Sunday, October 9, 2022
For
visual novels, the written word is their backbone and how it is
presented to the player is key to controlling their tone and pacing.
Over the years the methods of presentation have been standardised
into two types, ADV (ADVenture) and NVL (NoVeL). These two have
become the dominate styles and are often positioned as diametric
opposites in what they set out to achieve. When a developer creates a
visual novel they will often exclusively use one of these two types based on if it fits their intended vision. But what is it
that drives their choice and why have these two methods emerged as the
dominant forces in the medium? This article will examine these two
competing styles to find out what makes them tick and how you can utilise them
when making your own visual novel.
ADV
In
general ADV refers to a text box which only occupies as small section
of the screen. It is normally located at the bottom but also can take
different forms such as speech bubbles or other hovering text boxes.
ADV is by far the most popular type of text presentation with over
19000 tagged games in VNDB and it can be seen as the face of the
medium given how much it is associated with visual novels.
One
of the primary reasons for this popularity is the faster pace it offers. An ADV
textbox can only show a few lines of text at a time which the player
can quickly read before clicking to show the next
lines. This means the player is always being presented with new
content and encouraged to never dwell on previous lines which gives them a
sense that they are rapidly and constantly progressing through the
game. As such the overall pacing of the game is sped up and for games
focused on action or want a less dense feeling to their narratives,
the choice to use ADV makes sense. This can be further controlled to
the developer’s liking through the mixture of dialogue and
narration to slow or speed up the feeling of a scene. The 9-nine-
series is a good example of this practice with its mixture of slice
of life, suspense and action scenes demanding a shifting but brisk
pace. The game’s ADV delivers this by mixing speech heavy sections
with rapid descriptions of events depending on the needs of each
scene. Even with these elements it can be difficult to slow the
player down and make them contemplate what has occurred due to the
inherent forward momentum in of ADV and
the lack of space it gives to what has just happened.
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| 9-nine- demands for fast pacing come with episodic format |
Complementing
this faster pace is the lighter tone offered by unobstructed visuals.
The smaller textbox of ADV places a greater emphasis on the
backgrounds, portraits and CGs behind it and these cover the major of
what the player will be seeing. As you would expect this means
the visuals have to carry more of the weight in selling the narrative
and is a consideration for visual novels where their art style is a
big selling point as ADV allows it to shine. A focus on visuals also
creates a less serious tone than NVL due to the shorter segments of
text and an overall brighter feeling due to their prominence. This is the main reason slice of life and romance visual
novels prefer ADV as their aim is create an enjoyable but not
demanding experience for the player which they can comfortably slip
in and out of and ADV provides this flexibility to the developers.
One of the most prominent examples of this practice can be found in
any Yuzusoft game where the lighter tone of ADV is utilised to its
full effectiveness with their decorative and translucent text boxes
and bright aesthetic. It is impressive to see how small changes to
the colours of an interface can shift the player's
perceptions of a work towards a more relaxed atmosphere.
 |
| It is amazing what a proper use of colour can do for setting the mood |
By
emphasising images through the smaller textbox of ADV, the styles
of narrative told using it tend towards an external focus. What
this means in practice is that these visual novels tend to have flat
or self-insert protagonists with the focus being placed on the
interactions between and other characters to carry the players
interest. Amnesia: Memories is an extreme example of this external
focus with its complete commitment to the self-insert protagonist and
reliance on conversations between characters to carry the narrative
weight. There is only a limited amount of introspection possible in a
format which is inherently forward moving and what
is present tends to be brief and supported by emotional moments with
members of the core cast. This is one of the major downsides of the
momentum offered by ADV, slowing things down can be difficult without
killing the pacing of the overall narrative.
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| ADV places more emphasis on the characters in front of you |
Another
downside of ADV is lack of control it has over what text is shown on
screen at any one time. This is due to the limited space in the
textbox only allowing for a few lines to be displayed at once. As
such there is very little room for a game using ADV to experiment
with what and when things are shown on screen and the potential
effects this can have on a scene. The narrative presentation of this
type of game is simpler in general and tends towards a more balanced
approach rather than focus on the quality of the writing which is why it is more popular with new developers and those
with a more mixed skill set.
NVL
The
approach of NVL to text and narrative presentation is in many ways
the other extreme to the ADV method. It generally manifests as a
single large textbox covering most of the screen, sometimes with a
boarder around the edge, through which the visuals bellow can be seen
even if they are partially obscured.
