Writing "Canon" and the Problems of Being "Real"

[ririruetoo]

When writing a VN with different routes, do you ever feel that its unfair to your characters or plot to place one above the other in regards to what is "true in the sense of canon"? I don't know, but I'm writing a branching VN right now, and every time I try to think about how this would go if I ever wanted to adapt into something different ( novel, tv show etc.) and what the "canon" would be in the case of the story it makes me feel bad about the other routes and plotlines that would not happen should this "canon" be established. Its weird, but it makes me wonder why VN writers get so focused on "canon" or a "true ending". I've read a few professional VN where there is a "True ending" to obtain, but it makes me wonder why give a person a choice in the ending if you've already decided what is real and canon in the context of the story? Are choices in vn really just fluff to tide the reader over before the real meat of the "canon" is served? And if so, what about the characters and plot lines which the reader loves which aren't considered "canon" or real in the context of the established universe? Why does canon have to exist when everything written about is fiction to begin with? Why must a reader need that assurance of it being real when nothing is real to begin with?

........I hope that made some sense.

This is a rather open ended question, but I would like to here some thoughts on this.

[Hijiri]

A solid canon provides continuity, which then makes events easier to follow for the layman. And it also tends to make a work feel more 'real' because in real life, every choice we make just takes us down one path. We can't go back and see what could have happened and see what could have changed, or go with a conclusion that make us happier when the choice we made was a wrong one.

[trooper6]

I don't like the idea of true or canon endings and it ticks me off when I play a game that has them. If you want to have one ending, then just have one ending. If you want to have one real ending and then punish the player for doing something different in the form of a bunch of "bad" endings, I'm going to be really annoyed.

But, you say, what if my game means to have episodes or sequels? If Telltale Games, Cause of Death, and Bioware can figure out how to do it, you can too.

[Hazel-Bun]

I love canon endings. I think the purpose of multiply endings is more to show multiply outcomes that could have been. I personally don't like the idea of having to conform to a multi-future if the author intends for one to be more true, but thinks the story would be intresting a certain way. That's the beauty of the VN format to me. Some games do better with multiply bad ends or dead ends, while others work best with a singular ending with many ways to get there. As long as I'm satisfied with how the story wrapped up, and the other ones were fulfilling in of themselves. I'd say do what you like best and don't try to please others though. Most replies to this will either favor one side heavily, or be a mixture of two extremes. Does that mean one is better than the other? No. Does it mean you'll have to chose a side when making your games? Yes, I believe so.

[trooper6]

I agree with Hazel-Bun. Do whatever you want to do most.
I just think it is important to advertise what it is you are doing...so that people who like KNs can know...oh this is a KN.
Or people who like game with bad endings and one good ending can know that is the sort of game it is.
etc.

[Hazel-Bun]

Yeah! Also, not meant to come off as combative if it read that way haha it's more of me trying to voice my opinion before it gets buried/it's 2AM here. Like trooper6 said, be as transparent as you can when it comes to your game. Can't tell you how many times I picked up something, and it was nothing like it was advertised...

[trooper6]

Oh! I didn't read it as combative at all! I just wanted to give you some comment support. Because I really do think it is important for creators to make art based on their vision rather than based on committee. So only love!

[truefaiterman]

As has been stated by the other posts, canon allows for a fixed continuity, and in fact, almost all of trooper6 examples are closer to "only one ending, multiple ways to reach it" with a few variations, which gives enough agency to the player while allowing make alternative stories and sequels without having to write too many variants (just by ignoring most of your earlier options and just mentioning unchangeable consequences).

I personally like True Endings, but ONLY if they are good enough to wrap up everything and overshadow the other endings. Examples like 999, Kara no Shoujo or Comyu come to my mind.

But I agree that the most important step is doing it as you prefer. And also, remember that canon may not be that important at all: think about Type-Moon's visual novels. They have no True Endings, and they work just fine (and right now, they make a sh**ton of money by adapting every single route of Fate/Stay Night. If you think about adapting to other media, you have that, lol).

[kitsubasa]

I'm of roughly the same mind as truefaiterman, in that I think true/best ends have value when they do more than the other ends. I think they usually work well in the case of visual novels that are focused more on plot than character.

For instance, I think in something like an otome game, having a true end is odd because your game normally exists as a simulation of romance with a variety of people. Saying one person is a 'truer' option for the protagonist than the others is a weird thing to do-- why give multiple characters if only one matters?

But in a game which is focused on resolving a narrative (like say, the Zero Escape games), true ends can act as an honest admission that yes, there's an ideal way for events to play out... which is how we tend to think about things in real life. If you run into a problem in your day-to-day, there are probably a lot of ways you can resolve it, but there's always an ideal you come up with. Negotiating a story and finding that ideal resolution is satisfying and there's value in a game rewarding you for doing so (with additional content, longer playtime, etc). It incentivises replays and learning the game's system, and helps engagement in the cast. Can you do better for them? You might as well try to, because you'll get more out of the game if you do. That sort of thing.

