need a bit of advice.

[dfbreezy]

so guys I've gotten some plans down for my own visual novel and I've already prepared a sample. that is the prologue and part one of the story but i don't know hot to program or draw or compose. writings all i'm good for and i don't really want to recruit unless there's absolutely no other choice so i was thinking i hit up  few of the big wig visual novel companies like key or nitroplus, show them my sample and see what happens. good idea or nah? if not what the best course of action?

[monkeysrumble]

Don't mean to burst your bubble but it'll never happen. You're better off trying to assemble your own indie dev team, which is still a hard feat to pull.

[Darklord Rooke]

Either:

Write your VN and show it to a publisher like Winterwolves. Don’t go for a Japanese publisher.

Instead of creating a VN, create a piece of interactive fiction instead. Then submit it to something like Choice of Games - https://www.choiceofgames.com/looking-for-writers/

[Valmore]

You'll have much better luck trying to find help independently. The bigwigs like Key won't even look at it. It's not complete and they don't know you. The Lemma Soft boards is a good place to start. You can pitch your project and find people looking for projects.

[Narcosis]

If you have a more or less finished script (either that or a finished first draft, if you wrote it as prose), it's more likely you'll be able to assemble your own team, considering the story you want to tell is enough to pick interest. It's also easier to crowdfund such a project, since having a story to tell is already half of a success. Don't even think of sending your manuscript to professional companies, as they will most likely reject it without even reading it.

Also, remember - when it comes to crowdfunding projects - there's a high chance people will be more willing to support you, when you already have something to show off; that is, a working tech demo, alpha version or at least a reel, mockups and assets. Don't even try to crowdfund a bare story, as people won't be willing to support it, no matter how good it is.

[Okarin]

Japanese companies like Key and Nitroplus are massively famous, and have legions of able writers waiting in line to work for them. You'd have to go off the scale to prove yourself to them.

Besides Japanese companies will picture you as an unrefined gaijin. Also, does your story fit with Japanese mindset and customs? If not, you're better off picking a Western company.

[Nosebleed]

Definitely give up on Japanese companies, it'd take a ton of trial and error just to reach one. If anything, the best chance you'll have is with a Japanese doujin circle, but even then it's very unlikely since they probably don't want some random foreigner joining them.

Although I will say if you're really stuck with that idea, it's not like you lose anything by contacting them. I just doubt you'll ever get a reply.

[dfbreezy]

thanks for the tips guys. will try recruiting an indie team and see what happens.

[Silvz]

You could start contacting Sekai Project, they are pretty into doujins nowadays, so why not?

[Siegfried]

Hmm... I'd say you're much better off trying with Sekai Project.

I know several indie developers that have already had their projects underway & even published. If you know titles like Sunrider: Liberation Day, that's one such example.

Also as the others said you have a much higher chance assembling your own team. If you already have the scripts & team set up & are determined to make this work, kickstarter is a good place to get funding if that's what you're looking for.

Don't bother with the bigwigs on Japan, you'd have to literally be a shooting star in their eyes to be picked from the thousands upon thousands of writers that's submitting their own application.

Hope this helps & good luck with your VN project.

[tymmur]

I think sending your work to a big company, especially the Japanese ones would be like writing a movie script and send it to somebody in Hollywood thinking it will be the next big movie. Odds are that lots of loons does that and even if your script is good, it will drown in the stack nobody wants to read.

 

Another important reason to not just send it is for all you know, they publish it like they did it themselves and then you could sue, but you have to proof that despite no releases or anything that you made it and they didn't even though they release VNs all the time. Tricky case to win is an understatement if you didn't do anything to protect your work. Sadly it happens from time to time with books and book publishers. I'm not actually sure what to do to protect yourself, but just sending the entire text without getting them to sign anything first is not the way to do it if you plan on getting money out of it.

 

If your script is simple, you might be able to learn how to program it yourself. If you just use a simple subset of commands, like display text/dialogue, display choices and jump based on choice, then you can actually get quite far. If you add a placeholder png file for each background/sprite, then you could also insert those. Add bgm controls (possibly with placeholders as well) and you have a VN without the need for a programmer.

 

Example of what it takes to start making a simple VN (from Ren'Py's quickstart guide)

Spoiler

 

image bg meadow = "meadow.jpg"
image bg uni = "uni.jpg"

image sylvie smile = "sylvie_smile.png"
image sylvie surprised = "sylvie_surprised.png"

define s = Character('Sylvie', color="#c8ffc8")
define m = Character('Me', color="#c8c8ff")

label start:
    scene bg meadow
    show sylvie smile

    "I'll ask her..."

    m "Um... will you..."
    m "Will you be my artist for a visual novel?"

    show sylvie surprised

    "Silence."
    "She is shocked, and then..."

    show sylvie smile

    s "Sure, but what is a \"visual novel?\""

If you do it yourself, you should consider the engine carefully. It should be as easy to code as this example (if you do it yourself) and you should like how it will display the VN when you use it.

[Kelebek1]

4 hours ago, tymmur said:

I think sending your work to a big company, especially the Japanese ones would be like writing a movie script and send it to somebody in Hollywood thinking it will be the next big movie. Odds are that lots of loons does that and even if your script is good, it will drown in the stack nobody wants to read.

They're actually required to throw it out and not read it. There have been massive legal problems, with people sending in scripts, then a movie maybe resembling the script coming out, and then the studio getting sued by the person who sent the script in, saying that they stole it. So no producer or movie maker in Hollywood will even look at your script, because it creates a liable mess, just by reading it.

You'll get responses like this: http://imgur.com/a/2UPSs