E-Publishing - Week 10

Visual Novels

In the lecture today we looked at graphic interactive fiction. Which basically speaking is the interactive fiction that we have been looking at over the last few weeks with added pictures and graphics. Most visual novels are programmed and are often split between passive and interactive.

The most well known example of a visual novel or a graphic interactive fiction is Inanimate Alice. Inanimate Alice follows the story of Alice, a young girl growing up in the early 21st century. There are so far, four episodes of Inanimate Alice available, although 6 more are said to be 'coming soon'. You read each story through the point of view of Alice along with her PDA and her interactive friend Brad. Through each contained episode you also have the opportunity to complete mini interactive tasks.

'Ren'Py' is a software used for creating graphic interactive fiction and visual novels. According to Ren'Py, visual novels are "computer-based stories presented using words, pictures, sounds and music." Ren'Py allows you to create visual novels easily and efficiently. Ren'Py can also be used to create Simulation Games.

In the second half of the class this week we were asked to download the Ren'Py software for free and have a go and creating a visual novel using the test images that come with the software.

The simplest way to go about starting to create a visual is to:

1. Create a background
2. Create a character
3. Create what the character can do

Example of how to imput instructions into Ren'Py

#background images

image bg 'beach' = "beach.jpg"
image bg 'cliff' = "cliff.jpg"
image bg 'park' = "park.jpg"

#declare characters

$ c = character ('cain', colour = 001100)
$ s = character ('stephen', colour = 110000)


etc.


After practicing with the software in the lecture I discovered that it was a lot easier to use and more rewarding than creating an interactive fiction. I got better results and have decided that a visual novel or graphic interactive fiction might be a better idea for my final project than the interactive fiction. So since the lecture I have downloaded the Ren'Py software onto my laptop and have started looking into ideas for my final project. I have also done a few tests on the software in order to familiarise myself with the technology. I'm happy with my choice now for the final project, I think that a visual fiction is definitely the best idea for me. It will also be interesting for the essay part into looking into the development of visual novels, how to publish them and how to market them. It seems that everything that I have learnt in the E-Publishing lectures will be coming together for the final project regardless of which route I will take.