A "Professional" Game

[Gear]

What do you feel makes a visual novel "professional"?

Okay, let me try to explain in depth. We've all played the "hi-quality" or "professional" visual novels that the big guys publish like Trauma Center, Phoenix Wright, Professor Layton, and the others. We've also all played visual novels that other Ren'Py users have created. Some of them seem less...I suppose streamlined? Or professional-looking/sounding/acting?

Basically, aside from storyline, art, and voice acting (if any), what is it that makes some games seem more expertly created than others? Is it that beeping noise that is used to advance the text? A forced text speed so you have to read at a certain pace? Partial, full, or no voice acting? Some combination of small nuances seem to be the cause here. Any thoughts?

This is assuming that this post made ANY sense at all.

[clannadman]

I think the style of writing can help immensely. Timing is also very important. Some storylines can have great ideas but they're just instigated at the wrong time or written in a way that makes it hard for the reader to connect with the message. All the flashy stuff helps to make it 'look' professional, but generally the ideas and how they're applied are what separates the hi-quality from the mainstream indie games.

[clannadman]

Also, it helps if you can make your drawing styles match on your backgrounds and your characters. Lots of games have original characters but just use the same backgrounds over and over

[pondrthis]

Sound effects are underestimated. A solid library of sound effects makes a huge difference.

[Alera]

Everything makes the difference! The little details, uniqueness, stuff~

And of course...the NAME. No- I don't mean the name of the game. But the company that made it. Of course when you see Capcom for example- you'll be sure the game is pro, even if it isn't high-quality in reality.

And if you cut the 'storyline, art, and voice acting', what is left? The music? XD (Yeah, I know there are other things, but these are the main, right?)
For a Visual novel- isn't the visual factor most important? The art, the in game graphics and interface? Plus the story of course, since- what is a novel without a story!

[pondrthis]

And if you cut the 'storyline, art, and voice acting', what is left? The music?

Thank you for demonstrating my point regarding the undervaluation of sound effects! XD

[Alera]

And if you cut the 'storyline, art, and voice acting', what is left? The music?

Thank you for demonstrating my point regarding the undervaluation of sound effects! XD

XD -lol- Nooo- of course sound effects are very important! But I usually count them to the music media, which is actually wrong- I know. OTL

Sounds effects together with good music themes make a great deal of the mood in the games, right?

[Gear]

Hah! I meant that I understand that the story, sfx, and visuals are important, but all VN's have those. I'm talking about small nuances that make Capcom's different from a rookie's game. Stuff like how sprites are transitioned, or how text is displayed on the screen. Ultimately, what are some of the smallest and easily overlooked aspects of games that could drastically improve the quality?

[LateWhiteRabbit]

As opposed to snarking, here is what I've learned from working with professionals in the games industry:

What separates an amateur game from a professional game is the same thing that separates all amateur work from professional work - an eye for detail.

I assume most of you have heard, "the devil is in the details".

Most amateurs neglect something, be it the menus, the art, sound, music, the writing, etc. They are in a hurry to get the game done and get it out as soon as possible. This would be like a novelist publishing the first draft of his novel - even if it does turn out good, it could have been a lot better with more drafts and edits, and people will see this.

Professionals can look at something, be it the art, the story, or whatever, and tell when something isn't right. A lot of amateurs can do this too. The difference is that a professional will take the time to correct the problem.

As an artist, I see this a lot when amateur artists draw a person and they say "it doesn't look quite right". Now, professional artists do the same thing, but we won't call the drawing or art done until it looks right. We will redraw, go over anatomy, and if it isn't right again - we keep working on it. The famous painters we all admire like Da Vinci, Raphael, etc. spent YEARS on some of their paintings.

For a professional visual novel, a few things have to come together:

1. High quality and consistent art. It is called a "visual" novel for a reason. This means character sprites match one another, and the style of the backgrounds matches the style of the characters. The characters need to look like they exist in their environment. Besides style, this also means matching horizon lines and perspectives. If the horizon line of the characters doesn't match the horizon line of the background the character will look like a cardboard cut-out - fake. 2D, and not in a good way. And that isn't professional.

