In what form do you write?

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cloudyssky
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Re: In what form do you write?

#16 Post by cloudyssky »

It seems that going directly to Ren'Py for me is the easiest, although it seems that is also unpopular amongst all you folk.
Although I use a heck of a lock of hash signs (#) to make notes because I focus more on the story than the actually coding itself.
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Topagae

Re: In what form do you write?

#17 Post by Topagae »

@Cloudy
I do that too mostly, not in Renpy obviously, but all my games with dialog and everything I Do in straight up code. Maybe a .doc for spellcheck.

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Re: In what form do you write?

#18 Post by cloudyssky »

I just find it easier. Although I can see why one would want to set all the dialogue first since story is key. I spell check once or twice over with Word, and then have my computer read my entire script to me to check for any grammatical errors. One I found today was "There's five boys and two hurls". Obviously I meant "girls". No idea what I was thinking.
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Demokratiya- (Adventure/Action) I'm kind of winging it with this one. Goal is 100,000 words. Yeah, it's gonna take a while.
{Last worked on Sept/28 : Word count (coding and all) ~4500}

Topagae

Re: In what form do you write?

#19 Post by Topagae »

Once you write for many years, and type for many years, and develop insomnia, special things can happen.

I will often just start typing what I'm currently thinking without noticing. It gets VERY annoying.

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Re: In what form do you write?

#20 Post by cloudyssky »

And I'm sure creepy at times. When you write "I hate you" when trying to write "I love you", you begin to doubt you're one person. <,<
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Alone- (Horror/Sci-Fi) Complete! Link
Demokratiya- (Adventure/Action) I'm kind of winging it with this one. Goal is 100,000 words. Yeah, it's gonna take a while.
{Last worked on Sept/28 : Word count (coding and all) ~4500}

Topagae

Re: In what form do you write?

#21 Post by Topagae »

It's usually more mundane like.

"Man, did I forget to lock the door" or "God I am so hungry but too lazy to get takeout"

Sometimes it REALLY backfires whens someone is acting stupid and I Type something like.

"you always ask for my help and never take my advice"

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Re: In what form do you write?

#22 Post by Spiky Caterpillar »

I use a small command-line perl script to convert Papillon's script format into Ren'Py code. That takes care of turning lines like

Code: Select all

Ellen (normal): ACK!!! <i>WHAT</i> is <i>THAT</i>???
into

Code: Select all

show ellen normal
ellen "ACK!!!  {i}WHAT{/i} is {i}THAT{/i}???"
so I get to spend more time on more interesting bits of the code instead of quasirobotically adding quote marks and pushing indents around.

If I'm writing new script directly, I use vim to write Ren'Py code (if it's time to add it to the game) or (if it's notes for the distant future) store them in a text file until the game reaches the point where it makes sense to add them.
Nom nom nom nom nom LEAVES.

Topagae

Re: In what form do you write?

#23 Post by Topagae »

Uccccck Vim. I had to use that all through college. Stupid old professors.

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Re: In what form do you write?

#24 Post by ForgottenVision »

I just write directly in Renpy and use comments for anything extra I need. Once I've written the script in Renpy, I'll copy and paste into a doc for spell checking then copy it back to Renpy.
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Re: In what form do you write?

#25 Post by Glazed Donuts »

Are most Japanese VNs written in first-person, present tense? or future tense? or are they written in third person? For example:
The next morning, I got up and looked out the window.
or
The next morning, I get up and look out the window.
or
The next morning, Kari got up and looked out the window.
or
The next morning, Kari gets up and looks out the window.

Topagae

Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit am

#26 Post by Topagae »

Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit..."
Last edited by Topagae on Thu Aug 25, 2011 4:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: In what form do you write?

#27 Post by Quadratic »

Generally, it seems like writing in Screenplay form is the accepted way to write for a VN. But I prefer writing it like a normal story, because I also program it, and the it's simpler for me to keep the same meaning/emotion in story form.

As for tense, it seems like past tense 1st person is what the majority of VNs I play use. That includes Cross Channel, Wanko To Kurosau, Crescendo... all of them get the point across well with the view they use.

Ignore this if it makes no sense, I'm tired. xD

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Re: In what form do you write?

#28 Post by sayuri »

Thanks for all the replies, it helped a lot :). I've been writing in what I guess is shorthand screenplay. Here's a sample...
Black background, Elizabeth's dream.

E: Where am I?
E: It's so cold.
E: It's silent even though I know I'm screaming.
E: I'm scared. I try to run but my body won't respond. Why can't I move?
E: My eyes, I can finally see. There is a girl below me. Her body is severed in half, the legs imitating a dancer's pirouette. The arms are outstretched as the head lies limply to the side. I can see a deep gash running from the corner of the lip to her cheekbones. A crude, haunting smile...
E: The girl is so young, she must have been very pretty before her body was mutilated. Like a porcelain doll…
E: Who is she?

Scene change, Elizabeth's room. Morning.

E: The harsh sun pulls me out of my dream. Not a moment too soon. I slip my feet into my house shoes gingerly before preparing myself for the day. After dressing, I check the mirror.
E: "Fair enough."
N: "Fair enough? Understatement of the century."
E: I turn to find my best friend Nancy, grinning mischievously with her hands behind her back.
E: "Goodness, Nancy, you almost gave me a heart attack. How'd you get in?"
N: "Door's unlocked. Good thing it was just me, I could have been a big hairy man and raped you in your sleep."
E: *blush* "N-Nancy!"
N: *angry* "Well, that's the truth! You have to be more careful."
E: "Yes mother. Do you mind telling me why you're here so early?"
N: *surprise* "Oh! I have your mail."
E: *puzzled* "That's it?"
N: "You must still be groggy. I have a letter from a certain Mr. Luther."
E: *surprise* "My agent!?"
N: "Yessum. Now do you ge-- hey wait!"
Basically it's initials then colon, speech in quotation marks, and expressions between asterisks. This works fine until I come to the first branch. I'm trying to make sure it doesn't get too clutter because I confuse myself and have trouble writing. What I'm trying is having all the branches numbered and using a new document for each path before switching to the main storyline document. My worry is that I won't be able to keep up with all the documents well enough and the continuity will be screwed up (i.e a character mentioning an event in the main path that may not have happened). I'm just not sure what the best method is for branches :?.

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Re: In what form do you write?

#29 Post by Wintermoon »

I always write directly into my game scripts. When I can't (or don't want to) code something yet, I leave a comment as a placeholder. Words that aren't in a game engine don't feel "real" to me. I like to be able to see how my words look in the actual game.

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Re: In what form do you write?

#30 Post by Starling »

Personally I write mine in Word, but I do it in ren'py format... This of course catches all my spelling and obvious grammar mistakes, but I have to copypaste the quotation marks (ren'py doesn't recognize the formatted ones Word does automatically) and I have to indent everything.

I also have an easier time reading and keeping track of it, so I don't mind the little things I have to do to make it easy to copy and paste into a rpy when the time comes. Reformatting it is a lot more work.
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