Reflections on Your Debut

[DrakeNavarone]

I've been dwelling on this subject quite a bit recently, and there's been conversation about first games here and there too, so I wanted to get the community's thoughts on debut works. The problem is, there really isn't a blanket catch-all question I can ask, so I came up with a few for each of two groups.

For the VN veterans -- those who have made a few games already, or have put a few years between them and their first work:

• Looking back, how does it place with your other works? Does it rank well or does it sink to the bottom of the list?
• Is it a small source of embarrassment? Or a marker to show how far you've come? Or are you sentimental and protective of it?
• Was it a large and ambitious undertaking, or was it just an experiment to get your vn-making feet wet? Or somewhere in between?
• Would you change anything about it if you could?
• Did it have a lasting impact on how you approached your later works or future projects?

And for the newcombers -- those who are working on their first right now, or only just finished their debut piece:

• How much effort are/did you place on "getting it right the first time?" Just trying to get that first one out of the way, or trying to burst into the scene with a bang?
• If you already have plans for a new project, are you gonna go bigger and bolder, or curb your ambition back a little?
• How has the process of VN creation differed from your expectations, and where have those expectations been met? Has what you learned going to change your approach for your next title?
• Did you pursue other projects while working on your debut? Which idea came first, and which one gets more of your focus? For what reasons was the one you will/did finish first?
• Is this debut your "dream project"?
  If so, were you ready to take it on? How is it matching up to your ideal?
  If not, what made you decide not to do it as your first effort? When do you believe you'll be ready to try at it?

I really wanted to hear from the community about the emphasis placed on "their first time". I came into the forums at a time where it was encouraged to just play around with your debut, to get familiarized with the process and the engine and all the little parts of it. But recently, more and more high quality debuts have been produced, and I can only see the trend furthering upward as time goes on. I'm curious to see how much of that is people just doing a good job of something they are trying their hands at, or if a strong and deliberate push in effort has been made to make the first one a good one.

( Feel free to answer a question from the other group if you think it applies or is interesting... the more conversation, the better. )

[Snow Blossom]

How much effort are/did you place on "getting it right the first time?" Just trying to get that first one out of the way, or trying to burst into the scene with a bang?
Well I'm working on my first project right now, and... it was originally intended to be nice, small, and cute, but somehow evolved into a long, complex, and time-consuming game that I've really grown attached to and am essentially pouring my heart into. But either way, I wanted (and still want) the project to be well-designed and relatively interesting.

If you already have plans for a new project, are you gonna go bigger and bolder, or curb your ambition back a little?
I already have rather ambiguous ideas for future projects that'll probably double in size by the time I'm done with them, but as of now, the one I'm most attached to is much less complex (in terms of the number of characters) than the one I'm working on right now. But mainly, I think it'll depend on how I view my current project once I've completed - if it seems like I was trying too hard to fit too many things in, then yeah, I'd probably do shorter and less complicated games for practice before attempting a complex one again.

How has the process of VN creation differed from your expectations, and where have those expectations been met? Has what you learned going to change your approach for your next title?
I just dove into the process expecting the worst (before I had even begun, I was terrified by "THE CODE"), so everything turned out to be much easier than I had expected. And aside from striving towards a better organization of time, I think that I'll just continue to use the same approach, since it's been working out quite well.

Did you pursue other projects while working on your debut? Which idea came first, and which one gets more of your focus? For what reasons was the one you will/did finish first?
Well, I'm the type that tends to get obsessive about things, so until I had planned out 90% of the storyline, I didn't think up any new ideas at all. Even now, I just play around with a few new ideas, not really spending much time on any of them.

Is this debut your "dream project"?
Not really. In terms of content, it has unintentionally become the most realistic one that I've come up with so far, but I don't want it to be the "best one," with all of my later ones paling in comparison. I expect to improve both in art and in writing in the future, and I don't think that one project has to necessarily be the "best one." Sure, some may be shorter or less serious than others, but I hope that each one of my projects can be unique and interesting in its own way without having to be compared to any other one.

