Whats a good length for an otome game? and how many endings?

[Soychan]

Hello all! I'm still workking on my first otome game/ visual novel like thing... well, i've been calling it that but i'm starting to worry about the length of it and if it really counts?
i'm going to post a thread about it in the ' works in progress' section in a second
( its called LOVE SWAP)
but basically you have the choice of 5 guys,
and so far i've worked out a good ending for all of them
but no bad ones- and my question i, would that make it better
( i myself have never fallen into a bad route on a game so am uncertain)
but would like to hear from you!

also, whats a good length for one of these games? i know the story is important but is there a good time?
at the moment it stands at about 1 hour ( this is with the bare storyline.. and only good ending)

at the monent the game goes something like this:
you meet all 5 guys
you then have 3 choices to see 3 ( or one 3 times) to just visit/ talk to them alone
shower/fan service scene to make sure you've made the right choice
and event whereby whichever person you pick in this you will carry on thier story, as by this point you have gotten to know all of them, and probably picked your favourite.
and there are a few other little choice menu scenes that make no difference to the story what so ever.

SORRY THIS IS SO LONG!
do you think i should:
add bad endings, or more endings ( theres only 1 for each guy so far)
add more menu choices of meeting the guys more
have some sort of....scene, whereby all the boys are together. eg, a camping...trip so you can see them comunicating to one another.
and how long is a good length?
thankyou! x

[Efreet]

Hi there and welcome! Now, I can't really answer your questions but I can give you some advice - first thing's first, the length of your visual novel should be made entirely up to you. If you want more on the idea of how long, it should be long enough for you to tell each characters story. Going onto length, most professional VNs are about 5+ hours would be my guess...

Usually a lot of people have huge ideas as to what they'd like to accomplish on their first visual novel and never end up finishing it - usually there's too much work to be done. So to avoid this you might want to compromise (quality over quantity).

You could add bad endings based on the decisions that the player might make - trying to see too many guys at once or deciding to say something wrong. Then again, decisions don't need to be that straight foward, you could have your protagonist say something meaningful only to have something bad happen because of that as an example of a trick decision.

[Soychan]

Thankyou!
Five hours is bloody long! haha- I dont think i have the patience to even consider that, but maybe after hearing your repsonse i would like to bulk it out to be about 2 hours long per story ( at the moment its the bare bones)
so you dont think people would be ..'unhappy' * for lack of a better word* with no bad endings
i was thinking of maybe having 2 endings per...lad, just to give the player a bit more control such as...
maybe
one being to leave school and...become an actor
and another leading to staying in school and becoming a dentist
either way you still are with your man of choice, but in 2 seperate scenarios

thankyou for your response, its put me at ease!
Please check it out when its finished!
( i also noticed you were from the UK also,- hello fellow brit!)

[Efreet]

Haha looks like I'm not the only Brit up this late!

You could tell a story without any bad ends and it'd still be a story, it just depends on who your audience is and what you want them to take out of it. By allowing choices that could end in 'bad endings', you're giving more choice to the player and potentially allow them to become attached to your characters. That said, your bad endings should carry weight with them, otherwise they might seem weak - imagine setting up a dilemma where the player is needed in different places at the same time by different guys.

For example:
The male actor wanted your protagonist to see him on stage preforming and that afterwards he had something important to tell you, however at the same time maybe another guy was at a band concert and needed you to give him something urgently. Picking one or either could result in a really bad falling out...

Well I hope that helps! Good luck on your project.

[Mink]

The way I see it, the length should be as long as it needs to be. Trying to force it into a certain length may only result in padding or unnecessary things, which could end up detracting from the overall story.

[psy_wombats]

Just as a side note though, if this is your first project, try and make something relatively short just so you can get something finished.

[HikkiPanda]

I can't answer about the length since I'm also still pretty new on this subject ^^; ... but regarding the ending, maybe as many as possible? I think a lot of people loves collecting and completing those endings, it's like 'Achievement' to them o:

[LVUER]

Commercial and free game have different standards, especially if those are professionally made with premium price. For free game, there is no ideal length. Any length is fine since it's free anyway. Just make it to your liking and comfort.

[Mink]

LVUER's got a point, but I've played commercial/mainstream games that after a certain point I wished would just end all ready. >x>

[xelacroix]

more gameplay less dialogue

[Soychan]

Thanks everyone!
@ xelacroix more game play and less dialogue?...I dont think you'll like mine then, as its a conversation based game!

I'll do my best to squeeze in a few more endings but i'll make sure its finished also! ( Its for my college project also, so it WILL be finished!)

I'll put up a thread about the 'ongoing' of it today and when i finish it if it has possitive feedback i'll add more to it! ( and get a proper back ground artist maybe...rather than using free ones!)

[azureXtwilight]

more gameplay less dialogue

That's more of a dating sim rather than a visual novel, and even dating sim has a lot of dialogues XD