[trooper6]

As has been stated by the other posts, canon allows for a fixed continuity, and in fact, almost all of trooper6 examples are closer to "only one ending, multiple ways to reach it" with a few variations, which gives enough agency to the player while allowing make alternative stories and sequels without having to write too many variants (just by ignoring most of your earlier options and just mentioning unchangeable consequences).

I personally like True Endings, but ONLY if they are good enough to wrap up everything and overshadow the other endings. Examples like 999, Kara no Shoujo or Comyu come to my mind.

But I agree that the most important step is doing it as you prefer. And also, remember that canon may not be that important at all: think about Type-Moon's visual novels. They have no True Endings, and they work just fine (and right now, they make a sh**ton of money by adapting every single route of Fate/Stay Night. If you think about adapting to other media, you have that, lol).

999 was the game that convinced me that I hated the concept of True Endings. I despised the fact that I *had* to play the game multiple times in order to unlock new conversation options..and to get the ultimate True Ending. It felt so artificial. It broke my immersion. I really didn't like it. I hold that game up as an example of what I really don't want in a game. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

[Rossfellow]

For mine, I'm just thinking of lots of lots of bad ends. I dont even know if there's a "True" or even "Good" yet!

[truefaiterman]

999 was the game that convinced me that I hated the concept of True Endings. I despised the fact that I *had* to play the game multiple times in order to unlock new conversation options..and to get the ultimate True Ending. It felt so artificial. It broke my immersion. I really didn't like it. I hold that game up as an example of what I really don't want in a game. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Everyone has their own likes and dislikes, indeed, but I understand you: I didn't like the idea at all, and the process was tedious (if it weren't for the fast-reading, allowing me to get all bad ends and the Normal End in a single day, I wouldn't have consider it). But it was the end result (which I consider a superb ending to the story) what made me think "it's worth it".

Of course, something like that being "worth it" will be the minority of cases.

[E-night]

I personally dislike the notion of true ends. Espically in romance games.
But that is a personal preference. Along with disliking good ends and bad ends. I just don't like being told what is the right choice or how to think about something.

As for Zero escape, both of them, I would argue that there isn't paths.

The first game

Is Zero playing the game as the player to save herself

and in the second game

the protagonists timelime jumping powers are known quickly

Basically the Zero game is one liniar path from A to Z, where B, C, and D are the bad ends that have to be reached in between and often in one specific sequence.

[Laiska]

As a writer, I'm always going to consider one of the endings in a plot-based game to be the "True Ending," at least in as much as "This is the way that I feel that the plot would most likely resolve itself, given my personal perception of the game's events." However, I would never want to force this ending on a player as being the True Ending; while I can have that idea in my own head, it isn't something I would tell the players outright. It is up to the player, based on their own preferences, to decide which of the endings is Most Canon.

This leads to interesting examples in things like (so I am told) Sweet Pool, where there is a particular ending many players consider to be the True Ending because it is the most cheerful, but delving into the assets of the game actually shows one of the other endings being explicitly labeled as the True Ending. The devs considered that ending to be the true one but didn't make an explicit point of it, which I think is the best way to go about it—so long as you never 'judge' players for favouring the 'wrong' one.

[LPRe]

Personally, I'm not that fond of 'true' endings or routes -- I have a pretty short attention span for replays, so if I have to play a game over and over and over for their 'true' ends, it frustrates me, and true routes do exactly as you said -- I love the side characters or other routes, I don't like being told they aren't really 'real', so to say.

In my opinion, the way you play it becomes the canon, for you personally, and if you play it over again, the canon changes if you change it. Talking specifically, like with date sims, the first time you romance someone is a canon timeline, and the next time you play and romance someone else -- that's another canon timeline, just a different one, if that makes sense. It helps that I subscribe to the infinite universe theory, where there's a universe out there for everything -- I use that concept a lot when playing games where the endings differ. One ending is true! The other ending is also true, just in a slightly different universe!

That being said, I do understand why a lot of people go with 'true' ends. That way if you want to continue the story, there's a timeline to work off of, and as a writer, I do usually feel that one ending is more 'true' than the other ones, but, I don't really like labeling endings as 'true' endings. Even if there is an ending that I want to be regarded as 'true', I'd probably label it something else, like 'pure end' vs 'cool end' or something. (Though at the same time I loved the way No Thank You!! did their endings, and they had 'true' endings, so I mean, I guess it's also a matter of the style of story. Then again, No Thank You had some pretty intense other endings, so. shrugs. Do what you feel is best in the end, I suppose.)