what other gameplay elements should visual novel have?

Games based mostly on classic VN gameplay without skills, statistics, etc to raise

what other gameplay elements should visual novel have (if any)?

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jack1974
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Re: what other gameplay elements should visual novel have?

Post by jack1974 »

I see, so some kind of roleplay without real fight/combat, but still with skills/stats and checks :)
Taleweaver
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Re: what other gameplay elements should visual novel have?

Post by Taleweaver »

jack1974 wrote:- I'm good friend of Wadjet Eye, and I know how successful his adventures are. Maybe though is different a pixel-art 3rd person adventure, with a first person manga one? who knows...
If you ever want to do something like that, I have around twenty story ideas for a game like this literally lying around.
OneTrueBaldo
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Re: what other gameplay elements should visual novel have?

Post by OneTrueBaldo »

I'm all for "story+choices" (and GOOD art, of course 8) ), but picked "Other (please explain)" just to say something about renaming the characters.
What about creating a game where you get to rename the protagonist and/or his/her companions (played a few japanese VNs where you also get a 'Sprite Viewer' extra where you choose a background, 3 characters and a dialogue/message to display)?

Just a random idea. :)
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jack1974
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Re: what other gameplay elements should visual novel have?

Post by jack1974 »

Taleweaver wrote:
jack1974 wrote:- I'm good friend of Wadjet Eye, and I know how successful his adventures are. Maybe though is different a pixel-art 3rd person adventure, with a first person manga one? who knows...
If you ever want to do something like that, I have around twenty story ideas for a game like this literally lying around.
Haha yes I know, I think you told me. Once the Dingirra game is done I might do one indeed, worth trying :)
OneTrueBaldo wrote:What about creating a game where you get to rename the protagonist and/or his/her companions (played a few japanese VNs where you also get a 'Sprite Viewer' extra where you choose a background, 3 characters and a dialogue/message to display)?
Renaming is not a problem, but if you mean appearance is a bit more complex. In Loren 2-3 will be like that for the aspect, since we figured out that during the romance scenes the characters would just be naked/with undergarments so no need to match the clothing. Changing other features like hair style/color and such is out of question otherwise we would need variants for each CG... too much.
OneTrueBaldo
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Re: what other gameplay elements should visual novel have?

Post by OneTrueBaldo »

In my opinion, renaming the main character of a game is cool AND good for your ego (discarding the name Saren and playing Loren as "Baldo", awww "starts drooling"... :lol: ).

As you said, "Changing other features like hair style/color and such is out of question otherwise we would need variants for each CG" is too much, but I had a different thing on mind:

Sprite Viewer
These games allow the player to view character sprites outside the normal flow of the story (similar to the way event CGs and scenes can be re-viewed).


PMed you a certain link (a little joke of mine).
SweetLove
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Re: what other gameplay elements should visual novel have?

Post by SweetLove »

I highly dislike customisable POV characters in a visual novel, because I feel it hurts their characterisation; in the end, they are all characters within a story, they should be more than mere cut outs for the player. Consider that most of the highly considered visual novels have strong, memorable main characters- F/SN, Cross Channel, etc.

Anyway, I prefer the more "pure" visual novels, but I'm more likely than not in the minority here. That being said, a few minigames that I did enjoy were: Princess Waltz (for its simple but fun gameplay that did not detract from the story), and Sekien no Inganock (where its minigame is crucial for advancing, and learning more about the plot, albeit a bit frustrating sometimes without a guide if one's purpose is only to finish the game).

I don't treat things like Utawarerumono as having "minigames" in that its a clear standalone part of the package. Much like the battles of Fire Emblem aren't really just a "minigame" either.
Troyen
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Re: what other gameplay elements should visual novel have?

Post by Troyen »

SweetLove wrote:Anyway, I prefer the more "pure" visual novels, but I'm more likely than not in the minority here.
Judging from the poll, about third of people prefer pure novels, and half adventure games. I don't know how much overlap there is between the two groups, I would suspect not much.
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Exizel
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Re: what other gameplay elements should visual novel have?

Post by Exizel »

I never really understood the rename the MC thing when the MC is his/her own character, the MC isn't me , he doesn't react like I would, his/her past and mine are not the same , I put myself in his/her shoes , I role play has him/her but I'm not him/her so I like that he/she has his/her own name, If you make a customisable name at least leave a default name(it will be less of a pain when talking about him/her on the forum).

but I like customisable MC but only when it's works, it doesn't for most VN because the mc characterisation is important, a customisable MC must be create at the same time has the story not has a aftertough.

about the VN, several pause in the main story where you can explore, talk to people(with a map like in SOTW), have side quest that influence dialogue option later if done, a mini senario that happen troughtout the game but isn't relate to main story(ex: aniais? 's family), or just optional dialogue(even the romance dialogue for exemple),a bunch of thing that may or not influence the main story, I'm talking about something like free time in P3-4 but with more consequence , of course you need a story where you can do it
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jack1974
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Re: what other gameplay elements should visual novel have?

Post by jack1974 »

Exizel wrote: about the VN, several pause in the main story where you can explore, talk to people(with a map like in SOTW), have side quest that influence dialogue option later if done, a mini senario that happen troughtout the game but isn't relate to main story(ex: aniais? 's family), or just optional dialogue(even the romance dialogue for exemple),a bunch of thing that may or not influence the main story, I'm talking about something like free time in P3-4 but with more consequence , of course you need a story where you can do it
It's fun because when I read people posting stuff like you, and then see that adventure-like has such high ratings, I wonder exactly what I did wrong with Vera Blanc, since it has those elements (apart from the inventory). It must have been the art or maybe the writing... or something else. A mystery :mrgreen:
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Exizel
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Re: what other gameplay elements should visual novel have?

Post by Exizel »

I didn't play the Vera Blanc game(maybe someday after I bought the flower shops game) so I can't judge but to me it seen like the most important thing about VN are the companie,art,concept,porn(a lot of all age VN/dating sims are create because the porn version was a succes and they try to reach a new audiance by going on PSP,PS2,3)seiyu and in last the writing(It's one the most important but for people to judge it and talk about the game, they first need to play it, so in strange way it's also the least important :o ) of course I'm talking more of the japon's VN.

edit:maybe I should had kickstarter.
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