Discussion about Game-Elements in planned visual novel.

[ABlackOcean]

I was thinking about making a visual novel. The longer I thought about it the more I liked the idea
and someone with a great say in my life recommended me to give it a try.

So here I am, a couple of months later, the whole story written down.
"Problem" is, it`s not a branching thing, there are no choices as I stayed true and honest to actual events (as honest as memories are).
We all know, people like choices, even tho its no secret where they lead their MCs.
I cant (and wont) really implement choices since things went down the way they went down and choices would require making up things.
In this case it wouldnt be necessary anyway since the truth holds more than enough material. But users/players dont know that.

So after all these side-infos, here`s my actual question:
What kind of "gaming"-elements can you guys think of, to make a visual novel more attractive for users/players
when "choices" are off the table?

Its just for brainstorming so feel free to go wild with suggestions.
Thank you for every idea.

 

[anne O'nymous]

What kind of "gaming"-elements can you guys think of, to make a visual novel more attractive for users/players
when "choices" are off the table?

None.

Game mechanisms put in the game for the sole purpose to have game mechanisms in the game are worse than no game mechanisms at all.

 

[ABlackOcean]

None.

Game mechanisms put in the game for the sole purpose to have game mechanisms in the game are worse than no game mechanisms at all.

Of cause I won`t put in random tic-tac-toe stuff or puzzles.
I was thinking of maybe chosing outfits, so ppl might have visual choices while the scene itself stays the same.
But I didnt want to limit the pool of ideas here since you never know what might get thrown in and where it might lead...

It is a serious VN with serious/dark scenes and path, it would be completely out of place to have mini-games like candy-crush in it.
No, I`m rather up for some creative approach, more heads, more ideas, better chances to find sth. to meet an audiences likings without hurting the story/the keynote of its ambience.

 

[anne O'nymous]

It is a serious VN with serious/dark scenes and path, [...]

Then why do you want to turn it into something else ?

You have a full story, than in top of this seem significant for you, then let it as the Kinetic Novel it is. It's not because they have less fans, that no one play them.

No, I`m rather up for some creative approach, more heads, more ideas, better chances to find sth. to meet an audiences likings without hurting the story/the keynote of its ambience.

Except the question itself, everything you wrote in the thread opening lead to "I'm making this because I want to do it, have liked doing it so far, and it's significant to me". So, why this strong need to find an audience ?

There's more than 5 millions members just for this forum. Even if your game appeal to only 0.01% of them, it would still mean that more than 500 persons played it. For an indie Kinetic Novel made by someone who never did this before, it's already a big number.
You can ask devs, I'm sure that for most of them, counting the number of players in hundreds seemed like a dream when they released something for the first time. For most of them it was probably more on the side of "if ten peoples say that they like it, I'll open a bottle of Champagne".

 

[ABlackOcean]

Then why do you want to turn it into something else ?

You have a full story, than in top of this seem significant for you, then let it as the Kinetic Novel it is. It's not because they have less fans, that no one play them.




Except the question itself, everything you wrote in the thread opening lead to "I'm making this because I want to do it, have liked doing it so far, and it's significant to me". So, why this strong need to find an audience ?

There's more than 5 millions members just for this forum. Even if your game appeal to only 0.01% of them, it would still mean that more than 500 persons played it. For an indie Kinetic Novel made by someone who never did this before, it's already a big number.
You can ask devs, I'm sure that for most of them, counting the number of players in hundreds seemed like a dream when they released something for the first time. For most of them it was probably more on the side of "if ten peoples say that they like it, I'll open a bottle of Champagne".

Thank you. You`re right. I wanted to do it like that already, it`s just some recent voices of rather doom-ish tone made me wonder if there were some good ideas out there to be somewhat compatible with my idea and the crowd. But indeed, it aint for the audience anyway. I`m doing it. Thank you again

 

[nulnil]

Ask yourself the question "Why does this VN need game-elements?". Seriously, don't add stuff for the sake of having it.

