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Shenanigans in a Magical Forest: Postmortem

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And so Create.swf Adventures #1: Shenanigans in a Magical Forest is finally complete, a little under ten months after it started. (This article assumes you've read it, so I'm not going to hide spoilers.)

Although just about every act ended up with a different postmodern spin, my main goal at the beginning was a deconstruction of the fact that MS Paint Adventures, and by extension all audience-driven stories which copy MSPA's format and formula verbatim, have a sort of love-hate relationship with the fourth wall. Sometimes it's there; sometimes it's like Andrew Hussie hates the very idea of a fourth wall; sometimes it's definitely present, but it has been heavily vandalized. Problem Sleuth and his cronies visit the GameFAQs page for their own game; the Homestuck kids have an inventory-management system which they are aware of, and they remark on it to each other; even Andrew Hussie himself shows up to derp around a bit from time to time.

I decided to create a story which have an in-universe explanation for the "commands sent in by readers," as a plot-device. While I didn't have all of the specifics in mind at the time, I always knew that it would involve mushroom-spores, which would eventually coalesce to form a NEWBORN YOUKAI named Masha Kinoko; the plan was for her to be the final boss. The characters (who are nominally in a setting which is decidedly not an "audience-driven story" and does have a Fourth Wall) would not like having their free will messed with, thus resulting in ... conflict. The readers, meanwhile, would be just immersed enough in things that they'd try to "fight back," as it were. And this reaction was perfectly in-character for the as-yet-unknown spores: they kept thinking it was literally "themselves" they were protecting.

And this went exactly according to plan. My greatest overall triumph was that not once did anyone consider the possibility that this was anything but a good idea, and simply tried to "acquire more characters."1 In fact, I could say that this was absolutely perfect, uh, right up to the bit where Masha turned out to be much too cute and sympathetic to be the Final Boss.

Actually, my "greatest triumph" is probably the creation of an Original Character in fanfiction who got a highly positive reaction from readers, rather than the revulsion or indifference they usually get. See, when people read fanfic for pleasure (as opposed to, say, parental loyalty, or proofreading, or whatever), it's because they know they're interested in the established series and characters, and want to see more. They want to read about Marisa and Reimu, or whoever the fic happens to focus on. For that reason, if a totally new and unfamiliar character shows up who doesn't exist in canon, the reaction is liable to be one of immediate "WHO'S THIS DOUCHEBAG?" unless the author has put in extra effort towards making the reader give a damn — effort which you don't need when normally making fan fiction. I believe Masha got a positive response for a number of different reasons, foremost among them the fact that the readers were actually present for her birth; it was okay that they didn't know anything about her, because she didn't know anything about herself, either. She was also freaking adorable, to boot. There's also the fact that I was exploring hitherto-uncharted territory within Touhou canon: how Youkai come into existence. She just hit all the right buttons, it seems, and as a result, Masha was pretty much the high point of Shenanigans in a Magical Forest.

Anyway, I didn't actually expect to have more than "one and a half acts." The second act was originally meant to be a brief bit of character-establishment leading up to Masha becoming the final boss and trying to consciously use her control-via-spores, followed by the ending sequence with Independent-Doll-Shanghai's "birth." Trying to expand upon this and use other villains, frankly, was the major contributing factor to why sort of fell apart in the end.

Because I was married to the idea of having some Final Boss, I replaced Masha with Team ❽, my Gensōkyō's version of the Midnight Crew; their concept had been lurking in the shadows, much like Team ❽ themselves, almost since Mima's introduction. I also brouht up the yatagarasu consumed by Utsuho, who had been already established as wanting to set things on fire.

And so, to establish Yasora's character, I started "Shenanigans in a Fiery Netherworld," the equivalent of Homestuck's "Hivebent" chapter. (I was doing lots of things with the intentions of mirroring MSPA; you might spend some time looking for callbacks.) The "postmodern" aspect of this Act was that, rather than controlling a character directly, Yasora was relaying commands to Utsuho, though Utsuho wasn't really getting them. Much like Hivebent, it was focused on a different set of characters from the ones we knew already, it jumped around in time a bit, and it wasn't very well recieved by everyone (this last bit was not my intention). As Sect on Maidens of the Kaleidoscope commented, it felt like it dragged on despite being the shortest Act. This was on top of Yasora's character being ... less-than-compelling, particularly compared to Masha.

The "final boss battle" was another failure-to-entertain. The postmodern-bit — that I-the-author was playing this as an actual video game made by KirbyM, who was a different person from "Walfas" — wasn't particularly interesting. The fight itself was lengthy, predictable, and lacked either comedy-value, dramatic tension, or anything really interesting. As Cleric put it in the comments, "this is just another incident resolved by danmaku. We've been here." Worse, while I was putting the dialogue together in the pre-battle "Strife-Modus: Converse," I'd left out a single sentence in Yasora's speech which made it clearer that she wanted to just burn Gensōkyō even after dealing with Yukari, and this made it a lot less clear that fighting her was actually justified, and I didn't realize this until after it was already over.

