Archive for May 2024
The Skip Button – An Anatomy of Visual Novels
Pressing Fast Forward
A
simple feature like a Skip Button might seem too minor to be worth
covering in any detail, after all most visual novels have one so
they must be a normal part of them, right? It is only when it is taken
away that its impact, both on how the player interacts with the
game and their perception of it, becomes clear. Presenting the option
to skip content is always a double edged sword for a game as it
offers player convenience at the risk of them skipping over something
important to the narrative and in a game so focused around story this
can be a major issue. Then there are the different types of skip
functions from the standard skipping text to skipping between scenes
to skipping to the next choice. A common bed fellow to the Skip
Button is the auto play setting where the player can let the visual
novel progress at a pace set by the player without their input
which presents some odd design considerations. Let speed through the
game and discover how skipping influences visual novels.
The Standard Skip
Of
all the types of skip functions found in visual novels, the skip read
text and the skip unread text are the most common and shape how the
overall experience is perceived. Skipping text the player has already
seen is the easier of the two to understand the impact of on the game. It is a simple quality of life feature to enable a smoother
transition from one route to another without boring the player with
repeated content. With this their interest can be maintained while
allowing for an unimpeded exploration of the choices and endings on
offer. This reduced barrier does have a slight drawback in that it
brings the player onto a system level engagement with the game rather
than an emotional and personal one making it damaging to the impact
of key moments which the player is suddenly thrust into after some detached
skipping. Take a game with a long common route like The Fruit of
Grisaia as an example. Here the length of time it would take to reach
another route would be an unreasonable amount to ask the player to
put themselves through and so letting them skip the text they have
read is a basic method of avoiding tedium. By doing this The Fruit of
Grisaia runs into the issue of the player’s attention wandering as,
even with the ability to skip, it can take a long time to reach new
content and thus there interest in continuing to play drops. The more
expansive the visual novel the worse this problem becomes and there
is no way to properly balance without introducing new content into
the common route based on routes completed, but this expands the
scope of the game and takes a lot of time and resources to implement.
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| Sometimes you just need to get a move on |
Sitting
right next to the ability to skip read text is the option to skip
unread text, meaning lines or scenes the player has never interacted
with before. The role this occupies is as a means for players who
have already played the game before to skip to whatever part of the
game they want to go to without having to reread the whole title on a
fresh install. It also serves as means for a player to skip sections
they might be finding uninteresting so the game can maintain their
engagement rather than having them put it down and stop playing. Of
course this comes with the ever present risk that they could
accidentality skip past a big revelation or key character moment
without which they will not properly understand later events. This
matters significantly more in visual novels which rely on plot as
their primary driving force since a twist can come out of nowhere if its
foreshadowing or setup has been skipped. It also further takes
control of the experience out of the hands of the developer since
they cannot account of any amount of skipping the player does and so
has to assume that they are engaging in good faith in order to pace
their game. However, the convenience offered to the player is seen as
the worth the trade off and so its inclusion has become a standard
feature in the medium.
Jumping Between Scenes And Choices
In
a large visual novel even skipping the text might still result in
long wait times where the mind might wander to what other games could
be played instead of watching text fly by. The solution many titles
reached was to allow the player to jump to either the next scene or
choice. This bypasses the issue of wasting time and quickly put
them exactly where in the game they want to be in order to progress
down a new route. Jumping features like these are essentially the
logical end point of the convenience of the text skipping options and
so exist to promote a smoother flow of the narrative and keep the
player engaged. As such it suffers an exaggerated version of the same
weakness in its system level interaction drawing people out of the
experience. Using jumps inherently leads to an element of confusion
as the sudden shift between scenes is disorienting and it takes a
moment to remember what is happened there. In this moment the player
is made acutely aware of the artificial nature of the game and
impacts their perception of it by distancing them for the immediate
and personal strengths of visual novels.
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| Skip? |
Fate/Stay Night can be used
as a showcase of how this feature interacts with a game as a whole.
It uses a scene skipping option which presents the player
with a screen showing the current scene name and a choice
asking if the player wants to skip it. Due to the fact that this menu
will also ask about all the route deciding choices present in the
scenes without ever entering the game proper, this detached realm
leads to a sense of nothing really mattering as it highlights the game's
structured nature. This is a larger issue here due to the game’s
use of bad endings that rely on an impact diminished by an awareness
of their place within the grater visual novel.
