I was thinking about a recent VN I was playing and tried to determine how they structured their story. After some thinking and trying different paths, I realized they had a “process of elimination” system going on. You were presented with opportunities to go down a path with a certain character and if you turned that option down (which wasn’t always so obvious) you closed off that path/story. This seemed a little more like real life to me. In the first structure that I posted your choices are evaluated to dispense a final outcome, here you’re choices lead you down different paths all together. Some are closed to you in a sort of “point of no return” setup depending on how you make your choices. Like real life, you often only get one shot to go down a certain road.

So I sketched out a diagram, as I seem to like to do, and below is the clean version of what I came up with.

In this structure you are essentially telling a story from multiple angles where some lead down different story outcomes. Like the first diagram, you have your main path that starts with an introduction and offers points for you to learn more about the characters as they are presented to you. The first couple threads don’t change the outcome as much as they help you to learn about the environment and story. A means of giving you information that you are interested about.

Then you have a PNR (Point of No Return) point. This is a choice that if you pick one way will lead you down a new path, if not you continue down on your way. If you pass each PNR point you basically have eliminated all your choices and end with nothing.

I thought, though, that even with an PNR system it would be nice to still have a second chance (SC). This would give you at least one more opportunity to “jump-ship” on the path you are on and go to another. To the reader (player) this would hopefully not be so obvious and it certainly takes some of the mystery away by showing a graph like this.

During one of the side paths you have some options that will eventually lead you to one of a couple endings.

The problem I was having with the first structure was trying to “weave” a couple different stories into one main path. This is a lot harder than it appeared, because if the player has too many options to jump around the different stories that are going on then there will be little sense of a complete story.

My next goal is to take all the ideas for Confession and try to fit them into this structure. I was already in the process of writing a story for each girl, so this should work out smoothly.

We’ll see.

~nio

I just wanted to post an update here to start off the new year. After my last post about Visual Novel structure, I tried to pick up the Confession story and apply that structure idea to it. I changed a couple basics plot points, took out a couple characters and added some new ones. I quickly found out, even with my simplified structure, that it’s not so simple to put it down on paper.

When I was thinking about the characters, their motives and where they would be and how they would react, things started to get a little messy. So while that structure (graph) is a good place to get things rolling, when you get down to the dirty work it can start to unravel in front of you and you can find yourself stuck or going in circles.

I’m not out yet, though and hopefully I can start to really post some progress in the coming months.

Keep checking back.

~nio

So in my attempt to get back into making an adult visual novel, I thought it would be good to do some research. Research is fun when it involves playing games with cute anime girls. Anyway (cough), one of my many goals was to get a better grasp on the VN structure from a story and game perspective. With that I started to lay out a little roadmap in regards to getting a scenario together  for a visual novel. This is what I came up with and I think it’s a good place for anyone to start that is interested in making a visual novel adult or otherwise.

1) Concept – The first thing you need is a concept. Before jumping into the dialogue you need to know what the VN will be about. If you’re stuck a good place to start sometimes is to look at VNs you really like and use that idea as a jumping-off point. Twist it with some new ideas. Before you know it you’ll have a lot of new ideas to work with.

2) Characters – These are typically stories about people. So the characters are a great place to go next. If you can develop them enough they will have their own motives, which will help you push the story along when you get stuck. You need to give them a voice in your head so you can understand where they are coming from and why they do what they do. I like to list out the main characters and any optional or side characters. Figure out their relationships (if any) and then I try to list out some basic information about them like their fears, dreams, hobbies etc.

3) Outline – Next I try to get an outline going. This is just an idea dump at first. I list some important story points I’d like to have or explore. Then arrange them in an order that makes sense. With the important points listed I can try to connect them together so it flows and makes sense how one part of the story leads to another. If I have any thread or branching ideas I jot them down here too. An outline is a great way to get the basics down without worrying about the details.

4) Threads & Branches – I’ve played a handful of VNs and I’ve noticed that it’s not all branches. It’s mostly threads. What do I mean? Think of the main story as a “highway”. There are “events” that happen on the highway as you go along. This is what I usually establish with the outline above. This is the main core of the story. Threads are “detours” that go off the “highway” and lead to a temporary side-story. In a VN these “detours” would be started by a player choice. Once the thread is done you’re back on the main “highway” story. From a technical point, you might use this to up or lower the player’s score. It may even cause some dialogue in the main “highway” story to change using an “if” statement etc. But overall the main “highway” story is something you always go back to. It holds the overall story together and keeps the plot moving along.

The branches are something usually saved for a critical point in the story. A major choice has to be made, or the choices from the threads earlier come to fruition. From here the story (or highway) will break off into separate branches. The choices the player has made have now be solidified in a completely new direction. From here the rest of the threads will really determine the final outcome. Eventually the story will branch off to the final ending depending on the actions the player took to that point.

