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如何创造出独特新颖的视觉小说

发布时间:2015-06-09 09:26:43 Tags:,,,,

作者:Pedro Marques

考虑到在视觉小说领域没有太多专业作家或任何真正的文学传统,西方视觉小说发现自己需要像日本游戏《命运之门》,《Clannad》和《Fate/Stay Night》(已经被改编成其它媒体并且也取得了很好的成绩)那样具有影响力的故事。这并不是说西方市场创造不出像《片轮少女》,《Cinders》和《女王万岁》这样优秀的作品,但是我们仍然缺少能够与其它媒体互动并影响它们的游戏。

也许我们需要采取一些文化手段以及合理的业务实践去巩固这个产业,尤其是游戏中的一些立基类型。然而为了创造形式和内容的多样化,我们也必须了解媒体的错综复杂之处。当所有关于故事和说故事的视觉小说都被叫做小说时,我们需要问的最直接的问题便是:文学中的优秀写作是否等同于视觉小说中的优秀写作?

假设我提出一些关于如何利用媒体以及这种类型的体验去写出更有效率的视觉小说的观点。毕竟人们总是漠视“视觉小说是关于艺术和文本与音乐的结合”这一概念,但对于作者来说这意味着什么呢?艺术,文本与声音的互动是如何影响着写作的呢?

现在我将说说读者与书籍,玩家与游戏之间最基本的互动。如果你们觉得我说的内容是废话的话请提前打断我,不过不管怎样我都希望能够真正分析我们与媒体之间的关系。

character(from gamasutra)

character(from gamasutra)

我并不打算在本次分析中包含各种类型的小说。为了本文,我们将只考虑最受欢迎的受叙述驱动的小说。

在小说中总是会发生不同的故事。在视觉小说中也会发生故事。散文中使用的动词时态并不会发生改变,但实际上大多数使用过去式的书籍与大多数使用现在时的视觉小说都是源自作者注意到了在视觉小说中,行动只是一种行动,而非一种表达方式。不管在书籍中叙述者进行着多么生动的描述,你总是会看到一个事件所留下的影响,而视觉小说就像电影那样,是在屏幕上呈现这样的事件。这是一种固有的呈现方式。如果你将视觉体验带到与文本一样的状态,也就等于你将故事带到了现在。书籍中的插图总是伴随着隐藏的“有点像这样”的标签,而这通常都是事后才添加的内容。然而在视觉小说中,它们却是事情发展的一部分,即使那只是一系列静态图像的一张。

这可能让视觉小说的编写更接近电影剧本创作(游戏邦注:这同样也是以一般现在时进行表达)。的确,事件是按照脚本发展而不是更强调角色而非叙述者那样进行描述(甚至是在第一人称叙述中)这样的概念意味着读者将更加自由,也就是说他们能够按照自己的想法去猜想接下来的发展。

这对于作者来说意味着什么呢:文学总是热衷于将他们那些不可靠的叙述者作为一种现代主义特征。然而在视觉小说中,因为读者总是拥有其它参照点,所以叙述者往往都是不可靠的。实际上,不管角色是否认为其他角色好不好看都不重要:因为我们可以亲眼看到他们,所以可以自己做出判断。此外,比起印象,行动更占上风:在小说中,讲话通常是跟随着有关情境的描述而出现。而这在视觉小说中是不必要的(甚至是不受欢迎的),因为我们已经知道是谁在说着什么了。换句话说,在小说中叙述者会通过对话去创造一个流程,而在视觉小说中对话本身就是一个流程。

作者该如何利用这一点呢:为了让读者感到混乱而描述一些并未发生在屏幕上的事;无需任何独白而传递潜台词;使用内心的独白,可以在发生某事的时候使用这一方法。在屏幕上我们可以看到角色的动画讲着某些事并尝试着吸引你的注意,但文本能够传达主角对于自己最喜欢的泡泡糖口味的想法;角色的非语言互动可以出现在一个关卡中,并在另一个关卡被提及,为较少的外形描述以及关于它们的更多感受留下足够的空间;你可以将印象转变成行动,就像在漫画书那样突显角色的一个怪癖,从而能够进行更加流畅的描述。

textbox(from gamasutra)

textbox(from gamasutra)

在上一点中我稍稍提到了文本框和屏幕的二元性,现在让我们详细说说这个。通常情况下,一本书就是一系列纸张大小的文本框的组合。一部电影则是一系列屏幕的组合。而视觉小说则是介于两者之间,即意味着能够同时吸引你的注意力。通常来说,你不能同时着眼于屏幕上的一个元素并阅读它,所以你的眼睛将在两者间来回飘动,或者你将会先完成阅读然后再将注意力转向屏幕上所发生的的事。

