A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #31 ~ 33

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #31

The duration of the interview was around 1 hour he guessed.
And during this time, D-san was always the one talking.

At last, E-shi who had been quiet until now, opened his mout:
“A-san, how much scenario can you write in 1 month?”

And as expected, this question came out here as well.
As A-san had predicted, right now, every company is in demand for a writer who can write large quantities…
Is that assumption correct? A-san was anxious thinking about it.
If it is a maker aiming to release a big mainstream game, then that must be what they are thinking.

A-san proudly said:

“I can write 300k per month”

“Hee. I see. G-sensei who was responsible for our game this time, what was his pace?”
asked D-shi to E-shi.

“It was about… 250k I recall”
“Since in four months, it didn’t total up to 1M.”
D-san’s large body bounced in a “I see I see” manner.

And then, he said back to A-san:
“Users right now, are very sensitive about the play time.
No matter what kind of text the writer writes, if the play time is only 4 hours, there no way it gets a good rating,
If you look at the game called XX that came out earlier, you will see why.
Therefore, for our company we do like good content of course, but we really need someone who can write in high volumes.
And in this regard, it seems like it won’t be problem for A-san”

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #32

From that statement, A-san realized that D-shi was not a writer.
The two sitted next to, E-shi and F-shi as well, probably were not people who wrote.

If they were people who did have some experience in writing something in this sector,
they would realize how idiotic was their statements were.

–However, that goes for me as well. For him to brag that he can write 300k… he’s falling into their same hole.

A-san, killed his emtions, and held tight his hands below the table.

…

“Then, thank you for today. We’ll contact you in a few days”

Saying that, D-shi, the 3 of them went away.

“…”

That was a pretty productive interview.
He was able to listen to D-shi’s interesting talk and it was useful.
But it does distrub a little bit the two men sitting next to D-shi who had this negatieve expression all along… Well that’s not so grave.

This interview was most likely… no. I’m not going to think about the result. If I set my expectations high, this will end up like the time with B-shi.
I’ll pretend as I have being rejected, and get even more serious. A-san went home and as if nothing had happened,
he went to work on his application material.

3 days later…

A phone call from D-shi. The result of the interview was…

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #33

“Hired”. They wanted him to start coming at the start of next month. A-san accepted and hang the phone.

–I got in.

He was not happy. Rather, the opposite.

–Why I am so worried?

He had been working all along only to get into a company as a writer. And finally his wish had been realized. He should have been happy, no matter how you looked at it.
But, for some reason A-san could not enjoy in a natural way.

There are two reasons for it.
First, his moe-key work which himself was not convinced of, got good opnions from them. If it would be possible, he wished he would have been hired because of the rape-scenario he had wrote.

The other reason was about D-shi.
This is coming from A-san who does not have any experience in a company, but it did not really feel like D-shi was an adeguate person to be the boss of a company.
In some aspects, he is like a kid, too self-centric.
Even F-shi who covered for some of D-shi’s behaviour, looked at D-shi with some cold eyes.

But, there is no help in worrying about it. He’s already passed a point he can’t turn back.
A-san’s life as a writer starts from here.
From now on, he’s a member of “BackBone Soft”, and he’s going to pour himself into the erogame industry.
His first day was approaching, A-san’s heart was getting high.

–A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator. First Part “Job hunting Act” END

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Original Japanese Source

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #26 ~ 30

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #26

The interview proceeded.
The two man other than D-shi barely talked.
All what the thin man does is to writing notes on his foldable memo.
While all what the old man does is to nod at D-shi’s words.

— This is almost like a one on one with D-shi.

A-san smiled in his heart.

“We at BackBone soft, we just launched our first game, we’re a new maker.
Well, it is kind of hard to make an evaluation when you have only one game.
We plan to release one game after another and grow this company.
With this in mind, We’re looking for some new insipiration, in the form of new talent.”

