What got you into making visual novels?

A place to discuss things that aren't specific to any one creator or game.
Forum rules
Ren'Py specific questions should be posted in the Ren'Py Questions and Annoucements forum, not here.
Message
Author
MidnightBunny
Newbie
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Apr 26, 2017 9:24 am
Contact:

What got you into making visual novels?

#1 Post by MidnightBunny »

Was it a game or just a show? Sorry i should have put this under general discussions my mistake

User avatar
TheJerminator15
Regular
Posts: 161
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2016 2:37 pm
Completed: A Sedentary Fist
Projects: Manipulation, Switch Swap, Unnamed Project
itch: jamsandwich
Location: England
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#2 Post by TheJerminator15 »

The H-Scenes. :^)

In all seriousness, it was a mixture of factors. After becoming more and more engrossed in Japanese mediums I eventually stumbled upon VNs and thought of them as an interesting medium, though my opinion was initially soured a lot because I typically kept getting recommendations for adult games which led to me thinking those were the vast majority of titles for a while. Eventually I learned of more acclaimed titles such as Type Moon VNs or ones from Key, which filled my want for more serious stories that weren't that focused on the sex. Overall it started with shows, then games.

It reminded me of old text based games I played, and with such a focus on story it got me wanting to make my own. So that's what I'm doing.
My Current Writing Project: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=37699
Manipulation Teaser Demo: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzJ4E ... zV6TWVaclk

User avatar
morinoir
Regular
Posts: 170
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2016 5:55 am
itch: blackpepper
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#3 Post by morinoir »

We have a pretty similar discussion before : viewtopic.php?f=13&t=41251 unless I missed something here??

User avatar
Imperf3kt
Lemma-Class Veteran
Posts: 3785
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2015 5:05 am
itch: Imperf3kt
Location: Your monitor
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#4 Post by Imperf3kt »

That thread is about why you are making what you are making at this time. This thread is about how it all began.

I found VNs to be a more interesting way of telling a story than simply writing a book and more creative than making a video.
Warning: May contain trace amounts of gratuitous plot.
pro·gram·mer (noun) An organism capable of converting caffeine into code.

Current project: GGD Mentor

Twitter

User avatar
Sleepy
Regular
Posts: 136
Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2013 6:12 pm
Projects: Camera Anima
Organization: EXP-resso Mutt
Tumblr: sleepy-does-games.tumblr.com
itch: https://expressomutt
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#5 Post by Sleepy »

Honestly, because VNs is one of the easier game genres to get into development for. Many game engines either require you pay a fair bit for its use or require a lot of programmer saavy, which can be a hurdle to get over if you're just starting out or don't have a team. VN making is something I found I could do by myself or with a team, and it's come surprisingly handy before. I've gone to game jams where teams ended up lopsided in the skills department and being able to offer an alternative sort of game helps keep people involved.

Plus, a lot of games I've played and enjoyed are of the VN genre, such as Ace Attorney and Zero Escape, so it's nice to have a baseline to aim for.
W.I.P.

Image

Complete

Image Image

User avatar
Ghost of Crux
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 511
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2015 12:17 am
Projects: To Weave A Thread
Organization: UNICORSITY
Tumblr: unicorsity
itch: namio
Location: Indonesia
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#6 Post by Ghost of Crux »

For me it was Zeiva's demo for X-Note. I've never heard of visual novels before, spending an overwhelming majority of my time, free or not, on reading a lot (it was a period in my life where I check out 2-3 novels daily from the school library and finish them in one afternoon, before moving on to read long fanfics in the evenings. I had no friends.). I was never really into games other than turn-based strategy since I'm really jumpy and panic easily, and just the idea that a game could be, well, about reading really got my brain going. Not only did it seem simple enough for me to not just make, but also get creative with it, it's also easy to play. :lol:

It was also 2012, and 2011 was the first year I started NaNo-- and also won. I was pretty much high on the idea of writing, and after spending exam hours brainstorming on the back of these things, I ended up actually googling things that would allow me to start putting those ideas into something concrete. It landed me on Ren'py and this forum.

I was 14, then, and my ideas were terrible. But here I am, 5 years later, and somehow I'm still returning to LSF year after year despite long hiatuses so I think I might be sticking around for a while.
Image Image

misspells everything as unicorn. Call me Namio. They/them. | Honest Critique

Become a patron on my Patreon!

User avatar
Ulalaria
Regular
Posts: 150
Joined: Thu May 29, 2014 11:45 pm
Completed: Faust: Scene II, Queen At Arms, Rosewater
Projects: The Owl-Woman Oracle
Tumblr: meagantrott
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#7 Post by Ulalaria »

As a visual artist with no formal background in programming, VN development was easy to get into. I also played a lot of visual novels in my teens and really enjoyed them, so it just made sense.

Jain
Regular
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2017 4:19 pm
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#8 Post by Jain »

No one has told precisely the kind of story I'd like to experience.

Also, I've been wowed by the art of several VN's but disappointed in the quality of the writing and I'm sure I can do better.

