The Post About Wadjet Eye Studios

So I just got finished e-mailing Dave Gilbert, head of Wadjet Eye Studios, an Indy Game Studio most famous for its "Blackwell" series of games. I've played all three recently and LOVE them to bits.

The reason I e-mailed Dave was to ask him some advice about developing Indy titles, which is, obviously, what I plan on doing with my own projects. While Dave runs a commercial studio, I'm still planning on making my projects freeware for now. All the same, he's an experienced developer with plenty of titles under his belt and I seriously respect his experience and talent. (What's that!? The Kiss-Ass readings are spiking?! My God, they're off the scale! HIT THE DECK!)

In all seriousness, I'm hoping Dave will have some interesting advice for me, some tips and tricks for really getting started doing something like this. I've made good progress in my projects so far, but I'm still very much at the beginning of my studio and want all the advice I can get!

BTW - you should all go play his games. Link ! They're awesome. :)b

The Post About Bad Endings

So...another question for all VN developers out there.

How do you feel about bad endings?

The other day, while working on "Project O" (which, by the way, is getting closer and closer to having a completed script), I got to a point where a bad-ending could be very easily written in. I said to myself, "Sammy, this would be a really good point to have a "rocks fall, everyone dies" ending". It would be organic, it would make sense, it would function well within the story.

But somehow, I just couldn't bring myself to write it.

I don't know, I've been writing these characters for so long, I just don't have the heart to write a bad ending for them. They deserve to be happy, and an ending where things don't work out just seems so upsetting and un-fulfilling.

But to have NOTHING but happy endings seems like a cop-out. There are some people who enjoy their bad endings, and even more enjoy the thrill of the fact that they MIGHT get a bad ending. After all, if you end up happy despite your best efforts, where's the fun in that?

How do you muster up your courage and write a bad ending? Do you think bad endings are necessary? Share me your thoughts, if you please. :X

(Pretty Clannad picture is partially gratuitous.)

Poll Results: Whose Story Is This Anywho?

Poll's done and the results are in. In response to the question, "The Best VNs have stories about..." the overwhelming majority of you voted both the main character and the capturable characters. Some peeps elaborated in comments with very insightful stuff.

To be honest, the best VN's I've ever played are almost NEVER solely about the capturable characters. A strong "A" story (that is, the main plot) shouldn't be centered around a couple. That's for the "B" story. Now granted, in this medium, the "B" story can become much more important than the "A" story, considering how important romance is. And to be honest, we COULD care much more about whether Jin and Sayori are going to get together over if Sayori will save the world. But the "A" story has to be resolved first for the "B" story to really pay off.

And a good "A" story needs a good protagonist. So, I guess my answer is that most good VN's are about the main character and his or her journey. However, I think that having a capturable character that has NOTHING to do with the main character's journey is dumb. Why even pick a character if they're not going to change the story in some way? The caputarable characters should have arcs as well, even if they're subtle. Boring capturable characters make for a boring game. And there's nothing more annoying than reading an epic ending of a grand tale that devotes about one line to the character you ended up with. What's the point of getting all the endings if there's hardly a difference between them?

Thanks to everyone who participated in the poll! I was surprised by how many votes there were. O_O I didn't think that many people even read this blog. <3 Thanks you guys!

Expect some more scintillating discussions/reviews. I really want a copy of "Jisei" but ALAS jobless still am I. ;_; Oh well...it'll be on my wishlist...

Poll: Whose Story Is This Anyway?

So there's a new poll up. Check the right side of the blog page.

The question might come off as confusing at first. What I really want to know is, when you read/play a VN, whose story do you want told? The main character's? The capturable characters'? Both?

Example: Yo-Jin Bo is a story ABOUT Sayori, a girl who's sent back in time. While the capturable characters are important elements of the story, she's the one with the main character arc. It's her story that's told, not theirs.

Counter Example: Edelweiss is a story ABOUT a bunch of girls that your main character, Kazushi, happens to meet. Depending on which girl you pick, the story is completely different. It's her story that's told - her character arc. Kazushi just happens to be there to help them out and maybe discover something about himself as an afterthought.

So which do you prefer? A story about YOUR character that more or less turns out the same no matter what character you pick? Or many different stories about characters that aren't yours?

Vote! I'll let you guys know what I think in a week or so. <3