Oh well. The climax wasn't a bang, but a whimper which was way too long. A whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimper, perhaps. So, what's the lesson here? First, when your plans change, it's better to make it shorter than to make it longer if it's already a perfectly cromulent length. Second, in an audience-driven story, a lengthy straight-up fight scene just isn't interesting by itself. The previous fight-sequences were good because they were short and mostly comedy-driven.2 That, if I was going to have any "Final Boss," was how I should have done it. The problem was that I felt that a "Final Boss" should be a bit more, y'know, dramatic and stuff. Well ... the problem was that I thought a "Final Boss" was mandatory for what I wanted to do, but I've covered that already.

All in all, though, I'm ultimately more or less satisfied. I mean, for all the words I spent harping on the negative above, I don't want to sound like I didn't have fun making it, or that I wouldn't want to do something like it ever again. Apart from anything else, whatever else happens, I now have the experience to do better next time, and I will use it to (hopefully) make Create.swf Adventures #2 an improvement. For that matter, I actually finished my first audience-driven adventure; according to Brickman on the MSPA forum, this means Shenanigans in a Magical Forest technically outpaces Andrew Hussie's track record in that regard.

As for everyone who's wondering what's next ... Well, first of all, I'm going to take a break, and then I'm going to get back to what I've still always thought of as my "main comic.". Chronologically speaking, it is now two years behind RL, to say nothing of the fanfics I've been neglecting, um, since I started writing them. There's also these games I want to make, and stuff like that; I have way too many ideas, some of which I can actually make on my own (with help from Shintear etc.)!

For Create.swf Adventures itself, though ... I dunno, I've got a few ideas. From here, it looks like #2 will have, as its player characters, what I call the "Future Kids": Sacchin Hakurei, Carroll and Shanghai, and Kon Yakumo. I made this plan before I really understood the stigma of Original Characters, however, so I'll certainly have to tread lightly, and if I do go that route, I'll prepare myself for a smaller ... turnout, as it were.

In any event, this page can be used for a Q&A, if anyone has any particular questions and concerns they want raised, or if any plot points need any further explanation. I hope enough has been explained within the story, and that any questions raised were ones that would be better handled in sequels and other stories (i.e. "WTF is up with Konngara!?"). Credits are on the main CSA page. Other than that, feel free to ask away here, so we can have it all in one place.

CREATE.SWF ADVENTURES: SHENANIGANS IN A MAGICAL FOREST

FINAL SCORE:

  • 4 Acts (+1 Epilogue)
  • 616 Pages
  • 767 Images
  • 6.1 Songs
  • 11 Player Characters
  • ~9.5 months
  • 0 Precious Things Recovered
  • 0 Stable Time-Loops Fulfilled
  • 0 Foundlings Rescued

1My greatest individual triumph was "You are now the MUSHROOM." Second greatest would be Formica Archonis and others trying to second-guess Yukari's line "I'm not going to eat you!" just because "eat" was italicized.

2The six-month-final-boss was fine in Problem Sleuth, because "the final boss" was practically just the backdrop against which a whole lot of other silly things were happening. Homestuck, meanwhile, sequesters the more interesting fight scenes in Flash-animations, which only rarely take up more than one individual page.

67 Comments (auto-closed) (rss feed)

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Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

The thing about Catness is that I consciously went out of my way to make it funny. The battle with Yasora failed-to-entertain becaue I didn't try to make it anything much, really.

Morgan

I don't know. There's a lot of stuff I thought was funny in this one too. It just... didn't fit together quite as well? ... I still don't know.

Shintear

I think it was because there was a gradual change to the more serious near the end of CSA, with the formation of Team ❽, the master plan, and Yasora's revenge. Sure, it was a bit silly and whatnot, but it wasn't over the top like Catness, which was RIDICULOUS(ly funny) from the start (suddenly, catgirls...THOUSANDS OF THEM many of them).
Also, beating up Tenshi naturally gives one an odd sense of satisfaction.

Geizt

Maaah. Can't believe it's over, y'know?

Though, I can't wait for ya to start on your next project Muffin!

Cuddlefish

Well, command-line comics don't tend to fit together in the first place. You might have a loose storyline, but usually it's like throwing things into a bookshelf - you end up with plenty of randomness in the plot framework, along with quite a lot of it outside. In other words, it's a medium that doesn't do Serious Business very well.

