Public Domain Plays as Kinetic Novel?

[GhostWriter37]

I was curious as to whether or not anyone has tried this? It seems like it would be an easy way to tell a story since the script could basically be premade. I think of something like Shakespeare plays or the like could even be simi-educational. I know I had to read Romeo & Juliet, Julius Ceaser, and Hamlet in high school.

Thoughts? Pitfalls? Etc...?

[papillon]

Someone did a bit of shakespeare-as-KN as a joke once iirc

[PyTom]

http://www.katawa-shoujo.com/pxt/ is what you're thinking of.

[Sapphi]

Thoughts? Pitfalls? Etc...?

Off the top of my head, I think that the more popular and well-known the script is, the harder you would need to work to turn it into something that people would actually read, because there are so many other adaptations of it already out there. In other words, you still have to put the effort you would have spent writing an original story into something else to make your adaptation stand out from the crowd. I don't think this is always a downside, however; this would be a perfect situation for a highly-talented visual artist who lacked talent in writing to still be able to make a solid kinetic novel that many people would like.

[trooper6]

I'm doing just that thing right now with my current project. Sort of. I'm taking a public domain play and turning it into a Visual novel (as opposed to a kinetic novel). It involves adding quite a bit text of my own and thinking about ending options. I'm also adapting it by casting it a bit different than it was probably performed back int he day in order to explore some themes I'm interested in. And I got some great ideas thinking about adapting that play into one where someone is the point of view character. I did lot of pondering and adapting and writing...making the thing my own. And I'm happy with the process so far. Of course, since this is my first VN, I chose are really short one-act play. Really, really short. And it is rather obscure to boot. I am a happy camper.

I would like to do some adaptations and reworkings of some Shakespeare...but again, as a Visual Novel with branching rather than as a Kinetic Novel. But that is a much bigger project that will involve a lot of rewriting.

I found that going through everything and deciding what flavor text to write, and where to put choices and how to have that game play work is not insignificant. But I liked the project and I like to write, so I didn't mind.

But I don't think creating a VN out of a play is as easy as it seems. Now, maybe creating a KN out of a play is easier, but you still have to write all of the narration and description.

[Sslaxx]

Related: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/fo ... ic=41670.0 - people have been doing similar with AGS.

[OokamiKasumi]

I was curious as to whether or not anyone has tried this? It seems like it would be an easy way to tell a story since the script could basically be premade. I think of something like Shakespeare plays or the like could even be semi-educational. I know I had to read Romeo & Juliet, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet in high school.

Thoughts? Pitfalls? Etc...?

I'm currently making an old Russian fairy tale, "The Fire Bird", into a Visual Novel, "The Adventures of Prince Ivan".
-- The problems that I've run into were not so much in writing in multiple paths, but in illustrating the story. It can be quite difficult to get the right backgrounds, character art, and if you're writing a period piece; animal art. For example, you may need horse-drawn carriages, and/or characters riding horses. In the case of my "Adventures of Prince Ivan,", the title character rides a wolf in addition to two different horses. I can actually draw horses and wolves, so I'm set, but this could very well be a major setback for someone else.

[SusanTheCat]

I often think that it would be neat to create something based on well known improvised plays like "Punch and Judy" or "Commedia dell'arte" Many of those plays feature "Audience participation" segments that could be presented as choices e.g. "Warn Punch about the Crocodile? Yes / No"

Right now I am kicking around the idea of creating a visual novel based on The Haunted House, scenario by Talia Felix, https://sites.google.com/site/italianco ... nted-house

Susan

[GhostWriter37]

Thanks for the replies. I was thinking about looping some of my friends into putting together a KN of "The Importance of Being Ernest." I had to read it in English at the tail end of my senior year and it was by far my favorite book I'd read all four years of high school.

[qirien]

I think it sounds great! You may even want to put your own spin on it, like North's "To Be or Not to Be" choose-your-own-adventure Hamlet book (which is kind of like a VN). I'd love to see some Egyptian legends or Greek stories in VN format.