Frequently Asked Questions

**Alone In The Mall** is a fan-produced not-for-profit Resident Evil™,

## Q: What is a visual novel?

**A:** Unlike a "graphic novel" (which is typically a long-form comic book), a "visual novel", also known as a *novel game* (ノベルゲーム) is a unique style of semi-interactive fiction in-which a story is told in a digital format with the aid of visuals and audio, allowing the reader to more fully immerse themselves in the story being told.

Some visual novels are choice-based, in which the player occasionally has the chance to respond to prompts with a variety of preset responses. The decisions made initiate possible events or dialogue within the story, and depending on the choices made by the player, the story branches into multiple forks. Unlike the more common adventure games/RPGs (such as those produced by *Telltale*), the relatively simplistic nature of visual novels allows for such decisions to play a much larger role in the determinate outcomes and narrative structure of the story.

Visual novels have been very successful and popular in Japan for decades now, dating as far back as the mid-1980s. In 2006, they made up nearly 70% of all PC titles released that year. With the release of English-translated titles such as Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the *When They Cry* series (*Higurashi No Naku Koro ni* and *Umineko no Naku Koro ni*), *Clannad, Steins;Gate, Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime, Saya no Uta, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, School Days* and *The House in Fata Morgana* visual novels have slowly been able to cross-pollinate and reach acclaim in foreign and international markets.

However, only within the last decade have they started to make a significant impact in the realm of the western "indie games" market: with the development and release of western-produced VNs such as *Katawa Shoujo, Doki Doki Literature Club, Dream Daddy, Hatoful Boyfriend, VA-11 Hall-A* and *Butterfly Soup*.

## Q: Aren't visual novels just dating sims & hentai?

**A:** This is a popular misconception largely due to the popularity of such games, particularly in the west during the age of web-based flash games. However, the "visual novel" medium is almost as diverse as the video game medium itself in terms of content and tone.

*Alone In The Mall* will **not** contain any dating simulator or pornographic/eroge (エロゲ, erotic) elements in it's gameplay. However, romantic subplots and mature/adult themes may preside within the narrative.

## Q: What is doujin-soft / doujinshi?

**A:** Dōjinshi (同人誌, often transliterated as *doujinshi*) is the Japanese term for self-published and/or fan-made works. This includes (but is not limited to) dōjin games: also called dōjin soft (同人ソフト). These visual novel-style games are created as fan-made works based on pre-existing fandoms (usually anime and manga, but also for TV shows or even other pre-existing games and visual novels).

In Japan, print-based dōjinshi was extremely prevalent in the early days of the *BIO HAZARD* fandom, although some were explicit in nature, many (such as the *S.T.A.R.S. Survival Manual* series) were simply ongoing "zines" dedicated solely to the promotion and publication of the fanart and works of the community (such as short stories and manga).

## Q: Where did the concept of "Alone in the Mall" come about?

**A:** The origins of *Alone in the Mall* stretch all the way back to ye' yonder days of the InterWebs 2.0 in the foretold year of 2006 A.D. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of much excitement, and consequentially the age of much derision in the fandom as *Resident Evil 4* had not only rocked the metaphorical boat of a starving fandom, but we argued endlessly on various proto-Discord servers/subreddits known as "message boards" about the then-recently unveiled *Resident Evil 5* teaser, and whether the brown-haired guy with the gun in the trailer was:

a) *Chris Redfield*

b) *Bruce McGivern*

c) *Carlos Oliveira*

d) *Billy Coen (having undergone some serious laser tattoo removal)*

e) *Kevin Ryman*

or f) *some new character entirely.*

I'll let you take a quick guess who it was.

Back then, we youngin's of the more \**ahem*\* creative type, would jump at the chance to stretch our proverbial muscles at a freeform communal writing activity known as "roleplaying" (nobody called it that, it was always exclusively RP or RPG). The concept was simple, you create an original character, or volunteer to step into the shoes of an existing one, and then either join someone else's existing thread, or create your own loose concept/start to a narrative (often based around a single location or theme) and others would join, taking the full creative control out of your hands and launching yourself and your character into a several-day-to-several-month-long virtual oasis of character interaction and on-the-fly plot crafting.

*Alone in the Mall* was one such example.

In 2012, long after the death of the message board that once hosted *Alone in the Mall* alongside a vibrant community, a strenuous journey was undertook to transform that exciting RP-ing experience into a novel-length fanfiction, but was met with dead-end after dead-end. Ultimately, much of what once was *Alone in the Mall* was ultimately abandoned and left forgotten to the winds of history.

