Official Megatokyo visual novel

[gekiganwing]

I became a Megatokyo fan quite a few years ago, after borrowing the first trade paperback collection from a local library. I thought it was an amusing series for a while, though my interest waned as the pace slowed down and the drama/meta elements increased. The comic has an interesting place in fandom, as it was one of the first pieces of fiction in English that discussed visual novels and romance games. (Except for a fansite or two, you would have struggled to find anyone writing in a non-dismissive way about VNs in 2000, or even just a couple years ago.) While I used to be active on its forums, I currently only look at them every now and then.

So yeah... after all these years, there is an official Megatokyo visual novel in the works. A project began on Kickstarter on June 18. As of this writing, it's been less than two days. Their funding goal of $20000 US has been surpassed, and they've met several stretch goals. They could reach a goal of $75K in the near future, which would mean that they would already have the second part of a planned three funded. The developers' statements about the scope of their VN seem lofty, but they will be selling the final product as a $15 indie game.

Trivia: according to a forum sticky, there were no less than nine attempts to create a Megatokyo fangame or VN from 2000 through 2008.

[dramspringfeald]

*Feels awkward* I've been reading it since early 2003.... I was actually involved in the 04, 06 and 07 Game attempts as well as the early anime tests.

Good on them but I feel the game will suffer until Pyro actually finishes the series.

[Taleweaver]

I should be ecstatic. Megatokyo was one of the things that helped me discover VNs in the first place, and I read the webcomic for a long time until I found out its community is a bunch of tightasses who wouldn't recognize a good story if it bit them in the crotch, unless said story came from Japan or out of the feather of someone of Japanese origin, in which case it would be almost universally lauded and all possible flaws handwaved. I mean, these people lauded Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni for its character art...

Well, let's see what comes out of it. They're certainly not getting my money for the kickstarter.

[MaiMai]

I'm a member of Something Awful now, and I ran across a small discussion of Megatokyo in the webcomics thread. They described the reason for its popularity quite succinctly since it really was one of the first comics on the web with a somewhat consistent update schedule for a number of years and it talked about what was then a rather niche subject (anime, the anime subculture and fandom etc.) Also it was ~*weird and random*~ that appealed to those of us that were young back then.

But better artists, better storytellers, and altogether better webcomics have come to fruition that leave Megatokyo in the dust and a relic of the early millennium that doesn't match up with the quality that's out on the web today (that and it doesn't help that no one knows what the hell is going on plotwise and its update schedule isn't as fast anymore).

It's sad really. I own the first three volumes in print since I still think there's something in there for me in terms of writing and characters before the plot went crazy. I'm still amazed people are still invested enough in it to support the Kickstarter.

[PyTom]

I'm optimistic about this project. (I've backed it, as I do with many vn projects, more to see the kickstarter updates than anything.)

First off, I think the team behind it has done their homework. They've put together a demo, and seem to have a vague idea of what's involved in making a VN, athough I worry somewhat about all the stretch goals. I also think that it might "work around" some of the problem Megatokyo has been having. I suspect the definitive starts and ends will help to focus the Visual Novel, as compared to the open-ended comic. I also think that once there's a pool of assets, creating the visual novel will be more efficient than the comic - a comic page might be the equivalent of a couple of event CGs, but a scene in a comic can go on for many pages, while the same scene in a VN might have a couple of event CGs.

I also think that this could be very good for the EVN community. It has already attracted thousands of people. I'm guessing many of them have not played a Visual Novel before - and what's more, this is targeted at an audience that isn't overly weaboo. (How could they be, when their main focus a made-in-america comic. Contrast this with Katawa Shoujo, which came out of /a/.) We should welcome these new players and teach them what's out there. And we should welcome* the new group of creators this is likely to inspire.

The Dating Sim portion of the Megatokyo forum seems to be very out there - but that part is basically filled with tumbleweeds. (17 posts in June so far, if I counted correctly.)

So, I wish the project success.

* Of course, we'll need to keep an eye out for people creating kickstarters without any real plans to finish the game.

[Clayton Barnett]

I also think that this could be very good for the EVN community. It has already attracted thousands of people. I'm guessing many of them have not played a Visual Novel before ... We should welcome these new players and teach them what's out there. And we should welcome the new group of creators this is likely to inspire.

My thoughts exactly and that is why we supported him, as well. EVNs are only -- at best -- in the toddler stage in America. To have someone with his fanbase bring this form of storytelling to a wider sea is very, very welcome.

Certainly, I did grind my teeth a bit when I saw how much he cleared. But then I've only been at this for seven days shy of a year. He left his day-job as an architect years ago to both draw and go on the road to animecons. I've had the opportunity to meet him twice at the past two Ohayocons. As my wife and his... have something in common... we were able to talk about a variety of subjects for our first meeting. At the second, this past January, when I reintroduced myself and gave him my 3-AR Studios business card and said, "We've just released a free Act One of our commercial Visual Novel, I know how busy you-- [I yell at youngest daughter to put hat back, he gives telling look to his son to Stop That!]-- are, but if you've the time...?"

Now, I've no idea if he did, but after supporting him on KS, I did get a message from him. An amazingly decent man, and I hope that we can all catch part of his comet's tail into our future!

BTW, PyTom: I have turned down promotions at work so I have the free time to finish OK. My blood sugar levels are shot to Hell and my diastolic BP has been over 90 for a month. Our target is 20 August.

"Time is Short; We Dream Big"

[V2Blast]

Wait, it's actually happening this time?

Well, since it surpassed its initial fundraising goal, let's hope this actually gets made.