Fred has been doing a lot of writing and programming lately for the visual novel. He’s not used to this much writing in one big stretch, and it’s going slower than he’d like. He’s a little down about it at the moment, but still plugging away.

Adapting a webcomic to a visual novel is a bit like adapting a book to a movie. You can’t just translate it directly. They’re different art forms, and what works well in one may not work well in the other. Adapting the story so that it does work well takes some doing.

One of the things Fred has been doing to help make that happen is to storyboard it. Here are some examples from Book 1 of the Piro route. This is all canon stuff, so not really spoilers if you’ve read the comic.

Here is Largo taking on Junpei in MORTAL KOMBAT for the right to enter Japan. Notice the movement directions in the first panel, and the third panel being a CG event. Largo’s kung fu is best.

Here is the scene where Yuki still has Piro’s bookbag and unexpectedly finds him behind the counter at Megagamers. Because this is the Piro route we’re seeing this all happen from Piro’s perspective, which is quite different from the original comic. I think the first-person view might even work better in this case. Yuki’s panic is adorable, even in sketchy form.

Also adorable even in sketchy form are some of the other happenings. Here are Megumi at Anna Miller’s, Largo with his Cool Thing, and Ping left behind in the apartment when Tsubasa heads for America.

In addition to the CG events, there will be animation in spots. Here’s an action scene at Anna Miller’s. Coffee Pot INCOMING! The CG event of Kimiko franticly apologizing afterwards looks like it’ll be really cute.

Of course the one huge thing we don’t see in all of this is Piro himself, since the Piro route is all from his viewpoint. Fred normally does a great job with show-don’t-tell in the comic. But when we can’t see one major character who is there for every scene, that can be hard to do. Sometimes a bit of inner monologue is the answer, like here after Piro pulls his tail too hard and rips a hole in his pants while talking to Kimiko at Megagamers.

Live Draw Note: Fred has been bouncing back and forth between Ustream and YouTube lately for his live draws. Make an account, or keep an eye in his facebook or twitter to know when he goes live, then join us for the fun.