To Be A King's Story (Patreon)

As I wrap up my writing for Chapter 5's new scenes, I thought I'd talk a bit about the story. When I decided I could resume To Be A King's development, I revisited my story outline. There were some significant changes made. Good news is, there is very little, at this stage, I'd go back and redo from earlier chapters. A few small things here and there, but nothing like, "Oh damn. I wish I had Valentina run over by an ox cart in Chapter 2."

One big area where I've seen visual novels struggle is the story not developing as it should. It's clear that someone had a great idea for a story, but didn't really think it through. They couldn't land the story, so the later releases were not very good. You have other visual novels that struggle with just adding too much. Too many love interests, too many scenes that don't advance or deepen your enjoyment of the story - just too damn much. It's an easy trap to fall into. Even I've wondered if I have too many love interests in To Be A King, as it is easy to just add them without thinking about the long term impact on the story.

But let's talk about the story. At this stage, I have a good idea of how many releases we have left (not halfway through now, and that is with releases that are double to triple the size of previous releases). And I know the overall story arc with the ending pretty well nailed down. Now, here's the thing. As I write, things change. I've already made multiple small adjustments from what I planned 3 weeks ago with Chapter 5. This is one big reason that I'm not even going to hint at anything in the future as I could wake up one day, decide it just won't work, and redo that area of the story.

Plus, you have to give characters their proper voice in your story. For example, Valentina and Kaylan have two VERY different motivations for wanting the MC. If I tried to make Kaylan act like Valentina, we would have a problem. Besides the problem of half my patrons, at least, wanting to inflict harm on me, if I did that. Some characters are also easier to write for. Every character gets easier the more you write scenes with them, but there are some that are just easier. One of my easiest to write for is Valentina. All I have to ask myself is, "What is the most out there thing that someone would do in this situation?" And boom! I have my Valentina dialogue. Kaylan is a bit more grounded. Cassia has her own motivations, and you'll see the other characters develop more through the next couple of releases.

But this also means that scenes I had planned may not play out as I envisioned when I start writing the dialogue. I had one scene from Chapter 5 with General Nicabar and the MC meeting to discuss something (no spoilers, I promise). I intended for something relatively benign to happen. Just your standard dialogue regarding some palace business. Turns out, a whole different set of events transpired as I wrote the dialogue. So much so that I had to add additional variables, two additional scenes, and some other small adjustments to the story to accommodate it. But that's because what I ended up writing was a lot more natural than what I started with. It didn't change the story in terms of ultimate ending, but it accelerated some events, and that changed other events, as well.

I not only play through each release multiple times, mostly checking for bugs. But I also read through each release several times. Things get moved around. Scenes get deleted, and scenes get added. There are some exciting new things that I'll introduce in Chapter 5 that will make this a bit easier for me. But there are still constant changes. The ending has yet to change, but boy have the events leading up to that ending changed.

Your feedback and suggestions shape the story somewhat too. My main story I'm fairly protective of, as it is easy to add some things that just aren't needed. But smaller scenes that fill out the story are very much something where I ask myself, "Would I enjoy this as a player?" If I would, it goes in. Then it stays in until I play through the scene. If it turns out I was wrong, it comes out. Yes, it is rare, and I try to avoid it, but scenes can get trashed when they are mostly done. I'm a firm believer that games should be fun - not punishing, not soul crushing, not tedious. Sure, your own tastes won't align exactly with mine, but you should ultimately enjoy the game you're playing. Especially when it is a visual novel with very little actual traditional gameplay. The story has to be excellent and interesting.

So send in your suggestions. I do read them all (post them in my Discord or email me, as otherwise I may not see them). While they won't make me change key plot points, there are always small scenes, "side missions" and such that they might be incorporated into. I keep a running list of scene ideas, plot points, etc., that don't make it into my official outline right away. I'm here to have fun, so send me your suggestions for fun scenes.