If not, what made you decide not to do it as your first effort? When do you believe you'll be ready to try at it?
Well, I do put a lot of energy and work into this project, but as I've said above, I think that every project should have enough effort put into it to make it able to stand alone as a decent piece of work, so for me, a "dream project" doesn't really exist.

*Phew* Aaaand I'm done!

[Gear]

I'm working on my very first project now, so here goes:

How much effort are/did you place on "getting it right the first time?" Just trying to get that first one out of the way, or trying to burst into the scene with a bang?

Burst into the scene with a bang. I've already got 10 good endings written out, and massive character development. I also have (unrelatedly) 10 characters, five main ones, and five hidden ones.

If you already have plans for a new project, are you gonna go bigger and bolder, or curb your ambition back a little?

I wish I could answer that, but I can't. I don't have a second project really in mind, though I toyed with the idea of a sequel. I can say that if I do end up making a sequel, it will have to be bigger and better than the original.

How has the process of VN creation differed from your expectations, and where have those expectations been met? Has what you learned going to change your approach for your next title?

I expected the toughest part to be coding and art. But considering I found a way to do the art in a relatively easy manner AND found an artist for the really hard stuff, the only difficult part turned out to be writing the story and trying to make it long without droning on. Honestly, at this point, there isn't a lot I feel like I could have done better so far, because I'm used to my normal creative style of coming up with things as I go along.

Did you pursue other projects while working on your debut? Which idea came first, and which one gets more of your focus? For what reasons was the one you will/did finish first?

I had considered doing a second VN that was much shorter at the same time, but I dropped the idea. The one I'm working on is too intensive.

Is this debut your "dream project"?

Yes. I wrote the first draft of this story in 2000.

If so, were you ready to take it on? How is it matching up to your ideal?

Absolutely. It's coming out even better than I could have hoped. I'm actually rather encouraged.

[jack_norton]

(Talking about Heileen in my case)
Looking back, how does it place with your other works? Does it rank well or does it sink to the bottom of the list?
Well, not at the bottom but close. Still, lots of people seems to love it even today, which is surprising for me

Is it a small source of embarrassment? Or a marker to show how far you've come? Or are you sentimental and protective of it?
I'm never embarrassed of my games, not because I'm too proud but because I know how much effort there is behind a game, so nobody should be embarrassed by it (unless is full of bugs). I'm also sentimental since was a story I had in mind since I was a kid.

Was it a large and ambitious undertaking, or was it just an experiment to get your vn-making feet wet? Or somewhere in between?
Definitely an experiment!

Would you change anything about it if you could?
I would have hired a writer like I'm doing with my most recent/new games. And probably I would have made it a bit longer.

Did it have a lasting impact on how you approached your later works or future projects?
The only thing I kept in mind was that beside writing (obviously) people like good art, and I always try to have good looking games. Apart that I changed/experimented quite a lot with my successive games.

[Camille]

How much effort are/did you place on "getting it right the first time?" Just trying to get that first one out of the way, or trying to burst into the scene with a bang?
Um, a lot, haha. I've been told more than once now that Machina Jewel is ridiculous for being my first VN project because it's got an MC with a changing personality, five love interests, and other non-traditional VN features. I feel like even if it takes more effort/a longer time, though, I'd rather release a game I am really proud of than just "get that first one out of the way" or release a VN just for the sake of releasing one. Not sure if that counts as "bursting in with a bang", but I want to release something that I can personally be proud of. If other people like my work, too, that'd also be nice. :'D

If you already have plans for a new project, are you gonna go bigger and bolder, or curb your ambition back a little?
I have learned (and am continuing to learn) a lot from working on MJ and now that I have other projects, they're... Well, they're not bigger and bolder, exactly, but it's not like I'm holding back, either. I just don't want to make the same kind of game over and over, so all my projects right now are very different from each other. Looking at my current projects, the only thing they really have in common is that they're all VNs written by me, haha. Oh, I did learn that voice acting is a huge pain in the butt, though, and is generally not worth it. (while I love the voice actors I'm currently working with, the organizational aspects are horrendous and very stressful) XD; I felt kind of hurt when I had people ask me if it'd be possible to turn off the voices and such... Made me wonder why I'd put so much effort into it at all. So I guess I have curbed my voice acting ambitions a little, if that counts.

