Why a visual novel?

[Epschy]

Fellow VN writers, I'm curious to know what makes you choose visual novel as the format you tell your story in, rather than other mediums such as regular novels.

What stories do you think fits VNs the best? What kind of stories you think are better to keep as regular novels, and do you read and write regular novels too?
I'm curious to hear you think!

[Fuseblower]

To me, it's the "visual" part of visual novels that attracts me. Visual novels gives me the opportunity to use my watercolors as graphics.

As for stories that fit VNs best : I think that stories that are primarily told by dialogue are better suited than stories that are action orientated or stories that rely on mood. This is purely because of the format that is typically used by VNs : a bunch of sprites in front of a background and a dialogue box. Of course, Renpy isn't limited to this but it is geared towards it.

Take for example the works of Isaac Asimov. His stories are almost completely told by dialogue. Stephen King uses lots of dialogue too and has tons of characters. Such stories can be easily told by means of a visual novel (sprinkle in a CG or two for more descriptive parts).

Compare this to works of H.P.Lovecraft which rely heavily on mood and has little or no dialogue. Of course, Renpy can be used to tell a story by means of illustrated pages instead of sprites (my own "The Doomed Diner" does this) but is it really a visual novel then?

Or take the works of Lovecraft's buddy Robert E.Howard. His works are very action orientated. Howard was heavily into boxing and his descriptions of fights are brilliant but difficult to put into a visual novel.

The very wording of the story might be unsuited for VNs. Would anyone really want to break up James Joyce's prose into pieces that fit a dialogue box and put a couple of sprites on top of it? The "visual" part of the "novel" should complement the story, not distract from it.

Also, stories that are epic in scope and take up the reader to wild flights of the imagination are ill-fitted to VNs. Take for example J.R.R.Tolkien. Can you imagine sprites of Hurin and Melkor in front of a background of Thangorodrim and the dialogue box going like "Sit now there and look out upon the land where evil and despair shall come upon those whom thou lovest." (click to continue) "Thou hast dared to mock me, and to question the power of Melkor, Master of the fates of Arda." (click to continue) "Therefore with my eyes thou shalt see, and with my ears thou shalt hear and never shalt thou move from this place until all is fulfilled unto its bitter end..." (click to continue, an option menu appears...) "Does Hurin : A - Mock Melkor some more? B - Confess his love to Melkor? C - Reveal the location of Gondolin?".

Of course, there's also the audience which has interest in visual novels. I feel like they're basically drawn to dating stories and horror stories (and there was another genre, kinda slipped my mind )

As for your last question : I don't write regular novels but I do read them (and listen to them, audio books).

[JeFawk]

The medium can be spread much better than just a novel. We're lucky that we (my gf and I) can both write interesting stuff, I can code, and she can illustrate amazingly.

So we combine all these skills and end up with an amazing game (we hope) and 0 marketing xD

Also even linear VNs have a higher replay value than books. If you have branching dialogues and different endings, the replay value skyrockets.

[Epschy]

The medium can be spread much better than just a novel. We're lucky that we (my gf and I) can both write interesting stuff, I can code, and she can illustrate amazingly.

So we combine all these skills and end up with an amazing game (we hope) and 0 marketing xD

Also even linear VNs have a higher replay value than books. If you have branching dialogues and different endings, the replay value skyrockets.

Why does it matters a VN having a high replay value if one can only purchase a VN once?

[felix]

Why does it matters a VN having a high replay value if one can only purchase a VN once?

Because it gives people more reasons to buy, if all you care about is how many copies you sell. More value for their money, in a way only games can achieve.

[numberposting]

I'm someone who enjoys working on creative projects relatively solo! With that, it's important to choose a medium that takes advantage of the skills you already have. I enjoy writing and drawing, and although I have very little coding experience, Ren'Py is very comprehensible and accessible, at least when compared to other game engines.
Also, my writing style tends to be super dialogue-heavy, which also lends itself to VNs. ^_^

[Epschy]

I'm someone who enjoys working on creative projects relatively solo! With that, it's important to choose a medium that takes advantage of the skills you already have. I enjoy writing and drawing, and although I have very little coding experience, Ren'Py is very comprehensible and accessible, at least when compared to other game engines.
Also, my writing style tends to be super dialogue-heavy, which also lends itself to VNs. ^_^

Oooooh, dialouge-heavy stories do fit the visual novel medium very well!
I, on the other hand, am having a lot of trouble to write my first VN for a jam, because since I've always read light novels and regular novels, I think that most of my literally input came from books focused on description, which is why my current VN is coming out excessively focused on the MC rather than exploring the other character as well.

[Two Dollars]

I'm never going to make a movie, but the vn has many if not most of the same elements.