CG-only VN

[RunereianLilli]

Hello, I registered just recently, but I found ren'py several years ago.

Now, I have a little trouble posting here, I am confused about where to post first and where to post second. But I guess that's just my personality.

Anyhow, I won't hide that I am working on a game, actually I am not working on the texts yet, but I am drawing illustrations(by hand). I am posting this here because I don't have the (scanned) materials to post on the WIP or Ideas board, because they require significant proof to be accepted.

As the title suggests, what I am making is a CG only visual novel, which means that there won't be any character sprites(most likely) and only background. The novel will also most likely be kinetic, as for me, it feels a little difficult to apply choices to this kind of a story.

I have one picture ready to demonstrate the kind of art I am using:

Above: Page 5 of my illustrated picture book that I drew when I had schizophrenia. (managed to draw one chapter only, now I am continuing)

I am really sorry if I am breaking any rules or something - please move/delete this thread if it's inappropriate. I just wanted to share the very little I have, you see, I have to scan the rest of the pages on my friend's scanner because I don't have one myself.

So the question is, are CG only kinetic novels enough to entertain a good amount of people? Is it worth making this? It's going to be quite long by the way(But I have only 36 illustrated pages for now.)

I would really be happy to make a WiP thread later on, but I at least wanted to get the fact that I am seen as a newbie here off my chest.

~Lilli

[trooper6]

So the question is, are CG only kinetic novels enough to entertain a good amount of people? Is it worth making this? It's going to be quite long by the way(But I have only 36 illustrated pages for now.)

If it is well written, I don't see why not.
Make your art, make it to your vision, make it the best you can.
Then see what happens from there.

[RunereianLilli]

So the question is, are CG only kinetic novels enough to entertain a good amount of people? Is it worth making this? It's going to be quite long by the way(But I have only 36 illustrated pages for now.)

If it is well written, I don't see why not.
Make your art, make it to your vision, make it the best you can.
Then see what happens from there.

That's quite motivating.

Yes, the writing is important. I showed the 36 pages I have for now to some friends, and they all wondered what it was about in exact, because they only saw pictures. I myself can't wait to get the writing done.

Thank you.

[Carassaurat]

I think that in many ways, CG only visual novels are 'the dream' — it would be very neat to have each moment be its own picture, but it takes a lot of work! I'd love to see more of them.

I'm not at all familiar with the Japanese scene, but from these forums, I think Donmai might be the only one to attempt CG only visual novels. The main reason that he pulls it off is because he is using 3D models and doesn't need to draw every scene. Here are the links to his works that I know of, so that you can see what he does with it. I think they're really very interesting.
Toire no Hanako
Li'l Red
The One in LOVE

[Laniessa]

Minori’s VNs get pretty close - eden*, ef, for reference. They do use sprites but they place them to make it look like film shots, with pretty lighting and everything.

It’s utterly gorgeous, and if you feel like you can do a CG-only VN, please do. I’m trying to make one myself and, well, people use sprites because it’s much less time consuming. (I mean, I assume that’s why people use sprites to tell a story.) I would love to see this!

[RunereianLilli]

I think that in many ways, CG only visual novels are 'the dream' — it would be very neat to have each moment be its own picture, but it takes a lot of work! I'd love to see more of them.

I'm not at all familiar with the Japanese scene, but from these forums, I think Donmai might be the only one to attempt CG only visual novels. The main reason that he pulls it off is because he is using 3D models and doesn't need to draw every scene. Here are the links to his works that I know of, so that you can see what he does with it. I think they're really very interesting.
Toire no Hanako
Li'l Red
The One in LOVE

I quickly looked at all three. Very amazing.

The thing is that I am using simple art, which is actually inspired by a Japanese game that I play - therefore drawing each moment is not that stressful.

These characters are called maku puppets and there is even a site where one can dress their own puppet. (http://maku.jp/make.php) The puppets are under creative commons license and I even read on the developer's blog that the Japanese Ministry of Education used the site to make material for students to help choose their occupation.

Anyway, I chose to make my own drawings of this style, and so far I can say it works. The quality isn't too bad and even if it looks like a children's book, my story has several serious themes - here we go back to writing, too.

[verysunshine]

I think that in many ways, CG only visual novels are 'the dream' — it would be very neat to have each moment be its own picture, but it takes a lot of work! I'd love to see more of them.

I'm not at all familiar with the Japanese scene, but from these forums, I think Donmai might be the only one to attempt CG only visual novels. The main reason that he pulls it off is because he is using 3D models and doesn't need to draw every scene. Here are the links to his works that I know of, so that you can see what he does with it. I think they're really very interesting.
Toire no Hanako
Li'l Red
The One in LOVE

I quickly looked at all three. Very amazing.

The thing is that I am using simple art, which is actually inspired by a Japanese game that I play - therefore drawing each moment is not that stressful.

These characters are called maku puppets and there is even a site where one can dress their own puppet. (http://maku.jp/make.php) The puppets are under creative commons license and I even read on the developer's blog that the Japanese Ministry of Education used the site to make material for students to help choose their occupation.