最常见的两种文本框格式便是ADV(即文本框只占据屏幕上的一部分;如《片轮少女》,《Clannad》,《Ever17》那样)和NVL(文本框将填满整个屏幕;如《Fate/Stay Night》,《Tsukihime》,《Kira☆Kira》)。我们需要了解每种方法是如何吸引人们的注意力:ADV把首位留给了屏幕而NVL则将首位赋予了文本框。这点很明显,但这是考虑到前后切换的效果。这点非常重要,因为这将完全掌控视觉小说并让我们更加期待高潮,惊喜或深入思考等时刻,实际上,不管是什么内容,这都能够创造出休息的空间。

人类的眼睛总是会自动被移动所吸引,所以避免将文本呈现在大块的内容中会更加有趣。然而我们还需要考虑你不能读的与你能读的内容同样重要这一点。我们可以故意将读者的注意力引向屏幕上一个特殊的点而将其带离其它构成体验一部分的内容。让玩家失去对于独立阅读的控制,并让他们接受收集自己想要的信息的挑战。这意味着作者需要让角色更快速地讲话,从而让主角和读者能够理解它,并让这样的互动在同样的层面中变得更加重要。

这对于作者来说意味着什么呢:与内容要一样,文本也是一种形式。在《Fate/Stay Night》中存在一个特定角色在首次出现时会说一些很奇怪的话,不管是声音还是文本。这种奇怪的印象是来自双方的角度,并将它变成一个非常吓人的角色。所以作者不仅需要重视编写什么样的内容是最重要的,同时也要考虑内容所设定的位置,持续时间以及数量,如此才能一直吸引玩家的注意力。

作者该如何利用这一点呢:你可以创造文本动画或将其与背景融合在一起。《Cave! Cave! Deus Videt》便通过将文本作为一个图象元素而有效地做到了这一点。不管怎样你的散文将得到华丽的视觉效果的强化,但同时在任何时候它们之间也在相互竞争着去吸引读者的注意力。如果你能够明确这一点,并与你们的艺术部门商量对策,你们便有可能有效地控制并掌握玩家视线所处位置。或者至少能够做出较为准确的猜测。基于这种方式,你能够暂时在定制文本框以外的位置呈现文本,并吸引玩家去阅读这些内容。这在玄幻与恐怖的视觉小说中特别有效。

视觉小说中的文本拥有特定的流程,特定的期望值和信息与诱饵和奖励等变量。当然了,不只是小说,所有的文本内容都是这样。这是协作中的基本元素。然而视觉小说中存在一个特别有趣的吸引力:流程是由作者所决定。

所以文学散文是否也是如此?事实证明不是的。文学中的韵律和流程是取决于读者。简单地来说,他们将决定速度,期待内容,以及如何平衡对于信息的探索以及阅读顺序。如果读者愿意的话,他可以在阅读其它内容前先看书籍最后一页的内容。这点非常重要,因为对于任何风格的尝试也是改变玩家阅读方式的尝试。在视觉小说中我们也可以执行这种方法。然而这也是一种责任。

这也与阅读速度相关。当然了我们可以在设置面板进行调整,但是每句话之间的区别却是不能调整的。再一次地,这也是作者去控制或预测读者习惯对于情感的影响的绝佳机会。另一方面,作者必须确保一段文本能够无缝地引出下一段文本,并基于适当语法去排列文本动态。每段内容与每一行的长度都必须基于屏幕信息以及你想要呈现给读者的内容大小进行测量。为了有效地分解句子,你需要根据怎样做才能让阅读流程更顺畅(而非语法规则)去选择适当的分解位置。

让我们看看一下来自《Huniepop》的摘录:

我跟自己打赌—-如果她有一双红色的眼睛并抱着双臂看着我,我在之后便会奖励自己两块派。如果我必须面对生气的Audrey,我便应该得到更多。我把门打开只是为了确定自己是否该吃掉整块派。

不管是应该将其塞到一个对话框还是在最后一句话之前进行分解都是正确的。然而在那之后都会出现一些信息—-Nikki会选择哪块派,Audrey在生气时会多恼怒等等,所以我们最好能够在“我把门打开”之后进行分解,因为这能够帮助读者更好地理解接下来的对话框将揭示Audrey今天Audrey的状态,并让他们更加期待接下来的文本内容。这便是利用了文本框的作用,级基于较小的容量去呈现信息而不是像切芝士那样随意地分割内容。

这对于作者来说意味着什么呢:这意味着分割是视觉小说的内在组成部分。因为读者将进行许多次点击,这能够有效吸引读者去利用它,这也意味着让读者更想要进行点击而不是将其当成一种麻烦或需要。这让自动阅读失去了意义。

