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Post by SDW on Jul 30, 2014 5:50:39 GMT
I just had an interesting thought - our main character is named (and presumably going to be referred to as) Scuba-kun, but he'd obviously have a real name, right? What if his name, as the name of a land-dweller, is unpronounceable to the undersea life, and they all resort to calling him Scuba as a backup? Say, because it's written on his tank or something.
"Ka...Kaz...aargh! Your name is too hard, b-baka!"
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Post by keospear on Jul 30, 2014 6:42:16 GMT
I just had an interesting thought - our main character is named (and presumably going to be referred to as) Scuba-kun, but he'd obviously have a real name, right? What if his name, as the name of a land-dweller, is unpronounceable to the undersea life, and they all resort to calling him Scuba as a backup? Say, because it's written on his tank or something. "Ka...Kaz...aargh! Your name is too hard, b-baka!" This made me smile, I really like it! |
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Post by Fourth Oracle on Jul 30, 2014 8:43:10 GMT
Hi there! I just got brought on, and I thought I'd share some of my ideas for Scuba-kun.
I understand that we don't want to characterize him TOO much, but I think a bit of background would be really good so that the player has the ability to cast himself into the role of protagonist easier.
Here's my thought: the diver is a high school-aged boy who's gone diving in the pelagic zone of the ocean to take a break from the reefs. He's with a group, but he's diving alone, and decides to go down to 140 feet, the point where things start getting dangerous. He's been down for a few minutes, and his dive computer starts beeping at him that he's been down too long. So, he tries to add a little bit of air to his BCD, but something goes wrong: it won't stop filling! His BCD full of air, he begins rising at a rate that will kill him, and he starts panicking. As he's flailing about, a shark comes from below and bites his BCD, letting the air out and stopping his deadly ascent, then lets him go. As he turns to look at the shark, he's stunned to see that it's blushing at him. Not only that, but it speaks: "I--it's not like I wanted to bite you or anything, baka! You just looked like you needed help..." And with that, it swims away as the diver, perplexed, swims back up to the surface, but during his extended safety stop, he wonders what exactly had happened, and is determined to return the next day.
This time, as he dives down, he goes with underwater writing gear and goes to about 80 feet this time, and again, that shark is there, seeming to be searching for him. "O--oh, it's you again," the shark says, "I mean, it wasn't like I was waiting for you or anything..." The diver asks a few questions by writing on the board, and eventually she leads him to a strange cavern that seems to open up to a whole other universe... the high school, where he decides to enroll because reasons.
There are a couple of reasons I like this approach to the character. First off, it's sort of tongue-in-cheek self-insert fanfiction-esque, which would fit perfectly with the satirical nature of the project. Second, it would give us a canon reason to keep the user responses succinct. Third, it would give us a good reason for the little sister character to hang around: maybe the older sister does poorly in her "human writing" class and the sister is there to translate. Because seriously, how adorable would that be?
Of course, Scuba-kun would have to "go home" to the surface every day to refill his air canisters. (In order to keep him from having to drag thirty air canisters down there, we'll have to kind of BS it and say that the pressure is lower at the high school) In order for him to ascend safely, however, he has to make a "safety stop" for about five minutes at about 15-20 feet. This would be the perfect time for Scuba-kun and one of the sharks to have private, one-on-one time together.
What do you guys think? Any suggestions or improvements?
N--not that I really want your input or anything, b--baka...
EDIT: Totally doesn't have to be a high school, I just figured that was a good default.
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Post by sasquatchii on Jul 30, 2014 11:26:08 GMT
Hi there! I just got brought on, and I thought I'd share some of my ideas for Scuba-kun. I understand that we don't want to characterize him TOO much, but I think a bit of background would be really good so that the player has the ability to cast himself into the role of protagonist easier. Here's my thought: the diver is a high school-aged boy who's gone diving in the pelagic zone of the ocean to take a break from the reefs. He's with a group, but he's diving alone, and decides to go down to 140 feet, the point where things start getting dangerous. He's been down for a few minutes, and his dive computer starts beeping at him that he's been down too long. So, he tries to add a little bit of air to his BCD, but something goes wrong: it won't stop filling! His BCD full of air, he begins rising at a rate that will kill him, and he starts panicking. As he's flailing about, a shark comes from below and bites his BCD, letting the air out and stopping his deadly ascent, then lets him go. As he turns to look at the shark, he's stunned to see that it's blushing at him. Not only that, but it speaks: "I--it's not like I wanted to bite you or anything, baka! You just looked like you needed help..." And with that, it swims away as the diver, perplexed, swims back up to the surface, but during his extended safety stop, he wonders what exactly had happened, and is determined to return the next day. This time, as he dives down, he goes with underwater writing gear and goes to about 80 feet this time, and again, that shark is there, seeming to be searching for him. "O--oh, it's you again," the shark says, "I mean, it wasn't like I was waiting for you or anything..." The diver asks a few questions by writing on the board, and eventually she leads him to a strange cavern