Completely gray scale visual novel?

[Shinoki]

Whenever I look at the unfinished sprites in a screenshot of the game in a WiP thing...
Especially when the character isn't colored in, I always think that it actually looks really nice
So how would a completely gray scale visual novel sound? Like....no 'color' in the whole thing-GUI, sprites, bg?

Since people tend to like pretty colors-as far as I've seen... I'm curious about how you guys think about this idea.

[MaiMai]

It's been done.

Asher is a game that's pretty much 100% black and white; sprites, GUI, CGs, etc.. It's a conscious decision I believe, since the setting of the story is similar to that of a Western 1900s society.

[Taleweaver]

Same with my very first game, Metropolitan Blues. Protagonist saw the entire world in shades of gray, so the game was in the same palette.

Before that, mikey's Black Pencil was... I think entirely black and white, even.

[meiri]

As long as its fits the mood, I'm all down for it.
There's a good effect that can be achieved in black and white, especially depending on how it looks.
Horror would look good with cross-hatch shading, for example. Or it could all be thick, bold lines, and no shading. Or perhaps a lot of shading.
I personally like the way it looks in those that have done it.

[Alte]

I recall a few examples of what I believe to be 100% black & white visual novels.

- Forty minutes to eternity (rough draft) by Aoyama Ryuu [you can try the web version here]

- Rejoice - The Gospel of Matthew by tkhnoman (ElagoTech), very stylish

It depends on how it's used. Does it emphasize on what you're trying to achieve with the atmosphere of your storyline?

[kisa]

I think making a VN with graphics that are just black and white (No color, no shading and probably a simple/anime style) would be fabulous (depending on how well the story is written).
Because making it plain like that could give a very crisp look to it and leave the colors to the player's imagination (Which almost always makes things a billion times better)
People liking bright colors and lots of them can be explained in the simple terms of: It's bright and shiny. people like bright and shiny things.
But, that makes a simple black and white game no less appealing.

[Shinoki]

Oooh, looks like I haven't played enough visual novels then...

[fleet]

Sam Spillane, PI (link in the Completed Adult Games section) is in mono-chrome (going for a film noir effect).

[LVUER]

Hotel Dusk and Last Window (along with other similar game by Cing) is very minimalist when it comes to color. Background is colored since it's on 3D, but sprites mostly on black and white (and with sketchy pencil art too). They sometimes comes in color... but only on the hair or several accessories.

[Kensela]

It would honestly depend on the Visual Novel. While I do love gray scale, everytime I play a VS that has grayscale I question why it was put in grayscale in the first place.

Just having a game using just grayscale only for the sake of having it doesn't really make sense to me.
For example a modern highschool drama VN using grayscale would make no sense to me unless there was some plot twist in the end like the characters where all dead to being with.

[trooper6]

The VN I'm working is all grayscale.

The Graveyard is an art game rather than a VN, but that is also in black & white and gray.

You can certainly do it.

[daijinahito]

I like seeing colors. But that's just me.