Common Route length

[Shinoki]

What specific things do you hate/like about the length of common routes?

As in:

Do you dislike having a long wait between choices? (A lot of stuff happening and not getting that many choices to make)

What do you think is the optimal length for a common route?

And, extra: what is your opinion on common routes as a concept? Do you prefer other types of things in visual novels, and if so, what would they be?

[namastaii]

In general, for me, I end up getting a little impatient when there is a ton of reading and not much interaction but I mean...that IS normal for a visual novel anyway.. I think it really just depends on the person. Lot's of people love the length. People like me prefer more game play/interaction/more choices.

[Klawzie]

All personal thoughts here - and not even "rules" for me, just general preferences. For context, I play mostly otome romance games.

On one side of the scale, you have the "fast intro" often into a "locked route" where you meet all the characters one after the other and get maybe ten to twenty lines that are meant to give you an idea of their "flavor"/what their routes will be like. Mobile otome do this a lot. "Heroine is thrown into a situation where she can meet most if not all of the possible love interests! Now that you've met everyone - pick someone - go go go - we don't have time to waste on getting to know them before deciding - don't you want to play them all anyway?! It's your Childhood Friend - what else do you need to know? You know the Childhood Friend plotline by heart by now!" Often, this style has the effect of making things feel rushed, making me feel uneasy/uncomfortable with the relationship dynamics, or making the MC seem rather shallow and/or foolish. Granted, the rushed nature of it is sometimes built into the script - the MC has to make a snap decision and then has to 'live with it'. I just prefer to know the characters a bit better before being "locked in" to a route.

On the other side of the scale, there are some games (I'm thinking specifically about Code: Realize here) where you can hit "Skip" and even on its fastest setting it could take over a half hour to get through the common route before you get locked in. (If there's a "skip to next choice" option, I derped and didn't see it.) But you can't really just make a save before the turning point and go from there, because the turning point is decided by all the choices made during the common route. I'm really glad Code: Realize lets you play from the turning point on replays because the common route is just so long and tedious if you're wanting to play all the routes back to back. I was rather glad to get a good sense of the setting and characters before really getting locked into a route, though.

Answering your specific questions back to front.

what is your opinion on common routes as a concept?

As I said above - I like the chance to get to know the setting and characters before being locked in. It gives me more context to make choices without having to rely on either "playing to trope" or "making assumptions about the game creators". (Playing to trope = "well, this type of character usually likes THIS sort of response", Assumptions = "Well, this is a Japanese game, so the more demure answer is probably the right one") If your game falls pretty comfortably into "familiar territory" a longer common route is probably not necessary. If you need to teach your players more about the world or hint that characters don't fall into neat boxes, you might want to give them more time to pick up on cues.

What do you think is the optimal length for a common route?

Long enough for the player to get a sense of what's going on, but not too long that on a replay it's tedious. The exact length would vary by the game.

Do you dislike having a long wait between choices?

Personally, I like making choices. If an entire "chapter" (not "scenes", but what feels like significant segments of the story) goes by without me making a single choice, I start getting antsy. If it's two, then I feel forgotten as a player. I specifically avoid kinetic novels, so if a non-kinetic VN barrels on, doing its own thing for too long, I start to wonder what, if any, of my choices are affecting the story.

((Pardon this rant - it's related, but not quite. Including it because it might be interesting food for thought?))
It's been awhile since I've sat down and played some of the freeware indie games (I do want to, but I have such a backlog of commercial indie games right now), but I remember years ago playing one where I felt actively tricked by the game dev into playing their game because it felt like a kinetic novel with a couple of choices thrown in as an optional garnish. To me, that's as off-putting as someone labeling their book a "romance" and following none of the general conceits of the genre. It doesn't matter in the end why that happened (did they not understand the difference? were they attempting subversion and didn't understand enough to make it enjoyable to the audience? were they thinking themselves "better than" the genre and were breaking the rules to satisfy their own ego? were they trolling? did their publisher screw them over by packaging their work in the wrong genre? - I know not all of these concerns are applicable to an indie VN) - the fact is, they failed at what they were represented as and weren't good enough to get a "pass" on what they actually were.

[MoonByte]

I think, it really depends on the story and the total length of the game.
If the game in total takes 2 hours to complete and I only get three choices, then...yes, I will be very dissatisfied and frustrated.
If the game goes on for long, then I am usually more willing to put up with long reading sessions. It's of course at first difficult to judge, which of the two it is, it's more of a afterwards-thing. But the longer the game goes, the more I am usually ok with the reading.
GRANTED, the story of course has to interest me.
I am not an avid reader though, so this is a very general thing. I am someone that enjoys gameplay and in VNs, gameplay is making choices. So naturally I appreciate plenty of choices, plenty of routes and the more my choices matter, the better.
As much of a challenge it is, I myself usually try to implement plenty of variables and choices to grant others that, though most games don't go to extremes and are still alright.
It's a very thin path between enough choices and too little.
You can of course overdo it and have TOO MANY, but those would only annoy me when they absolutely don't matter (not even giving me flavor text would make me super annoyed on top).
There just isn't something like "A 1hr game should have exactl 12 choices" or something and tastes differ anyway. People that read a lot of novels are probably more accepting of longer text sections.