When
a developer chooses to use NVL it is clear they want the writing to
be front and centre with the player's undivided attention. This is a
result of having the text take up a good portion of the screen and it
changes how the player interacts with the game. The presence
of more lines of text on screen at any one time creates a slower pace
to the narrative since past lines linger on the screen and the player
may reread them in light of the new information being presented to
them. We can see this clearly in Higurashi When They Cry which
utilises its tense and horror based narrative to make the player hang
on each sentence for a clue and attempt to find meaning in how the
lines are presented, which in turn fuels the atmosphere in a cyclical
manner. A side effect of this approach is the introduction of a more
demanding tone than is found in ADV due to the increased prominence
of the text and the way in asks you to dwell on the complete picture each
page is showing instead of just a since line. These combine to favour
more narratively complex stories since these elements of NVL are
often overkill for simpler tales.
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| There is a reason Higurashi focuses on its writing. |
One
of the largest benefits to using NVL is the minute level of control
it is possible gain over what text is shown as well as where and
when. This gives the developer the ability to emphasise key moments
by breaking from the established structure of the text and surprising
the player. These can be something as simple as a single word at the
centre of the screen to as complex as an entire scene presented as if
it were a text chat log. Perhaps the most vivid example of this is
Fate Stay Night which uses the colour, position, font and shapes
available to control player perceptions with a level of
finesse not possible without NVL. The ability to spice up the
narrative presentation can never be underestimated and it injects
life into what might otherwise be a boring wall of text. However,
there is the ever present risk of overusing this trick and the
temptation to show off through it must be controlled since it will
rapidly become familiar and breed complacency in the player.
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| Clever uses of formatting it Fate's specialty |
The
focus of visual novels which use NVL tends towards the internal over the
external with the protagonist’s intimate thoughts being on display
for the player. Having text covering the screen naturally increases
the sense of familiarity the player has with its contents and by
extension the characters they portray. Linked to this is the needed
for an increased amount of words to cover the extra space provided by
NVL which often leads to the narrator character spilling their entire
train of thought at the slightest provocation. For example, Lonely
Yuri is almost exclusively introspection and despite it been a short
game it uses NVL to cover the screen with inner thoughts and
feelings to sell the mood of work. This is both a blessing and curse
as if handled well it can give the player a sense of the depth of each
character and empathise with them, but on the flip side it can lead to
narrative bloat which can kill the pacing of a scene.
 |
| Presenting inner thoughts is what NVL does best |
A
major drawback of utilising NVL is way in which it pushes the visual
aspects of the game into the background. By placing a large text box
in front of both the background and portraits, it creates a sense of
distance from them and encourages the player to consider them less
important than the writing. As you would expect this means that their
art styles often tend towards clearer shapes and an uncluttered
visual presence since a more distinctive and loud use of colour and
form would become muddied or lost under the layer of text. While this
is normally worked into how the game presents itself so as to not
draw attention to it, there is undeniably something lost from not
being properly able to engage with the visual aspects in a more
chaotic and expressive fashion.
Merging The Two Sides
So
far I have been presenting ADV and NVL as if they are entirely
opposite and incompatible with each other. Of course this is not
true, in reality there is nothing stopping a developer from switching
between the two styles depending on the needs of the scene. Do you
want to have a moment of introspection then switch to NVL, or perhaps
you want a fast paced actions scene then switch to ADV. Wonderful
Everyday perfectly encapsulates this mixed philosophy as it weaves in
and out of both styles of presentation to allow the importance of a
scene or moment to be understood by the player. On top of all of this
it allows for the ability to play with player expectations through
establishing one of the styles as being only used for a certain
character or type of scene only pull back the curtain to reveal the
truth later on. The flexibility on offer is endless and can be
tweaked to fit the needs of the game’s narrative further adding
to the toolbox available.
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| You know something is important when they whip out the NVL |
If
utilising both styles opens so many possibilities, why is it not used
in every visual novel? The simple answer is most games do not need to
use it to achieve their desired story. Adding in an additional style
could create unintended confusion for the player because they might
lose track of what is going to due to the constant switching. On top
of this, the bouncing backwards and forwards between the two may lead to the
overall experience feeling unfocused. It takes a skilled hand to
navigate the correct use of this merger of styles and avoiding these
possible drawbacks by focusing on one style and its benefits is often the better choice.
Conclusion
As
with any medium there are differing approaches to presentation and none
of these are necessarily better than any other, but instead offer
benefits to certain genres and themes. Such is the case with the ADV
vs. NVL debate. On the one side we have ADV with its tendency towards
faster pacing and external focused narratives and on the other we
have NVL with its introspective tendencies and more demanding tone.
Of course you can combine the two in the same visual novel and play
with their contrasting properties if you are willing to run the risk
of confusing the player. Each one of these options is valid when used
properly and allow the developer to have control over the effects of
both the text and visuals in order to achieve their desired emotion
or theme. In the end you will have to make the call about what you
feel will work best within your visual novel and lean into what makes
your chosen style tick for the best results.
