Post by Tom on Feb 8, 2012 19:14:21 GMT -5
We've had a lot of great people with a wide range of talent come to the fore and offer their help. We're off to a great start. But most of what has gone on, especially on the writing side, has thus far amounted to little more than spitballing. Which is fine in these beginning stages, in a huge group project like this -- throwing everything against the wall and seeing what sticks is a good way to find a path towards more cohesive development.
But I think the time has come to start bringing things into focus, and that means having a group of two or three people in place who can take all of the story ideas offered so far and distill them into something concrete, a general outline of different story paths from beginning to end. It is vital that we have these broad strokes planned out far in advance because this is the framework that will inform how everything else develops.
The unfortunate side effect here is that we're now at the point where we have to realistically assess what we can and cannot do. We need a lead writing staff with broad power to say "yes, we will go in this direction," or "no, we won't do that." Those decisions, once made, can be -- should be -- debated to some degree by the community and ultimately altered. We are not a dictatorship here, we are a community effort, and everyone should get the opportunity to have their say.
But it's important that the community also invest some degree of faith in the writing staff and accept it if a certain plot element or story path isn't included. If we had infinite resources, we could do it all, but we don't, and so we can't. What I'm getting at is that the rubber is about to meet the road, and some of the concepts we've had floating around, even some of the really good ones, are going to have to be left by the wayside so that we can proceed. Getting through this process without schisms developing will be a deciding factor in whether we ever put out a completed product.
To this end, I am offering to step up as the head of the writing staff. If someone else wants that position, I think it should be left to the community to decide who will get it. I don't want anyone to feel like I'm grabbing the reigns unfairly. That being said, I think I have the skills to oversee this project in such a way that the community ultimately produces a good script.
My duties in this role would be:
-Writing, obviously -- I'd be in charge of at least one of the major story paths
-Delegation of duties to others, including selecting and replacing lead writing staff and taking a major part in deciding who writes what
-Quality assurance for work produced by the other writers, as well as making sure they remain on track and meet deadlines, etc.
-Planning of the story with the other lead writers and then ensuring that the story develops in accordance to the outline we establish
-Mediation of any disagreements over how the story should develop, and -- to some degree -- the ability to make an "executive decision" regarding the inclusion or disinclusion of certain plot or character elements
If there aren't any major objections, then we should get right to work. I've developed a to-do list which should be accomplished over the next few weeks.
1. Appointment of lead writers
I need 2-4 other people with whom I can map the story out with, and who will take control of different story paths. The details can be discussed once we find those people.
If you want to be one of the lead writers, just post in this thread with your concept of a scene between characters. Make sure to include both dialogue and descriptive elements. These concept writings are akin to concept art and don't necessarily have to reflect what the final product will be like -- it's just proof that you're capable, essentially. I and the rest of the community can then decide who should join the writing staff as lead writers.
I am aware a couple of you have privately sent me pieces of writing, and feel free to use those if you want to post in this thread with the intention of joining as a lead writer.
2. Appointment of writing staff
We'll need more than just the lead writers on board, of course. Anyone interested in writing for the game who doesn't get on the lead writing staff is more than welcome to work as part of the regular writing staff. You'll still have a lot to do. After the lead writing staff has planned the story out, we'll need to get to writing scenes, and with thousands of different scenes, we're going to need many people working on it.
3. Character planning
We need to firmly settle on who our main characters are and what they are like as people -- not just names or generic characteristics like "she's the tsundere," either. Players will ultimately play our VN not for the storyline but for the characters who move it forward. Having a firm concept of them -- what they like and dislike, what their beliefs and hopes are, their histories, their eccentricities and tics, how they feel about one another, how they grow over the course of the story, and on and on -- these specifics take a player's attitude towards a certain character from "she's just another boilerplate yandere," to, "Maya is mai crazyfu, how dare you badmouth her."
There have been an endless number of suggestions for each of these characters already, but the lead staff is going to have to make some judgment calls here and decide which suggestions will work out and which ones won't. Especially since all of this will be taking place in tandem with...
4. Outlining and flowcharting
Creating a visual novel is a unique challenge, because story branches -- like a zombie infection, fittingly -- can quickly grow out of control. One branch creates two, two branches create four. We need to establish a framework that allows us to make the game appear less linear than it really is -- to strike a balance between player control and what we can really achieve. To do this, we'll first have to have a clear idea of what happens on each character path, and then we'll need to set up a running timeline in the form of a flowchart so we can plot out the story branches in a systematized way.
