Lemma Soft Forums

Hello guys. I'm currently working in a fan game from The Loud House divided into two parts; both will have visual novel elements but the first one will be a kinetic novel. Anyways, I'm there just to ask for suggestions regarding small aspects for the design.

Those who know the series know that there are big differences from one character to others, there are adults, teenagers, children and toddlers, so the difference in size is something pretty common... Here are some examples:

https://www.deviantart.com/kebec/art/Sp ... -894348840

https://www.deviantart.com/kebec/art/Sp ... -894348856

And there I am having some issues regarding the esthetic of the text box since I don't want it to overshadow the smaller characters. So, can anyone give an idea how to turn this problem into an advantage?

Hmm... this is an unusual problem. I can think of two solutions off the top of my head:

1) Place the text box at the top of the screen instead of the bottom. This is pretty unorthodox and would take some adjustment from players, but I don't see anything inherently wrong with it. Here's an example from a fan DDLC video.

2) Dedicate a part of the screen solely to the text box instead of it being an overlay. Have the backgrounds, CGs, character sprites, etc. all start at the top edge of the text box. Something like this, but on the same screen, of course. The downside to this is that you'd potentially be wasting valuable screen real estate.

Hope this helps!

Good ideas, I will take them in consideration and experiment a little with them...

Are there more suggestions?

You could also consider putting the text in word bubbles like a comic instead of in one static dialogue box! That would probably be a lot more complicated to program, but it also looks to me like it might fit the aesthetic of the character art. You could check out Where the Sun Always Shines for ideas on how that might work.

parttimestorier wrote: ↑Fri Feb 11, 2022 11:36 am You could also consider putting the text in word bubbles like a comic instead of in one static dialogue box!

This is a good idea, but narration would still pose a bit of an issue. The POV character could appear on screen with a thought bubble, but I think that would be a little clunky.