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Do we want the setting to be 1999 tech, or modern? I would personally vote for modern, because it will be simpler to think about, and Lain with a smartphone could be interesting.
Do we want the setting to be 1999 tech, or modern? I would personally vote for modern, because it will be simpler to think about, and Lain with a smartphone could be interesting.
I say 1999. Putting mobile phones and all that into a game based on an anime that came out when these things weren't around could get to be a headache.
[[User:Sioraf as Na Cillini|Sioraf as Na Cillini]] 12:13, 29 January 2013 (UTC)
== Scene Ideas ==
== Scene Ideas ==
*part of the splitting paths could be deciding if you go out or work on your computer each night (or if you even get to choose), and how upgraded the pc is could affect further scenes appearing or not [eg- playing an online game or not])
*part of the splitting paths could be deciding if you go out or work on your computer each night (or if you even get to choose), and how upgraded the pc is could affect further scenes appearing or not [eg- playing an online game or not])
::have social points and pc points. some events require at least however many of whatever kind of points, and some actions could grant/require both (Lain goes to hacker-con?).
::have social points and pc points. some events require at least however many of whatever kind of points, and some actions could grant/require both (Lain goes to hacker-con?).
I have an idea. Have 2 categories of points; Offline Points and Wired points with subcategories Body, Mind and Spirit (as in emotion) in both. Every character starts off with a base of 1 in everything then gets 3 points in each category to assign to the subcategories as they like. If someone removes themselves from the real world or Wired then all of the points from that category and its subcategories goes to the other one. I'm thinking about these for the game as a whole but decided to put these suggestions here as points aren't mentioned in any other VN article.
[[User:Sioraf as Na Cillini|Sioraf as Na Cillini]] 12:23, 29 January 2013 (UTC)
== Game Length ==
== Game Length ==
::::Regarding schedules, other than school, and going out to party, I don't think there's much that would be affected by day of the week (and even then, it seemed like the kids in SEL were irresponsible and partied at the club on whatever day it was, rather than just Friday). I think it would be neat to have one or two end-of-game type events, like have there be a huge party at Cyberia, or the knights make a move, in two weeks. That way, there are goal events you could work toward, and then there could be like a bad end reset, or mediocre end like she just continues to be shy and doesn't do much. [[User:Bytor|Bytor]] 16:15, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
::::Regarding schedules, other than school, and going out to party, I don't think there's much that would be affected by day of the week (and even then, it seemed like the kids in SEL were irresponsible and partied at the club on whatever day it was, rather than just Friday). I think it would be neat to have one or two end-of-game type events, like have there be a huge party at Cyberia, or the knights make a move, in two weeks. That way, there are goal events you could work toward, and then there could be like a bad end reset, or mediocre end like she just continues to be shy and doesn't do much. [[User:Bytor|Bytor]] 16:15, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
:::::Since there are three types of points, we could have a big event that you can do for each if it gets high enough.[[User:Bytor|Bytor]] 16:22, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
::::::A fair point. It would be a million times easier to structure it without the loop. For the "plot", maybe some comedic reality slippage happens, and Lain runs around secretly patching things up... Imagine if, I don't know, a LOLcat was found sitting on the teacher's desk at school when NAVI=2, or a giant tomato appears in the sky when Weird=3, or something. What if we have different endings depending on which point scale is maxed out first? Maximum Social would take place in Cyberia, where Lain maybe wins a karaoke contest; maximum NAVI might make Lain move back into the Wired and spend her days cyberstalking Alice; maximum Weird might lead to a reset which causes bear suits to become in fashion. [[User:Amysteriousgal|Amysteriousgal]] 16:37, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
== Tone ==
== Tone ==
I like the idea of keeping this one light-hearted, slice of life style, since the others will probably be more serious. [[User:Bytor|Bytor]] 16:18, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
I like the idea of keeping this one light-hearted, slice of life style, since the others will probably be more serious. [[User:Bytor|Bytor]] 16:18, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
:I heard someone claim that Lain fans have no sense of humour. That sounds like a challenge... [[User:Amysteriousgal|Amysteriousgal]] 16:40, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
:: I think coloring will be an important part of this. I think flatter coloring, with less shading and more contrast would be best, and maybe have the background be bright and happy most of the time, but maybe still have Lain be moody looking? [[User:Bytor|Bytor]] 16:45, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
