Spider-Man Visual Novel?

So there I was, watching an entertaining playthrough of Hatoful Boyfriend, when suddenly a thought occurred to me. Spider-Man is a teenage character with a complicated enough love life to qualify for his own Harem Anime. Therefore, what if he were to be given his own Dating Sim? A game where you play as Peter Parker navigating New York's High School and the Daily Bugle, choosing which lovely teen girl to pursue a relationship with, and then having to balance dating against the demands of battling larger-than-life super villains. Might find a way to mix in some combat for that last one; I'm thinking maybe letting the player go through options to determine how the scripted fight scene plays out.

Now, it should be noted that I know very little about the vast realm of the Visual Novel. I've only played a couple before, both of which were non-profit amateur works for, um...a bit of a niche market. Still, for the purpose of these hypotheticals, I was hoping I could pair my deep understanding and affection for the Spider-Man franchise with someone else's deep understanding and affection for the art of the Visual Novel, and the two would balance each other out to create the ideal story

edited 22nd Aug '16 12:05:56 PM by LizardOfAus

A type of visual novels you may find interest in is Telltale games. They are working on Batman at the moment. They have puzzles and actions, but so far there is no harem (unless Batman has Talia/Bruce/Selina triangle).

Huh. Didn't realise Telltale CYOA's could be classed as Visual Novels. Anyway, yeah, I've been meaning to check that series out as soon as it comes out on Apple Macs.

Lizard Of Aus, do you have an interest in creating a visual novel / story based game based on the Spider-Man franchise? If you do, then think about the following:

• You might benefit by writing a Spiritual Adaptation instead of outright basing your work on Marvel's intellectual property. I recommend this because you can't sell fan fiction / fan games, and thus it's not easy to devote free time to creating them. Furthermore, a number of work-in-progress fan games have been canceled before release because of a cease and desist notification.

• You can use free software such as Ren'py to create a visual novel. The community can provide support if you have any issues. There are other free and inexpensive options if you search for "visual novel engine."

• Writing down ideas is easy, but writing a story is difficult. Visual novel creators deal with problems such as perfectionism and procrastination just as much as any other creative person.

• Be careful with the scope of your fictional universe. Scope creep is one cause of Orphaned Series or Vaporware. Don't commit to creating features unless you believe they are necessary. Likewise, only create as many characters and locations as you need.

• Dengeki Stryker is a commercial visual novel in English in the superhero genre. It's a story with choices, and does not contain interactive battles or a world to explore.

• Also, while I wouldn't use "superheroic" to describe it, Sakura Wars So Long My Love is kind of similar to what you described. Its main character is part of a secret task force. He can walk around town and interact with people. The team fights a group of villains.