discussion How do you get a project started?

[tyktamsyl]

I’ve been trying to learn daz and that’s going along alright, but at some point I decided to start writing. However I am having a bit of a hard time with dialogue sounding stiff to me. So I thought I would ask, how do you start a game for development? Do you do the renders first and work from there, do you storyboard, how do you make the dialogue not so stiff? I wrote a very small script but I can’t tell if it’s good or bad, if the dialogue is too stiff or if there is far too much exposition. I feel like perhaps I am writing as if I were writing a book.

Does the writing just come naturally to good writers or do you make a few renders and go from there?

 

[SbDude]

I think the way people organize their workflow differs from person to person. It usually helps me to first "define" the desired outcome, e.g. summarize the scene/plot in a few short sentences or bullet points. A short sketch can help as well and it doesn't need to be a fully rendered scene.
When it comes to dialogs it's important to keep in mind that you're not writing a novel, meaning it's hard to create emotions in your viewer/reader with short dialogs. Once you combine scene and dialog it may as well feel less stiff. You can also learn from playing other people's games, e.g. utilize cursive (or brackets) for thoughts, increase or decrease the font size for shouting/whispering etc.. There are many ways to create the desired emotions.
Also keep in mind that it's all about practice and try not to push yourself too hard

 

[User_65561]

When it comes to dialogs it's important to keep in mind that you're not writing a novel,

AVN = Adult Visual Novel.

 

[tyktamsyl]

I think the way people organize their workflow differs from person to person. It usually helps me to first "define" the desired outcome, e.g. summarize the scene/plot in a few short sentences or bullet points. A short sketch can help as well and it doesn't need to be a fully rendered scene.
When it comes to dialogs it's important to keep in mind that you're not writing a novel, meaning it's hard to create emotions in your viewer/reader with short dialogs. Once you combine scene and dialog it may as well feel less stiff. You can also learn from playing other people's games, e.g. utilize cursive (or brackets) for thoughts, increase or decrease the font size for shouting/whispering etc.. There are many ways to create the desired emotions.
Also keep in mind that it's all about practice and try not to push yourself too hard

Yeah I wrote something about 10,000 characters which is not much but it will be a start. I do have my hands full trying to figure out every aspect of daz right now, I think I finally finished a model today after a week of straight learning and being unhappy with certain things so learning every single thing there. I have come into an issue with geoshells but it is what it is.

I am considering keeping my script, making the scenes, maybe putting out the game as a 0.1 after learning renpy and then asking for writers who are interested in working with me on it. I don’t know if my written content is good enough, or if it even has depth. I think my main issue as a writer is I just put way too many sex scenes. I mean like a sex scene every other scene which might be a bit much but idk how to make the rest interesting (though I am trying). Anyway after a bit more time to get some experience with daz and other programs, Hopefully I’ll be able to make a good first release.

I guess maybe in the future i’ll be looking for a cowriter not someone to replace me.
Sorry, this way unrelated to what you said.

 

[exerp]

If you want something that has a good story and not just an excuse for lewds then its important to bring in actual "creative writing" stuff.

Decide on your theme .. what is the central message of the story. it doesnt have to be anything exceptional. "the importance of commitment in love", "what it takes to be an alpha", "what it is to really be submissive", whatever .. The theme is what a story hangs on and every chapter or scene should be leading the reader to the theme's message.

But .. that can get a bit messy with visual novels because you might be writing different story lines .. based on player choices .. that have very different themes. example: "Friends In Need" has very different themes for the "kind" versus "dark" paths.

With a theme the story then needs major characters and events. I wont go into it in this short post, but you can find lots of Youtube videos and other guides online and books at the library that cover things like "inciting incident" "pacing" "character motivation" etc.

For me I want to have rough profiles of all my major characters and a rough outline of what will happen in the story .. the major events .. before starting on any scenes or character modeling.

 

[Vulky]

AVN = Adult Visual Novel.

Visual Novel