Debating what type of medium to write in

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decayingdev
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Debating what type of medium to write in

#1 Post by decayingdev »

I have free time until August until I am in vocational school. Due to this I am able to split off with two different writing projects at once.
I was *originally planning for one writing project to be a book, and one writing project to be a visual novel.

As I analyzed/pondered what type of VN I wanted to make, and other stuff involved with it. I came to the decision a visual novel is probably not the thing for me, given the amount of specific backgrounds I would need due to the type of VN. There are a lot of settings in this particular story I want to tell, which would require too many BGs to deal with in less than a year. I thought of a few solutions, such as limiting the game to three hours or so, which would still require too much time and effort to properly set up the whole VN.

This is the same reason I have decided to stop trying to make games, since the games I want to make require too much time/effort than I can afford at this time. I will keep those ideas on hold until I am in a position where I have the time and money to spend on these ideas.

If you read this far, thanks. Now that I've explained my situation a little bit, here is my current dilemma.
The reason I am doing two writing projects at this moment is I have two stories circulating in my head at this moment.
The second project I had in mind was originally for a visual novel with multiple endings and routes. I am considering other options at this moment for this.
1. write it as a normal novel- would not really work, since most novels are designed to have one linear storyline.
1.5 a solution to this is write it more so in the style of a "choose your own adventure" book. I just tested it on the amazon ebook store, and it is actually possible to design a cyoa story on an ebook.
2 design it for a video game. as i said earlier, actually making the game would require too much time. I prefer something that I can work with without needing excess materials.

At this moment I am set on the idea of the cyoa novel ebook style, but I am still unsure of any other options I might have. What other mediums am I failing to think of working with in a written format? with my current cyoa idea, I can make a kindle ebook version, a pdf version for the itchio store. I wouldn't be able to put it on steam unless I found an efficient way to put it onto a steam program somehow, but I think amazon and ichtio are still worthwhile avenues. I'm still curious what input other people might have on this.

In the event someone mentions that two novels at once is probably too much for me to handle properly, you may be right. But in the event somewhere along the way I decide it is too much, I'll be happy to stick with one novel. Right now I have enough time to have an hour a day to outline, and two hours for writing, for BOTH novels. In the event I end up too winded/worn out from my current set up I can easily stop. I have enough experience in writing to be confidant I am capable of writing two projects at once, as long as I take measures to not become exhausted.

The other issue i am foreseeing is this isn't entirely related to visual novels, but I am still hoping that there will be other ideas suggested to me that I haven't thought of.

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Draziya
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Re: Debating what type of medium to write in

#2 Post by Draziya »

Have you considered using Twine? It's great for making text CYOA games while having the flexibility to add visuals and change how it looks with CSS.

The website contains samples of Twine games (and you can refresh to find more). I personally quite like the work of Astrid Dalmady.
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decayingdev
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Re: Debating what type of medium to write in

#3 Post by decayingdev »

Draziya wrote: Sun Feb 25, 2018 3:24 am Have you considered using Twine? It's great for making text CYOA games while having the flexibility to add visuals and change how it looks with CSS.

The website contains samples of Twine games (and you can refresh to find more). I personally quite like the work of Astrid Dalmady.
Thank you for the suggestion. This can definitely work for the ideas I have in mind, and it should work with steam and itchio. It won't be a full visual novel, but it will still work as a written story that can still work in these areas. I'm checking out different stuff this person you suggested has done, and based on it, it seems twine gives me freedom in changing text and possibly background colors. That should be useful.
Thanks! I will definitely consider this, because it seems like a better option compared to plain ebooks, (I am already writing one as an ebook, so its refreshing having twine as an option)

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