作者该如何利用这一点呢:你可以,不,是必须基于特定点(游戏邦注:即在读者能够期待之后信息的地方)去分解文本;你可以将文字内容当成具有内在节奏的歌词。为了更好地掌握如何在特定时机传递适当的内容,你最好能够学习说唱音乐的动态元素与流程。韵律也能够带给你帮助,因为它们适合这样的环境。你应该思考自己对于读者/玩家何时从文本中阅读到什么内容具有多少控制力。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转发,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Possibilities for Innovative and Unique Writing in Visual Novels

by Pedro Marques

Considering there aren’t many professional writers in the visual novel writing field nor any actual literary tradition, the Western Visual Novel scene finds itself in need of stories with as much impact as the Japanese titles Steins;Gate, Clannad and Fate/Stay Night – which have gained adaptations to other media as well as great reception, sales-wise included. This is not to say the West hasn’t produced great titles such as Katawa Shoujo (my absolute favorite visual novel), Cinders and Long Live the Queen, but we still lack titles capable of interacting and affecting other media.

It may take a certain cultural approach and healthy business practices to consolidate an industry, even more so if we’re talking about a niche genre in games. However, we must also study the intricacies of the medium in order to create diversity in both form and content. As visual novels are all about story and said story is told as a novel, the most immediate question is: does good writing in literature equal good writing in VNs?

I figured I’d raise some points about how writing in visual novels can be more effective, taking advantage of the medium and the kind of experience that it is. After all, the notion that “visual novels are all about art and text with music mixed in” is thrown around almost nonchalantly, but what does this actually mean for the writer? How does the interaction between art, text and sound affect the writing?

Now, I’m going to talk about the most basic interactions between a reader and a book, a player and a game. Pardon me in advance for saying things that will make you go “well, duh!”, but the intention is to deconstruct our relationship with the medium to a level from where we can build something entirely new.

I don’t intend to encompass all kinds of novels in this analysis. For the purposes of this article, consider the most popular kind of narrative-driven novels, the best-sellers.

In novels, the story happened. In visual novels, the story is happening. The verb tense used in the prose doesn’t change that, but, rather, the fact that most books use past tense and most visual novels use present tense probably comes from how writers noticed the action, in a visual novel, is an action, not an impression. No matter how detached and descriptive a narrator is in a book, you’ll always see the impression of an event, whereas VNs show events on a screen, much like movies. This is innate to the presentation. If you promote the visual experience to the same status as the text, you bring stories to the present. Illustration in books comes with a hidden “kinda like this” tag, almost an afterthought. In visual novels, however, they are part what is going on, even if it’s just a sequence of static pictures.

This probably makes writing in VNs closer to screenwriting (which, unsurprisingly, are also written in the present tense) than one might think. Indeed, the notion that events are scripted instead of described places a lot more emphasis on characters than on narrators – even in first person narratives, which means the reader has more freedom, so to speak, to evaluate what is going on by themselves.

What this means for the writer: Literature loves their unreliable narrators as a modernist feature. In visual novels, however, the narrator is always unreliable because the reader always has other points of reference. To be perfectly practical, it doesn’t matter whether a character thinks another character is beautiful: we can judge that by ourselves because we can see them. On addition, action has the upper hand against impression: in novels, speech is often followed by a statement about the situation, who said it or what was the impact of said speech in the action’s flow. This is unnecessary in VNs – unwelcome, even – due to the fact that we already know who said what. In other words – while in a novel the narrator aggregates the dialogue to create a flow, in a VN the dialogue is the flow.

How a writer can take advantage of this: Describe things that arenot happening on the screen in order to induce confusion on the reader; subtext can be delivered without the need of any internal monologues as the situations carry themselves forward, dramatically speaking; speaking of internal monologues, these can be delivered while something else is happening. On screen, we see the animation of a character speaking and trying to get your attention, but the text reads the thoughts of the protagonist towards his favourite bubblegum flavours; character non-verbal interaction can be shown on one level, but talked about on another level, leaving space for less physical descriptions and more feelings towards them; you can turn impressions into actions like in comic books by materializing a particular quirk of a character or a special expression without repeating yourself, thus allowing for more fluid characterisation.

In the last point I talked a little bit about the duality of textbox and screen, but let’s expand that. A book is, more often than not, a series of textboxes the size of pages. A movie is, more often than not, a series of screens that last for one frame each. Visual novels are something in between, which means both dispute your attention. Generally speaking, you can’t look at an element on screen and read at the same time, so either you end up flickering your eyes between one and the other or you finish reading and then pay attention to what’s on screen.