:::Hidamari Sketch-like pastel colours and probably cute and simple patterns - waves, large polka dots - during dialogue scenes... There should be plenty of cheerful music from TAM Music Factory that we can use. All the other characters can be similarly unshaded and pastelified - although all that black hair... [[User:Amysteriousgal|Amysteriousgal]] 17:00, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
::::So maybe a random storyline like this would work? Also, augh help I can't write comedy [[User:Amysteriousgal|Amysteriousgal]] 01:23, 17 December 2012 (UTC)
:::::I think we've definitely got the beginnings of a good plan here. As much as I do enjoy the brainstorming for this one, we probably ought to actually put our efforts into one the stories you've already made good progress on writing, so that we've got a better feel of the process. I'll have my evenings (CST -6) free starting Tuesday; until then I'll mostly be poking at this, so my efforts may stick to this story until then, but after that I am up for getting serious with this project. I personally have done basically zero writing, but I think if we bounce ideas around enough we can mold them into some kind of story, and as long as we keep it from being too SRS BSNS, we could probably find some subtle jokes and silliness to insert.[[User:Bytor|Bytor]] 03:24, 17 December 2012 (UTC)
== Structure ==
What kind of level of choices do we want in this? If we lean towards a small number, it will be simpler to design, and more effort will be spent on writing longer pieces of content, but more choices will allow us to have more scenes that are divergent, though they will necessarily be shorter. I guess I'm asking: do we want breadth or depth? I've only played maybe 3-4 VNs myself, so I don't have a very good idea of what is the norm, but I could see it being 2-4 choices per day, depending on the day and choices taken.[[User:Bytor|Bytor]] 22:28, 19 December 2012 (UTC)
:For comedy VNs, there tend to be more choices - maybe 5 per day, sometimes up to 10. Serious ones usually have fewer, maybe 2 or 3 on average, unless they're designed to be adventure and/or horror. I was thinking 5 would be a reasonable number for each day, and in any case, it's relatively difficult to write extended pieces of fluff. Or maybe it would be easy for someone other than me. ^^; [[User:Amysteriousgal|Amysteriousgal]] 23:18, 19 December 2012 (UTC)
::I will admit that the most comedic VN I've played is Katawa Shoujo. I could see how it would be better to have shorter scenes in this sort of story. It would make it easier to jump from idea to idea that way, so we don't have to worry as much about connecting all the comedic bits we come up with.[[User:Bytor|Bytor]] 23:30, 19 December 2012 (UTC)
== Quick ideas ==
In a pastiche of the cute-girls-doing-cute-things trope of school clubs, could Lain's school (I need to put my mind to a nice punny name for it) suddenly find itself with a computer club?
: perhaps being sufficiently social and technical could get Lain an invite to join the computer club. Re: school name, we'll have to do some research on good names. I'd like to see it be a Japanese with some interesting, relevant meaning. [[User:Bytor|Bytor]] 23:26, 19 December 2012 (UTC)
I also rather like the idea of sending Taro and Myu-Myu to Lain's school.
:Does the anime establish their age? (I suppose this wiki probably says...) If not, I'd say put them a grade or two younger. She could run into them in the hall, or in computer club maybe. [[User:Bytor|Bytor]] 23:26, 19 December 2012 (UTC)
Alice as class rep would be a nice little nod to, ahem, too. Ahania 22:35, 19 December 2012 (UTC)
:Yeah, a computer club! It magically appears in the school, or maybe it was always there and nobody noticed, or maybe it appeared as a result of all this reality slippage. What if the kids show up to take part in a competition? Inter-school gaming contest, using a game that Lain's school made? ...Was there already a class rep somewhere, though? Oh well, reality slippage is a good excuse for everything. [[User:Amysteriousgal|Amysteriousgal]] 23:18, 19 December 2012 (UTC)
== Ridiculous Bad Endings ==
I have a few suggestions:
* Lain finds a cybernetically enhanced bong in a bathroom and smokes it. This causes her to understand Evangelion and ride out of town on a rainbow coloured giraffe never to be heard from again.
* Lain mops the floor rather than sweeps it which leads to her being killed by a tiger in a hotel.
* It was all just a dream... had by Mr. Kimura from Azumanga Daioh.
* Agent Smith from The Matrix and Norose Genichi from Chaos;Head team up and make their way into Lain's world. All hell breaks loose.
* Masami Eri kills a few cows and dumps them into the city's water supply causing everybody to die from disease.
* Lain decides to start a new life as a rapper. She rises to the top but dies from AIDS/ being murdered/ killed in a shootout with the police.
* Lain finds a lot of money in an alleyway and unable to resist the temptation keeps it and uses it to buy the police. Corrupted by the power she then unleashes a reign of terror the likes of which the city has never seen before.
What? The article does say "ridiculous bad endings" and I'm only trying to help.
[[User:Sioraf as Na Cillini|Sioraf as Na Cillini]] 12:11, 29 January 2013 (UTC)
