Would you play a visual novel without graphics?

[Princess Bananabelle]

I like visual novels and thought about making one several times. The problem is I'm not good at finding the right graphic resources and I'm not a very good artist. So would you play a visual novel type game even if it didn't have graphics? What if the reason for no graphics was story-related like the MC was blind?

By the way, I mean just background and characters, where would still be a title screen and all that.

 

[Slimsy Platypus]

I think there's potential, but if it was solely text then the question beckons: why are you making a game/VN? If it is just text, shouldn't that be a book? [rhetorical question]

I do however think there is a ton of potential for a minimalist game with really basic 2D resources. As with all games it will all depend on how you implement it. I bet with a little work, you could do something very cool with the default assets that come with RPG maker!

The game Sorcery! come to mind. I provided a link to the game below so you can check out the visual style. In short, that is a great example of a super successful & fun to play game with pretty minimal 2D graphics (story\text driven). Check it out and keep us posted with the progress on your game!

http://www.inklestudios.com/sorcery/

 

[The Mighty Palm]

Honestly, no, I wouldn't. One of the things I didn't like about Orange Season was the lack of character portraits.

Now, the blind thing...
It sounds like an idea, but you'd need some good sound design to make up for the lack of visuals.

and itd have to be a convincing and emotional story. If you're relying on a story to carry your game (which I never recommend) then you'll need to put %120 into it.

but thats just my two cent.

 

[Princess Bananabelle]

@Slimsy Platypus You're right for just text, but I also had in mind the choices and multiple endings you see with many VNs. And you're right that there is a lot of potential with the default resources in RPG maker, but it's geared towards RPGs rather than VNs.

@The Mighty Palm You make a good point. If I get rid of a vital area like graphics I really need to go above and beyond with the rest of the areas to make up for it.

 

[HexMozart88]

Hmm. Sounds a bit like Zork to me. I wouldn't do it to be honest. I'm a graphical person and I probably wouldn't play your game if there's no eye candy.

 

[Sharm]

I wouldn't because the game would be misrepresenting itself. A multiple choice game like that is a text adventure, not a visual novel and it would be important for a writer to know about the genre they're writing in for the story to work at it's best. I've played a few of those, but it's much, much harder for them to be taken seriously. Most of the ones out there are short.

There's actually a lot of free resources out there for visual novels, you just need to go looking at visual novel sites instead of RPG sites. ^_~ Lemmasoft, for example, has a whole section for it.

 

[Shaz]

If it doesn't have graphics, then it's not a visual novel - it's a text adventure.

 

[Kyuukon]

If people read books, I don't see why not lol.

 

[Tai_MT]

I actually played a Visual Novel like that. Yes, I know, lots of people saying that "it's not a visual novel without graphics". Except... It was. The protagonist (you) was written to be blind. So, there are two modes of play. One is the typical visual novel style... You see the girls you're meant to be talking to and getting along with and dating and such... But, the other mode was "blind man mode" in which the game played exactly the same... Except you couldn't see anything. You were instead told what you could sense instead of see. You'd be told if someone grabbed your hand, or smelled of perfume or whatever.

I honestly had more fun with the "blind man mode" because it left me choosing all my interactions based on limited information I had at hand. I found it a unique experience.

But, that's just me. I did also play it in regular mode though... So... Maybe the "text only" feature works best as a gimmick instead of the entirety of the gameplay?

Oh, the game I played? I think it was called "H2O", but I can't quite recall... it was like 5 or more years ago.

 

[cabfe]

As it's been said, a Visual Novel is different from a book since it has, well, visuals.
That's about the same thing as saying "I'm making a video game, except it's played on paper only because I don't have a computer."
Note that there is nothing wrong with text games. You can find some good ones sometimes, but many fail because the game design isn't matching the media used.
For example, if you have no choices, no sound, no graphics, no replayability... it's just a digitalized book.

