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I've just finished watching Akiba Maid War, that anime made me laugh and sad on the time. Pretty entertaining anime to say the least! Still figuring whether I should continue watching other animes on my lists or play/read VNs instead... Hmm... Decisions... Decisions...

Hello Fellow Creatives! I made some cool new seamless texture images to share with you. Free, as always, to use in your projects with attribution. They're on my TXR - Brick - Seamless page...here's the link: https://soundimage.org/txr-brick-seamless/ PREVIEW VIDEO Big news for those of you who are using my music tracks: I've created a brand new preview video that contains a sampling of my music tracks that you'll find in my Ogg Music Mega Pack. You can check it out here: https://youtu.be/W7yQVscjqUM?si=wD1XqAOJ6_Lswgqw PACKS THAT GROW WITH YOU I think the coolest thing about the music packs isn't just that they keep growing as I add new tracks to them, but that Gumroad allows me to notify users so they can download the newest additions as they come out. I really like the idea of music packs that grow along with the people who are using them. You'll find the Mega Pack here: https://soundimage.org/ogg-game-music-mega-pack/ And my genre packs here: https://soundimage.org/ogg-music-packs-2/ As always, enjoy, stay safe and keep creating!

Since this post, I have finished ENA: Dream BBQ and played the following games: - Undertale (Only played the neutral and pacifist routes. I am waiting a bit before I consider doing the genocide route). - Azure Striker Gunvolt (A fun game that could have used more story. With older Mega Man games, I'm fine not knowing more about the Robot Masters since they are robots. Their objective is to prevent me from reaching Dr. Wily. With Gunvolt, he is facing other humans. We only get to meet one at the end of a level.) - OneShot (Has an interesting story and setting. I find it a little funny how they include the player into the game.) - Vibrant Venture (The game is not finished yet, but its gameplay is interesting as you swap between four characters to perform actions while keeping momentum.) - Magical Nut Ikuro (The newest game from Querate. I was able to finish the main story. Overall, it is a good game with decent characters. I do not see myself remembering any of them, but they work with the story the game wants to tell. I do wish more was done in certain areas.) As for some other games, I do plan on getting back into Marvel Rivals asap. Also, I want to play more fighting games (Smash, Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising, Street Fighter 6, etc.). I just hope that I will have a lot of time to interact with other players online.

I find it bloated too, and I keep it as a last resort when everything else fails lol. Have to admit though that I'm rather happy to at least have it as it is the only one that provides regular updates. Agent script are quite updated too, but it's a bit slow. Even if I can't get the v0.1, I'll nevertheless read the link you provided, maybe I'll get something out of this. In any case, thanks a lot for everything.

Yep, I know about Luna, and experienced firsthand that Defender detected it as malware While I feel it's too bloated for normal use, I someties find it useful to find H-code that I then could put into Textractor Unfortunately it seems that older versions aren't available anymore. And scripts based on D-CODE and _ExecutionWatch indeed crash in current version - I just tried my script for Time Leap, and it didn't work So it seems that currently the only option for getting script for yet unsupported game is to ask on their discord and hope that someone makes it...

Thanks a lot, I'll check the link you gave next weekend. Hopefully, it won't be too techy for me and I'll be able to learn how to adapt existing scripts for games unsupported. Although it might be useless since you seem more knowledgeable than me and probably already know of this, as a thank you : if you don't know LunaTranslator, you might be interested https://github.com/HIllya51/LunaTranslator . It's more akin to Textractor but is still maintained. It also works with quite a few emulated games as well. Warning though : It's detected as a malware by quite a lot of AV software but as far as I know, it is clean, although I can't guarantee (besides, it is not surprising that an app tinkering with memory might be considered malware by AV). EDIT : do you know where I can download the v0.1 of Agent ? Can't find a link to this old version.