[gekiganwing]

Do you dislike having a long wait between choices? (A lot of stuff happening and not getting that many choices to make)

In my opinion, if the story is interesting, then it should not matter if there is thirty minutes of reading between choices. That said...

* Is the main character making decisions that will likely lead to changes? If the person is doing trivial actions, then those should probably not make a huge impact on the story.
* I think there are times when a decision should be glaringly obvious. Likewise, I think there are times when a decision should be frustratingly opaque. However, I believe that most of a main character's choices should fall in the vast middle ground between those two extremes.

It gives me more context to make choices without having to rely on either "playing to trope" or "making assumptions about the game creators". (Playing to trope = "well, this type of character usually likes THIS sort of response", Assumptions = "Well, this is a Japanese game, so the more demure answer is probably the right one")

Off-topic stuff:

Every story is written by someone who lives somewhere, at some time in history. Most stories fit into a category or genre. Likewise, most stories are written with an audience in mind. Writers often have something to say to their audience, or they write content which they believe their audience will enjoy.

I think that a person's writing is affected by factors such as where they live, what they believe, and who they write for. At the same time, I think that people are complex, with many motivations and interests. There is more to writers than just a story that they create.

[lin-06]

(These opinions will be coming from playing otome games)

Do you dislike having a long wait between choices? (A lot of stuff happening and not getting that many choices to make)

It depends for me. If the story/dialogue is really engaging to keep me going, I wouldn't mind relatively long waits for the choices. But of course, I would appreciate it more if they mattered (at least most of the time) not because they're just there.

What do you think is the optimal length for a common route?

I think this depends on the game itself? If you think you don't need anymore time for the player to get the feel of the game and would rather continue on with the route/s instead then do so. But if you think you need more time for a better experience, you can take it slowly. Proper pacing is important. I honestly don't like it when otome games rush me...

what is your opinion on common routes as a concept?

Personally, I really like common routes. They let me have a feel of the game's settings and time for knowing the characters a little more before going into one of the routes. It irks me when they rush it to get going with the romance. I mean I'm aware otome games are supposed to be focusing on pursuing the guy but? I won't care so much if he only looks handsome, hot, sexy or whatever. I want to know his character first before going crazy for him (lmao). So the common routes are really good for me and sometimes, I enjoy it more when I see everyone interacting with one another--interactions between not just the heroine and the love interest. I extremely enjoyed and loved Dynamic Chord (reve parfait) exactly because of that. The boys' interaction with each other were one of the best!

[papillon]

I like changing the course of a story. A purely linear novel is one thing, but if there are supposed to be paths and branches, I want to be able to interact fairly frequently.

As for the common route, though, it's going to depend on what kind of story you're telling. If it's a slow friends-to-lovers kind of buildup, I probably want the chance to get to know all of my options before I pick one. But sometimes a story actually requires that you're thrown into a situation with a character you don't know all that well, that you didn't choose with full knowledge, and you just have to deal with it. Sometimes you might want a story where the forming-a-relationship part will be taken for granted and the story and choices are about life within the relationship, instead of being about trying to win someone over.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

I like frequent choices. I actually calculated this out for myself, so I could try and apply it during my own game creation - as a player I want to make a choice at least once every 1500 words. It depends on your reading speed, but that equates to about one choice every 10-15 minutes. (Yeah, I got that specific. For reference, a novel has about 300 words per page.)

My Girlfriend is the President is an example of what NOT to do. That game REALLY wanted to be a kinetic novel, but instead, shoehorned in FOUR choices over the course of a very long game. And the first choice doesn't even DO anything. Blegh.

So if you want to do a kinetic novel, do a kinetic novel. I don't play them, but I know many people do. Just don't try and pretend your visual novel ISN'T a kinetic novel or you'll make players like me upset.

[Donmai]

There are only two possible choices: you can tell a good story, or you can tell a story with a lot of choices.

[trooper6]

Some people like KNs and think that only KNs can tell good stories. When choices show up they start getting annoyed.
Some people like VNs and think that KNs are boring. When there is a lack of choices they start getting annoyed.
Some people like both KNs and VNs.

You, OP, should do whatever it is that you want to do. Make your art to your vision.
Maybe you do a common route.
Maybe you do separate routes with no common route.
Maybe you do a game that doesn't function with dictated romance paths at all.
Maybe you do something completely new...or not!

As might be clear from the comments, people have Strong Feelings.
I think you can ignore their Strong Feelings.

Just do you.

That said, make sure to advertise what you are doing so that people who have Strong Feelings will know if your game will be for them or not.

If a person feels the minute a choice shows up your game has no artistic merit...you probably don't want that person playing your game with choices.
If a person feels if there are no choices then your game is boring...you probably don't want that person playing your game with no choices.