What's more fun: few characters, or many characters?

[GammaBreak]

I would really love to make a game that involves a lot of characters and a lot of scenes, locations, and dialogue. However, in just simply brainstorming for a bit, that is proving to be immensely difficult. Not to mention the budget, planning, and work involved. More characters means more scenes, more assets, more artwork, and the cost rapidly goes up and into the realm of requiring significant funding and additional people. This idea I'm tossing around would involve 5-6 main characters, at the very least, that would require to be fleshed out, plus each with their own unique path and scenario (I'm not even humoring the idea of making interconnections...)

On the other hand, I have an idea loosely fleshed out, even part of a script written, that would translate excellently to a visual novel style. The one problem: it really only involves two characters, and one of them would be the faceless player, so really one character. However, I could probably work in a plot twist and add another character to the story with relative ease. This means the budget, and time, can be tightly focused on these few characters, resulting in more options.

So I'm certain that the answer is sort of dependent on a multitude of factors, but I wanted to sort of poll people familiar in an area where I am still learning: are visual novels with very few characters still 'fun'? Or rather, are games with only 1-2 characters prevalent enough that they aren't out of the ordinary?

[Prandygame]

I create my characters in Vroid, so I only have to create them once, that allows me to create many characters, with Vroid you can easily create very original characters inside and outside the tool using blender for example, you can also make expressions and poses easily .https://vroid.com/

[_ticlock_]

In my humble opinion, the fan is not about the number of characters but about the story, setting, and balance. Many characters result in less time per each character, thus the characters become more stereotypical, less interesting. Few characters mean more time players spend with them, thus the characters can be more developed, more believable. But what if a player just dislikes a particular character.

Depending on the story, you might need several characters with different personalities to deliver the story and keep the balance. Using different personalities helps to write jokes, create various situation, diverse conflicts and drama, etc. I think, that the optimal number of characters also depends on the genre.

To summarise, I agree it is a good question and a lot of factors involved, although it is not helpful in any way.

[GammaBreak]

although it is not helpful in any way.

Oh, I wouldn't say that, I think it highlights that it's clear it isn't such a black or white issue. I've spoken to some people, in working on my first visual novel, that it was of utmost paramount to have a long, in-depth story that involved multiple branches and multiple characters. I countered with some of my points that I mentioned.

Like you said, it sort of depends on the genre and setting. Personally, I'd much more prefer to really flesh out 1-2 characters with multiple poses, sprites, expressions, etc, and be able to put them in multiple scenes and settings as opposed to triple that amount of characters with far fewer options, due to budget and complexity.

[Elsa Kisiel]

So I'm certain that the answer is sort of dependent on a multitude of factors, but I wanted to sort of poll people familiar in an area where I am still learning: are visual novels with very few characters still 'fun'? Or rather, are games with only 1-2 characters prevalent enough that they aren't out of the ordinary?

There are a lot of visuals novels with 1 or 2 characters. There are also a lot with 6. Or with 12.

Are visuals novels with few characters 'fun' ? Well, it depends if it is well written. It can be more difficult to tell a good story with a limited number of characters, especially if your story is long. But it's far from being impossible !

Here are two visuals novels that I love and where there is only two main characters:
Ambre
Far from noise

They are both pretty short, though.

[RicharDann]

'Fun' is perhaps a concept that many people interpret their own way, but I have seen both types (with a lot of characters, or just a few) done well.
Adding more characters requires more effort, but is what many visual novels stride for. In dating sims, or more broadly romance visual novels, for example, you want the player to be able to pursue their favorite love interest, so you need to properly flesh them out. Mystery stories will involve many suspects (you can't have a murder mystery with only two people), police, etc. So as it has been said, the genre influences how many characters you'll usually need.
On the other hand, you can write a perfectly good game with just a few characters. I have played a few succesful VNs with only 2 or 3 characters (one of them being you, the player) that I've quite enjoyed. Basically if you think the story is good you can surely make an interesting VN out of it.

[Mutive]

I think stories (of which VNs are one example) can work fine with very few characters. There are novels that work great with only 1-2 characters, so it's possible.

With that said, I think it depends a lot on the story you're trying to tell. A grand, sweeping epic is going to feel "off" if we only see it through the eyes of 1-2 characters. (There's a reason fantasy novels have casts of hundreds!) Ditto for a number of other genres. But if the story only *requires* a character or two, then it should work just fine.

[MapletreePaper]

I create my characters in Vroid, so I only have to create them once, that allows me to create many characters, with Vroid you can easily create very original characters inside and outside the tool using blender for example, you can also make expressions and poses easily .https://vroid.com/

https://vroid.com/en

I'm just leaving this here as the link you provided leads to the Japanese site. Most people won't think to scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the "English" button.