There was a tutorial for the older version of Agent, about finding so-called "D-CODE" - and I used that method. https://github.com/0xDC00/agent/wiki/Finding-D-CODE-(Deprecated) It seems that ExecutionWatch script in latest version of Agent(0.1.4) is a little broken, and doesn't catch shift-jis encoded strings properly, so I'm using Agent v0.1. Currently it seems that it's recommended to write custom scripts from scratch, but that requires more programming and inner workings of a given game/console knowledge, so it's a bit above my level

About Agent and this tinkering you speak of : is it easy to explain how to do it or do you know of any tutorial or something ? I'm used to Textractor and such tools and I've also used Agent with a Switch game on one occasion but I have no clue on how to write a new script for Agent. Is there an easy way ?

Maybe Omerta is the VN that you search for with it had hitman MC who had killed a couple along with blonde hero being the gang leader, although the couple didn't related to the gang though.

So far I finished 3 out of 5 routes in Time Leap - and it's quite good (At last!) While nothing outstanding in terms of plot or romance, I find it very enjoayble - there's some good comedy, a bit of drama and lots of heartwarming family moments I'll write more once I complete it.

Generation Witch I bought the Physical Ed. to support the creator

Hi, I'm trying to locate a game that I remember seeing gameplay for on YouTube a long time ago. Here is what I know. I remember the title or an advertisement for this having a raven/outline of a bird. The plot was the main character is a hitman; something went wrong with one of his jobs and a couple ended up dead bc of this. The couple was actually connected to the gang who had hired the main character for this job so needless to say not a good thing. One of the routes that I remember leads you to make up with the gang that hired you, once you clear up the misunderstanding and that you were framed for the couple's death, you join them as a temporary hire with the idea that if you prove your worth, they might take you on full time. There is a blond guy who is one of the possible love interests is either the second in command or one of the people higher up in the gang. In the begging her does some hazing and gives you a beat down while two other members hold you still (which he later gets in trouble for, and you have the opportunity to cover for him) Does anyone recognize this VN? I've been looking for it for months.

BIG NEWS! I've created a brand new preview video that contains a sampling of my music tracks that you'll find in my Ogg Music Mega Pack. You can check it out here: https://youtu.be/W7yQVscjqUM?si=wD1XqAOJ6_Lswgqw PACKS THAT GROW WITH YOU I think the coolest thing about the music packs isn't just that they keep growing as I add new tracks to them, but that Gumroad allows me to notify users so they can download the newest additions as they come out. I really like the idea of music packs that grow along with the people who are using them. https://soundimage.org/ogg-game-music-mega-pack/ Mp3s ARE ALWAYS FREE That said, this week's new Mp3 music tracks are on my Action 2 page: "Fantasy Racing Game Menu_LoFi" "Mech Street Fighters_LoFi" "Wild West Coast Racing_LoFi" https://soundimage.org/action-2/ As always, my Mp3 tracks are 100% free to use with attribution. Enjoy!

I'm currently working on translating Kabe no Mukou 1 with Deepseek, but there is that issue I have - I can't make tools for Anim (both) to work on smaller file containing descriptions for recollection room (they usually called xxx_define.dat). Seems there is an issue with their older 'define' files ( Kabe 1 is 2013, and I also tried it on their first 2011 game). Any help, perhaps from the ones who are into coding/AI? One tool is based on py script containing ~300 lines. I put the tools, both 'define' files and Kabe 1 script - that tools work fine with - on Mega? https://mega.nz/file/8hV0gJSJ#ASuu_EFR8STnlFoCknn6w3TsQrF4YNtim-e0hVHXehQ

For the info sometimes there are manga adaptation when it come to dorama just like Glass Mask, so I'll comment on whenever there was one. That said for Glass Mask obviously the dorama still not finished the story yet seeing the author still not resuming her work in 2025, but at least I know it adapt majority of the volume (38 out of 49) with it had second season later. That's all for what I can comment in regard of 1997 dorama here.

