Event CGs – An Anatomy Of Visual Novels
Entry posted by Pallas_Raven in Analysis
130 views
This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here.
Capturing The Action
When visual novels wants to enhance the drama and impact of a particular narrative beat or intimate character moment they turn to Event CGs. These large and intricate graphics depict these key moments with a vivid detail which the character portraits are no capable of replicating. Each one has such a profound effect on the player due to the infrequency of their use. In the majority of games they only exist for important moments so the title does not to deviate from the expectations set throughout the rest of the play time. Alongside the detailed Event CGs sit those in the super deformed style and these are one of the most impactful tool for comedy or slice of life visual novels to sell their lighter tone. While many CGs are shown on screen in full and simply remain there for the entire time, some games utilise camera tricks such as zooming and panning to breathe an extra level of life into these images. How do all these different uses of Event CGs manifest in practice? Let’s snapshot a heroic pose and find out.
Standard Use Cases
For the vast majority of titles, Event CGs have one common form and this is as tools to emphasise key moments within the game. The way this is used varies from visual novel to visual novel, but broadly the graphic is simply presented to the player in full with some type of impactful screen transition. This way each CG is given an immediate presence and pushes the player towards experiencing the emotions intended by the developer. Enhancing the emotional impact is the way the CGs differentiate themselves from all other elements of visual presentation found in visual novels. They are single monolithic and direct images rather than the multiple moving parts, from portraits to particle effect, which compose the vast majority of the game’s content. Through this contrast a heightened sensitivity is given to the ideas and actions presented in the CG can be achieved as it becomes a memorable moment of a player’s experience of the title.
It is also an extremely flexible framework where the developer can slot in whatever imagery they need to express a specific moment and ensure its importance and message is understood from the correct angle. A romance story can use them to block out every other thought and make the focus solely on the pair in love which titles like Giniro Haruka achieve through intimate kiss CGs capturing the height of their emotional ride. On the opposite end of the spectrum, in a horror visual novel CGs can provide a sense of the impending danger in every corner of the game’s world as Death Mark does with its carefully framed images of its monsters and the destruction they can cause. Almost every genre and title can benefit from the broad expressiveness offered through this standard use of Event CGs given its neutral and easily adaptable nature. The only exception would be games where the entire point is the deliberate lack of visual input, where instead they want the player’s imagination to do all the heavy lifting which is a valid approach when used in a coherent artistic fashion.
Super Deformed CGs
It is worth separating out and looking at the style of Event CGs featuring super deformed characters from the rest due to their overall different implementation. Super Deformed CGs are fundamentally tied to a specific style of comedy and a light hearted tone due to their exaggerated and cute leaning presentation. As such this heavily restricts the kind of visual novels which can utilise them and where it is appropriate to place them to not undermine the mood of a scene. Despite this seemingly limited usefulness, they are wide spread throughout the medium with many being found in titles which are otherwise entirely serious. The reason they are valued by so many games is the way they can quickly and easily establish a moment of downtime between the drama and action. Coupled with this ability to swap tone is the flexible appearance of these CGs. They can appear in the standard full screen view of other Event CGs, but they can also be presented in a small window overlaying the background and portraits already in the scene and not obscuring them to create a link between these elements. In this ability to shift to the needs of the developer can be seen the impact Super Deformed CGs have due to their flexibility originating from their exaggerated nature. This means they does not have to be the sole focus of attention and can instead be used to highlight a broader mood without needing to be on screen for long.
The 9 -nine- series provides a good example of how this works in practice due to way it shifts smoothly from high octane action and drama into low stakes comedy and slice of life. Here the Super Deformed CGs act as a dividing line between the supernatural danger the characters face and the comfortable familiarity of their everyday lives. Each one is used to sell value of these small moments and frame them as something worth fighting to protect while contrasting against the monstrous actions of those who are attempting to disrupt them. They also work to stimulate player empathy through cute and humorous imagery which aims to make them smile in order to give them an emotional reason to cheer for the success of the characters. At the same time they do not contrast too much with the rest of the game’s narrative tones through sticking as close to the original art style as possible and making their appearance on screen brief so they can maintain their impact without undermining the real world nature of the setting.
CGs As Dynamic Objects
Adding motion to a scene can completely change the way it is perceived by its audience. As such it should come as no surprise that Event CGs benefit heavily from this technique due to their static nature. This movement comes from a variety of camera tricks such as zooming in on specific key areas of the image to match what is being described in the narrative or slow panning across a landscape to establish the location of the upcoming events. These offer a means through which an Event CG can be reused in multiple contexts with only a change in its framing and acts as a way for a game with limited resources to get the most out of every CG it produces. While they do provide a lot of flexibility in presentation, this dynamic movement is not suitable for every type of visual novel and favours a more action and drama orientated title rather than something aiming for a subdued slice of life tone. There is also the issue of how these camera tricks can easily be overused if the developer is not careful and they can actively harm the pacing where the player feels as if they are constantly waiting on overly flashy movements to finish rather than actually playing the game.
Conclusion
Nothing in the medium has quite the same impact and utility as Event CGs and as you would expect this means almost every title has at least one. In their most standard form they work to emphasise key moments in the story through the contrast they provide with the rest of the presentational tools available for the game. By adding dynamic elements, such as camera tricks, an Event CG can be provided a sense of motion and excitement its otherwise static nature would not normally allow. Super Deformed CGs offer a more flexible and lighter tone version of what a standard CG can do and can work wonders to create clean divides in mood without feeling out of place. If you are creating a visual novel you are likely already planning to include some Event CGs, but it is worth considering how you implement them as they can offer a lot more to your game if you are willing to put the effort into properly utilising them.
1 Comment
Recommended Comments