[SupersizeMyHeart]

Speaking from personal experience, I prefer my visual novels with decent sized casts, usually 5-6. Anything smaller than that for me, personally, makes the world feel small, almost claustrophobic, unless it's very well written.

If you're working on your first visual novel project, though, I really would advise against having more than four romance paths. Like, having more characters doesn't complicate matters too much as long as you only really focus on the MAIN characters, the people with dedicated routes. But it's a tremendous amount of investment to create each one, and you can very easily get bogged down in the work.

[GammaBreak]

If you're working on your first visual novel project, though, I really would advise against having more than four romance paths. Like, having more characters doesn't complicate matters too much as long as you only really focus on the MAIN characters, the people with dedicated routes. But it's a tremendous amount of investment to create each one, and you can very easily get bogged down in the work.

Oh, for my first game I have a cast of 3 (plus the player), and that feels manageable. It's fairly simple though, so nothing too crazy, and I'm starting to get into the final stages of completing it.

For my next game, I'd like to expand on what I've learned so far, and that means taking up a bigger project. This one idea I had would involve more or less a semi-linear story. The story has a clear start and a clear goal/end, and along the way there are sort of individual spokes that must be completed (a total of 4, at the moment). Each spoke would have a fail state (player would simply be able to restart and try again), a pass state (enough to move on), and a win state (enough to move on, but works towards unlocking the true/bonus ending).

So with that in mind, the list becomes creating 5 detailed characters (one spoke is actually two characters) with their own spokes, plus organized in a way where it's not just 5 separate stories and feels a part of a bigger thing. Plus one final character, and the hidden/ending character. This game would be an erotic/adult story, which I realize may sound like the emphasis doesn't need to be on story, but TBH, games entirely of smut and sex are boring to me.

[SupersizeMyHeart]

TBH, games entirely of smut and sex are boring to me.

Then you are on the wrong forum, hahaha

I'm kidding. No, that sounds like it'll work great. I tried writing a mostly linear game once, but playing through I found it was a little on the boring side. When you start working on your next project, let me know how you keep the players invested - that's a skill I'd love to learn

[Silken Sail]

Setting aside visual novels for moment, it is commonly said among literary folks that fewer, deeper characters are more effective than many more shallow characters when it comes to storytelling, and I tend to agree. In fact, I'd say that it's always a good idea to look at your cast and ask "Are there any characters that fulfill the same role in the story?" If there are, roll those characters into one, and it's most likely going to be a more interesting character that ends up feeling more important. It's not just a matter of screentime either - how the character is used has more impact than the number of lines they have or the time they spend on screen.

For example, look at The Mandalorian, one of the most popular shows in the world right now. In any given episode, there are very few speaking roles, and that helps even minor characters who don't get a name feel more important because they have a pivotal role in the story of that episode. Characters like the Widow or the Marshal - who appear in one episode each - feel way more fleshed out and important than oh...half of the Soul Reapers in Bleach. Many have awesome designs and awesome powers, but you could cut them right out from the story and it wouldn't change one iota. And if you'd rather compare anime to anime, pick any one-off character from Cowboy Bebop instead, and the message is the same - less is more.

If you specifically want to look at VNs that are effective with a small cast, the classic example of this is Junniper's Knot - a very short, kinetic visual novel about two characters that I think still holds up 8 years later. While there are lots of other, longer examples, I think it's a great one to start with as a case study of how a story with a tightly constrained setting, scope and cast can be very effective.

[GammaBreak]

TBH, games entirely of smut and sex are boring to me.

When you start working on your next project, let me know how you keep the players invested - that's a skill I'd love to learn

What I hope to achieve is something involving a lot of player choice/decision making to sort of craft a scene that is unique to their playthrough. This is why I'm a little leery of going too big or working toward something too interconnected.

If you want to hear my idea, feel free to drop me a DM, I'm always open to idea bouncing or looking for more information, as well as potentially finding people to collaborate with.

[Ibitz]

If you can give me wonderful story and personalities and places, the number of characters doesn't really matter to me. I loved Aloners and most of that story revolved around me and one character called "Trash". I think it all depends on why they're in the story, what they have to bring to the story, etc. I put in a lot of characters, but I try to have them in there to give a bunch of different perspectives of the world I am building. Some games I have played tried to put in too many characters and failed. Others have put in too few and failed. It's all up to the writer(s) of the story.

[GammaBreak]

If you can give me wonderful story and personalities and places, the number of characters doesn't really matter to me. I loved Aloners and most of that story revolved around me and one character called "Trash". I think it all depends on why they're in the story, what they have to bring to the story, etc. I put in a lot of characters, but I try to have them in there to give a bunch of different perspectives of the world I am building. Some games I have played tried to put in too many characters and failed. Others have put in too few and failed. It's all up to the writer(s) of the story.

I think what I'm going to resolve to do in this next idea I have is actually drop one of the characters. This will leave probably 6-7 characters, total.