How has the process of VN creation differed from your expectations, and where have those expectations been met? Has what you learned going to change your approach for your next title?
It's pretty much been 90% as I expected, so far, aside from the aforementioned voice acting thing. (voice acting is a huge part of Japanese otome games, so I wasn't expecting that they'd be so much less important in the western world) There's a lot less programming involved than I originally thought, though. I was really afraid at first because I'm not a programmer by any stretch of the imagination, but I was able to mostly figure Ren'Py out within a month (though not without a lot of effort). I'm not sure my approach is really going to change... More like I understand now what takes more time and what people like more, so I know what to focus on and what to do first.

Oh, I did learn that GUI design is a lot harder than it looks, so I outsourced that for BCM. xD I look back on my "All I have to do is make a pretty box!" attitude and laugh bitterly. Will probably end up outsourcing that for MJ and redoing it all, too. I remember doing the GUIs for Machina Jewel took me hours and hours in the past, but then I coded all of BCM's GUIs in like 2 hours total. It really helped to leave the design to professionals! Much less headache for me to just code. (design is always the hardest part) Naturally, the more you do something, the more you learn and can apply those lessons to later work. :O

Did you pursue other projects while working on your debut? Which idea came first, and which one gets more of your focus? For what reasons was the one you will/did finish first?
I have a very overactive imagination, unfortunately... If you sat me down right now and gave me a pen and a piece of paper, I could probably come up with at least 10 different VN ideas on the spot. It's hard for me, so I try to ignore these ideas because I want to finish what I'm doing. If I come up with a particularly brilliant idea, however, I write it down and put it away for later. When I'm done with MJ and BCM, I'll try sifting through that pile, perhaps. xD

MJ was supposed to be my debut project, but we've had a lot of delays that I can't do anything about, so that's kind of why BCM is my focus now. Technically, I came up with the idea of BCM before my friend and I came up with MJ, anyway. I'm still working on MJ, but BCM is definitely the focus both for me and Auro, who's recently finished the other project she was working on. BCM is also a much less ambitious project than MJ, so it'll be easier to finish it first. There's less love interests, slightly less variation to the story, etc. The hardest parts are the time travel and dual protagonist concepts.

Is this debut your "dream project"? If not, what made you decide not to do it as your first effort? When do you believe you'll be ready to try at it?
Um, no. Well... Wait... Uh. Actually, this is a tough question because I have multiple ideas I'd consider "dream projects" and that I want to finish in my lifetime. Obviously I'd never pursue a lesser idea that I'm not passionate about. However, I have bigger, bolder dream project ideas that I'm not pursuing right now because I feel I lack the resources and technical know-how to do them the way I envision. Nothing would be worse for me than to undertake an ambitious project idea and see it fail. MJ and BCM are pretty close to being dream projects for me, but there's even more features and things I would add if I could and if it was plausible. (minigames in MJ! an actual supporting cast in BCM!)

I will be ready when I have more experience under my belt and my artists (I think the three artists I'm working with right now might be my team forever haha I can't imagine working with any others! I like my safety blankets...) have more time and resources, too. There's no need to rush it. I'm still young and I have the rest of my life to write my dream VNs. (: I will say, though, that the Amber's Magic Shop project I'm working on for Jack is like a dream! Alchemy and dark fantasy and elves and vampires... I nearly died when he asked me to write for this project. I'm so excited for it. ;__; But this doesn't really count as being one of *my* projects since it was all his idea and I'm just writing. XD Someday I will finish my own dream project!

/tl;dr

[Mink]

DERP. (SYLM with Ren'py totally counts. The original is...a demo...>x>)

-How much effort are/did you place on "getting it right the first time?" Just trying to get that first one out of the way, or trying to burst into the scene with a bang?

As much effort as it needs. This is for fun, as a hobby, and is free, but isn't being rushed. Anything worth doing is worth doing *well* (Or at least to the best of your abilities)

And I'm not so much trying to 'just get it done' or 'burst into the scene'. The former sounds too much like just halfway doing something or taking short cuts, the latter sounds like setting yourself up for disappointment.

-If you already have plans for a new project, are you gonna go bigger and bolder, or curb your ambition back a little?

