Lemma Soft Forums

I want some general feedback on a thing that's been bugging me for a while- the short VN I've been working on the past month is nearing completion, but it's only at 8,300~ words right now. I'm projecting it to be around 10,000 when I finish writing it, which begs the question- is 10,000 words too short for a short visual novel?

I don't know of where I can add extra scenes since it is set up on a day-to-day setup where something important happens each day, but I can fit something in if need be. I was just wondering if 10k was way too short for a VN. Also, what do you believe is a good length for a short VN?

Also, please forgive me if this is the wrong forum for this thread ^^;

Don't pad your game. Let it be as long or short as the story needs to be. My first game (I'm just waiting on art assets then I can do more progress on it) is 7656 words. And it probably won't get any longer than that.

Tell your story.

If 10k words are enough to tell your story, then it's enough to have only 10k words. Don't add additional scenes just because of padding, add additional scenes if they're really important.

I agree with what trooper6 said, specifically "Let it be as long or short as the story needs to be."
I consider all of my work 'short'. The longest one has a word count of 12000. The shortest had under 2500 words.
For what it's worth, I don't recall anybody ever complaining about the word count on one of my VNs.
Very respectfully,
fleet

Yes, don't let the word count dictates you. If you think your story is enough... then it's enough. Longer doesn't always means better.

There's something to be said about proper pacing in a visual novel and poor pacing anchors an otherwise fantastic VN. Never pad length for the sake of word count (unless you're getting paid by the letter ), just do you!

I'd say don't simply pad for word count, but at the same time, if people download a game and it's overly short, they might be a little disappointed. So it might make sense to see if there are ways to add to the story that aren't simply filler - find a place where the story feels weak, and flesh it out a little.

I'd rather read a good-short story than a bad-long story , unless I wanna waste my time !

If you really feel as if it's too shirt to merit a full release/executable, it might be worthwhile to look into hosting it on the web (or allowing it to be played in-browser) or packaging it with another short visual novel(s). I know that I've been annoyed by having to download a game and spending less time playing it than I did waiting around to play it.