that seems to open up to a whole other universe... the high school, where he decides to enroll because reasons. There are a couple of reasons I like this approach to the character. First off, it's sort of tongue-in-cheek self-insert fanfiction-esque, which would fit perfectly with the satirical nature of the project. Second, it would give us a canon reason to keep the user responses succinct. Third, it would give us a good reason for the little sister character to hang around: maybe the older sister does poorly in her "human writing" class and the sister is there to translate. Because seriously, how adorable would that be? Of course, Scuba-kun would have to "go home" to the surface every day to refill his air canisters. (In order to keep him from having to drag thirty air canisters down there, we'll have to kind of BS it and say that the pressure is lower at the high school) In order for him to ascend safely, however, he has to make a "safety stop" for about five minutes at about 15-20 feet. This would be the perfect time for Scuba-kun and one of the sharks to have private, one-on-one time together. What do you guys think? Any suggestions or improvements? N--not that I really want your input or anything, b--baka... EDIT: Totally doesn't have to be a high school, I just figured that was a good default. I love this! Although, would it be realistic for Scuba-kun to be able to spend the entire day underwater? I know nothing about scuba gear, but if we are going to make him return to the surface every once in a while to refill his air it might be good to research that. We could also insert tidbits of cool information about scuba diving in general into the game. On the other hand, I don't know how realistic it needs to be since we're going to have a huge variety of sharks, from goblin sharks to great whites, all hanging out and living together. I guess I just wouldn't want to disappoint anyone who has a love of the ocean or scuba diving, because if we get facts wrong it will most definitely ruin their immersion. I don't understand why we wouldn't want to give Scuba-kun too much characterization, though. What's the harm in that? |
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Post by SDW on Jul 30, 2014 12:01:44 GMT
Giving too much characterization to Scuba-kun is bad for two reasons:
1) It removes the ability for readers to universally relate to, and therefore assume the role of, Scuba-kun. Look at Bella Swan from Twilight. It's an example of bad writing, yes, but the fact that she's so very generic makes her an unbelievably good protagonist if your goal is to have people imprint their own characteristics on her.
2) This VN is going to be written by half a dozen if not more people. Speaking from experience I can tell you that keeping a complex character consistent across two authors is super hard and time consuming. Across six it begins reaching the realm of just-not-worth-it-ness.
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Post by Fourth Oracle on Jul 30, 2014 15:55:56 GMT
I love this! Although, would it be realistic for Scuba-kun to be able to spend the entire day underwater? I know nothing about scuba gear, but if we are going to make him return to the surface every once in a while to refill his air it might be good to research that. We could also insert tidbits of cool information about scuba diving in general into the game. On the other hand, I don't know how realistic it needs to be since we're going to have a huge variety of sharks, from goblin sharks to great whites, all hanging out and living together. I guess I just wouldn't want to disappoint anyone who has a love of the ocean or scuba diving, because if we get facts wrong it will most definitely ruin their immersion. I don't understand why we wouldn't want to give Scuba-kun too much characterization, though. What's the harm in that? I'm open-water certified, so I can actually answer the depth issue. If you stay at 25 feet or shallower, then you don't need to worry about nitrogen buildup in the body. Also, air usage from the tank is less at shallower depths, so he'll only have to lug down so many tanks. We could also make it a plot point that he could use help from someone to bring the tanks down every day. Lots of conversation opportunity there. The only way I could imagine this working is that maybe the school is through a cavern. After you enter the cavern, you swim up and up until you hit about 20 feet of depth. At this point, yay magic and screw you reality because this place is special yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. Water can be tough on the skin after a while, so my thought is that we have him in a drysuit. As for the sharks all hanging out in the same place, well, it's not exactly scientifically accurate for them to be speaking, either. I fall back on the "this place is special and different yaaaaaaay" argument here. Also, I just had the most morbidly hilarious idea: what if one of the sharks finds a tank off of a dead diver, and offers it to Scuba-kun as a gift in one of the storylines? |
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Post by Bunnerz Lalonde, Maker of Sad on Jul 30, 2014 20:25:09 GMT
Yeah, with a project like Shark-chan, artistic license is more than likely going to come into play a lot. Worst case scenario, he runs out of oxygen, starts panicking, then realizes he can breathe in the school.
Also, I'm an enormous fan of morbid ideas and am therefore entirely in favor of having him get a tank looted from a corpse as a gift. Bonus points if it comes into play later on and he's forced to use it for one reason or another.
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Post by torgamous on Jul 30, 2014 23:07:33 GMT
The school could have air pockets on the ceilings so the dolphin students don't have to surface every five to ten minutes. Keeping his head above water makes it hard to understand everyone, so after the first day Scuba-kun brings a snorkel and reserves the scuba tank for when he's outside of school. This leads to the dolphins making fun of him for being incapable of holding his breath.