Uh, about the same? XD No, but really. I want to keep this one relatively simple, but maybe the next one will be longer with more features or whatever.

-How has the process of VN creation differed from your expectations, and where have those expectations been met? Has what you learned going to change your approach for your next title?

Yeah, it's probably about the same. Maybe because this is just meant to be a side hobby, but it doesn't strike me as really 'difficult' (like, rage!quit difficult), as least not with what I'm doing. If I was to change anything...not much, really. Maybe get someone to do the GUI though I'd kind of like to do that now, but for the most part I'm a control freak and generally prefer to do as much myself as possible.

-Did Do you pursue other projects while working on your debut? Which idea came first, and which one gets more of your focus? For what reasons was the one you will/did finish first?

I'll bounce from writing one thing to another if I'm stuck on one; writing something different could help refresh my brain. The first one was SYLM and has majority of the focus. Anything else, like 'Gretchen' or the Jenny Everywhere thing, will take a back seat to SYLM. I'm totally planning to finish it first. But things may happen, and even if they do, it WILL be finished.

-Is this debut your "dream project"?

I don't think I even have a 'dream project', really. It's more along the lines of, "Hey, this is a story I want to write!" There is one thing that MAY be considered a dream project, but that would probably start becoming freakishly long.

-If not, what made you decide not to do it as your first effort? When do you believe you'll be ready to try at it?

It's based on an ollld story, from like...five years ago. While I still totally love the concept, I'm sure the writing needs to be completely overhauled. I'm sure when I'm ready, I'll know.

[KomiTsuku]

While technically not the first, Dreams of the Skies was the first completed and publicly released.

Looking back, how does it place with your other works? Does it rank well or does it sink to the bottom of the list?
It doesn't take the bottom place, but it certainly was... uhhhh... yeah. It ranks low enough that it requires a rope to get out of the pit.
Is it a small source of embarrassment? Or a marker to show how far you've come? Or are you sentimental and protective of it?
If I could set it on fire, I would. Unfortunately, burning hard drives creates fumes that could potentially kill me.
Was it a large and ambitious undertaking, or was it just an experiment to get your vn-making feet wet? Or somewhere in between?
It wasn't ambitious in the least. That was the beauty of it. It was a dream I had that I wanted to convert into a story. I understood the fact that the more ambitious it was going to be, the greater chance of failure. Besides, there was always another game to make.
Would you change anything about it if you could?
I did! I completely redid everything in the anniversary edition that was supposed to be the end of all revisions. Now I'm thinking about how I'm going to redo that one as well. Not enough work went into the story. The fact of the matter is that until I make it the super project it deserves to be, I'm gonna keep changing every little detail.
Did it have a lasting impact on how you approached your later works or future projects?
...nope. Not in the slightest. Everything I was doing wrong kept happening until a couple projects further down the road. Most of it I'm still doing.

[Sapphi]

For my current super secret kinetic novel WIP!

How much effort are/did you place on "getting it right the first time?" Just trying to get that first one out of the way, or trying to burst into the scene with a bang?

I am a perfectionist only because after it's published, it's official. I want to make sure I do the best I can before I have to take my hands off it. (I don't necessarily mean the best in a technical sense - I just want a story that makes sense, writing that doesn't make people stab their eyes out, and pleasant art that conveys the characters, setting, and tone appropriately.) I am definitely not trying to just "get it out of the way" though.

I would like to burst into the scene with the smallest bang possible... maybe just like an "ow, I banged my elbow" sort of bang... just enough to say "Hey, look, I really was working on something all that time!"

If you already have plans for a new project, are you gonna go bigger and bolder, or curb your ambition back a little?

I do have plans for a new project already, which is much less ambitious and shorter. I want to go for "short and sweet" but still polished. Something nice you can read in one night. I want to do this partly because I am paranoid that if I don't start publishing my ideas faster, somebody else is going to think of them and publish them before I do, and then I won't be able to use them.

How has the process of VN creation differed from your expectations, and where have those expectations been met? Has what you learned going to change your approach for your next title?

