Which would you rather play?

[Harick]

Hi, I'm having trouble deciding what visual novel to work on, so I'd like some feedback on what other people would like. Not sure if this is the right place to post this but whatever. Sorry about the wall of text.

The Fantasy (working title) [Sci-fi, fantasy, romance]

Synopsis: In the mid to late 23rd century, a group of friends are casually chatting about nothing in particular over the internet, when one of them mentions something she found; a 50 year old unreleased MMO. After researching it a little they decide to play it together. But as they're playing they slowly start to notice something strange about the NPCs, it's as if they're sentient...

Note: This VN would change viewpoint character after every chapter, showing more of the world and different viewpoints throughout.

Hell Guard/Force [Action, fantasy, sci-fi, romance]

Synopsis: In the late 21st century magical monsters appeared throughout the world without warning, these monsters were called "Demons". Many simply attacked, but some offered to join the humans in trade for political, military or economical power. All of this lead to a series of devastating wars that lead to the creation of "Enfer", an organization with backing of several countries with the mission to destroy all Demons. There were two groups within Enfer; Hell Guard, who were to protect humanity from Demons, and Hell Force, who were to destroy Demons. But within 15 years both Hell Force and Hell Guard had been infiltrated by Demons who had taken over from the inside. Now the world is threatened with destruction by Enfer, two makeshift groups have been created in order to prevent that. The groups go by the name Hell Guard and Hell Force with the intention to follow up on their original purpose. But both groups are already infiltrated by demons. Is history doomed to repeat?

Note: This VN would actually be two VNs, one focusing on the Demon in Hell Guard and one on the Demon in Hell Force

The House of the White Sun [Fantasy, political intrigue, romance]

Synopsis: The House of the White Sun is a noble house without a grand history, military, political or economical strength. In fact, the only reason they're nobles in the first place was because of large amounts of land and favor of the then king. But as time has passed their relation to the royal family hes degraded to nonexistence, and they have sold much of their land. Asher, the heir of the house, is being educated by the baron of a neighboring city. But as he is almost of age he receives a sudden message, his father is on his deathbed. He returns home, and soon after his father dies. Immediately he notices the appalling state his father had left the house; in debt and with many enemies. Now Asher, still grieving the loss of his father, is determined to bring his house out of ruin -by any means necessary.

I have other ideas than just these, but I'm trying to limit myself.

[Jae]

Which would you rather play?

I know a lot of people say, "Make what you think others would enjoy," but I'd first make something that I'd like best. The more passion and dedication you can put into a project, the more rewarding it would be. I've worked on projects (non VG/VN related) where I couldn't care less about how big of an audience it reached because I didn't care much about the project to begin with.

I feel like the first idea would be the simplest to get off the ground and easiest for the audience to get into. The second one has the recipe to become either a convoluted mess or major bore if not handled properly (based on the synopsis, I fear the former). And the third one might require extensive research in order for the concepts to be taken seriously (depending on how deep you want the writing to go), but if done right can be a very interesting story.

Again it comes down to which one you personally feel most passionately about. There is no tie. One's going to be slightly more favored over the other. You should go with that.

[Kyazda]

• • • • • • • • • I believe Jae is onto something. I was also immediately drawn to the first idea, simply because it immediately clicked with me. I understood the premise easily and I already felt curious about what was going on. It's a game easily targeted to your intended players, too. A video game about people who mull around on the internet and play video games? Talk about knowing your audience.
                  
                  The other two, while they could become impressive stories in their own right, didn't draw me in just from the brief summary. I think you would need to pitch them with more concrete events to get a sense of the emotional investment you probably have in the game. "Doing whatever it takes" is a little too broad for me to feel any kind of excitement over.
                  
                  Your personal interest in the project should determine how well and how much you work on the VN, I think, but from the perspective of which one I would want to play. . .The Fantasy wins, no question.

[Kate]

The fantasy looks like it would blow my mind! Sometimes, the idea is everything on its own merit, because people want to play something memorable. I can honestly say that's actually what drove me to these forums, because I enjoyed emotionally the first Voltage games I tried, but felt a distaste over the predictability and formatted nature of Voltage's games. ("Junk food" games, they are.) But I've been amazed by games that have blown away my expectations, whether with totally unique characters, stretching the game's capabilities, or even just a knockout idea/plot with unique events and killer plot hooks and surprises.

[gekiganwing]

Hi, I'm having trouble deciding what visual novel to work on, so I'd like some feedback on what other people would like.

When you have time, ask yourself questions such as...

* "Do I really, really want to tell this story? Am I willing to overcome any obstacle -- boredom, sickness, computer failure disaster -- in order to make sure it's finished?"
* "Is this story personal, but not too depressing or embarrassing? Does it reflect things I like? Can I be confident in telling it?"
* "Can it be compared to other stories in positive ways? Does my story seem like it's building on what other people have written, rather than seeming like an imitation or a low-effort parody?"

Hell Guard/Force [Action, fantasy, sci-fi, romance]

Synopsis: In the late 21st century magical monsters appeared throughout the world without warning, these monsters were called "Demons". Many simply attacked, but some offered to join the humans in trade for political, military or economical power.

These first two sentences have me wondering about several things:

* Not all demons in your story are chaotic evil creatures that cause violence without provocation. That said, should the other demons be considered lawful evil creatures who work with people only to conquer, oppress, and ultimately destroy them? Is there a chance that a demon could be good?
* Are demons clearly distinct from humans in appearance? Can they disguise themselves? Could it be so difficult to distinguish them that people have to invent a Voight-Kampff test in order to figure out who is a demon?
* What if there was evidence showing that demons influenced events in human history? Maybe they were responsible for corruption and villainy... but maybe their role in history was not clearly evil.