It was felt during the phone call as well, this D-shi did have some carisma.
Constrast that with B-shi…

D-shi asked the thin director next to him,
“E, the one we released, how many did it go?”
The man named E, with slight hisitation replied:
“4000…”

On the fly, the old man (F-shi) sitting on the opposite side whispered to D-shi:
“Well, well, D-shi. That might be an interesting point to bring up but… that’s not really what A-san…”
“Oh yea. But, if A-san is to join us, we will have to talk about those details anyways no?”
D-shi, talking like an kid, exchanged words with F-shi.

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #27

By 4000, they mean the units of the game they sold…?
Only four thounds…. and this is a situation where they would want to make themselves look good…
They are only selling this much? Though A-san who did not know much about the industry’s information.

“Nahaha, well ok.
A-san, did you play our game?”

He had expected this. To prepare for this question, A-san did buy the game and tried to play it, he was relieved he did that.

“Yes, I did play it”
“Which girl did you like?”
“Ha? Which heroine? Yeah. That small girl I guess…”

You can say he went thought the game, or rather, not only did he not get a full complete, but he didn’t even clear a single route.
To be honest, he didn’t even remember the names of all heroines
But, if its a moe-game, there is usually always character who takes the loli role.

“You mean Aoi-tan? eh? Might it be that A-san is a lolicon?
he–. You’re that type…”

Like that, D-shi went on to make his own conclusion.
E-san and F-san, looked at D-san dumbfolded.
Those 3 of them. They looks almost if as they don’t usually get along very well.

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #28

After that, D-shi started talking about the game plan and novel which A-san had sent.After that, D-shi started talking about the game plan and novel which A-san had sent.According to D-shi, the novels, especially the moe-scenario “Sunagimo” was not bad.But the rape novel was no good. It was not at pro level.A-san who was confident in rape-type, had to doubt at the words reaching his ears.
“But I do think you did a good job on both of them. The writing is still a bit immature through.If he gets more experience, he will able to do it I think… right?”D-shi asked to E-shi sitted next to him.E-shi just forced a smile on his face.
–That forced smile, what does that mean?
Those were mostly strict feedback but,Compared to B-shi’s time, where they did not even mention his works, being able to hear other people’s opinios was already very satisfying.
“If you were to join us, what game would A-san like to make?”that came from F-shi.
A-san, thought about it. D-shi’s company’s direction was completely different from his own.In this situation, would it best to straighforwrdly say that he wants to make a rape-type…? A-san thought about it.

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #29

Later, D-shi started talking about the game plan and novel which A-san had sent.
According to D-shi, the novels, especially the moe-scenario “Sunagimo” was not bad.
But the rape novel was no good. It was not at pro level.
A-san who was confident in rape-type, had to doubt at the words reaching his ears.

“But I do think you did a good job on both of them. The writing is still a bit immature through.
If he gets more experience, he will able to do it I think… right?”
D-shi asked to E-shi sitted next to him.
E-shi just forced a smile on his face.

–That forced smile, what does that mean?

Those were mostly strict feedback but,
Compared to B-shi’s time, where they did not even mention his works, being able to hear other people’s opinios was already very satisfying.

“If you were to join us, what game would A-san like to make?”
that came from F-shi.

A-san, thought about it. D-shi’s company’s direction was completely different from his own.
In this situation, would it best to straighforwrdly say that he wants to make a rape-type…? A-san thought about it.

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #30

“Moe and rape, I want to make them one and pioneer a new genre”
And, a hybrid answer like that was replied.
In response to that, D-san:
“That is, what exactly?”

“Eh? Ehh….”

He could not asnwer.
After all, to come up with it on the moment, was not something that could be done.
In his heart, he was like “shit.” it was too late to even regret.
D-shi, without expecting an answer from A-san said:
“You know what, we…”
Started to talk about his own company again.

According to what D-shi says, BackBone soft has a “Moe” direction.
In those regards, they want to use A-san’s “Sunagimo” as the concept and produce a game base on it.
Of course, if the company gets large enough, they may able to spin off a new brand to pursue a different direction, but for now they are going for one moe-game only.

–That makes sense…

A-san nodded.
It was different from what A-san wanted to do but. D-san had his own vision and he made it very clear.

