[Creative Award Impressions] Congratulations on the Completion! The Story of How I Ended Up Writing a Novel Instead of Making a Game (Self-Commentary)

Yes, I was supposed to be making a game.

Yet, before I knew it, I had written a long-form fantasy novel of about 100,000 characters.

……Why did it turn out like this?!

So, with that said.

It is complete!

Legend of Lineage has now officially concluded!

Thank you for sticking with this long story. To those who read every chapter, I have nothing but sincere gratitude. Thank you so much. For those who haven't yet, there is a link at the end of this article. Please check it out if you feel like it.

This work effectively concludes at chapter 32 so it would have been perfectly fine to end it there, but the lingering effect of chapter 33 is incredible so please do check it out. I think the sense of satisfaction after reading it is quite high (it's like a staff roll sequence).

So, I thought I would write a little anecdote and some behind-the-scenes production stories.

I want to feel excited!

Now, what exactly is an exciting and heart-pounding experience in a novel? Recently, it's been said that isekai reincarnation and villainess stories are popular (by whom? ...by AI), but it's also said that people are starting to get tired of them.

And so, I thought that the 'excitement and heart-pounding' I was looking for was a gaming experience.

The Starting Point—That is 'Game'

Yes, this 'Legend of Lineage' was not written as a novel from the start. Originally, I thought, 'I'm going to make a game (RPG).'

The title image of this article is what I planned (or was it?) to use as the opening image. I might change it.

Why a game in the first place?

That is, to have people listen to my music, that's it. I was making music for an RPG, so I thought, 'Right, if I make an RPG, that will become the BGM, and it's the best way to have people listen to it!'

That was the simple motivation. So, when I turned it into a novel, that was carried over as is.

Well, the story isn't affected even without the music, so I made it optional whether or not to play it as BGM.

Creating event scene images with AI

And, creating images for the game's event scenes using generative AI was where it all began. No, seriously, the quality of the images that came out was just too good, wasn't it? I found myself thinking, 'Alright, let's expand the scenario with this.'

However, one problem arose here.

Generative AI images aren't 100% predictable according to one's intentions. Especially the background parts.

For example, in the work, there is a scene where 'Elise smashes a rock and finds Altorius' at the beginning. It's here.

In terms of the game map, I had assumed a different location (a path on the edge of a village), but the image the AI created was a 'forest-like background with a nice atmosphere, surrounded by trees'.

If that happens, to eliminate contradictions as a game, you have to make the actual game map side match that image (the forest background), right? If the map is a plain, it won't match the event scene (image).

In other words, I realized that I had to proceed with an [AI Image First] approach, so to speak.

Thinking with an AI image-first approach

So, I had to create the event images before making the map. Without them, I couldn't make the map. Therefore, I dug deeper and deeper into the game's scenario and proceeded with image generation.

'So this background is where these two are?'
'Oh! There's a cliff next to the sea!'

I kept creating images like that, but when you try to create images (= game events), the story (plot) leading up to them inevitably becomes more detailed.

Before long, it started to feel like, 'Isn't this becoming like a novel?'

And then, I thought it would be interesting if that exciting and thrilling game experience could be turned into text and experienced as a novel too! Would it be interesting?! Maybe. I don't know.

That was the catalyst for 'Novel: Legend of Lineage'.

Points of focus

So, I decided to write it as a novel, and I was very conscious of the following two points.

1. The world around the protagonists moves independently, in parallel with them.

2. Each character makes the best decisions they can, based on the scope of what they can see and the limits of what they know at that moment.

Well, it's obvious, but if you're not conscious of it, you end up with things like, 'Wait, this person doesn't have this information here,' or 'Why is this person showing up here again?' (I was conscious of it, but maybe it still happened a bit? Hmm).

The world moves on its own, and the enemies move at their own timing, too. In a novel, I want to show this 'movement of the world away from the protagonist's perspective.'

Intermission System

Now, I wondered how to express the world away from the protagonist's perspective, and after thinking about it, I decided to use 'intermissions.' However, they aren't actually 'intermissions.' They are 'super important hidden stories' disguised as intermissions.

At first, I started with the idea of 'depicting the state of the world progressing in parallel' away from the protagonists' perspective, but as I wrote about this and that on Will's side, it gained quite a bit of depth.

When I was thinking about the game scenario, I vaguely thought, 'Will tries to save his wife, but is caught off guard and possessed by an evil god,' but in the game, there wasn't really a place to express that. In the novel, I dug into that quite deeply.

Finally

Since I wanted to see if I could write the game experience as is, there might be some game-like direction and a bit of convenience. Like, why did I happen to stop by Ashbury on the eve of the decisive battle? Why is Silva waiting there? Well, I could probably come up with a 'necessity' for that after the fact.

However, I've intentionally turned a blind eye to that, thinking it's part of the 'experience.' Actually, if that scene came up in a game event, I think I'd find it 'intense.'

Also, I prioritized pacing, so there are many game-event-like descriptions. I had to keep it within 140,000 characters including the final ending (*Creative Award 2026), so the end might feel quite rushed.

Even so, I think it has an adventure RPG-like atmosphere.

Well, while making various excuses, I started having fun writing the novel, and the game development has come to a complete halt. Will I resume it eventually?

Please wait without expecting too much. Since I haven't really promoted it, I don't think anyone is waiting. Well then, thank you very much to those who read this work.

Thank you for reading this far!

This work is completed in 34 chapters, and you can read it all at once even now. I've received happy feedback from readers saying, 'The development after defeating the classic evil king is intense,' and 'It's a slow-burn type that draws you in more and more toward the second half.'

If you haven't read it yet, please, give it a try now.

▶Click here for the beginning of the story

See you later.

By the way, would you like to see the final chapter and the ending?

▶Final Chapter

▶Ending

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