Anyway, I chose to make my own drawings of this style, and so far I can say it works. The quality isn't too bad and even if it looks like a children's book, my story has several serious themes - here we go back to writing, too.

The Maku art style looks very unique - I can see many people becoming interested in your work because of the art style.

Aviala used only CGs in the project Our War Everlasting and used a limited colour palette.

[Donmai]

I can see many people becoming interested in your work because of the art style.

You can count me as one! I have found your project very interesting, RunereianLilli. Please do it!

[Kailoto]

I've always been drawn to the idea of abstract art in visual novels... the conventions for character sprites, backgrounds, etc. are great and all, but sometimes I would like to see more inventive ways to use the visual medium. The writing would have to be superb, but I think it would make for a unique experience.

But yeah. Main point: there's totally room in visual novels for this type of art style, and by the looks of it, there's plenty of interest as well. Go for it.

[truefaiterman]

If you know what are you doing, and the story is good, a CG-only visual novel is perfectly possible.

... Actually... I'm surprised nobody mentioned Narcissu, which IS a CG-only visual novel as far as I remember.

https://vndb.org/v10

You may want to get it on Steam and take a look at it (it comes with the sequel, and both are free).

[fleet]

MY VN's are done using CGs with limited animated cut scenes in some.
Some people will not play your game, but be assured some will.

[RunereianLilli]

I can see many people becoming interested in your work because of the art style.

You can count me as one! I have found your project very interesting, RunereianLilli. Please do it!

I am honored that just one picture and a little "essay" about maku puppets got someone's attention. In that case, make sure to see the Idea/WiP (or respectively both) once I have the scanned and perhaps edited material to qualify. Right now both me and my friend have the same part time job, but I think I might have it scanned by Sunday. Oh, and now I can say this to you personally: Your projects look amazing!

And here's a little bonus I found:

I've always been drawn to the idea of abstract art in visual novels... the conventions for character sprites, backgrounds, etc. are great and all, but sometimes I would like to see more inventive ways to use the visual medium. The writing would have to be superb, but I think it would make for a unique experience.

But yeah. Main point: there's totally room in visual novels for this type of art style, and by the looks of it, there's plenty of interest as well. Go for it.

Sweet! Though I am not that good at recognizing what is "abstract art"... My bad, I think it should be common knowledge, but I had trouble deciding if one thing I've drawn was abstract or not.


Thanks to everyone who replied so far!

[verysunshine]

You can count me as one! I have found your project very interesting, RunereianLilli. Please do it!

I am honored that just one picture and a little "essay" about maku puppets got someone's attention. In that case, make sure to see the Idea/WiP (or respectively both) once I have the scanned and perhaps edited material to qualify. Right now both me and my friend have the same part time job, but I think I might have it scanned by Sunday. Oh, and now I can say this to you personally: Your projects look amazing!

And here's a little bonus I found:

You can submit to the Ideas forum with the images and work you already have. If you're interested in submitting to the WIP forum first, you should probably keep working. You'll get support either way. Your image looks beautiful.

I've always been drawn to the idea of abstract art in visual novels... the conventions for character sprites, backgrounds, etc. are great and all, but sometimes I would like to see more inventive ways to use the visual medium. The writing would have to be superb, but I think it would make for a unique experience.

But yeah. Main point: there's totally room in visual novels for this type of art style, and by the looks of it, there's plenty of interest as well. Go for it.

Sweet! Though I am not that good at recognizing what is "abstract art"... My bad, I think it should be common knowledge, but I had trouble deciding if one thing I've drawn was abstract or not.


Thanks to everyone who replied so far!

I have zero art knowledge, but I would call an image without a clear subject "abstract art". Something like a Jackson Pollok painting or the image with the white, blue, and green shapes.

[Kailoto]

I've always been drawn to the idea of abstract art in visual novels... the conventions for character sprites, backgrounds, etc. are great and all, but sometimes I would like to see more inventive ways to use the visual medium. The writing would have to be superb, but I think it would make for a unique experience.

But yeah. Main point: there's totally room in visual novels for this type of art style, and by the looks of it, there's plenty of interest as well. Go for it.

Sweet! Though I am not that good at recognizing what is "abstract art"... My bad, I think it should be common knowledge, but I had trouble deciding if one thing I've drawn was abstract or not.


Thanks to everyone who replied so far!

I have zero art knowledge, but I would call an image without a clear subject "abstract art". Something like a Jackson Pollok painting or the image with the white, blue, and green shapes.

Yeah. Pretty much anything that defies easy definition - if it's art doesn't depict something, but rather has to be interpreted.

[AsHLeX]

So the question is, are CG only kinetic novels enough to entertain a good amount of people? Is it worth making this? It's going to be quite long by the way

There are quite a few VN/KN on lemmasoft that are made using only CG's. One of the KN that I made was purely CG based too.

http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 11&t=28213

Generally KN's don't get as much attention as VN's but definitely there will be people who will play it ^_^ so don't worry about that. I think the reason why people don't usually do CG only KN/VN is because it's very time consuming, but if you're up for it, why not? ^^

I kind of like your drawings btw ^^ Good luck!