What got you into VN making?

[PyTom]

While we might have had this discussion before, our community has grown and changed, and I think that it'll be interesting to see what people answer nowadays. Of course, oldbies are welcome to.

1) When did you first get into making visual novels, dating sims, and other related games?
2) How did you get into it. Were there any works that influenced you, people that told you about it, or the like?

I'm kind of interested, in an academic sense, in how the answers to 2 have changed over time.

For me the answers are:

1) Late 2003 into 2004.

2) It was actually a multi-step process, that went something like:

- I watched several anime series based on visual novels, like Kanon (2003), Mizuiro, and Da Capo.
- This lead me to look into the visual novels that were on the market at time time, which were from the J-List zaibatsu and the original G-collections, before it became part of the zaibatsu.
- I then found Tales of Lemma 1, and through it this forum.

[lordcloudx]

Can't resist responding to threads like this.

1. Late 2005 and continued sporadically until early 2010
2. Narcissu and Soremata for me. No one told me about the VN medium. I first took interest when I saw anime series based on Visual Novels like Kanon, AIR, Tsukihime, Wind: A Breath of Heart. PyTom found my first three VNs on download.com and posted them in this forum. I took the opportunity to just go ahead and register.

[lepapillonrouge]

Ohoho. I'd like to see answers to this.

1.) 2008 - because that's when I found a girl named Pacthesis on deviantart, who made Flash-based GxB dating sims, and still does to this day.

2.) Hirameki was still alive and selling Yo-Jin-Bo! at Anime Expo 07. I bought it. I played one playthrough. Never touched it again. -has no idea why-
But really got me into VNs was the anime adaptations of Air and Clannad, which I found out after some online digging, were based off Visual Novels. Still really didn't know what they were, but when I found Ren'py in '09, that's what really started me on thinking about making VNs.


I'd be really happy, however, if the reason why people got into making dating sims - at least on the girl's side - was because of stuff made with Ren'py, like Fantasia and Re: Alistair.

[CaesMRaenes]

I'm totally up for this. Resisting interview questions is totally not an option for me.

1) I believe I starting attempting it around 2007. I lurked around the forums for 2 years before I actually joined and started talking. I found this forum though through Google search because I was bored and wanted more free novels to play after playing "True Remembrance" and "the Night of the Forget-Me-Nots". Ugh! Gives me shivers remembering Night.

2) Oh gawd, do I have a list for you. What actually inspired me to start a novel and continuing was "Fantasia: The Realm of Thanos" by azureXtwilight. What got me to the Ren'Py program itself was the "Magical Boutique" by Chibi Goddess (right?). What got me to write was "Text - A Summer Tale" by sake-bento. And what made me want to draw more was "Aquae - Crystal Clear Waters" by R3 Productions and, well, Deji.

D: Guh! Sue me for being a suck-up but I know what influenced and inspired me and I'm sticking to my story!

[chensterrain]

Ohoho. Am I still a newbie? I dunno :B

1. I got into them pretty much when I joined here in Sept / Oct 2008-ish - aside from a copy of Yo-Jin-Bo I randomly had on my PC (and couldn't stomach playing for more than an hour, tbh), I had never even heard of visual novels and dating sims. :S

2. After playing the Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side games with a friend, I decided I'd make a quick-and-easy flash dating sim, but as I had pretty much zero flash ability whatsoever I didn't get very far, and ended up searching for 'dating sim makers' on Google... so yeah. I've been inspired by tons of games on this forum after starting my own game, though - I think Dream Saviour Gakuen was the first I played, and the more dating-simmy games like Summer Session, Re: Alistair and Spirited Heart have definitely influenced my own game. Outside the forum, Katawa Shoujo showed me what could be done with Ren'Py, and watching gameplay videos of Shira Oka really motivated me to get working (for a while, anyway. Distractions, woo~).

(Actually, I think loads of incomplete games have influenced me too - I still desperately want to see a finished version of Terrabrand!)

[DaFool]

Thanks for this thread; I too would like to know the common influences that drove us here.

1) When did you first get into making visual novels, dating sims, and other related games?
2) How did you get into it. Were there any works that influenced you, people that told you about it, or the like?

1.) It was the release of the Blade Engine in July 2006 that really made me go "Yes, I can make one!" Before I was aware of ONSCRIPTER but it looked way too complicated. Zalas pointed out the alternative at the time (Ren'Py; Novelty wasn't yet conceived), and PyTom found the thread in animesuki and answered questions about Ren'Py. The rest is history.

