School set VNs too redundant?

[clannadman]

Sadly mine pretty much has to be set in a school to begin with since I'm sticking to an outline already set down. But I do think it's overused and it's very difficult to create anything new from it (the standard Japanese system that is). You can probably have some fun by focusing on clubs or stuff outside of lessons if they're unique, such as the SOS club in Haruhi. Literature club and Music club have been done to death by now and most games will seem (to those experienced with visual novels) cliche and non-unique if they incorporate the same old stuff. It isn't completely dead though. It could be revitalized if there was a new take on it. For example, in Angel Beats, it's set in a school but in the afterlife. It has something new and interesting to add to the point that you don't think of it as a cliche school environment. It's useful to add something new. HOWEVER, if you feel your story needs to incorporate the cliche stuff and doesn't really work any other way, then I say go for it (just appreciate you will have critics).

[Aetheria]

I'm really very skeptical of English-language games set in modern-day Japan, for the reasons everyone else has already noted. A game set in an American high school would be somewhat more interesting, but it would hav eto have some other interesting element to really jump out at me. Maybe I'm just not far enough removed from high school to find that setting especially attractive or nostalgic. (Actually, I don't know if there's anything I'll ever miss about being a teenager!) A historically-accurate game set in a school in the past, however, might be kind of cool. Even though if you wanted to go back more than a couple of hundred years, your protagonist probably couldn't be a girl unless you made it an alternate history.

[KomiTsuku]

Doesn't matter if it is cliched or done a dozen times, as long as it is something you love writing. It is gonna have to be of a much higher quality to be noticed out of the dozens and dozens of other high school visual novels, but it can still be done. Just write what comes to you, although, yes, it is a very, very overdone theme. Me? Personally, I can't write high school visual novels. I've tried and it ends up worse than my regular stories.

Heh heh... literary incest. A very colorful, accurate description!

[papillon]

A historically-accurate game set in a school in the past, however, might be kind of cool. Even though if you wanted to go back more than a couple of hundred years, your protagonist probably couldn't be a girl unless you made it an alternate history.

Not really - it would depend on the specific culture and social class that you were making use of. Even in medieval times there were places where women received roughly equal educations. Of course, in many times and places the only people who got a lot of education were those who pledged their lives to the church, which can put a damper on your romance plots.

[pondrthis]

Of course, in many times and places the only people who got a lot of education were those who pledged their lives to the church, which can put a damper on your romance plots.

Or make them MUCH more exciting!

Someone had to say it.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

You can try also try to avoid high school and collage and try elementary school with an adult mind set.

That sounded very loli and a bit wrong until you clarified!

@LVUER
There are indigenous people living in small villages in jungles in South America - far deep into the heart of the jungle. They would be surprised to learn they aren't supposed to be able to survive there. Don't worry - they'll never find out you said that since they don't have electricity or the internet.

I think it would be kind of neat to set a VN with teenagers in such in a village. "School" would be learning together the skills they needed to survive. How to hunt, how to gather, how to craft items and weapons. You can even have roughly equivalent events to the traditional "worrying about passing the college entrance exam" by having the teens worry about passing their (possibly actually dangerous) coming-of-age tests.

You could have a nice cast of characters, though almost ALL the girls would be the "girl next-door". You could have a possible romance carried out in secret with a girl from a neighboring village who you meet in the jungle one day. Maybe foreign missionaries or anthropologists visiting the village for the summer have brought their daughter.

I see a ton of possibilities for such a setting.

[papillon]

In an extremely non-serious way, it's been done:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Har%C3%A9%2BGuu

[LateWhiteRabbit]

In an extremely non-serious way, it's been done:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Har%C3%A9%2BGuu

Well, then. See there? Stories are everywhere.

[Snowflower]

So many ideas... I don't know if I can take it in all at the same time. I guess I just have to wait and see.

[Pyonkotchi]

Depends, if you school age characters in a modern setting that isn't during summer time they'll most likely spend a lot of time in school,
I don't think it's school settings that bugs people, but Slice of Life plots IN a school setting. :\ If you have characters in school trying to solve some insane murder mystery and supernatural, it'll be more interesting than the story of a boy who deals with everyday friends, love, and family issues

High school age kids are common, probably because a lot of us are in HS, are going to hHS, just got out, or remember it well or something, its probably a bit easier to write for a teen or young adult character than an elderly man or a young child for some of us i think

I'd like to see stories written from the point of view of a small child acutally, like, 5-8 years old or something, kids are fun :>

[clannadman]

Reading all this stuff has frightened me. I'm 28,000 words into my script and realized it's mostly what has been listed in the above posts

[Snowflower]

I know.

But at least I haven't done anything for my next VN besides the outline at the moment.

[SusanTheCat]

One thing that Netflix has shown me is that old stories come around again.

My son and I have been watching old 80's TV shows. Ones that I loved as a kid. At the time, the were VERY original. Then everyone jumped on the bandwagon and they became cliched and stale.

HOWEVER, my son hadn't seen the original. He hadn't seen any of the knock offs. So he thought they were great.

Susan

[Snowflower]

I guess I won't know whether or not my idea is not the generic school set VN or not until I release the information of the WIP forum

[MiSi]

well... I can say that my idea is definitively not the usual school-VN... he, he... fantasy characters, some strange happenings (mysterious in a way)... MAAANY jokes... funny protagonists (well, at least I hope so... ) aaand...

you may even die