As if being supressed by D-shi’s strong words, in the back of A-san’s mind, that “moe” phrase remained inscribed inside him.

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #21 ~ 25

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #21

He focused on the style of the writing and started to experiment with it.
A-san’s style until now was restricted to the short story form, with stiff sentences.

If he continued like that, it would have not be realistic to increase the work efficiency.
The reason why A-san took 1 month to write almost 100k was because: he took half of the month to write up the short story, and the other half to revise it.
He’s going to remove the revision time. Another way to put it, by removing the revision time, he will have more time to write.
In order to accomplish this, he’ll have to stop using the time consuming dense expressions, and the hard kanjis.
And in the first place, that stuff is not needed in an eroge.

— I’m not aiming to become a novelist, but a scenario writer.

Use basic grammar, and write easy to read text is enough.
That by itself is already very difficult to do…….
The habits he has stained his body with, don’t go away so easily.

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #22

You may write a lot, but it is not effective if there isn’t someone to evaluate it.
To solve this problem, A-san created a home page for the purpose of publishing his writings.
In order to attract more people, he derived the website’s concept from a well known eroge website.
Once a week, he would upload the scenario he had written to the website.

At the same time, A-san would earn his livings with a part-time job.
, he started writing the scenario and game plan for the reapplication.

This time, he’ll constrain the application to two companies, and have the scenario and game plan match the company’s brand image.

There were no more replies from the 22 companies he had applied to.
The rejection notices came from roughly half of the 22 companies.
The others have not made a sound even after two months have passed.
A-san accepted it, that’s just how things are.
His time now, is not poured into updating his website and the production of the new application material.

After day and days of busy work………
And then a month,

One day, came a sudden notice.

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #23

A-san’s cellphone rang.
The caller was a man.

He identified himself as the representative of “BackBone Soft”, one of the companies A-san had applied to.
Since already 4 months had passed since A-san had applied. A-san didn’t immediately recognize the name.
The man (D-shi) apologized for the late reply, and stated the business.

He wanted an interview with A-san.
Therefore, he wanted to know when A-san could be available.

It was the same development as during B-shi’s case.
If it was the A-san from the past, he would have immediately took the chance.
But he frankly didn’t have memory of D-shi’s company.
He didn’t even know the name of the games they produced.

A-san hesitated for a moment, but there is no reason on earth to let go such a rare chance.
A-san gave the day for the interview, and the other party confirmed it.

After hanging the phone, A-san opened the HP of the the interview company, D-shi’s company (BackBone Soft).
It looked like they had released one game. It was a new company.
That would explain why he wasn’t able to remember the its name.
When A-san applied to this company, they still hadn’t released a single game.
The game that just came out last month, D-shi’s company’s game wan’t really what A-san was looking for. It was a game moe game.

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #24

–Why is this company contacting me?

The fact that I got an interview is itself not normal.
A-san played rape games most of the time. That fact is naturally reflected in his writings.
To put it into words, he was most confident in rape novels, and that should have been obvious from the manuscript he had sent.
If this is me then, why a company that made a moe-game contact me?

By this point, A-san was already firm that he would become a rape genre writer.
And of course, those two companies that he was preparing to apply were all in this genre.
That A-san without a clear objective who just applied to just any company does not exist anymore.

–Might it be that, D-shi did not read the application material…
–Well, fine. A chance is a chance. If it looks like I can get it, I’ll do so.

With a withering heart, A-san waited for the interview day.

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #25

The day of the interview.
Waiting at the station, a man with sunglasses with big shoulders appeared.
He was the one on the phone call, BackBone’s representative, D-shi.
Two men followed behind him.
One was a thin man complete contrast of D-shi.
The other was a bald man.
D-shi introduced the thin man as the director, and the older man as one of the executives.

–To think that there would be 3 of them…

A-san was carried to a cafe nearby the staion, and had his interview.

Not unexpected but, he was more stressed than the first interview.

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Original Japanese Source

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #16 ~ 20

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #16

It is not like he can say:

–I took an outsource job, can you please hire me later when I’ll be done with this?