2.) Way back when I was enjoying JRPGs on the Playstation 1 and Dreamcast, and visual novels are very similar to JRPGs, except without the battles. I didn't know much about visual novels then, only rpgs. Final Fantasy VIII (I was already in college before I got my first console so didn't catch the VII bandwagon), Grandia, Lunar, Legend of Dragoon, Skies of Arcadia, those were the ones that touched me the most.

When digital anime fansubbing became more widespread I really enjoyed the short romantic 2-4 episode OVAs based on visual novels (Mizuiro also influenced me a lot). That was before moe anime and visual novels became accepted enough to adopt to late night 13-episode TV series. The main driving spike for my interest though was in 2005-06 with the combination of the al|together festival of translated short JVNs, Narcissu, and the Air TV and Fate/Stay Night series.

I am recently however gravitating back towards JRPGs especially now that Playstation is once again a force to be reckoned with (pardon me those with Xbox 360 ) and NIS is slated to release tons of awesomeness as its main platform for the coming years.

[Aleema]

1) I suppose that would be ... *checks join date* 2008? I had to put it off for a while when I was in several plays in college. But now I'm back with a vengeance.

2) I didn't know what a "visual novel" was, per se. And I can't remember my exact path to Ren'Py, but I found I was desperately trying to create visual novels in RPG Maker XP and VX, but I didn't even know that that's what I was trying to do. I was looking through game engine lists, and I poked my head in at the adventure engines ... which I think led me to the visual novel, which immediately clicked with me. "This is it," I said. "This is the hobby I've been waiting for." I've always been swimming with stories, queuing my writing with music and such ... it's actually quite a shame I wasn't introduced to the genre earlier. For as long as I could remember, I drew characters and made up stories, but they rarely left my daydreams. My entire childhood was acting out stories with my Barbie dolls, even my Beanie Babies! (Don't worry, I'm not into furrys, hehe.) I've ventured into the movie/radio-play medium, but its not as satisfying, for one, it's difficult to find the money to do quality work, and writing and directing your own work is rare, again, without the reputation or money. With visual novels, you have complete control over all the aspects. So it's purely a reflection of yourself and your ideas -- which is a bad idea if not exposed to critique, so inhabiting this forum is crucial while making Ren'Py games, I think. After playing Japanese games, like Final Fantasy (my first one was 8, too, DaFool )and Phoenix Wright, the power of simple text and imagery was proven to me. Mix that in with my rabid love of coding in general, and that's why I love this hobby, and there ain't no goin' back.

[LVUER]

Oooh, I can't say no to PyTom when he's asking question. So here's my answer:

1. My very first attempt in making VN was about 2002 when I was still in college. That time, I barely know VN but I was interested in making adventure game (without fully knowing what VN is, neat huh?)... well, actually I was inspired by game titled Jones (anyone remember this game?).

And then I was heavily exposed to VN at late 2003 (thanks to a certain friend of mine). But have no desire to make it until mid 2005. After that I captivated by VN and wanted to make it for I forgot how long... I began searching all kind of info and engine to make VN, but pretty disappointed until I met RenPy. I think it's about 2006 when I first stumbled on LSF. In 2007, I decided to register in LSF and joined the VN-making community. In 2008, I began seriously re-learning all my drawing basic and began studying at coloring.

I made my first VN at late 2009 when Taleweaver offered me to work together with him to make The Dreaming (shame on me, I still haven't finished all the art. I will definitely finish it someday...).

But my "truly" first 100% made-by-me VN was R.S.P that I made for NaNoRenO 2010 (so it was March 2010).

2. I'm already enjoying making manga from early ages and making various kind of games years before I even know what VN is... When I was exposed to VN, I really captivated by it... and unconsciously, I want to make it too. This really make me regret to neglect my coloring skill (since I was interested only in black&white manga at that time).

[jack_norton]

1) I always liked to write and tell stories, so VN was a very good choice. Recently though I feel I need to take a long break
2) Well for me was discovering LSF and the VN world through hanako (papillon) after making Summer Session with her. I remember playing some dating sims when I was younger, but don't remember the exact names, I think one was "paradise heights" and another "two sisters".

[ForgottenVision]

I got into Visual Novels at the end of 2009, coming into 2010 when Umineko no Naku Koro Ni Chiru Episode 5 was released and I actually got it and read it. I loved it and wanted to be able to make my own epic VN like Umineko, so I looked up different programs. I did download Blade for about 2 seconds but I just didn't get it and was all... WTF? then I found Renpy and I found it easy enough for me to use. I got *into* Renpy games after reading Katawa Shoujo and being all... OMG this is awesome.