Yet, around 2018, from this struggle that a spiritual successor that kept the title and many of the original story's core tenets (such as the titular shopping mall) was reanimated from the grave. However, this project, free from the shackles of it's former narrative & characters, was not satisfied simply being limited to the medium of written words. It demanded life and, much like an unholy "G" creature, continued to evolve rapidly on a cellular-level until it outgrew even the confines of "the mall" and became a new lifeform entirely.

## Q: "Alone in the Mall" is a stupid title.

At the time of writing, *"Alone in the Mall"* is simply a tentative title that is certain to change as the project get's closer to release. For the time being, it exists as a placeholder to honor the project's aforementioned roots.

## Q: Isn't this just glorified fanfiction?

**A:** *Yes.*

***However,*** there are some key differences to those disenfranchised by the typical pickings of say, *Fanfiction.net* or *Ao3*. From the very beginning, the goal of this project has been to avoid many of the tropes and trappings of the medium, such as the "shipping" of established characters, deviation from established canon in favor of head-canon'd narratives, quirky original Mary-Sue/Marty-Stu characters with unnatural hair-eye colors, or the alteration of series protagonist's established personalities to act as "author surrogates" or personal "soap boxes".

By contrast, this project seeks to adhere to incredibly strict canon compliance: avoiding any notable deviation from the timeline and narrative already established by the Capcom series. A player's first experience of *Alone in the Mall'*s narrative should feel and flow perfectly with the rest of the franchise's official titles.

For that reason, this story has intentionally forgone the appearance of *any* of the series' traditional lead characters (*Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Leon S. Kennedy, Claire Redfield, Albert Wesker, Ethan Winters, Ada Wong,* etc.) and will instead introduce a new cast with the intent of providing new, deeply-humanized and third-dimensional protagonists to act as the player's vessel into the world of Raccoon City.

These characters are not highly-trained badasses, virus-enhanced superhumans or otherwise immune or special. Rather, they are vulnerable, flawed, and ultimately disposable: to an extent that favors the risk-heavy choice-based narrative structure provided by the visual novel medium.

## Q: How can I help? / Are you looking for X/Y?

**A:** Yes, yes *and* yes.

## Q: Can I crowdfund and/or donate to this project?

**A:** Unfortunately, no. Being a fan project we're strictly "not-for-profit" and that includes being unable to accept donations or funding for production.

This also means that we are **not** able to pay any artists, writers, promoters or voice actors for their participation in this project. Furthermore, all ownership or copyright to the materials produced explicitly for this project is expliclty forgone. All labor contributed to this work has been done out of a mutual love for the *Resident Evil* franchise and a shared determination to see this project to completion and be a part of the community required to do so.

## Q: Aren't you worried about Capcom/cancellation?

**A:** Historically, one need look no further than the thriving *Mega Man* community to see that Capcom has been incredibly benevolent towards unofficial fan projects that follow an undefined series of guidelines that are of a similar vein to *Alone in the Mall*.

That said, there have been a number of projects that have received highly-publicized "cease-and-desist" letters leading to their cancellations, among these are the fan remakes of *Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil: Code Veronica X* and *Rockman EXE: Phantom of Network*.

However, it should be noted some pretty distinct differences may have played a factor here, in the case of the *Resident Evil 2: Reborn* fan remake, the project was canned largely due to a remake already being in active development at Capcom. In the others, the fact still remains that these projects acting as "remakes" of existing games (especially in lieu of Capcom actually marketing and releasing several official remakes in recent years) runs into the issue of legally protecting it's intellectual property and brand from outside dilution.

For this reason, *Alone in the Mall*, while still utilizing characters, storylines and locations from the *Resident Evil™/Biohazard* franchise, has intentionally and respectfully chosen to exclude the trademarked "**Resident Evil™**" branding from it's title.

However, yes, the fact remains that Capcom could at any point, for any number of reasons, choose to order a cease-and-desist to this project. In such an event, there would be two choices depending on how deep into development the project is:
The first, should the project be far-enough along in development, would be to completely scrub and rework the project of any connection to the Resident Evil series and continue on as entirely new and original IP.
The second would be to scrap the project entirely.

Obviously, neither outcome would be favorable, but such is accepted the moment one decides to pursue this sort of project. The decision ultimately lays not with us, but entirely with the legal department at Capcom.

## Q: Why can't I edit this wiki?

**A:** This wiki is locked down and protected to prevent against rampant vandalism and the addition of unnecessary fluff or information that contradicts the creators involved in this project (such as the addition of fanon or random people's OCs). This wiki is also **not** meant to act as an alternative, duplicate or surrogate to the main *Resident Evil Wiki* and all the rules and administrative decisions made by the staff there will apply here.

As we branch out and expand our team and development moves into later stages, more people will be able to edit this wiki. Should the title reach full release, the floodgates will be opened and the wiki will be free-for-all to edit, albeit with moderation to prevent advertisement, vandalization or spam.