The two most common textbox formats are ADV (in which the box occupies only a part of the screen; see Katawa Shoujo, Clannad, Ever17) and NVL (in which the textbox fills almost the whole screen or the whole screen; see Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime, Kira☆Kira). Be aware of how each approach deals with your attention: ADV gives primacy to the screen and NVL steals this primacy to the textbox. This is obvious, but think about the effects of switching back and forth. This is important because it’s in full control of the visual novel and can anticipate moments of climax, resolution, bursts of surprise or deep thought – in fact, the effect of break is created regardless of the content.

The human eye is automatically drawn to movement and, for that reason, not displaying the text in a huge chunk of text is more interesting. However, consider the possibility of what you can’t read being just as important as what you can read. Intentionally drawing a reader’s attention to a specific point on screen and away from something else constitutes a great part of the experience. Take the player out of control of his own reading, challenging them to gather the information they want. This means that a writer can make a character speak so fast the protagonist and the reader can’t understand it, pretty much making the interaction matter to both on the same level and putting them on the same shoes by force.

What this means for the writer: Text is form as much as it’s content. There is a certain character in Fate/Stay Night that speaks really strange in his first appearance and this is shown both by voice and by text. The eerie impression, then, comes from both angles and make him a truly terrifying character. So the writer must pay attention to the fact that what’s written may be the most important, but where it’s written, for how long and how much is written are important factors to be considered and played with, so as to catch the player’s attention all the time and to whatever you want.

How a writer can take advantage of this (aka cheats & tricks): You can animate text or blend it to the background. Cave! Cave! Deus Videt Episode 0 does a great job in using text as a graphical element and so should you. After all, your prose may be enhanced by the gorgeous visuals, but are also competing with them for the reader’s attention at any given time. Knowing this, articulate strategies with your art department to always have full control and knowledge of where the player is looking at. Or, at the very least, a pretty good guess. This way, you can, for example, display text outside the customary box and for only a fraction of seconds, engaging the player in active reading. This is particularly effective in mystery and horror visual novels.

Text in visual novels has a certain flow, a certain variation of expectancy and information, bait and reward. Of course, all text does, not only fictional. It’s a basic element of style in writing. However, there is a very interesting catch in visual novels that must be addressed: the flow belongs to the writer.

So, what, isn’t it the also case with literary prose? Turns out it isn’t. Rhythm and flow in literature belong to the reader. Simply put, they decide the speed, what to anticipate and how to balance the search for information with playing along the normal read order. If one wants, one can read the last page of a book before anything else simply because it’s their way to do things. This is extremely important because any attempt at style is an attempt to change how the player reads. In visual novels, this can be enforced. However, it is also a responsibility.

This can go as far as reading speed. Sure, it can be adjusted in the settings panel, but the difference between one word and the next basically can’t. Once again, it’s the perfect opportunity for a writer to control or predict the habits of the reader for maximum emotional impact. On the other hand, the writer must ensure that one piece of text leads to the next seamlessly, prioritizing text dynamics over proper grammar. The length of each paragraph and each line has to be measured according to the information on screen and how much you want the reader to read all of it. And, in the case of having to break a sentence down, you have to choose where to break it down not according to grammatical rules, but according to what makes reading flow better.

Consider the following excerpt from a hypothetical Huniepop fanfiction I’m totally not writing:

I make a bet with myself – if she’s got red eyes, folded arms and glares at me, I’ll treat myself to two slices of pie later. I deserve that much if I have to deal with angry Audrey, which is always. I open the door, only to find out I’ll probably need the whole pie though.

It would be more correct to either keep it all in one box or break it after “which is always”. However, any piece of information could come after that – which pie Nikki prefers, how annoying Audrey is when she’s angry etc., so it’s better to purposefully break it down after “I open the door,”, comma included, because it gives a clear understanding that the next box will reveal what Audrey is like today, thus anticipating the next chunk of text. This is taking advantage of how textboxes work, serving information in small doses meaningfully instead of simply slicing your prose as if it was cheese.

What this means for the writer: It means segmentation is an intrinsic part of visual novel prose. Since the reader will be doing an awful lot of clicking anyway, it’s in the writer’s best interest to make meaningful use of it – and that means making them want to click instead of seeing it as a nuisance or a need. Make auto-read useless.

How a writer can take advantage of this (aka cheats & tricks): You can – no, you must break down text in a certain point that anticipates the next piece of information; you can see your prose as music lyrics, having an innate rhythm that no one can bend. It might be nice to study rap dynamics and flow in order to better understand how to deliver the right line at the right moment, singling it out. Metrics are in your favour too, because they work in this environment. Do think about how much control you’ll have over what and when the reader/player will be reading your prose.(source:gamasutra)

 


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