BACK TO THE ROOTS
I started my journey in game development as a screenwriter, crafting wacky stories in the visual novel format.
Up to this day, writing remains one of the most fulfilling ways I like to spend my free time.
My most recent entries, 5x12 and The Last Ingredient, are very different in tone but share some key traits:
- Both were solo projects with only the music outsourced.
- Each took approximately a month of development time (~160 hours).
These features lead to creation of my personal creative process that’s compatible with my hectic life.
I’ve written postmortems for both projects, available on my blog. But here is a summary of the main principles that allows me to create these visual novels within tight constraints.
- thematic restrictions
- merging ideas and characters
- branching instead of cutting
THEMATICAL RESTRICTION
5x12 is already a cut-down version of a bigger, unfinished, concept called God’s script.
The story was originally spread across seven days and it involved multiple parallel dimensions to explore.
I pared it down to a single afternoon, which inherently limits how much could happen. Even if the protagonist tries to change the story’s course, there simply isn’t enough time for dramatic shifts.
Similarly, The Last Ingredient confines its plot to a single day, giving the main character a tight deadline to save himself.
MERGING CHARACTERS AND IDEAS
In pre-production of the Last Ingredient I also had a wife of the mad scientist. The joke was that she is actually the same nutjob as the professor himself.
However, creating a unique character, location, and dialogues just for this one joke proved to be too impractical.
Instead, I merged her traits and lines into the scientist and the visual joke of her looking the same as her husband but with lipstick were repurposed on a fine lady called Backup.
Another example comes from 5x12.
In original God's script the main character was followed with two more copies of him. This leaded to excessive branching and empty dialogues as they shared too much similarities.
To solve this I transfered this idea to a side character, allowing me to explore the idea without overcomplicating the rest of the story.
BRANCHING INSTEAD OF CUTTING
Rather than “killing my darlings,” I prefer to “relocate” them to different branches.
Every idea has a place—it’s just a matter of finding the best fit for it to shine. By relocating or reimagining unused materials. This way I make the most of my limited resources and capacities.