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Multiple Title Screens – An Anatomy Of Visual Novels


This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here.

The Many Faces We Wear

 

Upon booting up a visual novel, the first thing the player will see is the main menu. Over the course of their play time they will pass through it countless times and come to memorise its details. As such altering this key feature will immediately be noticed by the player and the more dramatic the change, the greater this impact will be. A wide variety of visual novels utilise this approach and it has become a staple to underscore some kind of narrative progression in order to signal an upping of the stakes. It can also go a long way to set up a tone shift even before a single word has appeared on screen and helps maintain it for the duration of what remains of the game. Sometimes the change occurs after the entire title has been completed and communicates all that the player has achieved. Let’s transition to a new frame and find out what Multiple Title Screens provide for visual novels.

 

Indicating Progress

 

By far the simplest implementation of the Multiple Title Screens is to tie them to key milestones in the forward momentum of the visual novel. This is commonly seen in games with an unlockable true route or other such route and the menu change reflects it becoming available to the player. Here the intended effect is twofold, to communicate to the player that more content is open for them to experience and to sell them a sense of progression as a means of rewarding them. People like to feel that their actions have meaning and the natural forward momentum of games is an easy way to take advantage of this emotional response. The larger the signal of progress the better and there is nothing larger than the menu the player will see every time they load up the game. It shows them that their hard work pushing through the game is being acknowledged and acts as a form of encouragement to keep going into the last section of the title. It has even become an expectation for many of those familiar with the medium and acts as a comfort blanket to reassure them that they are moving in the right direction. 

 

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Take Irotoridori no Sekai for example, this game has a main menu change after all of the main routes have been completed and the final route has been unlocked. Initially the main menu shows a brilliant blue sky and later it transitions into a deep orange evening sky. This communicates two things, firstly that something has changed and the player should investigate to uncover what it is and second that this marks the final section of the game. The evening sky makes the player think of the coming night and since the night is the end of the day so to must this new content be the end of the game. All of this is conveyed without the need for a single word and provides a good motivation to continue to the end and a sense of how far the player has come through the main routes. It smooths over what might otherwise be an awkward transition between the major acts of the visual novel in a manner which will leave a strong impression on the player even after they put it down.

 

Setting Tone

 

When the mundane is transformed into the novel, there is something about it which draws the mind away from the past and firmly onto the present moment. We take notice of the change and what it says to us enables a framework from where we can pull how to understand this transition and everything that accompanies it. As such the changing of the main menu can be used to convey a change in tone or ideas without demanding any narrative connection or time consuming scenes. Simply looking at the menu immediately fills the player in on the sort of story they are in for after this transition into the depths of the game. This is important for visual novels as it conserves resources and adheres to their general ethos of high impact uses of limited space and so does not come across as out of place. Setting the tone is most important when the game is seeking to move from a more non-linear route structure onto a single direct pathway and acclimatising the player to this shift is key to keeping them engaged. 

 

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Hello Lady! showcases this in practice with its multiple main menu changes in the Complete Edition. As an amalgamation of several different version of the title with shifting tonal needs, there is the possibility this change between these sections might take the player off guard if they are not familiar with the game’s history and so a clear divide needed to be established between the parts. The Multiple Main Menu’s fulfil this need perfectly due to how much Hello Lady! already leans into locations and CG’s with strong colours and imagery in order to add impact to its combat so large changes are within what the player expects. Each changed menu offers a distinctive tone separate from the others in order to ensure there is never any confusion about what these shifts mean for the tone of the game.

 

A Constant Reminder

 

The final major use of Multiple Main Menus is as a monument to all that the player has achieved and witnessed over the course of the visual novel. This type appear after all the content has been completed and are generally the first thing the player sees after the credits have rolled giving them a greater emotional impact. They also remain present whenever the title is revisited and will stay regardless of what part of the narrative is revisited and so act as a constant reminder of how this is all going to end and a monument to the player’s success. Generally this type of Multiple Title Screens comes in two flavours, a wholesale shift in the imagery being used or the addition of key characters to the existing picture. Fate/Stay Night is an example of the first kind with its menu shifting into something bright and hopeful from its formerly darker or more conflict orientated original. What this larger shift achieves is to communicate the key themes and ideas the title has been building up to in a simple fashion which will inform the player’s future playthroughs and cause them to have a greater sensitivity to them. This is an especially desirable trait for games which lean into plot and themes as it can give the player something new to unveil in old material rather than feeling as if it is something known by heart. 

 

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Conclusion

 

The effects of Multiple Title Screens cannot be underestimated as the power of such a sudden change and its constant exposure have a profound impact without the player realising it. It is often used to indicate progress within the game’s structure and provides a sense of accomplishment and motivation to continue onwards. Selling a tone plays a large role in the strength of these title screens as they can communicate a shift in the game’s story without having to say a word and help smooth over any possible confusion. Once it has changed the new title screen acts a constant reminder of all the player has experienced as well as key thematic or character elements that can recontextualise any subsequent playthroughs. Integrating a change in the main menu may be something you want to consider for your visual novel especially if you are planning a longer game with unlockable routes.

 

 

2 Comments


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Clephas

Posted

A few examples of multiple Title Screen styles.

Evolimit: Depending on which ending was the most recent, the final background CG from that ending is visible on the title screen, while that ending's unique BGM is played.

A number of VNs: The title screen starts out blank, but as you complete heroine routes, the heroines are added to the title screen in various poses until the scene on the front of the game box is complete.  This is the most common style, seen in numerous VNs across many genres.

A number of VNs: Background change (usually along with BGM music).  This one was common in the 'early era' from 2000-2009.

The title screen change is most common in plot-heavy VNs, whereas it is rare with mid-budget charage/moege (your basic sol-romance).  The main reason for this is that those type of games tend to pour most of their budget into the h-cgs, heroine sprites, and scene cgs.

littleshogun

Posted (edited)

Arguably, we can also said the title screen change is a reward for completing a heroines routes, as seen in Mashiro Iro and Otome Domain, which in a way is also fall into indicating progress categories. Since both VNs are from Palette (And yes I count Otome Domain as such despite it from Palette's sister company), I may as well mention Nine series use the title screen change in the ending, and there are some change to indicate the tone in the series. Oh yes, Yuzusoft also does the similar thing, at least in Cafe Stella (I did remember they also did so in Tenshi Re-Boot, although I'll need to confirm it).

By the way, while you can categorized the title scene change to those three categories, sometimes the developer decided to do so just because they can, with said developer is Alcot in which they'll change the title screen to adapt the time when the player boot their game (As in the title scene will be in the night instead of day had the player start the game in between 12 AM to 6 AM). That said, I only confirmed the feature in Clover Day's though.

That's all for what I can comment in regard of this topic.

Edited by littleshogun
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