NaNoRenO 2007- The ren'ai visual novel challenge!

[Watercolorheart]

What a bummer, Mr. E! Does that leave me as the only Int-Renaimo contestant left!?

I'm glad that I'm not quitting mine; I've got too many half-filled notebooks and interviews with people and sketches and art to just quit on it now, especially this close to the end >_o;; I can almost taste it being done ...

It might be that because my family is like "stop drawing/writing/whatever and come do chores" that it makes me stubbornly more determined to finish it ...

At the same time, I regret the time it takes away from Controlled Chaos, but ... I can't do everything at once. I can't even do commissions right now, I'm so ate up with it.

[chronoluminaire]

Sorry to hear your withdrawal, Mr E. Of course, real life does come calling for all of us sometimes.

I'm still in for IntRenAiMo, though! I've been making sure to write at least something every day - 1000 words on a good day, 75 on a bad. I've been figuring out the finer details of the plot that I hadn't worked out beforehand (and I need to get that figured out soon, because SunKitten needs the descriptions of the final event CGs soon!) I had an awful Saturday but a very productive Sunday, and should get a couple of hours tonight to write...

I'm also on a high because I saw the lineart of the main character images today, and also because SunKitten's drawing her socks off creating character art and event CGs, wow...

I'm glad that I'm not quitting mine; I've got too many half-filled notebooks and interviews with people and sketches and art to just quit on it now, especially this close to the end >_o;; I can almost taste it being done ...

Yes, yes, yes. With you there! This game has been under creation for four years!!! The prospect of getting it finished leapt up on Feb 26th and grabbed me by the throat, and so there's no way I could stop until the game's out!
(I also have interviews with my characters, too - cool to hear of someone else who does that ^.^)

The game will come out!

[DaFool]

Can you clarify what is meant by "interview characters"...

Are they based on real-life people?

This is intriguing.

[monele]

I'll fathom they are fake interviews like the ones in Shrek bonuses? (and other various 3D animated movies)

[chronoluminaire]

Interviewing characters? No, it's not bonuses in quite that way...

Basically, I read this tip several years ago, that a good way to flesh out your characters was to interview them. Basically, you write the dialogue for a simple scene, with your character being interviewed by someone else - in my case I just had myself as the interviewer.

You're meant to just write, not spend ages thinking about the answer to each question. Don't even stop to correct typos on the first writethrough - just write what you imagine your character saying as they're asked each question. None of what you write has to be binding, but it's a great way to find out the motivations, backgrounds, and contradictions to your characters, as a way to make them not just stereotypes or flat descriptions, but real people whose stories you can tell.

Here's an example: (caution: written by me about five years ago, may be corny and contain gratuitous Japanese)

Author: Hello, Keika.
Keika: Hello!
A: Would you like to say a little bit about yourself to start?
K: Sure! Konnichiwa, minna-san, I'm Keika Shinozuka. I'm 16, and I'm a new first-year student at Enohana Military Academy. I live at home with my parents and my big sister Yurika. I enjoy watching TV with friends, playing with computers, and cooking. And I'm blood type B!
A: Have you made a lot of friends at the academy?
K: Um... some. I've got to know a few people from my class and a few people from Takuya's class. I still get together a lot with my old friends from junior high, though.
A: How did you meet the people in Takuya's class?
K: One or two were in the computer room in the first week of term, and I helped them with some problems they were having. Yurika-oneechan introduced me to Takuya in the second week, and I started visiting his class to chat, and got to know other people that way.
A: And do you like studying at the academy?
K: Well, we've only had a month or two there, but it's good so far! ^_^ The military focus is really interesting. One or two of the teachers are boring -.- but it's no worse than my last school for that.
A: Do you have a boyfriend?
K: No, I don't, and I'm not really after one. I'm happy with just having lots of friends.
A: Have you ever had a boyfriend?
K: Um, do we have to talk about this?
A: I'd prefer it if we could. It'd be useful.
K: (unhappily) Okay, then... ...No, I've never had a real boyfriend. I went on a date with a boy a year ago, and I didn't enjoy it much. Then two months after that, another boy I knew asked me on a date, and I eventually said yes. And that was even worse than the last time. So I'm not interested any more, OK?
A: (gently) That's fine. Could you explain why you didn't enjoy the dates?
K: I guess so... ...The first time, I guess I was really nervous. The guy wasn't someone I knew particularly well, and I was a bit scared what it would be like. I hoped he might try to hold my hand, maybe... but he just seemed to be wanting to enjoy *himself*, and didn't care about me. He kissed me, and started stroking me, which I didn't like, so I told him to stop. Then he seemed to lose interest in me, and (she scowls) I heard he went out with another girl a week later.
A: That must have been bad. And the other date?
K: (has been looking sad, now bursts into tears) Oh, that was awful! He was 19 - and I was only 15, remember. He did the same, except he wouldn't take no for an answer. I was glad there were other people in the cinema with us to look at him when I screamed.
A: I understand. Thanks for talking about that, Keika - I can see it's been hard for you
K: I... that's okay...
A: Shall we talk about something else now?
K: That'd be good.
A: Okay, tell us about your family. How do you get on with them?
K: Papa's great. He encourages me and Yurika-oneechan to go for our goals and work hard for them. He works hard too, but he supports us both. He bought me my first computer, when I was nine. ^_^ I still have all of it, in bits.
A (startled): Bits?
K: (laughs) Well, I've upgraded most of it since then. But Papa's first computer is special to me, so I've not sold the parts I upgraded.
A: Okay, I understand. I can see you care a lot for your Papa.
K: He's really important to us. He's always so encouraging and supportive. He works hard at the things he can do, although we have to work hard too
A: What about your mother?
K: She's... not so supportive sometimes. She spends most of her time working or with her friends. It would be easier around the house if she was there. She doesn't seem very interested in what me or Yurika-oneechan do.
A: What are you hoping to do with yourself after school?
K: I'm reckoning I've got lots of time left to figure that out ^_^
A: Fair enough but what things would you *like* to do?
K: Something involving computers! ^_^ ...People say those jobs don't involve much talking to people, I suppose, and that's important to me. But I can't imagine I'll stop meeting people in my social time. I'll have to see what I can find, but there's plenty of time for looking into that later.

