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Author Topic: Bard Writes VN  (Read 2945 times)

Bardiche

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Bard Writes VN
« on: May 02, 2010, 01:32:30 AM »
So uh, yeah. I wrote one on a whim based on a whim, and figured I'd post it here, too - it's sappy, sure, but sharing can't hurt, right?

http://www.mediafire.com/?yny4yywtmm2

Apparently 4chan likes it, so it shouldn't be painful to read. As far as length goes, it has 1801 words, clocks in at about 4 minutes at my reading pace and contains 4 songs, 3 images, 2 people, 1 bus driver and 0 sound effects.

It's not like I -like- you guys or anything... I just happened to have it lying around.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2010, 11:05:00 PM by Bardiche »

Cotigo

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2010, 04:27:52 AM »
1. WTF is VN?
2. "4chan likes it so it shouldn't be painful to read" lol
3. Link's dead.

Bardiche

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #2 on: May 02, 2010, 04:40:26 AM »
1. WTF is VN?

Visual Novel, a style of novel using music, pictures and sound effects to lend atmosphere to a writing. That's elevated talk for "video game with just words".

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2. "4chan likes it so it shouldn't be painful to read" lol

Well, they usually bash anything, so it should at least be an indication it's not terribad?

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3. Link's dead.

Right, fixed that~

NotMiki

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #3 on: May 02, 2010, 05:32:00 AM »
It's not like I -like- you guys or anything... I just happened to have it lying around.

Trans: Bard's a tsundere.  Who knew?
« Last Edit: May 02, 2010, 05:46:12 AM by NotMiki »
Rocky: you do know what an A-bomb is, right?
Bullwinkle: A-bomb is what some people call our show!
Rocky: I don't think that's very funny...
Bullwinkle: Neither do they, apparently!

Cotigo

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2010, 08:57:17 AM »
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2. "4chan likes it so it shouldn't be painful to read" lol

Well, they usually bash anything, so it should at least be an indication it's not terribad?

Still not a good measure of quality of writing.  >_> 

That said... very RPGish, but entertaining nonetheless? The writing honestly can be toned down quite a bit (Rule of Thumb: Subtlety=Good, and the more subtle the better).  Aside from that, if you at least did the art and the writing, I'm quite impressed.

The following will be written as if I'm workshopping a story I've read in class.  If you don't like the criticism, deal with it.

Any time you say "she looks like she's", that can be truncated down to "She is."  The fewer points of view (in this case, the reader's->the point of view character's->the character doing the action) you make the reader go through, the more engaging the story ends up being. So, in this instance, you could say "A girl is sitting in my seat. She's reading a book, but also looking out the window." Or, better yet, "She's reading a book, pausing every now and then to look out the window."  Also "quietly" can be removed from the following sentence.  Another rule of thumb, the less adverbs the better.

Moreover, the less words the better.  We (the audience, for lack of a better term) don't need to be told she has fierce eyes when she's staring at the point of view character.  Similarly, "curiosity apparent on her face" can be truncated to "curiously."  Brevity is the soul of wit, after all.  I won't go over every instance of this, but it's good to keep in mind upon revision (and if you're not planning on revising this. . . . . .).

Also, alright is not a word, despite what the internet may tell you. >_>

Moving away from stylistic issues, the narrator could be more of a character than a figure for the audience to project themselves onto.  We get some of Rachael's stories, but when it comes time to learn about the narrator all we get is some hand-waving and nothing else.  I guess for a VN this is all right but if I were writing this as a story, this would be a major issue.  Making the narrator a projection of the reader is okay to an extent but it makes it hard to actually do anything with the character.  And, given the target audience (4chan/us/maybe others?), while it fits with the whole RPG pastiche... I think making the narrator stand out as a character more independent of the projections of the reader would make the whole story stronger. 

Aside from that, I was pretty entertained.  I think the story could go on for even longer (the ending feels too much like a "oh well I've written THIS MUCH so I'm going to stop" type of deal), but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  My criticisms were intended to help you improve on the next draft (or whatever you would call it), but that doesn't mean you don't have something there. 

To be honest, though, the VN format is pretty new to me, so yeah.  I'm more used to writing and commenting on short stories and other types of prose, so if any of my comments feel inapplicable feel free to disregard them completely.

EDIT:  I didn't really comment on the plot, but it's fine as it is.  I just feel that with this sort of plot the PoV character needs to be more strongly written. 

For the record, I do like the ending, and think the jump in time works pretty well.  Content-wise it's mostly the PoV character that needs work, and I've already gone over how it can be improved stylistically.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2010, 09:02:27 AM by Makkotah »

Bardiche

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #5 on: May 02, 2010, 05:53:30 PM »
... Wow, Makko. That's wonderful. :D

It's funny that you mention the amount of description. The first draft was way, way longer, and I cut down a lot of the text. I had some trouble deciding "where am I describing too much", but I think I have a bit of a better grasp now. It was definitely something I struggled with when I edited it the first, second and third times, and I toned it down a lot.

Typically, in visual novels, the main character is left mostly an "unknown" so the reader can place themselves in their position. It's really prevalent especially among dating games, so you can imagine you're the stud you've always wanted to be.

The target audience wasn't 4chan. :P If anything, I guess I never thought about a target audience.

Making the narrator a stronger character was something that occured in the first draft, but I cut most of it in the belief that it was too much detraction from the story to fit it all in. I admit I don't have immediate ideas on how to change that without turning the tale around, or adding new scenes.

When you say the ending could've gone on a little longer, what do you mean in particular? The conversation near the end? The exchange with the kid? The 'aftermath' to the events?