SundownKid
Lemma-Class Veteran
Posts: 2299
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 9:50 pm
Completed: Icebound, Selenon Rising Ep. 1-2
Projects: Selenon Rising Ep. 3-4
Organization: Fastermind Games
Deviantart: sundownkid
Location: NYC
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#9 Post by SundownKid »

I tried to make an RPG and failed; it was too much work, and I was mainly interested in the story aspects, so that's when I discovered visual novels and decided to go with that instead. A bonus was that VN's allowed for much higher quality artwork which had more appeal.

(Later on, I discovered that I was just biting off more than I could chew with my first game project. And now that RPG Maker has advanced to have better capabilities, I am thinking of going away from VN's again once I finish my current project)

User avatar
Katy133
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 704
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2013 1:21 pm
Completed: Eight Sweets, The Heart of Tales, [redacted] Life, Must Love Jaws, A Tune at the End of the World, Three Guys That Paint, The Journey of Ignorance, Portal 2.5.
Projects: The Butler Detective
Tumblr: katy-133
Deviantart: Katy133
Soundcloud: Katy133
itch: katy133
Location: Canada
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#10 Post by Katy133 »

When I was in high school, I wanted to make animated short films, but I realised that I had so many story ideas that I couldn't make multiple films at a steady, prolific pace. Then I discovered visual novels through Newgrounds games like Air Pressure and fan game VNs.

Although visual novels are still very labour intensive, their use of static image and text makes it more friendly for one-person creators trying to tell a story.

(I still make animated short films, but I'll pick which ideas I'll make into visual novel and which ideas I feel are more suited to be made into an animated short).
ImageImage

My Website, which lists my visual novels.
Become a patron on my Patreon!

User avatar
banannasquid
Newbie
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2016 1:58 am
Completed: Stalker and Yandere
Projects: Stalker and Yandere
Tumblr: banannasquid
Deviantart: infinitytentacle
Location: The Land of Freedom
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#11 Post by banannasquid »

I played katawa shoujo a long time ago and thought to myself "huh, I can do this too"

Also, the only thing I can really do is draw and maybe write and VNs are the only 'games' that have a heavy emphasis on the drawings
--

Finished projects:
Image

User avatar
AsHLeX
Miko-Class Veteran
Posts: 556
Joined: Wed Dec 25, 2013 1:09 pm
Completed: Starlight Dreamers, Mysterious Melody, Town of Memories, Marked, To Fly, The Change, Him From The Past, A Forgotten Memory
Projects: Cafe Mysteria
Location: Malaysia
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#12 Post by AsHLeX »

I was into those choose your options adventure books and then I found out that there was an electronic version (with pictures!) called visual novels and I thought they were cool so I started making them.
My motto is pretty much "Can't find a visual novel with an idea, concept or genre that you like? Make one!" Haha.
Image
New demo out 24/12/23!!

User avatar
Karamelow
Veteran
Posts: 230
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 2:15 pm
Projects: Fujiwara BitterSweet
Organization: Magic Bench/Karamelow
Location: France
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#13 Post by Karamelow »

Otome games brought me into visual novel world (> O <)
I thought that series like Tokimeki Memorial Girl' Side or Storm Lovers Kai were really fun to play (and I like bishies <3). Unfortunately, I can only make simple projects for now. Anyway, I'm more happy drawing than coding so I hope someone will need my art for rasing stats otome game someday! ^^
Image

User avatar
Saitoki1582
Regular
Posts: 60
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2014 3:23 am
Completed: Fluff Hood's Adventure, The Halloween Night
Projects: Mechanoid
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#14 Post by Saitoki1582 »

If its what made me pay attention to VN as a medium, that would be a BL game I came across in 2014 (I never play any real VN before).

But the main reason: it's a story telling medium that work well with an artist, it's aesthetically pleasing but not as resource demanding as comic, and it require writing but not at novelist level kind of writing (at least when I can make up for it with CG and visual)

I loved drawing since I was a kid and dreamed to be a Manga artist growing up (until I got a reality check that it's a lot of works to live as a comic artist without starving). Even then I drew a lot of short comic over the year, drawing action come natural to me and it's hard for me to come up with story without drawing. I found that skill works very well for VN, and I also used to draw BG a lot back when I was drawing comic so that skill come in handy. It take less drawing effort than comic because a lot of thing can be reused, so I find it an ideals medium to tell my own story. I also enjoyed doing commission work for VN, because drawing CG feel a lot like drawing comic, it's really fun to see everything come together at the end of a project ^^.

User avatar
Frullo
Newbie
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2016 7:35 am
Organization: Nativi Digitali Edizioni
Location: Italy
Contact:

Re: What got you into making visual novels?

#15 Post by Frullo »

Probably a different reason than most of other devs: we manage a niche digital publishing firm, and for a couple of years we struggled about the evolution of ebooks. I believe that the answer is: Visual Novel already are the evolution of ebooks, they just target the "wrong" market so outside the anime fans most of people don't even know about them.

Despite having played VN or VN-like games in the past (Ace Attorney, Katawa Shoujo and other usual suspect), funnily the VN which ignited the idea was one i bought at a steam sale because it was super cheap and a gimmick: Hatoful Boyfriend. "Hey, that is clever and fun but also look quite cheap and not so hard to make" I thought, and then found out about Ren'py and Lemmasoft.
Last edited by Frullo on Mon Jun 05, 2017 8:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot]