Stupid Question

[Darkdaran]

Hello!
I am new here and I have a stupid question to ask:
What do you think about a novel that had the main character a blind person?By that I mean that there wont be any visual content (I know,that beat the whole VISUAL novel concept). I ask this because I want to know if people would play something like this only for the sake of the story and the plot.I want the novel to be like any other with the exceptions of the visuals. Also,I want to make a story with relationships betwen characters based only on the said character personality and not by their looks (this is because i know some friends that would pick a route just because of the looks of the characters,and i also feel more interested in some characters just because they design look nice or cute ).

What do you think? Is it stupid? Would you play a novel like this? I really wait for your answer. Thank you!

P.s Sorry for any mistakes,English is not my mother language... >_<

[Graff]

I've thought something like this before just for fun. I would probably incorporate some kind of visual content, such as the character feeling for objects or even character's faces, then displaying what it might appear like to the player.

Apart of being blind is learning your surroundings, so as the main character learns what is around them, you can have the game display backgrounds of what he/she thinks and remembers instead of showing exactly how it appears.

For instance, the character may learn a lamp on a table is on the left center of a room, so update the black background with that information. As the game continues, more and more objects become clear to the character. That is, if it's a setting he/she is not familiar with. But things like color and designs would probably not be important information.

[Shinoki]

H2O -Footprints in the Sand would be an example of a visual novel featuring a blind protagonist (though apparently, he gets his sight back depending on the route) (and also, apparently, when he's blind, you still get to see an image of the characters--just in black and white and what he "thinks the girls look like")

I'm not super sure on if I would play it. I actually love reading novels and whatnot as much as I love playing games, reading manga, and watching anime... but at the same time, when I play visual novels, I do kind of expect graphics. If not, why not just make a book? Though I do suppose visual novels are better than books for making the whole choice-branch things.

For me to play a blind protagonist: the main thing the game would have to do is to: have an unique and interesting plot. (If you're going with the generic school-life thing, I'm probably not going to be interested. Though then again, H2O was set in a school life setting...) Good story can make up for a lack of graphics though I still am not too sure about that...

[psy_wombats]

I think this would be more interactive fiction that a visual novel. Not that there aren't readers interested in interactive fiction -- it shouldn't discourage you from writing it. But keep in mind the liberties of the medium you're working with.

[trooper6]

There are bunches of games made for blind players which don't use visuals.
There are story based games that are popular that don't have visuals...see games by Choice of Games, alsof all of IF...and even super pornographic game Corruption of Champions is all text. Christine Love's Digital: A Love Story is basically all visual. Analogue: A Hate Story has visuals, but because it is an epistolary VN, the text takes on the center stage.

So, there are lots of games that do what you describe. You just have to do you game with excellence and then find an audience.

[Katy133]

I find this idea interesting. There's a visual novel with a blind protagonist; it's called Locked In.

There's also several other types of games that have a blind protagonist: Perception, and Beyond Eyes.

What I find interesting about these games is there method of illustrating the protagonist's blindness. They're creative because they use visuals in a non-traditional style. Locked In uses black silhouettes for the characters. Perception uses blue light to show what the player character can hear or feel. Beyond Eyes uses watercolours to illustrate what the protagonist can hear, or what she thinks she hears (a beautiful river she hears may change into an ugly sewer upon closer inspection, and so on).

I would suggest thinking about how you can use art in a visual novel to help illustrate how the blind protagonist explores their world.

[Klawzie]

If you're set on using the visual novel format (as opposed to straight up text game), then I expect there is some degree of visual component, however indistinct. There are different types of blindness, after all, and some of them do mean having something other than complete blackness. Even if the blindness you're talking about is a character with absolutely no visual feedback and never having been someone with sight from the start, I'd still expect something other than a black screen and a text box. What the character imagines based on what they know (from touch and sound and smells; etc), even if it's devoid of color and distinct shapes can still create some sort of world.

I also expect a great deal of attention being paid to the sound of the game, unless they're also deaf.

Not discouraging you from making whatever game you want to make - even if you take none of my expectations on board. Just make sure you're making choices consciously and not as corner-cutting.

[Kinjo]

Like others have said, I'm not sure a visual novel where there are no graphics shown to the player is the best way to convey the story of a blind protagonist. For that, you're probably better off writing a book or pure text game, in which you're not removing any content. But I do think the idea of a story featuring a blind protagonist, while also keeping graphics for the player to view (i.e. the player sees more than the blind protagonist does) would be worth investigating.

[MoonByte]

While I absolutely love the idea (as I also had a few ideas, one which I want to do this June ever since the GGJ16).
But I also agree on the poin that VN might be a weird choice for such a game.
KN might be ok, it would simply be a novel with sound and music then.
But a game with/for blind people, I'd say it is usually better to not require actually seeing something, not even text. Aka, engines that allow control of movement would be better where you could use sounds as cue to when and where to move, no matter if in 2D or 3D.
But that's just my opinion, if you have a specific idea and want to try it, then go right ahead.

[VimislikArt]

Hey, so weird thing - I was thinking to myself, "Wouldn't the logical extension of this be an interactive radio drama? I wonder if anyone's ever done that before?"

Turns out there's a ton of them.

Anyway, I would also like to 100% agree with all the other commenters above me as well.

[Alte]

This can be done. You don't have to use "visual novel" to describe your game if you don't want to.
If you would like to see or hear an example try out: Blindscape. [IOS] [Android]
Another example of incorporating sounds into a gameplay mechanic: KuraKuraMaze [IOS]
I hope it provides inspiration to whichever you're making.