:-) I didn't do the "art", insofar that they're pictures I took off of Flickr, and then ran into Photoshop and applied filters to. The writing is all mine, though.

I don't think I'll revise this too much. I don't like dwelling on the same short story for too long, but a revisit of the adverb use can't hurt. I'll take your advice to mind for a next project, though, as I definitely think some of your comments are valuable.


(all right then?)

Cotigo

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #6 on: May 02, 2010, 06:32:12 PM »
ugh i do not remember writing this >_>

Anyway, I'd have to re-read it to be sure of what I meant, but I do recall the bit about the target audience.  I really meant more of what you yourself said--the main character is left mostly unknown so the readers can self-project.  And by target audience... well, I don't know why I said it that way exactly.  But it does fit the dating sim / rpg pastiche and I guess the people who'd have read this will have played one or the other before hand?  Something like that.

Really, though, the point was I hated the line that was all "I went over some of my problems and/or dreams and then we went back to talking about her" or something like that. >_>  I'd be more specific if I'd reread it but not right now.  sooo hungover

EDIT: Also, yes. All right is the phrase.

OblivionKnight

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #7 on: May 02, 2010, 08:07:10 PM »
First time I clicked the link, it took me to download an .exe file.

Second time and beyond, it was dead >_>
[11:53] <+Meeple_Gorath> me reading, that's a good one

[19:26] * +Terra_Condor looks up. Star Wars Football, what?
[19:27] <+Terra_Condor> Han Kicks First?
[19:27] <%Grefter-game> Vader intercepts.
[19:27] <%Grefter-game> Touchdown and Alderaan explodes in the victory

Bardiche

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #8 on: May 02, 2010, 08:08:20 PM »
I can access it? >_>? And yes, it's an installer, so an .exe.

Cotigo

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #9 on: May 02, 2010, 08:57:34 PM »
Mm, now that I'm more clearheaded.  Re: Wordiness.  It's less a matter of description, and more a matter of getting the description across as succinctly as possible.  Detail is good, and more detail is better, but at the same time you want to get that detail across as clearly with as few unnecessary words as possible.  Of course, this is a matter of style and my opinion on what is good style might differ from yours, so take that as you will.

Veryslightlymad

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #10 on: May 04, 2010, 02:32:40 PM »
It's not like I -like- you guys or anything... I just happened to have it lying around.

Trans: Bard's a tsundere.  Who knew?

COQUETTE. God damn you the word is COQUETTE.

NotMiki

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #11 on: May 04, 2010, 05:08:44 PM »
It's not like I -like- you guys or anything... I just happened to have it lying around.

Trans: Bard's a tsundere.  Who knew?

COQUETTE. God damn you the word is COQUETTE.

Coquettes don't write visual novels.
Rocky: you do know what an A-bomb is, right?
Bullwinkle: A-bomb is what some people call our show!
Rocky: I don't think that's very funny...
Bullwinkle: Neither do they, apparently!

Bardiche

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2010, 11:06:10 PM »
Updated it, changing some of the stuff Makko advised and adding a ctc marker! (also removing redundant options from the main menu and removing most of the pauses in the text)

I'll probably not touch it again or else I'll get obsessive-compulsive with it, but yeah, in case anyone thought "I want to read it" and has already downloaded it but hasn't read it yet, update your file with superior. Or something.


Bardiche

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #13 on: March 27, 2011, 08:42:24 PM »
The following error or errors occurred while posting this message:
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Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.


I am quite sure I want to reply.

I wrote this nearly a year ago, but I finally got around to rewriting it and got an artist and musician to make it more custom. I figured I'd drop it here again. Windows version. And the larger "for everyone else" version.

Summary at top of thread works.

DjinnAndTonic

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #14 on: March 28, 2011, 08:48:31 AM »
It's cute. I like the new art and music.

Some of the rewrites are kinda odd. The one that really stood out to me as bad was the line "It's kinda cheesy, but life's a cheeseburger". I really don't know what that's supposed to mean and there wasn't any lead up to it that seemed appropriate. It doesn't add anything, so I'd cut that line, or at least modify it.

Cute work altogether though. Congrats on putting together a whole VN. I should try out that program sometime. Is there a VN community for the program you used to make it?

Grefter

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #15 on: March 28, 2011, 12:07:37 PM »
"It's kinda cheesy, but life's a cheeseburger". I really don't know what that's supposed to mean

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Bardiche

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Re: Bard Writes VN
« Reply #16 on: March 28, 2011, 06:45:16 PM »
It's cute. I like the new art and music.

:V Thanks. After five artists dropped (!!) I was kinda at wit's end until this last one offered. It teaches an important lesson. Always go for less!

The music was considerably easy even though I'd've considered that the harder part. In the time the composer wrote the songs, I lost four artists. ;D

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Some of the rewrites are kinda odd. The one that really stood out to me as bad was the line "It's kinda cheesy, but life's a cheeseburger". I really don't know what that's supposed to mean and there wasn't any lead up to it that seemed appropriate. It doesn't add anything, so I'd cut that line, or at least modify it.

I think it was in the original version, too. There's a joke there about things being cheesy, but that life is very, very cheesy, and the cheesiest thing is a cheeseburger that has several wrappings around it but the core of it is cheese. It's sorta DEEP but I admit to not thinking too hard when I put it in. :V (NOT GONNA EDIT IT ANYMORE but comment noted)
(also what Grefter said)

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Cute work altogether though. Congrats on putting together a whole VN. I should try out that program sometime. Is there a VN community for the program you used to make it?

There is a community, at lemmasoft. Most of the works established there are of superior graphical quality, and although this may sound snobbish, I think I did better in writing at least. :V buti'manarrogantbiasedbastard\