It should be noted that before DDLC Nitroplus already done the similar thing with You and Me and Her: A Love Story, although in the end Shimokura Vio (The Nitroplus writer) and Dan Salvato have different idea on where they went from the infamous twist. I do know there are much more examples for the first point, but the element in those examples are quite complicated to discuss. For the second point, arguably Umineko and Danganronpa V3 can count. In those case though it's note really joke like Lamunation or Royale, but instead it's where the writer can be pretty much perceived as someone who lashed out towards its customer base, and of course most of the players were very reactive at that with it cause no small controversy. For the last point, I don't remember much VN limit the player's progression, but I do remember there's a review of Love Plus which mention some eccentric feature with one of those that you must say 'I love you' to the DS had you decided to leave the game causing it to become locked with the only way to unlocked it by saying that, which in turn it made the VN more like pet simulator only with the heroine. I don't know if Love Plus count toward the example of meta fiction, but at least it's the VN that I know limit the player's progression. That's all for what I can write in regard of this topic.

It has been a few months since my last comment here. College kept me busy till the very end. Also, Momocon just ended. Since this comment in March, I finished Sakura: The Jirai-kei Magical Girl, Mojika - Truth Rears Its Ugly Head, and Love's Sweet Garnish. As for Livestream 2, I failed to make any progress on it. I have been too busy playing other games. Currently, I started Love's Sweet Garnish 2 over a week ago. Mojika is definitely my favorite and most memorable of the three. It is VERY different from any VN that I read with its plot containing many scenes that are hard to read through. However, it did not get into my Top 10 due to me not liking most of the characters that much and the routes not doing enough for me. I get what the story was leading up to, but it does not come to a conclusion that satisfied me that much due to my thoughts on its characters. Sakura: The Jirai-kei Magical Girl is just a decent VN. The scenes with the UMAs or half-humans are the best parts of this VN's story. It is just a shame that Sakura was making me a little mad due to her laziness and inability to clean up after herself. How she acts is not cute just because of her gender. Also, the romance is just decent. It is not a VN that I would recommend to anyone anytime soon. At least Tsubaki was always a pleasure to see. Lastly, we have Love's Sweet Garnish. If you are not captivated by seeing cute girls, then you will not like this one very much. Many events for most of the story feel repetitive. Also, the characters do not really deal with any problems until the heroine routes. For one of them, they had to make a character be out of character despite their little screen time prior to the start of the route. Thankfully, the rest of the VN (its sweet premise, a couple of wholesome moments in the routes, etc.) is fine, making it a decent VN in my eyes.