I expected Ren'Py would be easy to use, and it was. (Thanks, PyTom! ^_^) I did not expect that the hardest part of making a visual novel would be the actual story-writing part. It really takes a long time... I already changed my approach to accommodate this, though.

Did you pursue other projects while working on your debut? Which idea came first, and which one gets more of your focus? For what reasons was the one you will/did finish first?

I'm part of the revived Pet Project, but overall my focus is really still on my personal WIP. I brainstorm for it nearly every day in some aspect. The Pet Project collaboration will almost surely be released before my personal project though, since it's harder to be a perfectionist when you are working with others towards an eventual deadline.

Is this debut your "dream project"?
If so, were you ready to take it on? How is it matching up to your ideal?

Yes - it wasn't my dream project when I started work on it, though. I came up with the idea for it in December of 2010, while I was filing at my office job. (It has nothing to do with an office though ) I planned for it to be a very short, sweet little fable, but soon I realised my main characters were rather bland and I wanted more out of them. Then I realised the world they inhabited (not Earth) needed a little more fleshing out to distinguish it from Earth. Then I realised the story/setting I had created was lacking characters to carry it, so I had to create more side characters. Then (the best part) I looked back on it all and said "This is awesome!"

So... yeah, I like it much more now than I did back when I originally thought of it. It has a beginning, middle, and end, which is more than I can say for 95% of all the other stories I've ever written in my 20 years of life. I also worked in nearly every trope, plot twist, and character type that I like. None of my characters feel unnecessary or forced in. I have a clear vision of the entire plot. I enjoy writing it. I even worry I might die in a freak accident before I'm able to finish it. I think you could say it's my dream project ^_^

[gaoldart]

How much effort are/did you place on "getting it right the first time?" Just trying to get that first one out of the way, or trying to burst into the scene with a bang?
Well... "First time" is relative, this is my first time TRYING to publish my work in some way (Before that it was just story after story in MS Word), but i'm trying my very best to do a good job... else, why do it in the first place?

If you already have plans for a new project, are you gonna go bigger and bolder, or curb your ambition back a little?
Be more ambitious, always more ambitious, that's the only way to get better. I'm actually starting with the less ambitious project and go on from there

How has the process of VN creation differed from your expectations, and where have those expectations been met? Has what you learned going to change your approach for your next title?
I now know more about characterization and plot branching, it didn't differ too much from my expectations... it actually was more than what i could imagine

Did you pursue other projects while working on your debut? Which idea came first, and which one gets more of your focus? For what reasons was the one you will/did finish first?
I did get more ideas, more specifically, i already had more ideas... but that didn't make me lose my focus, i was determined to finish my project and then focus on the others later

Is this debut your "dream project"?
If so, were you ready to take it on? How is it matching up to your ideal?
If not, what made you decide not to do it as your first effort? When do you believe you'll be ready to try at it?
It was at first going to be my dream project the one i was going to work with, but i decided to wait until i had more experience before i take on it, maybe a couple of projects before i take on it

[DaFool]

[*]Looking back, how does it place with your other works? Does it rank well or does it sink to the bottom of the list?

It's practically gone, unless someone bothered to search for forum attachments. I do not regret making it though, since I learned about how to pace assets better (basically it just plowed through months work of art in just 5 minutes). Nowadays I pride myself at finding innovative solutions and being ridiculously efficient (as far as not wasting any art assets).

[*]Is it a small source of embarrassment? Or a marker to show how far you've come? Or are you sentimental and protective of it?

Not gonna hide it, but not going to promote it either.

[*]Was it a large and ambitious undertaking, or was it just an experiment to get your vn-making feet wet? Or somewhere in between?

Just a 5 minute KN that was supposed to be expanded into more episodic chapters.

[*]Would you change anything about it if you could?

No. I don't like remaking things.

[*]Did it have a lasting impact on how you approached your later works or future projects?

Yep. It influenced my current production philosophy

I came into the forums at a time where it was encouraged to just play around with your debut, to get familiarized with the process and the engine and all the little parts of it. But recently, more and more high quality debuts have been produced, and I can only see the trend furthering upward as time goes on. I'm curious to see how much of that is people just doing a good job of something they are trying their hands at, or if a strong and deliberate push in effort has been made to make the first one a good one.