Auto Play
While
an auto play function is not a type of skipping, it does operate on
the same axis of player utility and often influences them in a
similar manner. This option allows the game to progress through the
text at a set pace decided by the player before it starts. No
further input is required once it has started outside of choice
selection and it will keep going until the credits roll. The main
advantages of this feature are twofold. It presents the visual novel
in manner where the player can do something else at the same time and
lightly engage with it or simply to make it as relaxing as possible.
Alongside this is the role it has in making the titles more accessible as
not everyone can repeatedly click a button and having the ability to
let the game perform this act allows them to be included among its
players. However, there is an interesting design problem introduced
with auto play and this is how it contrasts with the way a person progressing under their own
steam does not do so at a constant and even pace. This is mainly due
to the way a game has fast and slow paced scenes and a player’s
progression through each generally matches the style presented to
them and designers can use this knowledge to fine tune the experience
to keep the player engaged. Since auto play moves forward at a
constant speed all of this subtle control is lost and it can in fact be
damaging since its original purpose has been lost so might feel odd
when viewed at the wrong pace.
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| Action needs good pacing to be effective |
Due to its wide spread nature just
about any visual novel can serve as an example of this feature, but
its issues are most noticeable in title focused around action like
Sorcery Jokers. The extremes of emotion that the games based around
action rely on stem from a control over the narrative pacing to express these ideas to
the player in a compelling fashion. Auto Play completely irons out
those peaks and drops into a flat line making their presence feel
awkward and distracting. As such developers have to keep this
possibility in mind and try not to make the visual novel’s pacing
mechanisms obvious when view outside of their intended speed in order
to account for the players using this feature.
Conclusion
Giving
someone the option to skip the content in a visual novel is
necessity for convenience and yet it can indirectly harm the overall
experience when not properly considered. Skipping read text is the
most basic tool to avoid wasting the player’s time while skipping
unread text can be a useful feature for returning players to get them
into the action. An expanded version of this is ability to jump to
the next choice or scene which allows for faster traversal of the
game at the cost of drawing the player completely out of the game’s
immersion. The auto play function exists as a complement to the skip
button and offers the ability to customise the pace of progress in
order to make the title more accessible. Overall the skip feature is
important part of the visual novel and so should be properly
considered when you are making your own game.
Science Fantasy – Genre Deep Dive
Of Robots And Sorcerers
At
first glance sci-fi and fantasy might seem incompatible with one
another since the first focuses on extrapolations of concepts from
our scientific present while the other deals with impossible events
and powers. However, behind these differences they share a common
desire to explore the nature of humanity through situations as
distant as possible from our everyday lives. When combined with this
angle in mind their union forms the Science Fantasy genre. For
visual novels this marriage is formed of several different
approaches which characterise their similar material in distinctive
lights. Maybe it is an exaggerated reflection of our own world,
often it is the rule of cool which decides how things go and
sometimes it is just an extremely tight and interconnection web of
concepts that brings the package together. Let’s find our wand and
phaser as we look at what this hybrid genre brings to visual novels.
Reflecting The World
A
common trend among Science Fantasy visual novels is their tendency
to have present day settings. Here the sci-fi element founded in an
exaggerated version of modern science and used to justify many of the
common elements of Urban Fantasy through which the narrative tells
its more dramatic elements. This union focuses on sticking to the
familiar parts of a present day setting and using them to create a
bond of empathy with the characters as they go through the mundane
realities of life. Yet at the same time the fantastical events give a
framing to those mundane actions which draws out their artificial
nature and the absurdity when placed alongside a life and death
struggle. The sci-fi half keeps the fantasy from causing the player to
disassociate from events on screen by tickling their sense of vague
familiarity with modern science and keeping the magic and superpowers
firmly in a grounding of the known world. By adhering to all of these
elements the Science Fantasy can present ideas about the present day
through a lens detached enough to allow for a proper consideration of
them without being so far away as to prevent them from having the
emotional resonance necessary for its desired impact.
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| Superpowers and psychology are an interesting mix |
Take Chaos;Head
for example, here a scientific conspiracy is mixed with teenagers
possessing superpowers in order to take a look at what the modern
world does the a person’s psychological state. The sci-fi elements
here focus around the human psyche and how the conspiracy seeks to
take advantage of it for their own gain. It includes a lot of
familiar scientific and pseudo-scientific terms the player is likely
heard about even if just in passing and so registers as vaguely
realistic which allows it to serve as a basis for the fantasy half to
bounce off of in order to better serve its core ideas. On the other
side, the superpowers work to enhance the sense of being detached from
the real world which alongside the protagonist’s unreliability
questions the effects of the modern social features, such as internet
forums, introduced through the sci-fi side.