Welcome to the VNTS Review for this week. For the title because we have Putrika released with the opening has focus on the jewel, I made the reference of Cabbage Soft's Jewelry series with I add 'Lights' from Perennial Dusk's writer previous work (Irotoridori no Hikari with 'Hikari' mean light) and 'Aria' from Iwakura Aria, so we have 'Jewelry Light Aria'. For this week, the most obvious thing is that it was very active compared to the last week with several releases along with the publishers announced the exact release date for several titles. and more importantly there are several updates from fan translation section for better or worse. Overall, this week is definitely an interesting one, and let's see what I can write in regard of it. First of all, I should address the news that we know was happened, namely Sakura no Uta translation project was stopped because the team was told by the developer to do so. While it's too bad seeing it's one of well received VN with it currently has sizeable progress, the developer has the right to do so, like it or not. Besides, nowadays there's a number of VNs available in English anyway, including some with the past problematic translation projects such as Hatsusaku or Mahoyo, so if I may be frank I didn't feel the loss too much. That said, had it happen nine years ago I probably reacted more strongly. In the end, I just hope that the C&D may resulted with Sakura no Uta getting the official release even though the chance for it seems to be quite low if not miniscule. Dramatic Create released Nie no Machi fandisc, and I only know Nie no Machi is BL VN with the MC manage to date one of handsome heroes after being stranded into another world that is full of death. Feel free to get the fandisc if you played the original Nie no Machi and want to see more of it, and have fun. We also have dramatic GL VN Iwakura Aria release date was changed from August 18th to August 14th, and well at least you can get it quicker even though it's only four days earlier. Sekai need to delay Nekopara 5 to 30th later because of some approval problem (Most likely from Steam reviewer), and turned out they already have sizeable progress from their Anime Central announcements (Nekonin exHeart Spin fandisc is already fully translated and edited while Dra-Con Cafe is already fully translated). After delayed for some times because of the engine work, Nekonyan finally have the exact release date for Sakura Celebration, and it'll be on 30th later so you can note the date if you've been waiting for it ever since Sol Press announced it. Oh yes, we have Kawaiinium promote Tayutama 18+ patch, so we got the confirmation that the 18+ patch is official. For fan translation, obviously there are some more updates beside the cancellation Sakura no Uta translation project. First, we have Daybreak give surprising update for Majikoi A Plus Disk with it now was at 43.14% translated along with 3.44% edited. We also have a fan translate a nukige called Sneaky Link Seduced by my Girlfriend’s Best Friend which telling us the story about the horny MC Yukito who has his childhood become his girlfriend, although he was at the crossroad where his girlfriend's best friend using her body to seduce him, so Yukito being horny was become indecisive before he decided to do some bold thing. Well, at least I can say the art is not too bad if you're not the fan of the story where the MC has affair with another woman while he is in relationship. For the last fan translation update, we have two updates from Shinzou with Dekinai is at 20% edited and Sousaku Kanojo is halfway edited. That's all for the fan translation updates. Last but not the least, we have Putrika 1st Cut released in which is pretty much new Uguisu Kagura VN even though they used doujin name in order to save some cost or something like that. In Putrika, we have a girl, Lazriel, find herself with an amnesia has an encounter with the demon boy, Remi. Soon, Lazriel find herself has a dream with she was called Ilsa in the dream with she very devoted to an Archangel, which would eventually led into the tragedy. Uguisu Kagura here obviously still has some knack to write the dramatic story, with the voice acting direction can rival Lupercalia. Note that it's called 1st Cut, so obviously Uguisu Kagura still has more story to tell, with the most recent update is that they're almost finished with the 2nd Cut. Go get Putrika if you want first officially translated Uguisu Kagura VN, and have fun. Also there are some other secret projects from Kagami Games with some have sizeable progress, so I'll look forward to when they announce those. That's all for what I can write in regard of this week, and see you next week.

