(The “video description” referenced at the beginning of the above video can be read here: [ Direct YouTube Link ] or at the bottom of this entry)

Last month I linked to a YouTube video I made that discussed visual novels and why I’m going to try my hand at them.

That video included a link to the above video, but I figured I should should give this video a spotlight, since I’d like to get feedback from people. So as the video says, watch some (or all) of it and let me know what you think. Thanks!

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[Original You Tube Video description]:

John receives an urgent text from a friend in the middle of the night begging him to meet at a designated hotel room. When John arrives he’s met not by his friend, but a heavily disfigured stranger.
So begins “The Grandfather Paradox”, a visual short story evocative of “The Twilight Zone” and “Black Mirror”.

Your feedback is welcome! Please let me know what you think of this, either in the comment section or twitter:
https://twitter.com/larsmartinson

And if you know anyone who might be interested in this, please share it with them. Thanks!

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Other videos by me:
What Visual Novels & Indie Comics Can Learn From Each Other: https://youtu.be/37HjhnnaGns
4 Time-Saving Tips (from a guy who spent 13 YEARS drawing a comic):  https://youtu.be/6BzCDVR-tr8

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–Technical Details–
“The Grandfather Paradox” was created using game development software (Unity ver. 5.1.2 and Fungus plugin ver. 2.2). As the introduction says, I intended to release it as a download, which would have allowed the reader to click through the text at their preferred pace.
But the downloadable version had three major problems that made me decide it wasn’t worth releasing in its present state:
1) There’s no way to save or bookmark progress, meaning if you close the program, you have to start reading from the beginning.
2) There’s no way to go back if you click through a line of dialogue too fast.
3) The file size was huge (like 400mb). Efforts to lower the file size resulted in really blurry graphics.
I’m not a programmer, so there’s nothing I can do to fix these issues, so I decided to release this exclusively as a video (at least for now).
But if you’re familiar with Unity and think you could help me sort out these issues, please get in touch!
Related: I’m going to do at least one more of these “Indie comic/visual novel hybrid” things, and doing this one has convinced me a need to collaborate with a programmer.
I was thinking of doing the next one in Ren’Py, a Python-based visual novel engine. Or maybe I’ll take another swing at Unity again. Anyway, if you have experience with either of those engines and would be interested in collaborating, please get in touch. Thanks!