Video Games I want to create a game

[Leyara]

A visual novel, nothing crazy.
I just wanted to ask-before I start-what do people look for in visual novel games? What kinds of stories, character developments, plot twist, ect. would you find interesting? I'm mostly making this game for my own fun but I'd also like to use it as a practice toward bigger projects in the future. I want it to be a thing I can feel proud of as well.

Welp, let me know your thoughts. Or if you have made a visual novel before, by any chance, hit me up with some tips =D This would be my first one.

 

[The_Omega_Effect]

How much of this visual novel is a game though? Will it just be a story or will the player be able to make choices and whatnot? Although it is more difficult, going for the more "gameplay" side to make your visual novel into a "choose your own adventure" visual novel could be a lot better, at least in my opinion.

I would like to sit down and think of stories but the questions you've asked are really general so I can't really give more specific answers.

Lately, visual novels with darker undertones have been getting a lot of good reception. I suggest that you try to take a nice, positive thing and mix it in with something morbid/dark. Maybe make it like a nice adventure with fantasy and etc where the main character gets happy, only to reveal in the end that the character is crazy in an asylum. Like I said, make the plot twist something that is VERY dark, yet mysterious. Like, a movie is a horror film until everything about the horror gets revealed, at which point it becomes Sci-fi, if ur catching my drift.

If you have any specific questions I can help you out by answering them and etc. Good luck.

 

[Epiphany]

Speaking for myself, the strength of the story is probably the strongest element. I'm not particularly fond of visual novels set in schools, which sadly eliminates 80% so my tastes are probably not what you should be catering to.

A Writer's Guide to Hacking the Reader's Brain is one of the finest writing advice articles I've ever read. I recommend you read it.
In short:

1. What's your point? Not who the story's about but what's it about, so to speak.
2. What's your main character's agenda? What does she start the story wanting? Doesn't necessarily matter if the story's about that agenda, mind you (and some great writing comes when a character is denied the opportunity to do what matters most to them). But what matters to them makes them real.
3. What longstanding misbelief will your protagonist have to confront and overcome to get what she wants?
4. What external plot problem will force your protagonist to go after what she wants? The plot must affect her.
5. What will your protagonist’s ultimate “aha” moment be?​

If you can answer these questions, it'll be almost impossible to write a terrible story.

Also, consider teaming up with other folks. A game needs (a) writing, (b) character art, (c) background art, (d) music, (e) incidental sound effects and (f) coding (Ren'py makes it fairly easy but it's still time consuming and you have to make decisions about positioning, effects, etc.). If you're going to do it all, awesome, but it's worth thinking how you'll solve those before sinking a ton of time into it.

 

[Flowiest D]

Keep in mind I’ve never watched a Star Wars movie but hear me out.
They should make a Assassins creed, Star Wars version.
You’d be a force sensitive bounty hunter killing targets and doing odd jobs over the galaxy.
No Templars or anything (I don’t know Star Wars but it’d be a wallpaper over the game mechanics of AssCreed)
Using the force to jump off high places safely, light saver weapons, being able to push/pull people or things for distraction... I think it could work.

 

[AbsurdNerd]

Keep in mind I’ve never watched a Star Wars movie but hear me out.
They should make a Assassins creed, Star Wars version.
You’d be a force sensitive bounty hunter killing targets and doing odd jobs over the galaxy.
No Templars or anything (I don’t know Star Wars but it’d be a wallpaper over the game mechanics of AssCreed)
Using the force to jump off high places safely, light saver weapons, being able to push/pull people or things for distraction... I think it could work.

You may have posted in the wrong thread...

 

[Flowiest D]

You may have posted in the wrong thread...

Again? *bangs head*

 

[AbsurdNerd]

Again? *bangs head*

It's ok. I often find myself forgetting what the OP was in the first place too.

 

[Leyara]

Thank you so much for the advice guys! It's definitely helpful to think about these points =D
I still have quite a bit to learn with the process. Choose your own adventure is moreso what I have in mind and that is what I'm tinkering with the most at the moment. Trying to find my way around the coding to make it function smoothly. I'm almost there
Then I will be able to go over my story notes in more detail. Flesh it out, consider the questions mentioned above, and finally get to the production... of many, many illustrations. Although I've already skipped ahead and drawn the main character's first portrait. Still many more faces to make and also outfits change~

 

[Leyara]

Oh also, this will be only me doing all the work. I've already considered the work load haha
but I am capable.

 

[official clown business]

"eh I don't really know much about this kind of game but here's one I think does it well and that's all I have to add"

Alright. I'm definitely not a visnov person, but one such game in the genre caught my attention, and it's called Pyre. It could be quite the source of inspiration depending on what direction you're going with your game. It's one of those games I randomly stumbled on while browsing through videos, and it didn't take long until I thought "my god, this game is awesome!"

While I'm sure the visuals and music are a huge part of what makes this game what it is, the incredible storytelling is most certainly what made people fall in love with Pyre. I believe it's got it's fair share of hard decisions as well, if that's your thing.
I'll leave some gameplay here, as well as a review that briefly touches on the story and gameplay of Pyre. I can probably elaborate on some things about this game as well, if you really need me to.

Hope this provides you with some useful inspiration for your game!

 

[Epiphany]

My God, if you can draw like that, you've got a good chance of making something awesome. Best wishes!

 

[fireshaper]

Keep in mind I’ve never watched a Star Wars movie but hear me out.
They should make a Assassins creed, Star Wars version.
You’d be a force sensitive bounty hunter killing targets and doing odd jobs over the galaxy.
No Templars or anything (I don’t know Star Wars but it’d be a wallpaper over the game mechanics of AssCreed)
Using the force to jump off high places safely, light saver weapons, being able to push/pull people or things for distraction... I think it could work.

Even though you posted in the wrong topic, I'll still reply. There was a game like this for the PS2 or PS3 called Star Wars Bounty Hunter. You played as Jango Fett and had to do bounty missions. This was before open worlds became a big thing.

 

[The Mechanist]

Well you need to go about this rhetorically, which crowd are you trying to attract? What does this crowd consider fun? What do they like in plot twists? Some people like dark and morbid, me? I'm a sucker for cliche sometimes, you only need to do some home work to find what you're looking for. How many branches will this story have? Is another thing to ask your self, how long is it, where and what is the beginning middle and end. Truthfully it's almost like writing a novel but with scenarios and interactive elements implemented