Here’s a riddle for you: what’s more complicated than a book or TV show, but simpler than a game? The answer is “a visual novel”—and most people have no idea what that is, despite visual novels’ growing popularity.
Visual novels are a medium made up of narratives, images and sounds, usually with branching choices that will go off into their own storylines, or routes. Fans of companies like Bioware (makers of games like the “Dragon Age” series) will find this setup rings a bell—though Bioware games tend to be more animated and gameplay-filled.
Connor Golden, 23, is a fan of Bioware games and was happy to discuss whether he’d heard of visual novels before. “I first heard about visual novels through a site called TV Tropes, which catalogues tropes in different media…. One of the first sections I saw was on visual novels. They were very anime-esque…. There were basically interactive novels.” He joked, “Bioware games have been called ‘dating simulators’ (a subgenre of visual novels]). And if that means (visual novels) are as engaging, then I’m fine with that!”
So where’s the appeal? Visual novels give readers agency (where they want the story to go) and also enhance the story being told with art and sound. If you’ve ever read a romance novel and wanted the protagonist to fall for another character or wanted a horror film protagonist to have more options than just going into the cellar, visual novels may be for you.
Visual novels, due to being simpler in design than video games, tend to have only two or three choices when the branches come up. (That said, there can be huge numbers of branches.) As a result, those few choices count. And when bad endings are involved (choices that lead toward anything from a break-up to death), it brings a real element of surprise and risk to the proceedings. Happy endings feel the best when they’re earned.
These days, visual novels tend to have walkthroughs–like video games–for when you get stuck on a choice. (It’s not always easy to tell which one you want: choices that look like small talk could be hiding something big.) But a reader may want to go in blind.
“It all kind of depends,” Golden said. “When I’m playing a game like “Mass Effect” or “Dragon Age” for the first time, I’m saving constantly, so in the event that a choice I made early on results in a ‘wait, I did what?!’ moment, I can go back and rectify it.”
One American company, Telltale Games, makes visual novels for franchises such as “Game of Thrones,” “Batman” and “The Walking Dead.” Some, like Connor, may find the choices very bleak or disturbing:
“(‘The Walking Dead’ game) is a very intelligent story, but it’s just so heavy with inhumanity to man and the choices people make to survive. There’s a moment where you had to kill a kid because he’s been infected by a zombie. You have to do it, because he’s going to be turned (into a zombie) anyway! That’s where I stopped playing.”
Another stumbling block for visual novels can be length: because as a medium they don’t have restrictions that books, TV and games do. The length can vary from 15 minutes to 80 hours. (Longer visual novels have more fans, because you can really get invested in the story and characters.)
But bleakness or length won’t necessarily be a turn-off. “I think what would keep me engaged is the story and the art style,” Golden said. “So it would need a good story behind it to make me want to see what’ll happen to the characters, how the choices affect them.”
Everyone wants a good story to get sucked into. How you want that story to be portrayed varies wildly. Visual novels from Japan may have art styles that some Westerners find unappealing (“too cutesy” is a common complaint). Visual novels from the United States may have forced gameplay elements to “prove” that they’re interactive. And there’s the fact that visual novels are a niche within a niche.
At the first-ever webinar for visual novel developers, Visual;Conference, on Jan. 17, 2017, conference organizer and visual novel translator Randy Au had this to say: “Nobody knows what works, but that means we can’t hesitate to try whatever we can. A complete project that gets your name out there, and gives you learning experience, is better than sitting on a project for four years…and finding its time has past.”
In 2017, we’re seeing a surge in visual novels being translated and created—not just from Japan, but all over the world. That means there’s a market eager to enjoy them, no matter how niche they are. Maybe you’re one of that market.
