Do you think a framework for adding 3D animations to any VN is a good idea?

[Togmo]

Hi,

I’m a Game Dev, with more than 15 years of experience creating games for PC, consoles, and mobiles
 

I enjoy Visual Novels and I’m thinking of creating a framework for you to use and enjoy

Before starting with the development of my idea, I want to know your opinion about if what I have in mind is a good idea or not

The first iteration will include 4 independent pieces: a visual novel Parser, a character Editor, a visual novel Creator, and a visual novel Player
 

 

1. Visual Novel Parser (you can create your own instead of getting one already created)

• Support for any Visual Novel created with Ren’Py
• Edit, add, or remove any node or dialogue
   

2. Character Editor

• Start w/ a 3D Character library or one-click random base character
• Customize w/ 120+ body/face sliders if you want
• Custom face from selfie/photo if you want

3. Visual Novel Creator

• Use the output of the Parser or create your nodes and dialogues
• Use the output of the Editor or use one from the 3D Character Library
• Change if you want each node background from the 3D Environments Library
• Add 3D Animations in any node from the 3D Animations Library if you want
• Add music/SFX if you want
• Share with the community if you want

4. Visual Novel Player

• Enjoy any Visual Novel generated by the Creator or any shared by the community
• Enjoy 3D Animations w/ Camera control, so you can rotate and position the camera anywhere you like, during the action

My idea is to ask for permission from the authors of any existing Visual Novel or 3D animation package (mostly the ones available for Sims 4) to make them available for the community to mix and match (they just need to agree, not necessary any effort from their side)

What do you think?

[Blehbreh]

This idea is good, but it seems like it would be a lot of work. There's also the risk of oversaturating the VN market with poorly developed VNs such as how the RPG Maker has done to classic RPGs. This is coming from someone who loves messing around in RPG Maker, therefore there is a lot of merit to the idea. I can only imagine that any custom models would have to have the same bone structure as the models in your parser would hypothetically use. If the parser is sold or monetized the mod animators for TS4 might have issues with that, unless they made a license for their animations to be used at a certain price.

 

It's a solid idea for sure, but one that might be best suited for a small dev team which make their own assets or purchase them with a license. I may not completely understand your idea though so there's that. The bottom line is, make what you feel that the world needs more of.

[Togmo]

Thank you @Blehbreh for your feedback

For sure there is hard work involved, but I'm familiarized with what is required and using Agile, I can work with minimum MVP and iterate over feedback.

In relation with oversaturating the market is true, but I think is a "good" problem to have. If there is a rating system in the platform (or Discord channel) where the VNs are shared, then the risk of wasting the time of players is minimized.

The idea is of course to use already rigged models that can be customized by displacing vertices, but the vertices will keep the bone weights, so not an overwhelming amount of work will be required.

Regarding the TS4 animations, what I have in mind is that if the framework monetizes, then there are 2 possible scenarios for the TS4 animation packages:
1. The package is offered for free to the creators, but the author is visible, incuding his Patreon / Subscribe Star page
2. The package is to be paid by the creators, in which case probably the platform will keep a small percentage of the payments

Finally and in relation to need more hands, are for sure welcomed but not required as soon as I kept the iterations bite-size and reuse as much as possible. For example for the environments, I plan to purchase high quality 3D assets.

Thank you again for sharing your thougths!