[monele]

Hmmm... where can I meet this Keika? :3

[chronoluminaire]

Hmmm... where can I meet this Keika? :3

Nyeheheh I'm afraid she's from a game with not much prospects of getting finished any time soon, although I may still go back and do it one day.

I originally thought her up as a "cute, extraverted, geeky girl", as a basic character concept, a stereotype-with-a-twist. However, with just that, she'd still have been a flat, two-dimensional character. That interview really helped me get to know her.

One day I may go back and write Keika's game. I'd really like to. I originally conceived it with eight datable characters (way too many); I might do a version of it with four or five at some point, though. And Keika would definitely be one of them, because she's great

However, as it happens, her big sister Yurika was a character I originally thought up also for the same game, but who I "borrowed" into the game I'm writing for IntRenAiMo So you'll be able to see the older Shinozuka daughter in just a few weeks!

[monele]

Like this? :3.... (it's just a drawing I made yesterday but hey, we're talking about cute geeks XD)

[Raikiri]

I regret to announce that as things are going now, I'm not going to make the deadline. I not about to mention any details, but life has way of sneaking up on you, and I've found myself unable to work on just about anything the past week, having started working on it again just yesterday.

Additionally, I realized that the "short story" I had come up with wasn't going to be that short, after all. In fact, it would probably take two months to complete for me, if not more. I have to decide between making a really, really short game before the deadline (probably not going to happen; really short stories just aren't my thing), or give myself another month to complete this. Altenatively, I could abandon this and go back to my original project.

I'll have to think about it.

[DaFool]

I'll have to think about it.

Maybe you can prioritize in one of two ways

1.) The game closest to the finish line (if the script is not yet complete, then the game whose script has the least likelihood of expanding)
2.) Your favorite project

[chronoluminaire]

Raikiri: That's a pity I'd echo the recommendation to focus on the game whose script is smaller or least likely to expand!

Monele: Very cute! Not quite how I'd pictured Keika, but very cute nonetheless

As for my game: SunKitten continues to churn out superb artwork at a blistering pace... which is good, as there's a lot to do I'm having to force myself to keep writing the not-yet-written script, rather than editing the stuff I've already written. I'm writing some endings at the moment, though, which are very moving and romantic and in some cases heart-rending... at least to me

[chronoluminaire]

So... We're on the 21st of March. Three weeks in, a week and a half to go. How are you all doing? How many fresh new ren'ai games can we expect to be downloading on April 1st?

My game is still progressing steadily... I may end up having to cut a few planned scenes to get it released in time, but that's fine. I've written enough romantic scenes in the past three weeks that there's no choice but to get this thing released.

SunKitten has finally admitted she's human, and won't be able to do quite every event CG I could think of in the world ever, but there'll still be plenty of gorgeous character art and event CGs for you to feast on. I spent an hour on Monday evening putting the script I had so far into Ren'Py, and that was pretty much all it took - I'm delighted by how easy Ren'Py makes everything.

So, challenges, restrictions, big obstacles to surmount, but I'm going to get there. How about all of you? As far as I'm concerned, you can all do it! Let's get there together!

[pheriannath]

At the present I could release my work, but all you'd be seeing would be plain, white words against a plain, black background...>_> I've been spending my time gathering resources but haven't actually gotten around to integrating them in yet (except the prologue).

I'm not really comfortable with releasing a work I feel is incomplete anyway, so if I can't make the deadline then so be it...but at least it will be finished.

[Jake]

I think we're still mostly on-schedule... we're expecting to finish the third milestone and get the game to a releasable state by the end of this week, leaving the whole of next week for tweaking, polishing and making sure that we can add up simple numbers and that our event logic isn't totally unreasonable. I expect myself to spend all this week writing scenes to cap off the plot, and all next week re-drawing all the mockup event graphics and backgrounds that are currently all five-minute scribbles with big thick brushes...

...what I am a little concerned about, though, is that we've hardly heard anything from our musician since the beginning of the month. Still, we'll see how it goes. I still half-expect to be releasing a 'now with extra shiny' edition a month or so later that's still the same essential game but with flashier, more complete graphics, but hey...

[denzil]

I am afraid I won't be able to finish on time. School is taking too much time lately and the project didn't turn out as well as I wanted so I will be rewriting some parts of it. Still I hope to be able to finish it soon (a month later or so).
Well I wish good luck to other NaNoRenO participants.