NutsVolts17

You are an outlier. http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/ According to Steam's hardware survey, 76.41% of players have 1920 x 1080 resolution. Your monitor is only supported by 3.34% of Steam users. 1080p is the MUCH safer bet and I feel comfortable optimizing for it since the trend of that monitor resolution has been going up consistently.

tymmur, I am already unlikely to create this project since it is looking to not be worth the trouble. There are other genres that have a much better "bang for the buck" as far as effort to end result. VN crowd is far too picky for too little payoff. Thank you for your input though. (Scaling does not make things look good with raster art. Even if the aspect ratio is the same, there will be noticeable issues with the alpha channel on non-opaque images. Supporting multiple resolutions is great if you arent concerned with optimal image quality but things always look their best in the resolution they were designed for.)

Thank you Clephas. I am starting to realize that voice acting isnt the priority that I initially thought it was. This is fine by me as it is one less expense and issue to worry about. And I would much rather do fewer things but do them well than take on too much and ruin a project.

Yeah, I may have to rethink this project if that is the case. I have done full scale real time games with free 360 movement that didnt require that much art for a single character.

I would say no then. Since any paths are open from the beginning depending on your choices but not all paths can be reached in one play through of course since making certain decisions causes finality for certain conditions. I am not sure how VNs normally tackle the problem of paths and stories. I purposely did it this way so I wouldn't be constrained by it so I coded it up in a way that would accomplish what I was trying to do.

Oh, Ok. I see now. Thanks for the clarification. Yes, the flowchart can definitely be added, I am sure. The ending list would be easy enough to implement as well once I set up a save file to record the data. Regarding the "Enforced Routes", I am still confused about what you mean by "Enforced playing order is when a game have multiple routes, but only some of them were unlocked from the beginning. " The way I arranged it is that nothing is really "locked / unlocked" but is based on branching decisions and I guess you can say "route scores." A cheesy example (not from the game) would be: I have 10 routes (each route corresponds toward a certain ending) Each one of these has a numeric variable that keeps a weighted score. Start story from common point. Tell some story and ask: "Hey so-and-so, how is your day going?" Choice #1: My day is terrible! (depression path variable +1 weight) Choice #2: My day is great! (optimistic path variable +1 weight) The smallest "chunk" of story script I break the game into is a scene. These are numbered scenexxxx.txt (xxxx represents number from 0000 to 9999) At the end of every scene, the story branches based off of one of two things: 1.) if the last line of the scene was a BRANCH command then it branches based on the decision given by the player Example: Do you wish to come with me to the Last Rites Inn? Yes; No BRANCHES allow immediate rerouting of the story for urgent things like the above decisions (or even allowing characters to directly respond to a question you ask) 2.) If the last line of the scene was not a branch then the program does a ROUTE which is just looking up the path (between 1- 10) that has the greatest value and selecting that path. Which scene it loads is based on looking up the adjacency matrix for that scene. Example Adjacency Matrix: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 <- The column represents the path variable with the greatest value 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 <- The row position (line 0) represents the current scene you are one. The value in each column represents the scene to route to if that variable has the max value I hope that explains what I am doing. Matthew

Awesome feedback from all of you! Thanks! I do agree with Pik_Lesiak that bad voice acting is worse than none at all. Also, I am designing this without voice acting initially. That way, if it isn't in the budget or talent isnt available to do it right, we still have a complete project. This also allows me not to be constrained by worrying about word count and such. Also, by making the voice acting at the end (if available), I can present a full manuscript to the actors to complete in the minimum time possible. But I am definitely open to leaving it out if it cannot be done well (or within budget.) Thank you to Tamaki for the advice on mini-games and details. We will definitely focus on the CGs. How many poses and expressions are common for frequently occurring characters? To answer SeniorBlitz questions: 1) It will all have a common start but branch from the root depending on choices you make. It is a 2-tiered structure. Certain path branches are determined by immediate decisions you make and certain paths are determined by the dominant ending variable. I essentially have an array of 12 numeric variables that each represent a given ending path. My engine is set up to where most every decision point has a weighted value for one of the paths. This value can be positive (more likely of that ending) or a negative (less likely of that ending). At the end of every scene, the engine calculates the max path value and sends you there accordingly. I am using draw.io hierarchical graphs to keep track of the potential paths and that makes life a TON easier. Some ideas overlap across different paths but most is unique material. The actual structure (if you are curious) is that our scenes are numbered and I use an adjacency matrix to route to other scenes. Adjacency matrices are amazing data structures and allow for an organized but exceptionally complex amount of routing and references. 2) I assume you are asking if the novel will have the option to start somewhere other than the beginning? I hadn't though of that but I suppose it is possible. Seeing as how so much of the routing depends on variable values though, this would be difficult. I suppose it all depends on what players want but I am certainly open to any ideas on the matter. You mentioned built-in flowchart and listing the endings. This does not spoil the experience or act as a spoiler? If not, I am all for it. Since I am listing this on Steam, it will have all of these endings as achievements as well. Thank you all and I can use any help you can offer. Matthew

Hello Everyone! I am new to this site but wanted to seek out some advice from VN pro creators and players alike. I am the programmer at Nuts and Volts Electronics. We are a small 3 person team that has created 3 games so far for the Steam platform on PC. My artist pitched the idea to create a Visual Novel for our next project. I am excited about the idea but have some questions and concerns. I'll tell you about our project, ask some questions, and then post some screenshots of what we have so far (along with mentioning features.) The project name is: Fate of Persephone Inspiration: The classic Sleeping Beauty story (not identical but merely inspired by) Basic Plot: The young Princess Persephone if Eden's Realm is thrown into a precarious situation after Nexa de Fata (the Fate of Death) destroys the Castle in Morseph which kills Persephone's father; King Gregory. Nexa believed Persephone to be dead as well but Persephone must consult with Vita de Fata (the Fate of Life) for help with her journey and survival. There are eight other Fates who you must determine where their allegiance will lie. The story is also an extremely expanded sequel to an RPG game we released on Steam called "The Mines of Morseph" which touched on the lore of the game world. That game is not required to understand this one but foreshadows some things. Anyhow, the technical specs are going to be: 1920 x 1080 resolution artwork Particle effects for the BG art (smoke, mist, dust, fire, etc.) Atmospheric sound track (fire noise, crickets at night, etc.) along with music as well Voice acting 12 different potential endings Hundreds of decision points whose choices are weighted toward one of 12 ending scenario variables Questions: 1.) I noticed that most VNs on Steam (I am not sure of the non-Steam market since I have only researched Steam) have Asian themes, characters, and settings. Are VN players open to more Westernized themes but in a VN framework? 2.) We were not planning to utilize mini-games, as we wanted the focus to be just on the story and the many decision points that the player can make. Is this a mistake and do the majority of VN players prefer mini-games? 3.) Do you believe that extra details like particle effects for the BGs and atmospheric sounds for the setting enhance the experience or distract from it? I may have more questions later but that is all I can think of for now. I am not sure how to add screenshot attachments on this site so I will just refer you to our Twitter page... Thank you for your help. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NutsAndVolts17 Our website: http://www.Morseph.com Sincerely, Matthew W. Phillips Developer at Nuts and Volts Electronics