2. Attractive interface design. This means that the menus match the style of the artwork in the rest of the visual novel. Some graphic design and typography elements come in here. The font should match the style and tone of the game, but be easily read at a glance. Good interface design also means making the menus and controls easy to use. Don't use default fonts like Times Roman or Arial, and for the love of all that is good and holy, don't use fonts like Comic Sans or Papyrus. Graphic designers will laugh at you. Your game interface should not look like something out of word processing or spreadsheet program. Those may be professional, but using them in a game certainly isn't.

3. A compelling story. You need something that stands out, something that makes someone hearing a description of it say, "I have to find out how that all turns out!" Many professional visual novels have similar SETTINGS, but not similar stories. Also, your story hook, what it is about needs to be brief, but interesting. In the professional games industry, (or any story telling industry) we call this the "elevator pitch". This is what will interest a player in your story and make them want to play the visual novel. We call it the "elevator pitch" because it should be short and punchy enough that you could convince a person you've never met before to invest in your idea in the short length of time of riding an elevator up 3 or 4 floors. This should be two sentences or less, no more than three. Can you verbally, without sounding rushed, tell me your story concept in 30 seconds or less and convince me to read it?

4. Executing that compelling story well. We all know concepts for movies or books that sounded like the most awesome thing ever, yet some how the director or writer still screwed them up in the execution. Executing a story well involves a few things, none of them an exact science.

First, pacing. You want your story to move briskly along at an exciting and interesting pace. You never want the player to be wishing you'd hurry up, or clicking through in boredom.

Second, crafting believable characters and dialogue. Even if I can't see the character, I should be able to identify them by their dialogue. I.e. "That sounds like something "so-and-so" would say." Keep your characters consist and shape the story to fit them - don't twist your characters to fit the story.

Third, know when to start the story and when to end it. Your story should be about the most important and interesting time in your characters' lives. If it isn't, why aren't you telling THAT story? Once you've wrapped up the major conflict, resolved the hook, or answered that question that hung over the story, go ahead and finish quickly. Don't drag things out. Once the conflict is over the player no longer has a reason to care about your story. Finish up on satisfying note and be done with it. DON'T be like Tolkien and Lord of the Rings - don't start a story by discussing the history of tobacco farming and drag out the ending hundreds of pages after the ring is destroyed. His story was good, but it had to OVERCOME those things to be good.

And . . . that's it. Pay attention to all those details and you will have a professional quality visual novel.

[Alera]

^ What I said but in LOTS OF details.

LOL- If we follow that logic-this is a very clear example of that I'm an amateur in these forums. XD

Imagine if my comment and LateWhiteRabbit's one were VNs. The concepts seem to be very similar, but it's obvious who is the pro, right?

( OTL yeah, I have the habit of talking against myself. )

[Samu-kun]

"Professional" has nothing to do with the intrinsic quality of a game. It just means that someone who works for commercial profit made it. (ie. the game was made to turn a buck) There are a lot of professional games that suck compared to ones made by amateurs.

[Gear]

"Professional" has nothing to do with the intrinsic quality of a game. It just means that someone who works for commercial profit made it. (ie. the game was made to turn a buck) There are a lot of professional games that suck compared to ones made by amateurs.

I disagree. A game can be professional without it being for sale. I cite RE:Allister++ by Sakevisual. Very professional and well-done, but a free game made by a small group of people on Ren'Py.

[Taleweaver]

/me points up.

What latewhiterabbit said.

Word.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

"Professional" has nothing to do with the intrinsic quality of a game. It just means that someone who works for commercial profit made it. (ie. the game was made to turn a buck) There are a lot of professional games that suck compared to ones made by amateurs.

Professional can be a title, but it can also denote behavior.

The first part of becoming a professional is acting like a professional.

I believe that whatever you are doing, even making a game or telling a story as a hobby or for fun, you should do your best.

I'll just leave this here from Webster:
Professional - "following a line of conduct as though it were a profession"

Amateur - "one lacking in experience and competence in an art or science"

No one wants to do something, even a hobby, in such as way as to make someone refer to them, by definition, as "one lacking competence", do they?

[Suikama]

What separates an amateur game from a professional game is the same thing that separates all amateur work from professional work - an eye for detail.

Not much else to say other than this. Except for maybe 'completedness' and 'refinement' but they all pretty much point to the same thing.

I am reminded of a saying that I might as well throw in here: "Amateurs strive to get things right. Professionals strive to get things perfect." (I kinda paraphrased there but you get the idea :V)