I made a diagram to show this:

Here you see the main “highway” of the story. Off of that are the threads or “detours”. These represent the choice points the player makes, but they all go back to the main story again. At some point the story reaches a breaking point and it branches off into different “highways”. From here the player has made his choices and they have changed the story outcome. On the new branch there are more threads to the final conclusion. Depending on the choices, the player will get one of any number of endings. In simple cases there may be a “bad”, “good” and “perfect” ending for each branch or an overall “bad” and “good” ending but only one “perfect” ending for each branch providing the player’s score is high enough.

So there you have it. A basic rundown of how to get a visual novel scenario off the ground. Now, this is just my way of doing it. It doesn’t mean this is the best or only way. There are also many ways to go about structuring a VN, but this seems to be the common path most typical “date-sim” type VNs go in its most basic form.

~nio

Well, it’s been… well, it’s been a long time. Let’s just keep it simple.

So what happened? Well, life mostly. Making a VN has been an off and on side obsession of mine for at least six years.

Many have been stopped short due to other people I tried to work with. Others have just been my own lack of interest or time.

So then came Confessions of a Heart, I was serious about this one, but alas it fell through the cracks. It became overwhelming. It had too many girls to keep track of and the thought of drawing all the scenes became disheartening.

What does this mean? I’m still interested in doing an adult VN, but I need to set my goals a little lower. I am only one person after all. But my hope is that by focusing on smaller stories I can provide more quality overall.

My current thought is to produce Mini-VNs. These would focus on a couple of characters or maybe even only one. This affords me a little more creative power. It helps keep the story focused, it will hopefully make things a little more meaningful. It also means I might be able to get voice work done since there won’t be a ton of characters to deal with.

On top of that, I’ve been exploring a new VN development application called Novelty. It’s a graphical design application that is much more to my tastes when it comes to development. It might not have all the features of Ren’Py, but it seems easier to work with from a creative point of view.

Hopefully (crosses fingers) I’ll have something to show down the road. I may re-work Confessions of a Heart or come up with something new. I won’t make promises as I seem to have a horrid track record of this, but I thought I’d throw a little note here as to what’s going on.

~nio

I know this probably sounds like a broken record, but I’m still working on a game. Like I said in my last post things have changed a bit. I am making progress and have been working on it almost everyday.

I’ve spent most of this time learning a new program and fleshing out my new ideas. I can’t say when I’ll have anything to show, but my hope is that it won’t be too much longer.

~nio

I’m still working on making a game… of sorts. I’ve shifted around a little with my ideas. I’m currently playing with some new concepts I’ve pulled together from a couple different games. On top of that I’m working on a more dimensional art style.

Does this mean that Confession is dead before it really hit the ground? Maybe… right now I’m thinking of a little different type of game that is a bit easier to digest and hopefully more fun.

I’ve learned a lot in the last couple weeks and there are a lot of things going on. So I’m far from giving up on this. In fact I’m more energized about the concept than before. I just don’t have anything to show just yet. Hopefully I will in the comings weeks (months).

I’ll try to keep everyone posted.

~nio

Here are the last two girl sketches. This rounds out the girls that will be in the game. I have a couple male characters to work on still.

Keri White

Shila Diann

~nio

Here is the working synopsis for the game so far. Things will probably start to slow down as I get more into the meat of the game. I’ll try to keep posting as I go, though.

——–

Finally, your last year at Harrington Academy has arrived! Your time here has been a mix of ups and downs, finding new friends and some enemies. Now it is almost over. When you graduate, what will happen to the relationships you created? More importantly will you leave alone or will you finally find love? The new year begins full of questions and excitement, but your last year starts with an unexpected turn. “I… I just wanted to tell you… um, I love you.” Those are the last words you remember before taking a couple steps back in shock only to be hit by a passing car.

When you wake a couple days later you hear those words cycle in your head, but when you try to recall who spoke them to you, you draw a blank. Who was it? Will you ever be able to find her?

This last year is sure to be interesting as you set out to find the girl that confessed to you while taking part in the many school activates and to, hopefully, finally graduate. How will your last year turn out?

——–

~nio

I’ve been working on the character personalities and decided to start getting some on paper. So here are three sketches I did of some of the girls. These are obviously subject to change.

Jaimee Hunter

Alison Hensley

Melissa Hewitt

~nio

Today I spent a couple hours working on different logo designs for Confession of a Heart. At first I started with something simple and elegant. I don’t want to the game to be too serious though, so I tried to go away from that and into more fun and colorful ideas. Those, however, started to look too childish. After a bit more play I took elements from both. I used the fonts from the simple look and took the heart logo from the playful design. Together in a frame it seemed to fit, with a light color it started to feel right.

Of course this could change over the development of the game, but I think it’s a good start.

~nio