Megatokyo Gets a Visual Novel Game

TheSHAD0W writes "It's been over a decade since Megatokyo was mentioned in a Slashdot story. Fred Gallagher, author of the long-running webcomic, has launched a Kickstarter for a Megatokyo Visual Novel Game. The KS has fared very well, funding its basic goal in less than four hours and covering most of the posted stretch goals in the first twenty-four. Fred also posted a half-joking stretch goal at a half-million dollars to include'"excessively romantic content,' wink wink nudge nudge. He may have been kidding, but there are some indications it might be reached."

Comments

Is that still being updated?

[Animats]

I used to read Megatokyo, but when the artist lost his writer years ago, the plot also got lost. Then the updates became so infrequent that it became a joke. Read the Wikipedia entry.

Re:Is that still being updated?

[Orne]

> With two months in between strips for a web comic ...

Having a heart operation will do that to a person.

Re:Is that still being updated?

[TheSHAD0W]

As will having your wife come down with cancer, and having to take care of the online store and your autistic child yourself.

But I wouldn't bother protesting these opinions, trolls feed on the tears of others and you're only encouraging them.

Re:Is that still being updated?

[Lendrick]

Those things will certainly do that, but Megatokyo updated infrequently long before any of that happened.

Re:Is that still being updated?

[Colin Douglas Howell]

It wasn't the heart operation itself that was the problem, it was the heart condition he needed the operation for. He'd known about it for a long time, but had previously believed it to be harmless. Actually, it had gradually been getting worse. While the long pauses between comics had been bad for quite a while, his situation really became terrible the last half year, because he was *completely* sapped of energy. That's when he saw a doctor and found out the state of things, which led him to have the operation. Sounds like he's been feeling vastly improved.

Re:Is that still being updated?

[Mashiki]

The whole "updated infrequently" was pretty much the only reason I stopped reading it. That was probably 5ish years ago, maybe 6 years ago. Though I did enjoy the comic itself.

Re:Is that still being updated?

[Anubis IV]

The co-writer, Rodney Caston, a.k.a. Largo, left in 2002 after just two years. He and the artist, Fred Gallagher, a.k.a. Piro, had a falling out over creative differences, though it sounds like it was amicable, despite some outsiders claiming otherwise (e.g. Scott Kurtz of PvP). Rodney was never the sole writer, though clearly his influence was no longer present shortly after his departure, since the story became much more involved. The plot, at least to me, didn't get lost until quite a few years later, but at this point, it really is very lost. It seems that some of the threads that have been going in a million directions for years are finally starting to connect together again in this last year or two, but with updates only happening once a month or less, it's hard to keep anything straight unless you're obsessive about reading and re-reading and studying the material, which is not something I'm interested in doing.

Even so, a Megatokyo VN does have some appeal, since the plot has all of the elements for a decent VN, and going through it in a condensed fashion like that would keep it much more coherent.

Re:Use to...

[Guspaz]

Six or seven years ago? So you're probably only thirty or forty pages behind, then :P

Re:Could be better than the comic

[Cid Highwind]

The art is fine, what he needs as a stretch goal is another writer and an editor. Megatokyo hasn't had a detectable trace of plot in at least 5 years.

In Regards to the Visual Novel

[chemiclord]

I first would like to introduce myself. My internet presence is largely chemiclord, but my real life name is Thomas Knapp. You will see my name in the credits of the kickstarter page as a writer and path developer for the upcoming MegaTokyo Visual Novel project; along with many other names of very talented people. This actually isn't my first foray into the MegaTokyo world. Before Fred's health took a veer off course, I was working with him on his Endgames game world. I'll have a good chunk of my hand in this project as well, primarily handling alternate paths and the secondary characters. But to make a meandering point on target, Fred isn't doing this alone, and with the help of the team he's put together, we have all confidence that we can produce and deliver this game promptly and with the highest quality we can muster. No stretch goal needed there. :-p

Re:In Regards to the Visual Novel

[chemiclord]

Well... just because Renpy is open-source doesn't mean everything in it will be. I know that they want to use a font that requires a license (I believe it was about $1000 for a mass distributed game), for example. There could be other content licenses we have to cover as well (though I personally don't know what those are or what cost those would be). There's also some of the attached swag to the larger donation packages (T-shirts, art books, an imprinted flash drive, and custom artwork are some examples). And with a sound and music composer, additional artist (and yes, even myself as a secondary writer)... yeah... we'd kinda like to get compensated for our time as well. Yeah, kinda mercenary, I know. It's not JUST for the love of the game, I'm afraid. Those costs can add up fast.

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Re:10 years later and it still looks the same

[Anubis IV]

His style never evolved much, but his drawing skill certainly did. His technique has shown vast improvements over time. I'm not certain how someone can claim otherwise, other than to troll.