I'm glad I came with your batch where no one else was making high production value games. I guess it is understandable why people will place so much emphasis on quality assets now, to compete even just in getting attention from players with multiple popular projects out there. But it has occurred to me that usually you don't quite know what exactly you want to express until you're a few projects in. There are certain themes and topics that get the chopping block but manage to weasel their way in my later projects -- if I had aimed at expressing them all with a first project then I would never have finished.

[GeneDNC]

I am currently working on my first project, Freezing.

How much effort are/did you place on "getting it right the first time?" Just trying to get that first one out of the way, or trying to burst into the scene with a bang?

I decided my first project would be a short one because my main focus is to learn. That said, I am trying to learn as much as I can, especially about coding and customising, and I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so a lot of effort is going into that and I definitely don't have a "just get it out of the way" attitude. So because I want to give 100% effort, I am keeping the project small so that I don't become overwhelmed and disillusioned and fail to finish.

If you already have plans for a new project, are you gonna go bigger and bolder, or curb your ambition back a little?

Since my debut will be really tiny, my next planned projects are automatically going to be bigger.

How has the process of VN creation differed from your expectations, and where have those expectations been met? Has what you learned going to change your approach for your next title?

I think my expectations were pretty accurate. What I've learned about coding so far will probably help me streamline my approach in the future. For example, I redesigned a screen a number of times because how I wanted it to look wasn't practical with my level of coding knowledge. I guess my idea of how to structure the workload will be affected the most. I'm also more confident now that I probably could have started with a larger project, but I'm going to finish Freezing first anyway.

Did you pursue other projects while working on your debut? Which idea came first, and which one gets more of your focus? For what reasons was the one you will/did finish first?

No, I have plans and outlines for other projects, but right now only focusing on one at a time.

Is this debut your "dream project"?
If so, were you ready to take it on? How is it matching up to your ideal?
If not, what made you decide not to do it as your first effort? When do you believe you'll be ready to try at it?

I'm not really sure I have a "dream project". I have a lot of ideas, some that I am more excited about than others, but I think I would like each of them to be my dream project when I am busy working on them. I would say that no, Freezing is not my dream project, as I have at least 2 other ideas for games I would like to get to, but as I said, I wasn't confident to tackle them first and decided to start with a short game to get the hang of things.

[VenusEclipse]

Looking back, how does it place with your other works? Does it rank well or does it sink to the bottom of the list?
It's not at the bottom of the list, since I didn't plan on it to be something I'd just throw together for the sake of releasing something.

Is it a small source of embarrassment? Or a marker to show how far you've come? Or are you sentimental and protective of it?
There's definitely a few embarrassing mistakes that makes me not want to look at the script, but
I'm sentimental of it because I remember all the hours I put into it, even going on the computer after exhaustion from work, for a couple months in a row. I don't know if I could go through that again.

Was it a large and ambitious undertaking, or was it just an experiment to get your vn-making feet wet? Or somewhere in between?
It might be a large ambitious undertaking for some first timers, but I've been writing and drawing in novel-ish amounts all my life anyway.
I've failed to put out a complete works in Flash, and a few other engines since they tend to be drag and drop programs. Then there are manga I've tackled that just takes too much planning and drawing. RenPy's scripting mode makes everything so much easier.
So because of all that, I know my own limits (to an extent). The experimental part is just learning to use RenPy itself.

Would you change anything about it if you could?
Definitely the art... or actually being a better artist before I made the game.
Then it's having a proofreader before release. I didn't know English would be important for many people since I tend to overlook that whenever I play games. Then all that "small source of embarrassment" would vanish!

Did it have a lasting impact on how you approached your later works or future projects?
Yes. I would have an expectation for how people perceive it so all the impressions I didn't know I'll get are important, and it's a good learning experience.
That and... making art better since I didn't get a lot of feedback on my art until anything was released, and I didn't know where I stood until it was. I'm surrounded by non-artists in life, so they always tell me it rocks, lol. :X

[sake-bento]

I'm writing about the original Ripples here.