 

[voronkov]

Я делал текстовой рассказ практически без выбора. Там есть пару моментов в которых надо выбирать и всё. Даже не за персонажа, а просто выбор куда будет идти дальше сюжет. Согласен с тем что если есть идея рассказа и он куда то идёт то выбор может нарушить то что задумывалось. Но возможно его сделать и с выбором. То есть вести к одному финалу но немного разными путями. Так и сама суть рассказа не пострадает и будет небольшое разнообразие. Внизу будет ссылка на мой рассказ. Там несколько вариантов.
Так же можно сделать вид от разных персонажей. То есть одна история но как как её проходят разные персонажи этой истории.



I did a text story with almost no choice. There are a couple of moments in which you have to choose and that's it. Not even for the character, but simply the choice of where the plot will go next. I agree that if there is an idea for a story and it goes somewhere, then the choice can violate what was intended. But it is possible to do it with a choice. That is, to lead to the same final but in slightly different ways. So the very essence of the story will not suffer and there will be a small variety. Below is a link to my story. There are several options.
You can also make a view from different characters. That is, one story, but how different characters of this story go through it.

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[♍VoidTraveler]

In the first place i wouldn't even play any game/vn that doesn't give the player any agency.
If you want to write a book, then just write a book, or a comic. You don't need any vn engines for this.

 

[ABlackOcean]

In the first place i wouldn't even play any game/vn that doesn't give the player any agency.
If you want to write a book, then just write a book, or a comic. You don't need any vn engines for this.

Good lord...
please look up the definition of "Visual Novel" first (slight hint: no "agency" needed, caus NOVEL),
also I did not intend to discuss wether to make a VN or not but how to design it.
So... "make something entirely else" is not exactly what I consider helpful here.

 

[hakarlman]

To summarize your post, you want to make a Kinetic Novel, devoid of choices, but with some kind of mechanic, so it doesn't feel linear?

One example I can think of are QTE's; Quick Time Events. Before the kinetic novel can continue, you have to press a button in response to a notification on the screen. If you fail to press the button in time, the game is over.

The only time I've seen this kind of work is in an old game called Dragons Lair, but that was WAY back in the day, so it was forgiveable, but now a days most people hate QTE's. I fucking hate QTE's.

IMO, just make the kinetic novel you want. Without choice, it won't feel as engaging, so you need to make it feel engaging with insanely good writing and visuals.

 

[gunderson]

One option is puzzles. Linear narratives can unfold in an engaging way, even if there aren't choices, if the player feels like they had to do something to get the story moving. As far as what puzzles you could implement, inventory puzzles? Hidden objects? Minesweeper? Mastermind? I dunno. Consult your knowledge of games, see what fits. Without knowing much about your story, let alone its beats, I couldn't begin to guess what would or wouldn't be good.

 

[ABlackOcean]

One option is puzzles. Linear narratives can unfold in an engaging way, even if there aren't choices, if the player feels like they had to do something to get the story moving. As far as what puzzles you could implement, inventory puzzles? Hidden objects? Minesweeper? Mastermind? I dunno. Consult your knowledge of games, see what fits. Without knowing much about your story, let alone its beats, I couldn't begin to guess what would or wouldn't be good.

Thank you for the suggestion.
I do not dare to give out much details but you may assume it would probably be amongst the darkest pieces f95 has ever seen (family abuse, drugs, violence, forced prostitution and social isolation).
There are no inventory or items, it`s not a fantasy world or anything like that. I did not make the story up, I wrote about actual events, thus I cannot implement path options -these decisions were made years ago and things went how they went.

So far I thought of outfit-choices and maybe the guessing of answers/conversations (having several options of what someone might have said and then the reveal of what people had to say -only in specific moments, when "choices" might have had an impact for where things go).

 

[Deleted member 5563201]

Can I be honest? Just make the visual novel without any puzzles or minigames. Making the story stop because you want to give the player something to do will only break the flow of the story and/or frustrate players because they got stuck in a boring and difficult puzzle and can't continue.

Visual novel is about storytelling, the rhythm is extremely important, from the narration to the dialogues, if it's too fast the player can't feel connected and engaged in the story, if it takes too long and the story doesn't hold the player's attention, they will give up before the end.

The idea of cosmetic choices is a good one, but it will consume more of your time and resources. So you have to weigh whether this is really worth it.
And about clothes, they are an expression of the personality/situation that the person has/is in, unless your game is about building the PC's personality, I believe this will not enrich the experience you want to show in your story.

In my opinion, focusing on story presentation without worrying about cosmetic choices or gameplay elements is the best option for you.