Itsudemo_Otakun

Personally, I thought that this entire comic was executed very well. I liked all of your original characters (especially moeshroom Masha) and the final boss battle was EPIC it its scope. You really put a lot of effort into it (even getting other people involved like Shintear in drawing), I was delighted that you had a character theme prepared for Masha in the end. ^_^ Your sense of humor is something we appreciate, and so your willingness to go this far to spread some fun around. As a fan, I commend thee for your work. =)

Moth 13

Something that really disapointed me was the pay off the the spore thing. All the characters are being taken out one by one, and Reimu has turned evil. It ends with a bang, as litterally every character becomes unable to accept commands.
After playing as Masha, who is almost completely alone in the world and being stalked by Mima. Imagine the dissapointment when it turns out everyone is fine, Reimu is not evil, and the whole things ends with an actual tea party.

Such an epic build up, yet such an anticlimax.

And yeah, I really liked Yasora too. She was pretty sympathetic in her motives. It helps that Yukari seriously went past the moral event horizen.

Omegahugger

Reimu only appeared evil because she was an antagonist. That, and she still uses a technique similar to "blow everyone involved up" when it comes to incident-solving. Not very hero'ish when we see it from the point of the people getting blown up, but it works.

Still, I loved this. Even if it was drawn out sometimes, it was enjoyable most of the time. And seeing as this "send-in-orders-to-make-things-happen" adventure, it felt really good when one's commands were used. Even if they did absolutely nothing to help the problem. C:

Wolf

I think Muffin went with the whole "Reimu's a Bitch" stereotype since she is well know to beat up things she doesn't like at all. Although that's my two cents on it.

Although to be honest I was supprised that Reimu didn't decied to attack our little moeshroom when she first met her. I mean sometimes she is know to take out newborn youkai before they become problematic. Although I think the massive moeness Masha exuded at the time might have made it were Reimu didn't mind her presense I guess.

XephyrEnigma

I think Muffin went with the whole "Reimu's a Bitch" stereotype since she is well know to beat up things she doesn't like at all. Although that's my two cents on it.

That's pretty much why she was flanderized to this in the first place.

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

Not really. It was the side-effects of the fungus that was making Reimu behave irrationally. She wasn't actually beating anyone up, she was just sealing away the spirits so that they couldn't affect her friends anymore. (Except for Nitori's explosion, but that was Yukari fooling around again.)

Morgan

the whole things ends with an actual tea party.

If it doesn't end with a tea party, it's not a proper Touhou story!

... Well, maybe not, but when a lot of the actual games end that way, it's hard to complain about it.

Geizt

I believe it's known as, in fanon if not canon, "the Post-Incident Tea Party." It's basically a tradition.

Tewi Inonymous

Masha should have used her mind control spores, harupmh.

Arcc

It occurs to me that an alternate B-horror ending in which Yasora secretly hijacks the soul transplant, and her outline briefly appears on a red-glowy-eyed Shanghai during the hug scene before fading to black, would be epic.

Shintear

It occurs to me that an alternate B-horror ending in which Yasora secretly hijacks the soul transplant, and her outline briefly appears on a red-glowy-eyed Shanghai during the hug scene before fading to black, would be epic.

God, that would be scary as all hell.
...though it's not like she can do much in a doll's body, though.

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

Someday I'm gonna make an original setting so that when people come up with things like that, I can quote Andrew Hussie's snide remarks about "your fanfiction."

Or at least have multiple endings, like "the Scooby Doo ending," thus making a farce of the whole thing.

Hunter 1

...Okay, Muffin, I have to ask. Now that you've finished the adventure, am I going to see a new Nekokayou this Saturday/Sunday (since for some reason, your usual posting time is midnight my time), or will it have to wait for a another week or two?

Tewi Inonymous

Someday I'm gonna make an original setting so that when people come up with things like that, I can quote Andrew Hussie's snide remarks about "your fanfiction."

Only if zun gets to make snide remarks about your fanfiction. And you want to be a fool and do work to make your setting instead of letting us run with it and do the work for you.

DiMastine

speaking of fanfiction. I know Remilia was lying in canon but did anyone ever figure out if she was claiming family decent or that she was turned by Dracula personally?

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

@Hunter 1: You just might!

@Tewi Inonymous: Oh, ZUN making fun of me is a given. And I have no idea what you're talking about with the doing-extra-work thing. Why would I let you do any of the work? It defeats the whole point. ;)

@DiMastine: I don't think it's clear if Touhou-vampires even have "turning humans into vampires" (notwithstanding that Vlad Tepes was historically a human); Akyu only mentions "sucked to death and becoming a ghoul." So she probably meant family-descent.

Geizt

I think letting Tewi do anything would end up in equal parts pain and debauchery. And, of course, insanity. But hey, that's just me.

Omegahugger

Didn't Remilia's profile in EoSD say that since she was a light eater, Remilia couldn't make any more of her kind? That would suggest that vampires can create more vampires hrough biting, though I'll admit that Memento sounds more like it mentions ghouls...

But I think she meant family descent as well, or possibly both. More impressive, as to say.

Dizzy H. Slightly Voided

Aha, yeah, there it is!

But, um, we've gotten off-topic here. ;P

Duran

Nice little experiment, might this mean the comics are resuming?

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