Looking back, how does it place with your other works? Does it rank well or does it sink to the bottom of the list?
Well, I did everything myself, including the music, and I'm not exactly that great at art or composition. On those counts alone, I'd say it's the lowest on the list in terms of production values. Comparing my writing and voice acting between then and now, I'd also say I've improved quite a bit since then.

Is it a small source of embarrassment? Or a marker to show how far you've come? Or are you sentimental and protective of it?
A little bit each, I think. I'm a little embarrassed, but not so much that I don't still talk about it. It's definitely a sign of how far I've come, and how far sakevisual has come as a group, and I'm proud of that. And I'm very sentimental about it. I made it for sentimental reasons, and I'm sentimental about the remake as well. I think it's mostly because I'm a sentimental person.

Was it a large and ambitious undertaking, or was it just an experiment to get your vn-making feet wet? Or somewhere in between?
Definitely a quick thing. I didn't even know if I'd like making VNs, and I was pretty sure that I'd mess things up badly if I tried to do anything huge.

Would you change anything about it if you could?
Yup. Hence the remake.

Did it have a lasting impact on how you approached your later works or future projects?
It taught me that if I want to get the message across, sometimes I really do need help from other people. Also, the incredibly warm welcome I got after posting it encouraged me to keep making VNs in the first place.

[HikkiPanda]

[*]How much effort are/did you place on "getting it right the first time?" Just trying to get that first one out of the way, or trying to burst into the scene with a bang?[/b]
I kinda chose the flexible way to do it, if it's too big then I'll decrease the number of the game's features/characters, if it's too small then I'll add more

[*]If you already have plans for a new project, are you gonna go bigger and bolder, or curb your ambition back a little?[/b]
For the future project, It will be a smaller scale or the same scale I guess ^^; ... bigger is a no no, at least for now XD

[*]How has the process of VN creation differed from your expectations, and where have those expectations been met? Has what you learned going to change your approach for your next title?[/b]
I think it's according to my expectation

[*]Did you pursue other projects while working on your debut? Which idea came first, and which one gets more of your focus? For what reasons was the one you will/did finish first?[/b]
Yeah, I pursue another project, so when I get bored I can switch to the other. I choose which one to work depending on my mood i guess ... however, the second project is a very very small project, so I think it will finish first.

[*]Is this debut your "dream project"?
If so, were you ready to take it on? How is it matching up to your ideal?
If not, what made you decide not to do it as your first effort? When do you believe you'll be ready to try at it?[/b]
Yeah, currently it is my dream project, but if I continue to decrease the features, etc. It might not anymore XD. I probably going to split it into 2 games if it comes to that.

[HigurashiKira]

How much effort are/did you place on "getting it right the first time?" Just trying to get that first one out of the way, or trying to burst into the scene with a bang?
Currently, I'm putting out a good amount of effort into my first project, it's not a lot but it get's the job done nice and smoothly.

If you already have plans for a new project, are you gonna go bigger and bolder, or curb your ambition back a little?
Maybe go just a bit bigger, using my debut to experiment on what will work good in the future is an important step before I go ahead with what I have planned.

How has the process of VN creation differed from your expectations, and where have those expectations been met? Has what you learned going to change your approach for your next title?
At first, I believed that making a VN was going to be a bit difficult, but after I started learning and getting help here, I relaxed a bit and it became easier than I thought. And as for my aproach? Yeah, it has changed it.

Did you pursue other projects while working on your debut? Which idea came first, and which one gets more of your focus? For what reasons was the one you will/did finish first?
Yeah, I'm working on 2 other projects at the moment. Was working on 4, but I dropped one and put the other on hold. At the moment, TFR is getting more attention but I do some work on the other projects when I have a bit of writer's block for TFR.

Is this debut your "dream project"?
No.

If not, what made you decide not to do it as your first effort? When do you believe you'll be ready to try at it?

My debut project is more of a "testing the waters" project for my real project. Last thing I wanna hear after putting a ton of effort into my dream project is "Ew, I stopped playing after [insert character name here] died. It's too scary/bloody." (BTW, I have been told this before. Both on here and off the board)

I'll be ready for my dream project when I can corrupt the souls of LSF just a little bit more, so that they aren't as shocked with the conent of my "dream project"