Immediately he notices the appalling state his father had left the house; in debt and with many enemies. Now Asher, still grieving the loss of his father, is determined to bring his house out of ruin -by any means necessary.

I'm not sure what Asher could do in order to help his noble family. Where could he start to take action?

A slightly similar example from history: in the 11th century, the Norman knight Tancred de Hauteville was not rich or influential, and could not provide an adequate inheritance for his sons. They heard that southern Italy was an unstable place, and that it might be wise to become mercenaries there. This one action lead to several men of the family becoming military leaders and rulers.

[Harick]

Thanks for the responses. Nice to see people like The Fantasy, can't say I expected that.

Anyway, I do realize I could have written the synopses better, especially for The House of the White Sun. I was quite tired when I wrote that. Anyway, the "by any means necessary" thing would be choices during the VN e.g assassinate him, blackmail her, marry your sister off to the duke etc.

The second one has the recipe to become either a convoluted mess or major bore if not handled properly (based on the synopsis, I fear the former).

Yeah it would be really convoluted. In my original idea for Hell Guard/Force this would be the third part of a huge story, but the first two parts were too boring so I figured I would start with the third part. This presents a whole lot of issues, one being that it would be really convoluted.

These first two sentences have me wondering about several things:

* Not all demons in your story are chaotic evil creatures that cause violence without provocation. That said, should the other demons be considered lawful evil creatures who work with people only to conquer, oppress, and ultimately destroy them? Is there a chance that a demon could be good?
* Are demons clearly distinct from humans in appearance? Can they disguise themselves? Could it be so difficult to distinguish them that people have to invent a Voight-Kampff test in order to figure out who is a demon?
* What if there was evidence showing that demons influenced events in human history? Maybe they were responsible for corruption and villainy... but maybe their role in history was not clearly evil.

* Demons aren't inherently evil, but most of the Demons who came to earth came because they wanted power they couldn't get in their own world (a world like Hell in christian mythology). Some, however, came to prevent Demons to get to much power (for whatever reasons). Some are good though, and others came to earth to escape tyranny from their own world.
* Most Demons can alter their appearance to be anything, so many of the Demons who interact with humans look human. But the ones that simply cause chaos generally just look like giant beasts. There would be tests set up to determine whether someone is a Demon, but most are like witch trials. One type of test is generally more effective though; most Demons doesn't understand the ramifications of their actions, or how someone wouldn't like something the Demons like. There are exceptions though.
* There are things some people say Demons have influenced the worlds history, but it's hard to say for certain.

[Ghost #9]

I have a bit of a comment on the first project. It mentions that the characters discover and decide to play an "unreleased MMO", but an unreleased MMO would not exist online anywhere, which means it wouldn't be playable. Or, at the very least, they wouldn't be able to play it together.

[Jae]

I have a bit of a comment on the first project. It mentions that the characters discover and decide to play an "unreleased MMO", but an unreleased MMO would not exist online anywhere, which means it wouldn't be playable. Or, at the very least, they wouldn't be able to play it together.

23rd century. Maybe there aren't any server costs and everything is perpetually online and running

[Harick]

I have a bit of a comment on the first project. It mentions that the characters discover and decide to play an "unreleased MMO", but an unreleased MMO would not exist online anywhere, which means it wouldn't be playable. Or, at the very least, they wouldn't be able to play it together.

I do realise this. The explenation I came up with (though it may change) was that one of the main characters found it through her job (whatever that job would be I don't know) and she set up a server on her computer. She being able to do so is because computers advance a lot in 50 years. Another idea would be that it was released and there being more players than just them, but I feel that would only complicate things.

Or as Jae said; 23rd century. I dunno.

[Ghost #9]

Perhaps it was released but it's on some sort of hidden server? Now I suddenly have this whole idea involving how this game was always rumored to exist, but there was some sort of elaborate puzzle that no one was ever able to solve. Then it fell into obscurity for 50 years, until MC rediscovered it and cracked the code...

[Harick]

Perhaps it was released but it's on some sort of hidden server? Now I suddenly have this whole idea involving how this game was always rumored to exist, but there was some sort of elaborate puzzle that no one was ever able to solve. Then it fell into obscurity for 50 years, until MC rediscovered it and cracked the code...

Maybe, I dunno. When I first came up with the plot it was meant to only be hinted at that the mc was a player in a fictional world, but the idea of sentient NPCs was better so I went with that. I was going to make a point but I forgot it. Anyway, I haven't realy thought of much outside of the game, and I kinda want to keep it ambiguous as I don't want to spend much time creating and explaning the future, as that would just bog the story down.

[Ghost #9]

I just figured that if it's a plot point that stood out to me as being illogical, it probably would to someone else as well. : P
Especially since it's the whole basis for the story. But, I'm certainly not trying to intrude upon your vision!

[Harick]

I just figured that if it's a plot point that stood out to me as being illogical, it probably would to someone else as well. : P
Especially since it's the whole basis for the story. But, I'm certainly not trying to intrude upon your vision!

No, it's fine. I like other people's thougths on my ideas, it's easier to get inspierd that way. It's all just what I've thought about until now. If I end up doing "The Fantasy", which I most likely will, I will change many things from what I first imagined. One thing being the world outside the game, as I think it will better show the divide (I think that's the word for it) between the players and the NPCs.