My first VN, When Sapphires Cry Episode 1, was a mixture of Umineko backgrounds & bgm with characters and plot from an RP me and my friend have been writing for the past 2 years. When I finished, I realised that I couldn't really share it around since it was a) bleeding copyrighted material out of it's ears and b) not that good of a plot I was intending to continue with the story, but I realised that it was too much effort for just... three people... so it's postponed for now.

[Vatina]

Hmm let's see if I can remember....

1) Around 2003-2004 like Pytom I think.

2) Read Megatokyo and found Air through that - then entered Haeleth's old translation forum and followed the Kanon translation closely. I had vaguely heard about the genre before, but mostly in a negative way.
My interest in Kanon made me in love with the general idea of visual novel media - so even before I really had the opportunity to play one (not much translated back then), I already toyed with the idea of making my own. Soon after I found this place and signed up as an artist.

[freia-chi]

Well might be just a noob yet... but...

1.) March 2010(when my friend asked for a help in her own VN)

2.) I was greatly influenced by otome games especially the otomate factory and Konami games. Keep playing then when my friend showed me Renp'y while she is making her own, i thought hey, i want to make one too.

[Jake]

Visual Novels specifically? Around 2003.

Other related games? Sometime in the late eighties, using The Quill on the ZX Spectrum (and not getting very far). Since then I'd on-and-off messed around with various text-adventure games (including the PC Adventure Writer from the same author as the Quill) and eventually started writing an engine to power a cross between a free-roaming text adventure and a choose-your-own-adventure game, with graphical depictions of the areas, characters and events. Then went to university and forgot about it for three years of drunken debauchery (and a degree). After university, some friends said "hey, we're making a ren'ai game, we need background art, here: play all these Japanese games which demonstrate the concept". One of the guys (Ficedula) had written an engine much like the present-day Sylph, which behaved much more in line with the typical VN, which led to me completely abandoning my previous approach. That project (anyone who's played other games Fice was involved with will have no trouble believing that it was about lesbian schoolgirls) died from writing inactivity and engine development more or less ceased, after which I distracted myself with model-making and drawing until I came across Ren'Py a couple of years later in 2005.

[Deji]

1. In September 2006 I answered to a call for colorist and ero-artist for a Visual Novel project, called Flight of Twilight (which is still under production, btw). Previously, I toyed with Flash and with ideas with my boyfriend to make games, but we've never made any >_o; The year after that (2007) I decided to make a VN with a friend of mine (Caramel Mokaccino) and make a VN for my diploma project with another good friend (Astre@). Sadly, both projects ended up in hiatusland because of the writers =/

2. I started gushing over japanese CGs when I got internet access around 2000. I'd browse japanese VN websites looking at the pretty art and eventually started collecting CG sets from games along with the usual pretty images I could find around the web. Actually the first title that got etched in my mind because I really liked the girls on the CGs was Shuffle!, while I got into Tony Taka works later leaded by my boyfriend.
I think I pretty much got to play my first VNs/VN demos around the time I started posting here (2007), since I needed material to work on my diploma project. I collected a lot of VN art and analyzed it to develop a way of doing my own things by that time, which lead me to produce a lot of art for Astre@ and learn many things i got to incorporate on FoT production as well. It also got me interested in hanging around this place (I still was trying to learn how to make a game by myself back then) and eventually led me to meet people that contacted me to work with/for them C:

For the record, I think the only japanese VN I've played is Narcissu. I played 2 or three demos when I was researching for Astre@ and that's it. The rest have only been stuff released here

[Pyonkotchi]

I decided to try making my own games just recently. ive been into visual novels and dating sims for a while though.
Found about VNs on my own.
ive played games like the harvest moon and Princess debut. and Lux pain and such.
i really liked those kinds of games.

and the idea of my own story and art being in a game really makes me happy.
Plus i always liked making up stories and characters. im probably not too good. but i still enjoy it.

but i never knew it would be possible for me to make my own game.
o3o because i didn't know about these VN engine programs then, and flash is freaking expensive >:C

i don't know what made me decide "im going to make my own game"
it just kinda happened. i started drawing out characters and imagining ideas. it was more of a dream though,

then i found about about Ren'py,
my reaction was something like "8D!!!"