Lemma Soft Forums

1. How much time it took for some of you to create your first VN?

My first released VN was THE WHiTE ROOM and it took 3 days for ludum dare!

2. Was it a solo project, and did you do everything yourself?

Completely solo. The only thing I didn't make from scratch was the music and one bg

3. How long was it in terms of playtime? (EDIT: And what was the word count?)

Barely 3,000 words so 30 minutes or so if you played very slowly haha

@Godline: I understand the feeling of wanting to cringe at your earlier work XD I'm already expecting a future cringe-fest if I manage to finish my VN That's pretty amazing though, just three weeks! Do you mean that you worked things out along the way story-wise etc., or just like in terms of how to do certain things like programming or something else maybe? I imagine it'd be hard to wing it regarding things like the story o.o Also, thanks for your answer!

@thebackup: I didn't know Flash was that tedious o.o Well, I suppose it was a bit in the early days of the whole English VN community, was it? I'm not sure, I haven't been here long, I'm a bit in the slow lane, hahaha! I can already imagine myself cringing at whatever VN I might end up making myself XD Whenever I look at the comics I made at like 13-14 years old, I can't help but laugh at them Thanks for the good luck and thank you for your answer~!

@Hazel-Bun: 3 DAYS?! Are you human?! How is this even possible?! You must have some super power or something Quite the playtime for 3 days work too (even if you play slowly XD)! I already know that I won't live up to that time limit for development, hahaha! Thanks a lot for your response!

I'd been a screenwriter before so it was easy for me to pick up basic renpy coding, especially routes and such. So I just did it all as I went with basic coding.

So I don't know, it just flowed. But to be fair it was a lot of biblical responses and such so it wasn't like writing from scratch. I banked in on that.

My next one Kaitlyn in Chinaland has been a monumental effort of just under a year writing from scratch and Anne and I have had to pick up new tricks on coding and such. It is definitely way more effort than it looks. I'm totally exhausted by it!

@Godline: Aah, I see! Must have been nice with some prior experience, I'm starting all from scratch (though I guess you are somewhat doing that now as well, it seems XD) I sometimes get the feeling that everything is way more effort than it seems hahaha! Good luck with it though, cheering you on! *Throws pom poms into the air*

1. How much time it took for some of you to create your first VN?

My first was this year's NaNo, so almost exactly one month. (Unless you count the procrastination and all the earlier ideas I started on and had to set aside cus they were way too complex for a first project - then it's like ten years. JUST IGNORE THAT BIT.)

2. Was it a solo project, and did you do everything yourself?

Yes, and not quite - I used Creative Commons music, which was excellent considering I wasn't even planning to have music at first, and filtered photos for backgrounds.

3. How long was it in terms of playtime? (EDIT: And what was the word count?)

I honestly have no early idea about word count ^^; It turns out I'm a very freeform writer - like I had no pre-made script at all, just an outline, and it was seeing the characters and dialogue on-screen that helped me work out what to write.

Play time though, I'd say it's between 10min and 30min per playthrough, depending on your reading speed. The three guys have entirely separate stories, if a similar structure, so I can probably call it 30-90min for "completion".

1. How much time it took for some of you to create your first VN?

I used an already written story, that I kinda adapted to VN format on the spot. The entire VN was made in 16 hours, with three sprites (with subtle variations), a single background with variations, and 2 or 3 CGs (it was a self-imposed 24h challenge), the story was written in another day (for a school project).

2. Was it a solo project, and did you do everything yourself?

Everything solo'd... unless we count Kevin Macleod's music, that is (I also did some edits on his music).

3. How long was it in terms of playtime? (EDIT: And what was the word count?)

It lasted like 10 minutes or so, close to 10000 words (I can't really say, since the story had some changes on the spot, as I said).

Funilly enough, it also had some Christmas references, but just some little stuff.

Hello! I haven't actually posted much here but I thought I'd throw in my own experience.

1. How much time it took for some of you to create your first VN?

About 3ish weeks, I'd say. I made one as a final project for my design studio about two years ago and that was more or less the timeframe.

2. Was it a solo project, and did you do everything yourself?

It was 100% solo! I did all the writing, the art, and the music. There wound up being 2 backgrounds, 4 cgs, and 4 characters with a grand total of 37 sprite variations among them.

3. How long was it in terms of playtime? (EDIT: And what was the word count?)

I'm not entirely sure how time consuming it was but I did zip through most of it during my presentation so maybe 10ish minutes? The word count was very low, just about 1500 I'd wager. There were two "routes" and two independent endings to it.

That being said, if you've got a decent amount of time per day (or week) to dedicate to making your VN I think you could pull it off within that time frame. Good luck!

My first completed VN was Our War Everlasting.

1. 5 days; it was for a jam
2. Almost solo: my partner coded the menu for me, and I never release anything before it goes through my editor. The music was stock music. I did everything else. Including about 30 CG's - I chose a simple style, so I managed to do a lot.
3. Word count: about 6000. It was a kinetic novel, so no branches. Playtime probably something like 15-45 minutes.