 

[Princess Bananabelle]

@HexMozart88 I completely understand, especially since sight is the most relied on sense.
@Sharm & @Shaz I can't believe I forgot about the term text adventure. I played one at one time. but I remember I didn't it very much. Probably because of the lack of graphics.
Also @Sharm I never really looked too in depth there, I mostly just relied on google. I'm kind of hoping that once VNM comes out there will be resources here... I like this site because I know my way around it. I was never much of a forum person before this place, I like it here.
@Tai_MT That example sounds interesting, and gives me a bit of hope that it's not completely undoable.
@cabfe You have good points that bring me back to, if I get rid of graphics, everything else must be top-notch.

I've also been giving some thought to the idea of a blind MC and came up with a way of using graphics. That is, using black and white images that give you the "basic shape" of places, items, and people. Or if the MC wasn't born blind, include color when someone describes something or use a full detailed image of something/someone they saw before going blind.
Course, so much for working around my artistic ability, as this might rely custom graphics more.

 

[Frogboy]

Hmm. Sounds a bit like Zork to me.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

 

[Kino]

It's totally viable to do so, but it'd be hard to make it a selling point for people. Often times, people prefer the graphics, because it helps change the way you have to write a VN. In most VNs, you don't have to worry describing the setting to the player since you have the graphics, but in your case, it would require deep description.

People do use the method without graphics though, but you then have to make good use of music, and maybe minimal backgrounds to keep things interesting, plus sound effects. It can definitely be done. There are two ways of writing a VN anyway, which are used in quite a few. The regular version with the graphics, and the other version with just plain text. Honestly, though, I'd try to get minimalistic graphics if you don't want to go heavy on the art. Or, make the game more niche.

 

[umbralshadows]

So a text adventure ? Yeah! I love those!! But tha writing an sound production better be engaging dude.

 

[Philosophus Vagus]

Probably not, no. I mean a visual novel without the visuals...wouldn't that just be a novel? Why would I want to read a novel on a video game platform when there are already so many more viable alternatives to enjoying them such as paper or ebooks? I guess it can still have gameplay elements to it, but then it is more of a text adventure and I just don't know if there is a viable market for text adventures in this day and age.

Though that perception could just be me being a book snob I guess? Not like I have objective statistics or anything; just basing that observation on the fact that actual book readers are becoming a rarity, I can't imagine that text adventures have a broader or even equal following.

 

[SamJones]

A Visual Novel lacking the "visual" aspect is known as "Interactive Fiction" and has quite an active fanbase.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_fiction

 

[Milk Bar Prophet]

A visual novel without visuals sounds like an oxymoron

Why won't you just ask someone to do the art for you? Also, bear in mind that not every Visual Novel have to be a cute eye-candy manga. The graphics could be very simple, could be pixel art or some minimalistic black&white line art even. I'm pretty sure there's quite a lot of folks around here or on deviant art who can draw or paint, and are likely to jump onboard with you. Just write the story or at least synopsis and start asking people until someone agrees

You could also do the graphics yourself. Make photos with your phone or find public domain photos/pictures (like some old art that's not copyrighted), then put it in some photoediting software, maybe you already have some photo editing app on your phone. Just look here what you can do with ordinary photos in Gimp (which is free). Trust me it's easier than you might think, just watch couple tutorials on youtube and you're good to go.

And if you still don't feel like having any graphics (because of your MC being blind or something else) then IMHO you should change the tool from VN Maker/RPG Maker to something more suitable for this particular task like Twine and write an "old-fashioned" (doesn't have to mean worse, right) interactive text adventure, like these here. One of the best games I've ever played was written in Twine, without any bells and whistles.

 

[Milennin]

No, go draw something in MS Paint. It doesn't matter if it's stick-men, it's still better than no graphics at all. Visual novel is called a visual novel because it involves visuals. A visual novel without visuals isn't a visual novel.

 

[HexMozart88]

Yeah, I mean, seriously. If you want to make a visual novel, even though my art style can be kind of weird sometimes, I can try to help you out. Not the absolute best at backgrounds, but I've been doing characters for a long time. (Plus, I've never actually done a visual novel before, so I think it'd be pretty fun. XD)

 

[Shaz]

@Sharm & @Shaz I can't believe I forgot about the term text adventure. I played one at one time. but I remember I didn't it very much. Probably because of the lack of graphics.

You left out a word there, and I'm going to assume it's like. So if you didn't like it very much, probably because of the lack of graphics, why would you want to make one?