As I envision it, the game's story should take place over about 30 days. Specific scenes would be set to occur at specific times, and the choices made by the player either raise or lower the chances of that scene occurring at that time. Since two scenes rigged to happen at the same time can't both happen, such a setup allows us to create a branching story while at the same time keeping some of the scenes common to multiple paths. This avoids an exponential growth of storylines that would make the game impossible to finish.
There would be one flowchart showing a very general outline of possible events from day 1 to day 30. This flowchart would be our bible, and we would deviate from it as little as possible. Basically, it would be a listing of the set pieces that the MC moves through during the story.
Each day would also have its own flowchart which goes into more detail and shows all the different things that can happen on a specific day. These flowcharts would be more subject to change at later dates as we iron out wrinkles. When we finally get to writing the game, we would start from the top, at day 1, and work our way through it.
Note that this timeline idea is not how the player is necessarily going to experience the game. I don't imagine that the player is going to be very aware of how many days have passed in the game world or what time it is in any given scene. It's just a mechanic we can use as writers to organize the flow of the plot.
Addendum: Only after writing this did I see that flowcharting had already begun. I like what I've seen so far.
5. Outlining and writing of a demo script
The game itself begins with the MC having been barricaded inside his apartment for over a week. In the IRC, we decided that the demo we release should function as a prequel that takes us from the original outbreak of the epidemic to the moment that the MC and his girlfriend barricade themselves inside.
Because the demo is completely separate from the VN proper, it needs to be planned and written separately too. We should be working on this at the same time -- in fact, perhaps before -- we work on the main outline discussed above. The demo will be our test run as writers to see how we work together and how our planning strategies pan out. When we pass the script on to the artists and the programmers, it'll be their turn to test how well they work together. But because their job is much more difficult and technically challenging, we on the writing staff should make it a priority to finish our part as soon as possible, so they can begin their work immediately.
---
Okay. Still with me? Good. There's a lot more to all of this than what I've written, but that is the general plan I've developed for the project's immediate future. If we're all in agreement, then, I think it's time to move forward. If you're serious about writing and you're willing to invest a considerable amount of time, step forward and be heard.
But I think the time has come to start bringing things into focus, and that means having a group of two or three people in place who can take all of the story ideas offered so far and distill them into something concrete, a general outline of different story paths from beginning to end. It is vital that we have these broad strokes planned out far in advance because this is the framework that will inform how everything else develops.
The unfortunate side effect here is that we're now at the point where we have to realistically assess what we can and cannot do. We need a lead writing staff with broad power to say "yes, we will go in this direction," or "no, we won't do that." Those decisions, once made, can be -- should be -- debated to some degree by the community and ultimately altered. We are not a dictatorship here, we are a community effort, and everyone should get the opportunity to have their say.
But it's important that the community also invest some degree of faith in the writing staff and accept it if a certain plot element or story path isn't included. If we had infinite resources, we could do it all, but we don't, and so we can't. What I'm getting at is that the rubber is about to meet the road, and some of the concepts we've had floating around, even some of the really good ones, are going to have to be left by the wayside so that we can proceed. Getting through this process without schisms developing will be a deciding factor in whether we ever put out a completed product.
To this end, I am offering to step up as the head of the writing staff. If someone else wants that position, I think it should be left to the community to decide who will get it. I don't want anyone to feel like I'm grabbing the reigns unfairly. That being said, I think I have the skills to oversee this project in such a way that the community ultimately produces a good script.
My duties in this role would be:
-Writing, obviously -- I'd be in charge of at least one of the major story paths
-Delegation of duties to others, including selecting and replacing lead writing staff and taking a major part in deciding who writes what
-Quality assurance for work produced by the other writers, as well as making sure they remain on track and meet deadlines, etc.
-Planning of the story with the other lead writers and then ensuring that the story develops in accordance to the outline we establish
-Mediation of any disagreements over how the story should develop, and -- to some degree -- the ability to make an "executive decision" regarding the inclusion or disinclusion of certain plot or character elements
If there aren't any major objections, then we should get right to work. I've developed a to-do list which should be accomplished over the next few weeks.
