While the story as a whole is fictional, it is a synthesis of my own experience working at an open-cut mine in Australia and my life around that time, as well as the observation of how small bits of information about the lives of my friends / family can totally change my view of them and placed everything I already knew about them in a broader context. The early part of the KN will probably contain a fair bit of coarse language and maybe crude humour, since its set in the work place.
Narrative Form
An alternate narrative structure, kishotenketsu, is used to convey the story. As opposed to the dominant western notion that conflict is necessary to tell a story, kishotenketsu is driven by contrast and juxtaposition rather than conflict. Discovering this was a great relief for me, since it felt so artificial shoehorning in conflict where there was none. This doesn't mean waver contains no conflict at all, simply that it's incidental and not driving the story. The form can be seen as four acts:
- An idea is introduced.
- The idea is developed.
- A new element is switched to. This can be described as a kind of non-sequitur.
- The conclusion ties together the two ideas from the previous three acts by revealing their relevance to each other.
There's a few things that many VNs do that I won't be doing. The first is identifying the characters. None of the main characters will be named. I'm also toying with the idea of making the main character's gender and orientation ambiguous. Additionally, there won't be any character art. Originally this was because I can't make character art, but then I decided I liked the idea of not using it. The backgrounds will likely be edited photographs unless I really feel like making them myself. If I did make them myself it'd obviously be after the writing is finalised. And they won't be anime styled either way. So. If there's no names and no character art, how do you know who's speaking?
Introducing my all-new patented s- shut up! This is how. Each character occupies a particular place on the screen. The narration always goes in the center slot, while the main character's dialogue always goes in slot #1 just above and to the left of it. Other central characters besides the lead go in slot #2; none of them are ever present at the same time, so this is fine. Additional characters use the additional slots unless slot #2 is unoccupied. On top of this, the context and nuances in the character's dialogue will allow the player to figure out who's speaking. Hopefully. (Those boxes won't be there by the way; they're just there to illustrate the dialogue positioning.)
Inspiration
This is more a curiosity than anything, but I thought it might be nice to point out some parts of other media that've inspired me. Still in the process of updating:
- No Country For Old Men (movie)
One thing I noticed when I recently watch this movie is that there's no music. At all. Only the sounds of the environment. And it never detracts from the movie; if anything it emphasises the emptiness on roads in the middle of nowhere and increases the tension in particular scenes. Very good choice, in my opinion. - Heat (movie by Michael Mann)
I really liked the visuals of this movie. Lots of cool colours. I also loved that the characters all had their own lives outside of the central plot and that it wasn't focused on big and explosions / shooting all the time. - Rabbit, Run (book by John Updike)
- Hemingway, Elmore Leonard (authors)
Brevity of writing and focus on dialogue. - The Second Sex (book by Simone de Beauvoir)
- Games People Play (book by Eric Berne)
- A Book Like This (song by Angus and Julia Stone)
The line "and I stand on the ocean shore like an old black and white movie" in particular. - Evening Strains To Be Time's Vast (music by Jacaszek)
I used to live not too far from a trainyard and in the middle of the night you could hear the cars being shunted. It was eerie during the early hours of the morning when I'd go for a walk sometimes. It'd be very dark except for the occasional white street light which made everything it lit look as though it were monochrome. The trains shunting sounded like the distant dull clanking of metal; it was as though the planet were echoing. That's what this music reminds me of. - Papers, Please (game by Lucas Pope)
Here's the opening narration:
- "One hundred thousand electric stars line the streets, bolted down by cast steel anchors.
Porch lamps guide home late returns and moths alike.
Slanted rain last night left the street's wood fences wet on one side and dry on the other.
For each thing sheltered, another is weathered in its place."
This is some music I've created for it so far. The tracks are short, but I've made them so they loop. It's still early work so some things will probably changed / extended. Here they are:
- Waver (title screen music)
- Impermanence
- No Quarter (this is a cover of a reworking of Led Zeppelin's song of the same name by Jimmy Page; it won't be in the final version)
- Evening Horizon
Here's some dialogue from part of final scene from act 2 between the main character (who I call "girl 1" in the script!), her friend (girl 2) and a taxi driver:
- Narration: "Looking up from a piece of paper, the driver lowers the window."
Girl 1: "You free?"
Driver: "Hop in. Where're you girls headed tonight?"
Girl 2: "Home!"
Narration: "Pushing a button on the meter, the driver pulls out into the street."
Narration: "Addresses are volunteered loosely to a stranger."
Narration: "The city fades away." with longDissolve
Narration: "…"
Narration: "Oases of white light bleach the surrounds outside."
Narration: "Bound to inevitable orbits, celestial bodies shine faintly from the past."
Narration: "Fingers draw on the fogged windows inside."
Narration: "Protecting them from each other, the glass divides worlds."
Narration: "…"
Girl 2: "I feel so -"
Girl 1: "God, would you stop talking about how drunk you are?" with fastDissolve
Girl 2: "..."
Girl 2: "Hey can I tell you something?"
Girl 1: "...What?"
Girl 2: "You're a good friend."
Girl 2: "And..."
Girl 2: "I'm drunk."
Narration: "…"
Narration: "Her stop is first."
Girl 2: "What do I owe?"
Girl 1: "Don't worry about it."
Girl 1: "I'll be rich soon."
Girl 1: "Get some sleep woman."
Girl 1: "And drink something."
Girl 2: "I already -"
Girl 1: "Water."
Girl 2: "I'll call!"
[sfx of car door shutting]
Narration: "…"
Girl 1: "Do you mind if the window is down a bit?"
Narration: "The driver glances over but says nothing."
Narration: "It’s cold outside."
Narration: "A gentle pause at an intersection, but there’s no need."
Narration: "The ferryman goes on down the still river of asphalt."
This lists the criticism received on the content so far. I've summarised them below:
- Menu (and game) font. Quite a few people have commented the font, while good for the logo, is hard to read for normal UI elements. This is due to the kerning (too high) and short ascenders / descenders, making letters look very samey and thus decreasing readability.
- Narration ellipses. Apparently they suck and confuse people. I’m not sure I agree just yet, since they haven’t been seen by others in context yet. If people are still confused / annoyed by them in context, I'll try to think of an alternative.
- SFX shouldn’t be relied on to convey important information. Some people have sound effects and / or music disabled.
Lastly, this is a solo project; I'll be doing all the writing, art, music, programming, etc. Oh, and it's non-commercial. I'll be updating this thread with more info when I get around to it -- I know it's missing some plot and character details. I just wanted to get it up so I have a place to post to. If you have some feedback / thoughts / criticism on what I've posted so far I welcome it.
If you want to follow along or chat or something, I have Twitter now and there's a #waver IRC channel on the Rizon server. Come one, come all! The first ten people to fulfil some arbitrary criteria get money! And by money I mean nothing.