The Rule Of Cool
Sometimes
the choice of Science Fantasy as a genre in visual novels is not in
service of some grand presentation of themes and is instead due to the
developer thinking it was cool. This originates from the way the genre
takes the familiar trapping of each of its parts and puts them
through a new lens in order to make them fresh again. Having a strong
sense of novelty provides a means of keep the player engaged over the
course of the game and creating a visual and narrative style
completely owned by the title. This brand of Science Fantasy tends to
lean into a specific aspect of one half while the majority of the
rest of the experience is focused around the other. For example of
one extreme there is Deus Machine Demonbane. Here is a game leaning
heavily into its fantasy elements with magic and lovecraftian powers
shaping events and forming the bulk of the reoccurring
elements. With one large exception being the titular Deus Machine
which is a giant mech, something generally found in a more sci-fi
setting. Obviously this is passed through the fantasy filter in order
to justify its existence, but its out of place nature makes it
memorable and this in turn creates a unique texture to the game that
remains in the minds of many even to this day.
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| Contrast is a powerful tool |
On the other hand
there are titles like BlazBlue where the rule of cool aspect of the
Science Fantasy is more spread out and attached to a general world
building. This manifests through the technology the characters
interact with and the way it exists to compliment their magical
powers while keeping up the character's sense of appeal with
little regard for practicality. There weapons are the most
common example of this over the entire cast, but it is worth pointing
out there are characters who are machines and thus fall firmly on the side
sci-fi and yet no effort is really made to explain their actual
workings with the focus instead being on how cool there are to look
at.
Stronger Together
So
far the uses of the Science Fantasy genre shown have placed various
kinds of clear divides between the two halves or put an overwhelming
emphasis on one over the other. However, there are a group of games
under this genre which use it precisely because the challenge of
balancing these distinctive parts results in a potent and memorable
experience through how they link to one another. For this union to
succeed the two parts need to hold a similar thematic purpose within
the narrative while also justifying their place within the wider
world, so their existence does stand out too much and disrupt the
player’s sense of immersion. In return for this delicate work the
game can provide a unique sense of place for its setting which serves
a directed purpose of pushing the core themes and ideas of the story
in a way simultaneously in the player’s face and also subtle enough
to seep into their minds through continual exposure. An approach like
this is only effective for visual novels where there are complex or
emotional elements to explore rather than something aiming for clean
and clear messaging for common themes which need no introduction and
where the game not expecting them to be considered deeply.
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| A muddy dividing line can do wonders |
This can
be seen in seen in the fault series where the technology level of the
world is both higher and lower than our own to organically integrate
it into the areas of people’s lives which magic is not used in
order to sell them as complimenting elements. It is through their
subtlety that the power of drawing the player’s attention to them
originates since being made aware of something previously in the
background reshapes the understanding of the whole surrounding it and
lends to a clarity of messaging. Utawarerumono takes this approach to
its logical extreme by using the presence and absence of each half of
the genre to highlight key narrative beats through the divide between
the world of the ancient past and the one of the present.
Conclusion
As
with many hybrid genres, it how the union of the two halves manifests
and interacts with the visual novel format which makes them an
engaging experience. Science Fantasy succeeds on multiple fronts due
to how well sci-fi and fantasy play into each other’s strengths. It
can mix the fantastical with the mundane to offer a frank
representation of the modern world and its issues. The unity can be
so coherent and well thought out that the themes and ideas are
communicated without needing to say a word or through clever
highlighting of key elements. On the other hand, sometimes it just
about the rule of cool and the strength comes from impressing the
player with spectacle and keeping them amused. There is no denying
the flexibility and narrative power found in the Science Fantasy and
it is a genre more titles should consider branching out into.
Irotoridori No Sekai – The Colorful World Review – Beyond The Other Rainbow
Genre – Romance, Fantasy, Mystery Play Time – 35 hours Developer – FAVORITE Steam VNDB
Coming To Know Love
Everyone
has a wish they want fulfilled before they die, this can be anything
from unrequited love to becoming rich to seeing the world. However,
the world is a harsh place and many of these wishes go unanswered as
people pass from the moral coil. It is the value of these wishes that
forms the core of Irotoridori No Sekai’s themes and how they
intertwine with the idea of learning to love is key to their lasting
appeal. There is a delicate balance struck between the procession of
the story and the journey of its characters. This is a game concerned
with the dramatic emotions of its characters. The other worlds
being brought in to provide additional stakes or push home a key
narrative beat. The issue of this approach appears when the title cannot
properly pay off the tension it has built up and resorts to deus ex
machina in order to get it out of the corner it has written itself
into. Do these inconsistencies undermine the core message of the
game? Let’s set the basement clock and find out.