A-san was troubled.
A-san thought about it, and finally, he politely refused C-shi’s offer.
A-san, innocently believed in B-shi’s response during the interview, he believed he would get in.

That choice, it would turn out to hurt A-san so much,
At the time, A-san did not realize.

After refusing C-shi’s offer, B-san’s e-mail containing the inteview result arrived.

“– Based on our consideration. We’ll not be hiring this time”

A-san, smashed the keyboard with eyes filled with tear.

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #17

— Where or earth did I fall short…….

In front of the pieces of the crushed keyboard, A-san recalled back the interview from before.
The interview with B-shi, went great, he thought of himself.
The conversation went very smoothly.
And he has no memory of taking any rude action.
The only thing that came to his mind was the question about the quantity he could write in one month, and A-san randomly replied 100k per month.
And then, B-shi had said “That’s a bit slow”.

Was that the reason for the rejection……
No, it must have been that.
Put it frankly, until now, A-san had never thought about how much quantity he could write. He thought that 100k per month or 1M per month did not make difference. Content was most important.

A-san, excavated a certain big name game from the pile in his closet.
This game was mentioned during the coversation with B-san, labeling the game as one with good scenario from a big name company.

In order to distract himself from the shock of the refusal, A-san attempted to play the game.

…..

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #18

After the first 5 hours…….
As to be expected from a big game from a big company, in 5 hours you can’t even complete one route.
According to the voices on the internet, it would take 40hours to get a full complete.

This extended play-time was also a factor that raised this big-game’s rating.
2 hours later…… A-san was finally able to clear one heroine.

So tired……
The time needed to get to one ending was 7 hours.
You can’t really enjoy the whole story if you play it in this manner.
But this is the best rated game right now.

“…..”

A-san did realize one thing.
The game’s play-time, in other words the quantity of the scenario.
As a general rule, it’s said that 100k = 1 hour.
If it takes as much as 40 hours for a full complete, with a simple calculation, the quantity of scenario would be 4M.
If a writer writes 200k per month, and assuming one writer write the entire 4M of scenario, it would take 20months.
And that is just purely the writing time for the scenario.
If you add in all other tasks, the development period would be over 2 years.
Even if you allocate the scenario to other writers, 200k per month is still slow.

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #19

And of course, no matter how much you can write per month, if it’s content is shit, everything is uselss.
But right now we have entered this period of “scenario inflation”.
This big game that A-san had played, it was the extended play-time that factored for the support and positive ratings from users.
Yet he himself writes mere 80k per month,

Looking at the current industry trends, one can’t be called a writer with that…….

According to rumors, a certain famous writer who was able to hit a big game with a doujin, was writing 40pages of manuscript everyday.
That’s equivalent of doing A-san’s 1 months worth of work in 2 days.
If you compare yourself with that writer, A-san’s productivity is indeed low.

“Write good material fast. That’s a taken for a pro”

A-san was burning.
He cannot let it end like this.
Without any delay, he takes out a new keyboard from the closet, and starts the production of a scenario which he had already concepted and refined in his mind.

A certain A-san’s memoirs as an Eroge creator #20

— Let’s put aside the scenario’s content for a moment.
Because it depends the writer’s sense, it’s not something that can be overcome with effort only.
But, with effort, you can do something in order to increasing the quantity of the writing. (A-san’s father’s words.)

Raise the quality of the scenario, while at the same time, shorten the time required write it.
A-san set that to be his immediate goal.

Now that he thinks about it, until now he has only been focused on getting a hire from a company. But never did he take his time to objectively look at his writing level.
As long as you work as a pro and receive money from the company, it’s already a taken that you need to have a considerable degree of skills.
It might be a too late now, but A-san had finally reached this insight.

The only way to improve his writing skills was to write write write.
And also, read books, absorb a lot in order to polish one’s sense.
There’s probably no other way other than those two.
A-san’s age was 25. It’s very tough for an inexperienced writer, to enter the industry at this age.
There was not a minute, not a second to waste.

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Original Japanese Source