Lemma Soft Forums

It's pretty to the point. For how long should a CG be on screen? Or rather, what is the shortest length a CG should be on screen for?

(I'm writing a script at the moment, and there's an introduction scene that I imagine I might do a CG for once the art part of the process comes along. Except, it's a kind of short scene that lasts like 6 sentences. I might do a cut-in type of CG instead.)

Shouldn't a non-cutscene CG be allowed to stay on the screen as long as the player wish for it?
I mean... it's kinda irritating if the CG is only displayed for a second and then I have to repeatedly push the back button just to be able to enjoy it again...

If a CG feels necessary for a scene but the scene is super short I'd personally emphasize the CG before the text shows up.

Like, pan up/around the CG slowly, stop on the face or character for a few seconds, then do a screen shake or other trick (if applicable/makes sense for the scene) before the text box pops up. Maybe stop the music for that moment or play a different background song to set it apart, then once the text box pops up, everything goes back to normal and the CG stays up until it is no longer relevant.

I'm going to say something incredibly specific and helpful like, "As long as the key moment lasts."

Can't remember the name of the VN, but it was this incredibly frustrating one where a writer goes to a cabin in the woods to work on their more... sensual scenes. This VN had this really annoying thing about consent, stopping every three seconds with the two characters with a "Are You Sure?" And there were a small number of CG's from what I remember, so the scene had continued far past the part shown in the CG, but because there wasn't much else to follow it, it hung on the old one for far too long.

I'd say at least three paragraphs, if the scene depicted by the CG doesn't last that long you probably don't need a CG. Longer can be all the way up to an entire scene. If you got a scenery CG from driving a car to watching a city from a bench etc., that CG is probably better than showing the sprites after a while standing and talking like they do in the rest of the story.

So, just like Artalija said, just as long as the key moment lasts. This could be an entire scene or just a few sentences. When we're talking action CG, those can overstay their welcome as usually what's depicted only lasts for a few sentences before moving on to a whole different action.

Having CGs on for short amounts of time can be just as impactful, if not more, than a the typical use of a CG. I say this because the general consensus on a CG is that because of budgetary reasons they have to be used sparingly and for a decent amount of time, so having one be short and snappy can work in your favour.

Of course, this provides problems such as people who like the CG wanting it to be on screen for longer, then they have to either scroll back or go to the gallery to see it again which can be troublesome. As Yunou suggested, you could use transitioning techniques like zooming in and such to draw out the time that the CG is on screen.

You do have to strike a balance between letting the player revel in the beauty of your CG and making sure that it's actually portraying what's happening in your story. I recently finished playing Hanako Games' A Little Lily Princess; one of the kiss CGs, which I was quite excited to see, ended up only lasting about 3 screens. This felt too short for my liking, but at the same time, it wouldn't have made sense for the scene to be drawn out.

The best thing to do, in my opinion, is to have the CG on screen for as long as the moment lasts and then include a CG gallery so that players can go back and stare if they want to.

I second what @Zelan said.

I do enjoy CG's that feed directly into the story but not all scenes make sense to be overly drawn out and can be bothersome if they are.

My opinions are roughly the same as the others, but I think:

Action CGs are better off shorter than longer than expected.
Sentimental CGs are better off longer than shorter than expected.

Granted, "key moments" CG really shouldn't last for too long. Still, nothing quite like action sequences stuck because of the arts-- considering that you're not exactly going to be taking in the wonders of the art and how beautiful their muscles are while people are presumably trying to kill (or escape from murder), it's kind of funny and annoying when they're already down the street in the narrative and the art only changes after they parted ways, 30 dialogue screens later. At least you're supposed to appreciate the moments, in the other type.