'Need', I think, is totally the wrong word. Fundamentally, there isn't a need for any of these games.
I'll simply agree here. If a creator had to wait for a particular desire to be formulated by the audience, then the innovation would come from the audience :p. But most usually, an author will make up something unexpected, and only *then* will the audience realize it's something they've been waiting without ever being able to formulate it. Or they just never expected it at all and just discover something new they can enjoy
I'd list some original ideas, but the ones that can actually yield something, I'm keeping to myself and working on.
That's even better
However, writing a book requires an author who has passion for the subject matter. Instead of asking why visual novel writers aren't tackling other subjects, ask why authors in general aren't tackling visual novels.
Yes, why? ;o;...
Phrased that way, the answer is actually quite obvious: the visual novel format has some presence among authors who want to write about Japanese schoolgirls, but none at all among authors of other genres.
Two things then : more exposure to lure authors in. And pave the way for them by showing what the medium can do. We're on the way, let's just keep at it ^^
Problem with "coder gone writer" is less obvious in the movies because there it's called "producer gone crazy"
I have seen the problems of higher-ups deciding they know better than specialists of their own domain, yes ^^;... (not in the VN genre, just... personal experience)
designer/writer should work as close team with ...
It's appealing, but team efforts are rare and often fall apart. I hope the current big projects will be finished as it might pave the way for further attempts.
Apparently, in the global game community, there's usually a single individual who supervises everything, makes sure everyone understands the "vision", and still does a large portion of the work him/herself (I'm basing this mainly on what I read about Planescape Torment development. I suppose it's not a lone case).
I think such people are even rarer than writers around here ^^;
We can imagine society where elite group of engineers have the knowledge to repair the tech, but not code it, and nobles who can use it without being to understand or even repair it...
Yes, I think making the technology mostly as artefacts than can be used but not reproduced would be interesting. Power would be in the hands of those who do possess these artefacts. And it could end up being someone from the lower castes
I think I saw an intro of VN that featuring a story about two girls being sky pirates. I also saw several medieval VNs (can't read the title). There are also several mecha action VNs (like Muv Luv).
I'm conscious there is a bit more variety in the commercial or dedicated doujin world (well, most doujins are commercial anyway, right?). But here I was focusing on our little community AND I've been proven that I actually made things up since there is more variety than I realized ^^;
Given the number of games produced here, I suppose it's not too bad since we do have at least one mecha-based story, one medieval investigation game, three (at least) victorian-era games, a few in the future, and a few medieval fantasy ones too. I'm not even sure there's really more contemporary settings than the rest.
Monele: you're absolutely right; the ideas should have gone in the 'ideas dump' thread. I was feeling rebellious at the time.
I was wondering if someone was going to call me on that...
Do you *want* someone to call you on that?
but the nature of a relationship-based story seems to force a writer to dwell deep into their characters so meaningful dialogue can be exchanged between them.
That's another thing I've thought about. Most games are still very much dialogue based. Some use 1st person inner-thoughts to have something halfway between dialogue and narration, but many games are all dialogues. On the other hand, you have NVL games which rely more heavily on descriptions, even if they use a 1st person view.
Now, I don't think a good story can do without characters of sorts (even if "character" can be broad and include something like a crowd), but, again (and this means I'm certainly wrong, yay!), I've had the feeling all-dialogue games were more present (but this time I'll include commercial VNs in the lot ^^).
Maybe there's something else than ADV and NVL styles? It's kinda hard to know what to go for since we can mix techniques from books, games and movies, all at the same time @_@. But there seems to be a lot of freedom there. Maybe untapped.
Fantasy stories where the primary characters do not start off together are crazy to write! Crazy, I tell you!
I've been there ^^;... They're not easy, but are they so terrible? Of course, it depends on your story and setting.
I think all potential offbeat creations should aim for something like what Ashen-Tan created; a short six to ten minute piece to test the integrity and potential of their story.
I just went through it (finally!) and yes, it's lovely. Still contemporary, not a completely uncommon topic, but it was well written and produced. See, actually I don't mind the setting so much as long as there's soul in a piece of work
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As for your suggestion, I think the good point is that ~10 minutes pieces are totally fine and could allow authors to try new things without feeling like they've lost months if things are under-appreciated. But I'm not sure it's possible to condense or expand things easily. Still using Bounce as an example, I'd say it's perfect as it is. But making it into a one hour long KN would probably feel boring for the point it aims to make. Making it shorter wouldn't have allowed for a connection to be established with the characters. As it is, it has the right length for what it does.
I'm not saying you couldn't make a longer VN/KN with the same theme, but I have the feeling it would be a whole other beast to handle. You'd have to rework all the pacing, add a lot more characters and have them play a role that still supports the theme. What I mean is that such short pieces would probably be better in themselves, than as proof of concepts for larger works
Problem with "coder gone writer" is less obvious in the movies because there it's called "producer gone crazy". Maybe it sounds posh, but main problem with amateur game making is the lack of a gaming director/producer. While it's normal to have project leader, it can be dangerous if project leader is devout coder or artist or writer. But if we come back to reality, designer/writer should work as close team with coder being the 'engine' (pun somewhat intended). Ideas submited by the whole team, writer (yes, a dedicated writer) can turn into a fine thread that others can work with. Once story is clean refined, designer run amok and create, and coder can know what to code. In fact, they all tell a story, but I think that story starts with words, then it's retold with art, and then both are translated to code. 
