don't want to just find an artist and tell them "draw this." Therefore, I am seeking collaborators so that everyone can provide each other feedback and put together a project where everyone can hone their specific skills.

My hope is to work with a couple others and release a couple amateur games which would be free. You could consider it a doujin-soft circle or whatever. If we like working with each other, then there is always a possibility that the collaborative relationship will evolve, or people may also choose to move on to other projects. Either way, I am totally fine with people working on multiple projects. I know that artists, especially, are in demand around here.

[DaFool]

Mmm, okay. I'll be apt to join a commercial group because of the practical benefits, namely shared webhosting costs, shared pool of customers, a strong brand that is sustained by a steady stream of releases (hard to go at it alone if each release takes years of development), and someone else to help pitch in the tech support hotline so that you have more time for development.

The brainstorming / roundtable type of sharing ideas seems like something fit for a smaller forum. But you (or someone) would have to designate a 'core team', or several eventually.

I admit, the idea of an officially incarnated "Doujin Circle" is pretty grand.

[LordShiranai]

Mmm, okay. I'll be apt to join a commercial group because of the practical benefits, namely shared webhosting costs, shared pool of customers, a strong brand that is sustained by a steady stream of releases (hard to go at it alone if each release takes years of development), and someone else to help pitch in the tech support hotline so that you have more time for development.

The brainstorming / roundtable type of sharing ideas seems like something fit for a smaller forum. But you (or someone) would have to designate a 'core team', or several eventually.

I admit, the idea of an officially incarnated "Doujin Circle" is pretty grand.

I can see where your coming from. If you are looking for work that will bring in money immediately, or are already working on a commercial project, what I'm proposing here is probably not for you. Unless you're that bored and feel the need to donate your time.

I should add to the conversation that if I get the interested parties who can round out needed skillsets (we need a minimum of three people), I am planning to put together a sub domain under my current web hosting for us to discuss our ideas in a smaller forum / setting.

@Nicol Armarfi:

I'll circle back with you on this topic once I find an interested artist.

[Morhighan]

Hey there. I'm forming a Visual Novel creation team. Mostly just for the sake of hobby-ing. You are more than welcome to join. It is called "Disenchanted Doll VN."

Here is a little information about us:
Disenchanted Doll VN is a visual novel creation team. We are always looking for new members and support. While we primarily make OELVNs, we are also open to other language possibilities.

We are a group of writers, composers, programmers, and artists of all types who work on projects both together and apart.

By joining Disenchanted Doll Visual Novel creation team, you retain all rights to redistribute any art made in the name of the group, you are allowed to distribute it as you like both under your name and the name of the group. Any profit made is equally distributed or allotted to the creator(s).

EDIT:
I'm not saying that you shouldn't make a group of your own, but if you're interested, we're here for you and you're welcome to be affiliated with us.

[LordShiranai]

Hey there. I'm forming a Visual Novel creation team. Mostly just for the sake of hobby-ing. You are more than welcome to join. It is called "Disenchanted Doll VN."

Thanks for your offer, but I'm probably going to pass at this time.

I briefly reviewed your current project and DA account, and while it looks like it is progressing very well (character sprites look good), I don't think that the the genre your group is targeting meshes with the types of games I'd like to work on. I should probably have been a bit more clear when I listed supernatural, since that's a fairly wide term. It seems you guys are going for a more "gothic" feel than I generally like writing for.

[Morhighan]

Oh, that's fine. We want a wide variety, not a particularly set notion of VNs. Well, either way, we can't wait to see what you come up with. And there's always partnership to be had! Good luck!

[YonYonYon]

I can help with character sprites. Now I'm writing script fo my VN, so I have some time for drawing.

[Hax Ed The Lion]

I'm usually picky as to who I ask, but I'm always looking for programming talent. Having said that, would you be interested in joining the dojin group Lycheesoft? The group works with mostly horror- and mystery-themed material. We're generally anti-fantasy, although sometimes paranormal stuff is mixed in with our projects. The group is relatively new. However, our projects namely use ONScripter builds. We avoid Ren'Py.

If you're interested, feel free to check out the dev blog and shoot me an email/PM.

http://www.lycheesoft.wordpress.com

[shahab96]

Before I get ahead of myself, these are the general types of things that interest me in games:
Some supernatural elements, such as seen in Fate/Stay Night.
RPG elements, or other elements that are beyond simplistic VNs such as card games or dice games.
I prefer games designed with older teenagers or adults in mind, which might contain mature or complex themes. I am comfortable with a light amount of "fan service," but I am not seeking to make eroge.

If you're looking for this kind of stuff i will gladly join your group (although i can't draw or compose). I am also in the computer science field, though I still have to finish university (no thanks to physics). You may have read my post about the world map system I am creating for my game, if not then here is the link.
I believe I can supply you with various ideas and ways to implement them. Truth is, I want to make a game that one wouldn't expect to see in Ren'Py made games, so I spend quite alot of time thinking about elements beyond simplistic VNs, in your words, and I am also a...uhhh....philosophist??? well i'm very interested in that kind of stuff...so i can help you with the fantasy stuff as well, although this will also probably just be ideas and suggestions. Hopefully, I will be able to be of some kind of help to you, especially since Rentweet has helped me make alot of progress in my game, I want to do something to return the favor.

[LordShiranai]

I'm usually picky as to who I ask, but I'm always looking for programming talent. Having said that, would you be interested in joining the dojin group Lycheesoft? The group works with mostly horror- and mystery-themed material. We're generally anti-fantasy, although sometimes paranormal stuff is mixed in with our projects. The group is relatively new. However, our projects namely use ONScripter builds. We avoid Ren'Py.

If you're interested, feel free to check out the dev blog and shoot me an email/PM.

http://www.lycheesoft.wordpress.com

I looked over it and while I might consider it, I am trying to see if I can get a group together that will focus on Ren'Py-based development. This does not mean I will never use another engine, but I have invested a reasonable amount of time into learning about Ren'Py's capabilities.

If you're looking for this kind of stuff i will gladly join your group (although i can't draw or compose). I am also in the computer science field, though I still have to finish university (no thanks to physics). You may have read my post about the world map system I am creating for my game, if not then here is the link.
I believe I can supply you with various ideas and ways to implement them. Truth is, I want to make a game that one wouldn't expect to see in Ren'Py made games, so I spend quite alot of time thinking about elements beyond simplistic VNs, in your words, and I am also a...uhhh....philosophist??? well i'm very interested in that kind of stuff...so i can help you with the fantasy stuff as well, although this will also probably just be ideas and suggestions. Hopefully, I will be able to be of some kind of help to you, especially since Rentweet has helped me make alot of progress in my game, I want to do something to return the favor.

I'll send you a copy of the current pitch I sent to other interested parties via PM. If I get favorable responses to the idea (or someone has a similar and interesting idea), I'm pretty sure that we could use additional people. The first game I would personally like to make is more of a traditional VN, though I clearly share your mindset of wanting to eventually make games which are of a more elaborate nature.

Provided I get favorable responses via PM, those interested can figure out a name for the group and I can put together a smaller forum.

Also, I'm glad you like Rentweet. I hope to get 1.1 out in the next few weeks.

[pkt]

Hey, I do a decent amount of writing, programming, composing, art and character design. I would like to join your team in any role possible. I prefer not to have a writing or background artist role be if that's what you need I'll do it.