Answering Your Wishes – Narrative and Themes
Other
worlds are by far Irotoridori No Sekai’s most immediately distinct
element and how they play into the narrative build up burns them into
the player’s mind. Each one is representation of the vastly
different wishes of humanity and how the circumstances surrounding
them can dramatically alter what they desire. Sometimes these places
are never shown but is it quite clear what effect their unique environments have
had on the characters from them. These in turn reflect the heroines
who are associated with them and allow a view of their actions or
wishes through the unique factors which shaped them. Having the
ability to lean into fantastical elements provides room for the
exploration of the individual heroines in varied fashions to keep
things feeling fresh. At the same time most of the actual
otherworldly events happened before the game even begans so they game
can play with them without losing the grounded setting it has
established as the place where the characters can be themselves. Take
Toumine Tsukasa’s route, it invokes certain elements from her
original world in order to sell the danger while being firmly planted
in the town and its community where the people she works with are a
large part of her life. Striking this balance is key to holding the
player in suspense without losing sight of the reason they are
invested in the character’s journey in the first place.
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| Even what might seem normal always has some otherworldly connection |
Hanging
over the entire game are the duel mysteries of the recurring dream
and the ghostly Shinku. These act as a constant throughout each route
and do a good job of making the title feel like it is a cohesive
experience which is building towards a greater ending. Their intimate
relation to the protagonist, Kanoue Yuuma, means they have an
impactful screen presence where they shape how he see the world and
people around him and by extension the key heroines. Such an approach
gives the small bread crumbs of truth a greater sense of importance while not
taking the limelight away from the stars of the route. It also helps
that the pay off from all of the build up is and exceptionally strong
final route where the themes and ideas the game has being presenting
are tied up in a nice bow. The characters are provided a similar
resolution within this revelation as each one has a victory lap where
we get to see the traits we fell in love with on full display.
Altogether this route is excellent to the point at which it is worth
playing the entire title just to experience it which is a testament
to how effective the mysteries are at capturing and holding interest.
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| Oh boy, I cannot wait for your extensive flashback... |
When
it comes to how this story is presented to the player there are
noticeable cracks in its implementation. Chief among these is the
game’s tendency to have the characters explain their past through
narrated flashbacks using Yuuma’s magical powers rather than
through organic reveals or by being placed in the character’s
shoes. It leads to extended dry sequences where the character in
question tell the protagonist the feeling and events of the past in a
way which lacks impact and instead comes across as if they are
talking about someone else. If this was done sparingly it would not
be an issue, but the flashbacks occur in every route and sometimes
multiple times in a route which massively disrupts the flow that the route had
before. Being told about events is a quick way for the player to lose
interest, especially in a game so focused around the emotions of its
characters where it would make more sense to keep the player in the
current tide of feelings rather than taking a sudden turn into
telling them about the past. On some level Irotoridori No Sekai
realises this is an issue as it has intermissions in the middle of
these flashbacks where the characters in the present briefly stop the
telling their story and share a few words. This is a clear indication
of the developers' concern that the player might become bored with
their narrative. Flashbacks are not inherently a bad thing as there
is an example of how to do one properly within the game’s final
route where the player gets to experience the events of the past
first hand rather than simply being told them. It is strange then
that the Irotoridori No Sekai choses to deliberately damage itself in
every other instance of flashbacks.
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| Kana is someone with the a greater weight hanging over them which never has a proper pay off |
Introducing
various other worlds and their supernatural elements requires a
narrative to properly commit to them or risk them feeling token and
out of place. It is this dilemma which Irotoridori No Sekai spends
its entire play time wrestling with and there are often points where
it uses ideas only to hand wave them away or focus on the wrong
element of the conflict. Over the course of the many routes this
issue manifests in different forms. Kana and Tsukasa’s routes introduce
serious threats originating from these worlds only to immediately
resolved them in the next scene making them feel like a cheap thrill
with no substance to them. Mio’s route chooses the wrong part of its
otherworldly element since it is afraid of presenting Mio in the
slightest negative light, even if it is only by proximity. The ideas
present in Kyou’s route feel like an odd choice since there is no
reason they could not have just been from our world and this foreign
presentation just comes across as strange and distracting. Only the final route
really sticks the landing due to it being based around concepts which
have been built up over the whole game and so properly established
beforehand. None of these weaknesses are last for long enough to
undermine the entire route by they do draw the player out of what is
otherwise an emotional and intimate ride.
