What do you think of this?

[Red Knight]

Going off topic, if your Visual Novel is that of an Overused Genre, how can you make it appealing to the crowd WITHOUT the use of Fan Service? (I.E., use of Ecchi, Sexual Jokes, Etc.)

[Scott]

It's not that hard? Or rather, it's not that complex... just write a good story.

That having been said, though, "fanservice" covers a lot of areas. It can range from just having a hot girl with glasses all the way out to the gratuitous peeping scene at the hot spring. Fanservice also doesn't necessariliy have to be ecchi; it can consist of in-jokes or references that appeal to your target audience.

That having been said... you're thinking about it too much, or you haven't been exposed to much fiction of any sort outside of anime, perhaps. It's not the most complex thing ever.

[Red Knight]

I just don't wanna mess up. I've seen too much criticism not to think about it too much. lol.

[Scott]

Stop thinking about it and just write what you want. No point in worrying about something that hasn't come yet, especially when it seems like you haven't even started.

How old are you?

[Red Knight]

How old am I? Why do you ask? Still, your right. I should just write what I want and not worry about it. I might not even write it. lol. I haven't written in a while.

[Scott]

Curiosity, mostly.

If you're not going to write it, not going to draw it... what are you going to do?

[Red Knight]

I said "Might". There are just no guarantees at the time. Perhaps I should rethink it, maybe get some input some friends. As for my age, sorry. I don't reveal information like that online.

[DaFool]

I just don't wanna mess up. I've seen too much criticism not to think about it too much. lol.

No one's preventing you from making a school-setting harem game starring a loli, a tsundere, a childhood friend, a catgirl, and a meganekko, if that's your thing. And there will be people who like the 1000th incarnation of that theme.

But if you're trying to do something different, at least have some experience in the theme you're writing about. That's what's usually makes for good writing. Either that or lots of thinking. Of course it goes without saying that experience comes with age. How old do you think most anime writers are? The youngest should be in their late 20s, but mostly 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s. Heck, we read of anime staff members passing away of cancer and other ailments... they're not that young, even though they write stories for teenagers.

That doesn't mean that if you're young you shouldn't try. You should, and build experience. But the themes you're going to tackle will be different. Several years ago, the stories that go on in my head are of the Naruto variety (which doesn't mean that it's not good). I wouldn't even contemplate a story that didn't contain any action. Whereas now it seems relatively simple to make an interesting story just with 'talking heads' and not much else.

[Red Knight]

I just don't wanna mess up. I've seen too much criticism not to think about it too much. lol.

No one's preventing you from making a school-setting harem game starring a loli, a tsundere, a childhood friend, a catgirl, and a meganekko, if that's your thing. And there will be people who like the 1000th incarnation of that theme.

But if you're trying to do something different, at least have some experience in the theme you're writing about. That's what's usually makes for good writing. Either that or lots of thinking. Of course it goes without saying that experience comes with age. How old do you think most anime writers are? The youngest should be in their late 20s, but mostly 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s. Heck, we read of anime staff members passing away of cancer and other ailments... they're not that young, even though they write stories for teenagers.

That doesn't mean that if you're young you shouldn't try. You should, and build experience. But the themes you're going to tackle will be different. Several years ago, the stories that go on in my head are of the Naruto variety (which doesn't mean that it's not good). I wouldn't even contemplate a story that didn't contain any action. Whereas now it seems relatively simple to make an interesting story just with 'talking heads' and not much else.

The Harem Idea was one of my ideas, but I thought I'd change that. Also, I do not use Loli, Meganekko, or Cat Girls in my stories. Also, as should be obvious, I'm not really an Anime Writer, as I am not from Japan. The stories I've written, while they take place in Japan, have been inspired by Anime. Tsundere, isn't that the term for someone who is generally mean, but is actually a loving person? Also, why bring up the way Anime Staff Members have passed on? Your not suggesting that Anime Writers or Anime Inspired Writers die before 80, are you? I'm not trying to sound offensive. I'm just asking.

[Jake]

The Harem Idea was one of my ideas, but I thought I'd change that. Also, I do not use Loli, Meganekko, or Cat Girls in my stories.

I think rather, DaFool was noting that the harem setting is fairly frequently used, to the point of being over-used... and those other clichés are too.

Also, as should be obvious, I'm not really an Anime Writer, as I am not from Japan. ... Also, why bring up the way Anime Staff Members have passed on? Your not suggesting that Anime Writers or Anime Inspired Writers die before 80, are you?

I think that the point is that good stories are typically written by a) people who have written lots of crap stories previously, and b) people who have a fair bit of life experience. I suspect the question about your age was hinting in this direction as well, really - you do come across as being fairly young. If I had to guess, I'd say fifteen or so.

That's not to say that young people shouldn't write stories or that they can't write stories - on the contrary, young people who want to be writers should write as much as they can because practice is important - just that people who are older, who've experienced a few stories of their own, will find it much easier to construct believable and relatively original worlds and characters, because they can draw on their own experiences. It's highly unlikely someone who's fifteen has lived with a girlfriend for a couple of years then had an upsetting breakup, for example - but it's quite likely someone who's fifty has gone through that or something similar at some point.



Now, writing clichéd stuff is fine, it's just not so personally satisfying for the writer. It's still good writing practice, and it can still be entertaining to read/play through. Myself, I'm a big proponent of the idea that getting something done from beginning to end completely is better than making fifteen starts and never finishing anything because your grandiose plans turn out to be unrealistic and unrealisable - you can see this in the media I release - the webcomic I draw is mostly pretty standard pulp sci-fi fare, and the last game I released was mostly a stereotypical dating sim-type with a story more or less totally borrowed from a recent anime series. I know I want to stand out with a wonderful original and ground-breaking piece of work, and I expect you do too, but I'd rather finish clichés than start and abandon a hundred original groundbreaking ideas.

[Red Knight]

Now if I tell you all my age, you'll just laugh at me. lol. Anyway, I think I get the point. Your telling me that people with Life Experience generally write good stories. Anyway, how did we get from Gaia Online Avatars to this? lol. Seriously though, I think I get the point.

[papillon]

Well, no, plenty of people with Life Experience can't write for toffee.

It's just that it's easier for someone with experience to write a believable story about things they've experienced.

I remember getting really angry at a creative writing teacher I had in university, because she got very cranky about what she wanted us to write. "Write what you know. But don't write about school, I'm sick of reading students writing about school. And no fantasy or science fiction either, that's stuff's crap." Well, that doesn't leave a whole lot for 18yos to write about, does it? We didn't have much experience other than school! (Family, summer vacation, part-time job if you've had one, which I hadn't.)

[Red Knight]

Man, that Teacher sounds annoying. I probably would have said something. If something annoys me, I'll say something. Not all the time though. lol.

[eezergoode]

Back on the subject of paper dolls and graphics, I've been playing around with http://www.daz3d.com/ and I am loving it. There is a TON of free content out there for those who aren't selling the games they make, and plenty of commercial stuff for people who ARE going to sell it. It's a bit hard at first, but you can get the hang of it pretty quick, and as long as you don't mind using the 3d cg toons instead of flat anime style toons, it's a great option. I've gotten the hang of making the dolls, now i need to play around with backgrounds.

[monele]

Is it *stable*? ^^;... I know I abandoned it after it kept crashing my machine multiple times.