While I can't even begin to address all the potential problems, in the spirit of the conversation I'll toss out a concept that might be able to address some of problems. This is a concept that came to mind when I was considering gathering a small group of non-illustrators into a “collective” that might share the costs associated with VN artwork. While it was so different than whatis being discussed here, I could see the concept being used to address these potential issues:
Suika wrote: The volunteers also need to be interested in making the same type of game.
SundownKid wrote:Yeah there is the possibility that a unified idea will make more people want to work on it, but it may also cause an equal number of people to lose interest because they want to work on -their- idea instead.
ThespiansKinjo wrote:We've had collaborations in the past where different people would write different things, but that defeats the purpose. You collaborate to decrease the overall workload, not to expand the workload among everyone involved.
In Ancient Greece (500BCE), below the Acropolis, the T himheatre of Dionysus sits as a monument to Dionysus, the god of wine, fertility, and theatre. With Thespians we will use the concept of the theatre as a “frame story” for the collective's projects.
The Actors & Narrator
The concept will allow us to make use of the same character sprites across multiple stories, with each of those sprites representing actors within the theatre. With the actors we will also create a narrator to introduce each play and establish the “frame” that binds the collective's works.
Creative Controls: Thespians Presents vs Thespians
While the collective's the purpose is to provide as much creative freedom as possible, there are some creative controls in place. The main creative control is the division between Thespians Presents vs Thespians projects.
Thespians Presents encompasses simple plays in which the story is introduced by the narrator, and, following the reduction the actors act “in character” to complete the stories. This is intended for simple Kinetic Novels and is the first step for those who join the collective. When a set number of these exist they may be collected for the Dionysa, a theatre festival that—as a project—will collect the stories as a jam project that will include additional story elements that represent the actors backstage.
The Thespians projects will encompass stories that include both the actors out of character (or, backstage) and in character. These projects will have more limitations in terms of how the actors behave in order to maintain consistent characters.
Frame Stories won't solve all the issues with a mass collaboration, but it might provide some wiggle room in terms of people being able to tell different types of stories. I could see different types of frame stories being used as well. You could move it to a high school Theatre club. Perhaps a gathering of storytellers with the roles within the different stories always filled with the faces of the actors.
