Emerging from common folklore and solidified by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, fantasy is a genre that has been pretty much troped to death. For better or worse, most people have heard of long swords, elves, magic spells, and dragons – even those “not in the know” of fantasy-based video games and other varieties of popular culture. There may be thus some fantasy fatigue among the general population, even among enthusiasts. However, by spicing up the sorcery with elements of, say, sci-fi, new developments have emerged from this age-old trope.

In the first era of interactive fiction, pure sword and sorcery was still exciting. First-generation gamers hunched over Infocom’s Zork were entering a fascinating new world. But what was once novel in the late 1970s no longer is. Palace Software’s Demoniak from 1991 combined fantasy elements with androids and interplanetary travel resulting in a wonderful experience. When it comes to elves, magic spells, and the like, make sure to add other elements in your product – or hear the dreaded word of “clichéd.”

Honor the Sub-genre of Your Visual Novel
Players usually have certain expectations when they’re choosing to play a specific visual novel. This can range from expecting erotic content if the title of a game suggests it to maintaining the key elements of a dating sim throughout a game. Sudden genre skipping may frustrate gamers to the point of not wanting to spend time on your products anymore. Decide early on what the genre of your visual novel is, and commit to it. You can experiment with other genres later on in your career, after all.

Use Clichés Wisely
Most of the creativity in the game industry is in the visual novel. However, in an era of thousands of visual novels for all major platforms, clichés spread fast and only get you so far. There’s very little market for yet another time loop (i.e., the movie Groundhog Day) or a sickly girl scenario – unless you manage to be exceptionally gifted in its making.

Being unique in your premises, characters, and approaches gets you noticed, especially if you’re trying to break into the market. Think Doki Doki Literature Club! by Team Salvato with its sinister inner workings (completely in contrast with the cute characters) or Open Sorcery by Open Sorcery Games which so eloquently conveys the inner world of a firewall program.

Then again, certain types of visual novels thrive on well-worn tropes and clichés. They are to be expected in dating sims, for one; it may be hard to imagine one without love meters and/or a limited in-game time frame to work with. These and many other tropes will be looked into in detail in Chapter 3 of this book.

Trim Unnecessary Elements
Don’t bring in a pizza delivery guy unless he has a more profound meaning than providing your protagonists with low-grade sustenance. Maybe he’s an awkward ex of your protagonist? Maybe “he did it”? Who knows, but everything and everybody should have actual meaning within the confines of your game’s universe. Don’t include superfluous items or settings either. They only confuse and frustrate your audience.

Chekhov’s Gun is a classic dramatic principle which states that all elements included in a story must be necessary to it. The principle takes its name from Anton Chekhov (1860–1904), a Russian playwright who popularized the concept. First used in traditional stagecraft, it applies perfectly to visual novels as well.

Bond with Your Audience
You may or may not choose an exotic locale for your game, such as a space station, an alternate dimension, or a universe where vegan hamburgers eat people. That’s all well and good, but no matter how otherworldly your games get, you should strive to focus on a degree of relatability in your characters and their challenges.

Psychedelia is fun, but excessive tripping doesn’t usually work in a video game context. Common human goals and motivations include acceptance, vengeance, healing, forgiveness, self-discovery, and sharing. Incorporate some of those in your characters to guarantee at least a degree of bonding with your audience. The goal of “eating a human” while being a vegan hamburger in and of itself may not be enough to achieve rapport.

Into the Middle of Things/In Medias Res
It’s often better to start a game in an interesting or unusual setting instead of character X simply waking up in his bed. This is to grab the player’s attention and not bore them with every banal passage leading into the action. As introduced by Aristotle discussed in Chapter 1, this is a very common trope in the visual novel genre and for a reason. Backtracking can be done later as needed. Visual novels using this trope include Saya no Uta by Nitroplus and Ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two by Minori.

The Endings Tree
Most visual novels feature various end states for the storyline. These are the good ending (sometimes referred to as The Golden Ending), the bad ending, and the standard ending. The first two are more or less self-explanatory, referring either to typical tragedy or victory. The standard ending, however, refers to the finale resulting usually from indifference from the player’s behalf. It is the result of mostly passive clicking on choices and usually provides only the least impressive of endings: most visual novels expect a degree of focus and intent from the players.

Some visual novels, such as Tsukihime (2001) by Type-Moon, feature a number of endings in each category for a total of nine. The more endings you implement, the more longevity your game obviously has. However, you should only provide the endings your story needs.