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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45541
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

# Do it for the sake of storytelling

**If you're asking yourself "should I bother", then you're not thinking of it as a passion project** , like an artist would, but you're thinking of it as a way to make a quick buck, like a CEO would. **It's not a bad thing** , fine art seldom pays the bills, while cookie-cutter media is quite profitable.

Just look at how many iconic video games are getting remastered, or how many movies are getting a sequel or live action adaptations. It's an easy, quick, but soulless way to make money.

Talking about Japan specifically, how much anime is generally adaptations of already existing manga/novels, and is essentially a 25-minute long advertisement for the source material. Investing in an original franchise is a risky move, that could cost a company bankruptcy, since their profit margins are already quite thin.

But you're not a CEO, you're not under this kind of constraints -- unless, of course, they are self-imposed. **If you think you have a good idea, an idea that's worth showing others, you should develop it** , and leave it for others to witness:

> Iceland’s love of the written word has deep roots. Runic inscriptions from times of the Icelandic settlement show that the settlers could read and had thoughts they believed were important enough to (quite literally) set in stone. This feeling that our thoughts are important enough to be printed, to be preserved for generations to come, has not left us.. ([source](https://guidetoiceland.is/history-culture/literature-in-iceland))

# Take pride in what you created

Even if you don't succeed, your game doesn't sell or become popular, you can still **take pride in the fact that you put honest work in bringing your vision to reality** , that you saw it through until the end.

# You can have cute, an intricate story, and elaborate gameplay all at once

**Nothing is stopping you from making a narrative-heavy "waifu game"**. You can have a visual novel with an intricate plot _and_ cute heroines, and try to break the stereotype that "cute" means "dumb". Just look at [Puella Magi Madoka Magica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puella_Magi_Madoka_Magica), I haven't watched it myself, but from what I've heard, it's pretty heavy psychological stuff.

You can have **gameplay mechanics and story-lines change based on what girls the player has unlocked or is using** , sort of like Pokémon (you're trying to collect all the heroines) and Fallout (quest-based, open-world) or Deus Ex (branching storylines based on your decisions). Deus Ex in particular has an intricate story with some interesting themes, and Adam Jensen does fit some definition of cute (_\*winks at the camera\*_).

You could have additional story-lines available as DLCs/microtransactions, too.

# Gameplay, narrative, fanart

**The games you mentioned are gameplay-heavy** : the focus is on obtaining girls, not on the story. Azur Lane has some visual-novel-like cut-scenes between the levels, giving you some kind of idea as to who is the villain, and what they're doing, but the narrative is quite bare-bones. People don't play those games for the story, they're playing them because **they're addicted to the gacha mechanic** (see this article on "[whales](https://www.serkantoto.com/2016/03/14/gacha-monetization-japan/)", those 10% of people who are heavy spenders).

On the other hand, **look at how much fan-art Kancolle or Touhou have, even though they're gameplay-heavy**. If you create an interesting world and/or characters, fans will definitely want to expand on that. You may end up with a community that will keep your game alive. From there you could plug a crowd-funding plea, too, to fund further development.

Original score: 8