Girls Falling From Lighthouses – Characters
A
colourful cast is something this game always presents front and
centre. Each one has a strong and easy to identify personality, from
Kana’s constant flirting to Tsukasa’s innocent energy, which
helps sell them and make them empathetic. Their wishes are worn on
their sleeves, but these desires are never what they first appear,
there simple nature is picked away at throughout their routes until a
complete picture of them comes out. Doing this gives these characters
a sense that they are layered and complex beyond their initially
presented personalities and works to keep them player on the edge of
their seats as they can never be sure they truly know a character.
Backing this up is the interactions between the heroines and Yuuma
with each heroine having their own memorable dynamics with him. This
is extremely important given how much emphasis the game places of
these individual pairings and isolating them from the world around
them. Without their strong and varied banter the sections solely
dedicated to them might prove dull, but instead they are some of the
most vivid scenes in the entire game.
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| Ah yes as normal people do |
By
far the strangest choice when it comes to the characters is how they
do not really interact with each other or share a group dynamic. They
might appear on screen together but they will often talk solely to
Yuuma and not really engage with the other people present. The few
scenes where characters are allowed to form their own bonds are
undermined as they are either completely forgotten about, as in the
case of Mio and Kana’s rivalry, or simply used as a plot device to
motive one of the characters, as in Kyou’s route with her
friendship with Tsukasa. Absent from these is any sense of an
organically growing dynamics and it instead feels like they exist
purely to serve whatever narrative needs Yuuma has without any proper
regard for others. The result is the dorm feeling somewhat mechanical
in nature where the characters are pieces in a plot rather than a
warm place where friends live together. It is fortune that outside of
Kyou’s route the game tries to not emphasises the characters’
relationships and so mostly avoids this making this a large issue
through focusing in on their main pairings to compensate.
Shattered Moon – Visual, Audio and Technical
As
you would expect from a game so focused around other worlds, there is
a distinctive visual style in play which is backed up by a keen
understanding of how to use colour to invoke emotions. The everyday
lives of the cast are shown through the standard images of mundanity
the player expects from a romance visual novel which are here used as
a clever baseline to contrast with the more fantastical angle. Once
the characters step through basement doorway the art style takes a
noticeable shift into a more abstract and emotive presentation where
clear objects give way to vague shapes. It is clear what kind of
place each is without having to spend a single word on its background
lore and this works well given their role as conduits for characters
and narratives rather than as fleshed out spaces. Even the normal
world is not without its own eye catching imagery, the shattered moon
hanging over the town is a constant reminder that even this world is
not quite like our own. Colours not only play a role in creative
distinctive feeling worlds, but also using the emotions associated
with colour to empower the key dramatic moments. Deep oranges and
blues are contrasted with blacks and reds to keep the player in a
sense of suspense as they are buffeted by roller-coaster of each
heroines’ route.
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| Powerful colours define many scenes |
Conclusion
Capturing
the complicated emotions caught up in wishes and love is what
Irotoridori No Sekai is about and through them showcasing just what a colourful world we
have within ourselves. It leverages its other worlds as a core driver
for the plot and this allows it to more freely explore its themes, even
if it can stumble at time while doing so. The strong uses of
distinctive art styles and colours for these worlds and key moments
also plays into the game’s ability to invoke emotion. An
overarching mystery keeps the player hooked through the various
routes and offers a great pay off from the ideas which the title has
being presenting. Add to this the distinctive characters and
excellent dynamics with the protagonist and the result is a well
rounded experience that uses the romance visual novel as a means to
express greater ideas of the value of wishes and desires.
Verdict -
An emotional examination of what it means to wish for something
seen through characters who know what it is to have that snatched away. It
is only held back by some strange choice in narrative presentation
and character interactions.
Pros
+
The other worlds are a strong narrative device which gives the game
room to present its ideas with greater freedom.
+
Each character sells themselves in a believable way and plays off the
protagonist in an engaging fashion.
+
Overarching mystery helps maintain interest while providing a
suitable send off for the core themes and ideas.
+
Strong art styles and impressive use of colour sell the emotions and
otherworldly nature of the story.
Cons
-
Overuse of dry flashback scenes where the player is told rather than
shown important information.
-
Characters have no group dynamic and often feel like a strangers to
each other.
-
Does not commit to the other world concepts completely which leaves
them feeling hollow or misplaced.