1. Appointment of lead writers
I need 2-4 other people with whom I can map the story out with, and who will take control of different story paths. The details can be discussed once we find those people.
If you want to be one of the lead writers, just post in this thread with your concept of a scene between characters. Make sure to include both dialogue and descriptive elements. These concept writings are akin to concept art and don't necessarily have to reflect what the final product will be like -- it's just proof that you're capable, essentially. I and the rest of the community can then decide who should join the writing staff as lead writers.
I am aware a couple of you have privately sent me pieces of writing, and feel free to use those if you want to post in this thread with the intention of joining as a lead writer.
2. Appointment of writing staff
We'll need more than just the lead writers on board, of course. Anyone interested in writing for the game who doesn't get on the lead writing staff is more than welcome to work as part of the regular writing staff. You'll still have a lot to do. After the lead writing staff has planned the story out, we'll need to get to writing scenes, and with thousands of different scenes, we're going to need many people working on it.
3. Character planning
We need to firmly settle on who our main characters are and what they are like as people -- not just names or generic characteristics like "she's the tsundere," either. Players will ultimately play our VN not for the storyline but for the characters who move it forward. Having a firm concept of them -- what they like and dislike, what their beliefs and hopes are, their histories, their eccentricities and tics, how they feel about one another, how they grow over the course of the story, and on and on -- these specifics take a player's attitude towards a certain character from "she's just another boilerplate yandere," to, "Maya is mai crazyfu, how dare you badmouth her."
There have been an endless number of suggestions for each of these characters already, but the lead staff is going to have to make some judgment calls here and decide which suggestions will work out and which ones won't. Especially since all of this will be taking place in tandem with...
4. Outlining and flowcharting
Creating a visual novel is a unique challenge, because story branches -- like a zombie infection, fittingly -- can quickly grow out of control. One branch creates two, two branches create four. We need to establish a framework that allows us to make the game appear less linear than it really is -- to strike a balance between player control and what we can really achieve. To do this, we'll first have to have a clear idea of what happens on each character path, and then we'll need to set up a running timeline in the form of a flowchart so we can plot out the story branches in a systematized way.
As I envision it, the game's story should take place over about 30 days. Specific scenes would be set to occur at specific times, and the choices made by the player either raise or lower the chances of that scene occurring at that time. Since two scenes rigged to happen at the same time can't both happen, such a setup allows us to create a branching story while at the same time keeping some of the scenes common to multiple paths. This avoids an exponential growth of storylines that would make the game impossible to finish.
There would be one flowchart showing a very general outline of possible events from day 1 to day 30. This flowchart would be our bible, and we would deviate from it as little as possible. Basically, it would be a listing of the set pieces that the MC moves through during the story.
Each day would also have its own flowchart which goes into more detail and shows all the different things that can happen on a specific day. These flowcharts would be more subject to change at later dates as we iron out wrinkles. When we finally get to writing the game, we would start from the top, at day 1, and work our way through it.
Note that this timeline idea is not how the player is necessarily going to experience the game. I don't imagine that the player is going to be very aware of how many days have passed in the game world or what time it is in any given scene. It's just a mechanic we can use as writers to organize the flow of the plot.
Addendum: Only after writing this did I see that flowcharting had already begun. I like what I've seen so far.
5. Outlining and writing of a demo script
The game itself begins with the MC having been barricaded inside his apartment for over a week. In the IRC, we decided that the demo we release should function as a prequel that takes us from the original outbreak of the epidemic to the moment that the MC and his girlfriend barricade themselves inside.
Because the demo is completely separate from the VN proper, it needs to be planned and written separately too. We should be working on this at the same time -- in fact, perhaps before -- we work on the main outline discussed above. The demo will be our test run as writers to see how we work together and how our planning strategies pan out. When we pass the script on to the artists and the programmers, it'll be their turn to test how well they work together. But because their job is much more difficult and technically challenging, we on the writing staff should make it a priority to finish our part as soon as possible, so they can begin their work immediately.
---
Okay. Still with me? Good. There's a lot more to all of this than what I've written, but that is the general plan I've developed for the project's immediate future. If we're all in agreement, then, I think it's time to move forward. If you're serious about writing and you're willing to invest a considerable amount of time, step forward and be heard.
