Fate\/Stay Night (by Type Moon) is one of Japan\u2019s most popular visual novels.\u00a0 While the actual game has, unfortunately, never been released outside of the country, the anime and manga adaptations have made it to the US, as have a couple of spin-off games.
\nFate was also the first visual novel I played and is still my favorite in terms of both story and mechanics.\u00a0 As a game designer and a writer, there are a number of things I think Fate did better than most visual novels.\u00a0 Actually, better than any other visual novel I\u2019ve played.\u00a0 Because of that, I used Fate as my template when designing the structure of Aurora\u2019s Nightmare.\u00a0 Following are a few of the things I learned from Fate\/Stay Night.<\/p>\n
1. Give the Player Lots of Choices
\nAlthough player choices are a key element of the genre, many visual novels only give the player several choices over the course of the entire game.\u00a0 However, by my rough estimate, Fate has over 100. \u00a0\u00a0That makes Fate feel much more like an interactive experience or game, rather than just a digital book.<\/p>\n
2. Keep the Common Route Short
\nIn visual novel terms, the common route is the part of the game that takes place before any major branches split the story into drastically different routes.\u00a0 In some visual novels, the common route can easily last half the game or more.\u00a0 Fate\u2019s, however, is considerably shorter.\u00a0 While that means more work for the writer, designer, and the like, it makes for much more diverse story paths and drastically reduces the amount of time the player has to spend skipping past previously read scenes.<\/p>\n
3. A Set Route Order Has Advantages
\nSome visual novels let the player complete the major story branches in whatever order they want.\u00a0 Others, Fate included, lock a few decisions so that the player has to play through the routes in a set order.\u00a0 While that does limit player freedom a bit (though that\u2019s less of an issue when the player has lots of other choices to make), it has a huge advantage.\u00a0 Since the writer knows what order the player will be going through the routes, there\u2019s no need to repeat exposition on each route.\u00a0 You can also have the story of each route build on previous revelations, creating a much more interesting and dramatic plot progression.<\/p>\n
4. Have Fun with Bad Endings
\nPlayers normally do their best to avoid bad endings.\u00a0 Fate, on the other hand, actually provides a couple of good reasons to actively seek them out.\u00a0 But I\u2019ll save the details for a future post\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fate\/Stay Night (by Type Moon) is one of Japan\u2019s most popular visual novels.\u00a0 While the actual game has, unfortunately, never been released outside of the country, the anime and manga adaptations have made it to the US, as have a couple of spin-off games. Fate was also the first visual novel I played and is … Continue reading Lessons Learned from Fate\/Stay Night<\/span>