NaGaDeMo starts tomorrow!

And it will be different from all the other days when I said I was going to work on something, but ended up reading TV Tropes.

Side Characters

In Katawa Shojo there's a character, your pc's neighbor.  He's not a "gettable" character, (no paired ending,) and you don't even get to make any choices while you're talking to him.  He's just got lots of dialogue and he shows up more than once.

I think he's probably meant to be worldbuilding/ story development, or comic relief, but for me he was just something I had to click through to get back to the game.

I think it goes back to my last post, about interactivity.  I wouldn't mind "side" characters if I felt like they were either: essential to the storyline, helping me develop my character, or affecting the outcome of the game in some manner.

Interactive Novels Should Be Interactive

Another thing that bothers me in VN: reading page after page of dialogue with no choices to make.
Even if it isn't actually going to affect the underlying variables, how about giving me a choice of how to respond?  Or let me direct the conversation a little bit, even if there is important plot info that needs to be conveyed.

Example Time:

NPC: I have terrible news, sire!  Your trusted vizier was a traitor!
{PC: I had no idea!
NPC: He's kidnapped the princess!
{PC: Oh no!
NPC: What should we do now sire?
{PC: We must create a search party!

VS:

NPC: I have terrible news, sire!  Your trusted vizier was a traitor!
{PC: I had no idea!/ I knew it!

NPC: He's kidnapped the princess!
{PC: Oh no! (goto NPC1) / Eh, she'll be fine. . . (goto NPC2)

NPC1: What should we do now sire?

{PC: We must create a search party!

NPC2: Your Highness, we really should create a search party.
PC: Oh, fine.

I mean, terrible plot aside, I'd rather read the second one.

First Impressions

One thing I dislike that I see happening in a lot of visual novels:

You're talking to Girl A, and Girl B appears.

If you don't go after B right away, you lose the chance to ever get on her path. 

But if you do go after her, you never get the chance to change your mind and go back to Girl A. 

I want to make a game where you get the chance to meet all of the love interests before you have to decide which one you want to pursue.

What do you think?

NaGaDeMo

I've decided to try National Game Development Month!  

I'm going to be making a visual novel in Ren'Py.  I've played around with Ren'Py in the past, but never completed a game.

I've been thinking about an idea for the last couple weeks (since Snow White is everywhere lately) about doing a gender-swapped version, where Snow is a boy and the other characters are girls.

I guess we'll see if this gets me motivated to finally finish a game!