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Post by batsan on Jul 31, 2014 2:05:05 GMT
The school could have air pockets on the ceilings so the dolphin students don't have to surface every five to ten minutes. Keeping his head above water makes it hard to understand everyone, so after the first day Scuba-kun brings a snorkel and reserves the scuba tank for when he's outside of school. This leads to the dolphins making fun of him for being incapable of holding his breath. That's a much better idea and makes a lot more sense than the "like water fountains but with air" idea I'd been having. |
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Post by todash on Jul 31, 2014 4:03:40 GMT
Hi there! I just got brought on, and I thought I'd share some of my ideas for Scuba-kun. I understand that we don't want to characterize him TOO much, but I think a bit of background would be really good so that the player has the ability to cast himself into the role of protagonist easier. Here's my thought: the diver is a high school-aged boy who's gone diving in the pelagic zone of the ocean to take a break from the reefs. He's with a group, but he's diving alone, and decides to go down to 140 feet, the point where things start getting dangerous. He's been down for a few minutes, and his dive computer starts beeping at him that he's been down too long. So, he tries to add a little bit of air to his BCD, but something goes wrong: it won't stop filling! His BCD full of air, he begins rising at a rate that will kill him, and he starts panicking. As he's flailing about, a shark comes from below and bites his BCD, letting the air out and stopping his deadly ascent, then lets him go. As he turns to look at the shark, he's stunned to see that it's blushing at him. Not only that, but it speaks: "I--it's not like I wanted to bite you or anything, baka! You just looked like you needed help..." And with that, it swims away as the diver, perplexed, swims back up to the surface, but during his extended safety stop, he wonders what exactly had happened, and is determined to return the next day. This time, as he dives down, he goes with underwater writing gear and goes to about 80 feet this time, and again, that shark is there, seeming to be searching for him. "O--oh, it's you again," the shark says, "I mean, it wasn't like I was waiting for you or anything..." The diver asks a few questions by writing on the board, and eventually she leads him to a strange cavern that seems to open up to a whole other universe... the high school, where he decides to enroll because reasons. There are a couple of reasons I like this approach to the character. First off, it's sort of tongue-in-cheek self-insert fanfiction-esque, which would fit perfectly with the satirical nature of the project. Second, it would give us a canon reason to keep the user responses succinct. Third, it would give us a good reason for the little sister character to hang around: maybe the older sister does poorly in her "human writing" class and the sister is there to translate. Because seriously, how adorable would that be? Of course, Scuba-kun would have to "go home" to the surface every day to refill his air canisters. (In order to keep him from having to drag thirty air canisters down there, we'll have to kind of BS it and say that the pressure is lower at the high school) In order for him to ascend safely, however, he has to make a "safety stop" for about five minutes at about 15-20 feet. This would be the perfect time for Scuba-kun and one of the sharks to have private, one-on-one time together. What do you guys think? Any suggestions or improvements? N--not that I really want your input or anything, b--baka... EDIT: Totally doesn't have to be a high school, I just figured that was a good default. Fourth Oracle, please make sure to read pre-established threads. We kind of already have a beginning sequence, so right now we're working on possible routes and characters. But I like your ideas! |
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Post by todash on Jul 31, 2014 4:07:59 GMT
As far as the oxygen supply issue, I knew this was going to come up eventually so I've already given it some thought. In the canon we have currently, Scuba is diving with his inventor friend, Nami-san. We explained being able to talk to sharks with Nami (she developed the communicator) so it wouldn't be too far-fetched to say that she also invented some sort of re-breathable scuba gear.
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Post by igfod13 on Jul 31, 2014 7:21:22 GMT
Speaking of oxygen tanks, we need an exploding oxygen tank somewhere. I don't care where, and preferably it's just for fireworks and not deadly, but the reference would be nice.
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Post by ganymedeanoutlaw on Aug 10, 2014 6:24:18 GMT
So, I've been seeing some discussion of having a whale shark, but not much in the way of thoughts on her character, besides her perhaps being a kuudere type. I think we should have a kuudere as well. A sort of cold character like a Yuki Nagato or a Rei Ayanami. Those are pretty typical. Whale sharks don't socialize even when they're in large groups. Good kuudere material? I like it, perhaps she could have a secret hobby or passion that Scuba can find out about and she can get mad at him for knowing. Anybody else have any thoughts? |
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Post by SDW on Aug 11, 2014 20:09:41 GMT
So, I've been seeing some discussion of having a whale shark-chan, but not much in the way of thoughts on her character, besides her perhaps being a kuudere type. Whale shark-chans don't socialize even when they're in large groups. Good kuudere material? I like it, perhaps she could have a secret hobby or passion that Scuba can find out about and she can get mad at him for knowing. Anybody else have any thoughts? Given that she'd likely be pretty introverted based on her kuudere-ness it would probably have to be something solo. Like reading, or underwater painting or something. |
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Post by keospear on Aug 13, 2014 23:43:33 GMT
So, I've been seeing some discussion of having a whale shark-chan, but not much in the way of thoughts on her character, besides her perhaps being a kuudere type. I like it, perhaps she could have a secret hobby or passion that Scuba can find out about and she can get mad at him for knowing. Anybody else have any thoughts? Given that she'd likely be pretty introverted based on her kuudere-ness it would probably have to be something solo. Like reading, or underwater painting or something. SECRET MANGAKA |
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