This is a condensed version of the full article which can be found on my Main Blog Here. The Magic Of Buttons One of the most underappreciated areas in a visual novel is the work which goes into its UI design. An ideal UI will never draw attention to itself and become a natural extension of the player’s engagement with the game. This is not an easy thing to achieve since a balance has to be struck between its presence on screen, its ease of use and its aesthetics. Over the years a standard set of expected practices have grown up for both ADV and NVL UI design and the majority of visual novels follow them to avoid the pitfalls of invasive UI. However, if the developer is willing to run the risk of potentially irritating the player with unfamiliar layouts, there is value in breaking these conventions for the sake of creating a memorable overall experience. How do these differing approaches influence the form and function of visual novels? Let’s press some buttons and find out. Standardised Structure In order to ensure the best player experience, visual novel developers have learned from the mistakes and successes of the past and formed a cohesive set of standards for UI which most modern titles adhere to. These rules of style manifest slightly differently depend on if the game uses ADV or NVL as its means of text presentation. For an ADV title we can look at how Sabbat of the Witch handles its UI elements and given Yuzusoft’s prominence within the industry they make for a good bar to gauge how standards have been cemented. The first thing which will strike the viewer is the layout of the text box comprising the bottom eighth of the screen. Here it is a translucent orange textbox and this use of colour and opacity is done in order to make the text clear to read while not entirely obscuring the background and sprites behind it. Being as nonintrusive as possible is the aim here as it means having as few barriers as possible to the player’s immersion in the narrative and this prevents them for being reminded of the fact they are playing a game. Along the bottom of the screen are a series of small buttons that provide access to the various load and save features, the ability to skip in differing ways and other important settings. These are made as small as possible while having the ability to let it disappear if the player decides it is in the way and this is done to remove as much clutter from the screen as possible while still providing access to all the needed features a player expects to have at their fingertips. As for the text in the text box, the name of the speaking character is sits above the main body of the text aligned with its left side and the text itself does not fill the entire box, but instead leaves about a third of the text box as empty space. This formatting of the text placement on the UI keeps the text feeling like a consistent flow as everything occupies roughly the same amount of space regardless of how much is said and it prevents the text from feeling disorderly. All these common UI elements are in service of the general aim to make itself as easy to ignore as possible while still being clear and navigable. There is also a light overall feeling from the small size of the UI and the way it takes up so little of the screen allows for the character sprites and CG to have an immediate and striking impact. It is for these reasons that ADV is favoured by many visual novels which want to keep their tone bright or those which want to place an emphasis on their characters. Hidden UI The standardisation of NVL has a lot of similarities to that of ADV since both stem from the same design philosophies, but they manifest in different ways and for different purposes. A common trend in NVL titles is to have no UI buttons on the interface at all and instead require the player to open and entirely separate pause menu to access other functions like loading and saving. On the surface this inconvenience might seem to be a major issue but it is a trade off to compensate for the much larger amount of the screen which is covered by the NVL textbox. Since it covers much of the portraits and CGs and puts a greater emphasis on itself compared to its ADV counterpart, there is a need to avoid drawing the player out of the experience through the large UI and removing an unnecessary element helps keep the focus on the narrative. Thinking Outside Of The Box Breaking the rules and conventions of a medium has a strong impact on the viewer and UI can make good use of this shock factor to play on their emotional state. Rather than being clean and out of sight these visual novels make their UI take up large sections of the screen and be loud and obvious at all times. Such a direct presentational element is impossible for the player to ignore and helps the imagery and messaging this interface is aiming to convey. Parts of the UI might also change over time to keep itself interesting and reflect the narrative or mental state of the characters at any given moment. The uniqueness of these aspects helps the title to stick in the player’s memory through its contrast with the familiar UI from other games and encourages the player to return and experience the distinctiveness they cannot find anywhere else. However, standards exist for a reason and a visual novel using an odd or expansive interface may run afoul of frustrations stemming from the inconvenience and confusion caused when attempting to do something as simple as saving. For an example of what this kind of UI looks like in practice we can turn to Girlfriend Simulator. It uses a style of frame UI which encloses the backgrounds and sprites while taking up a large section of screen space. Large and clear buttons occupy the left hand side for easy access to the core features of a visual novel and are presented as part of the edges of the main window alongside the text box to create a feeling of importance and continuity with the rest of the visuals. Behind all of this an ominous image of an eye hang in a sea of unsettlingly dim orange which communicates the tone and atmosphere of the game before a single word has appeared on screen and remains as a constant reminder of what underlies everything. In the top left sits an unease meter that slowly ticks up as the player makes their choices and acts as a constant communication of the protagonist’s decaying state. Together these powerful elements show how a large UI can impact a player's perception of a work and the way it can influence they emotional state. Conclusion As the part of a visual novel which is always present on screen, it is important for the design of the UI to meet the needs of both the developer and the player. Standardised rules have formed for what UI should look like and these have influenced many titles. Those using ADV aim for a clean interface where the player has easy access to all the key features they need while not distracting from the visuals. NVL takes this to a greater extreme with many games often having no visible buttons at all and those with them try to frame them within the aesthetics of the narrative. Rejecting rules and guidelines can provide a powerful impact for a visual novel UI and further the tonal and thematic ideas the game is presenting. When it comes to UI there is a temptation to consider it as the last element in the design process for a visual novel, but to do so is stripping yourself of understanding a valuable angle of how the player will experience your game.

Thank you very much!!!!Do you know where to search haahah i am searching everywhere but no luck :(...

I briefly search the released patch for Sayooshi, but no luck. That said, you can probably search for the pre-patched version of Sayooshi so you didn't need to worry on how to apply the patch, and if you manage to find it then have fun.

An episode for the extra material such as game manuals and TL notes that sometimes appear with VNs!

Hello everyone...i know that there is some eng patch from long ago for this VN but for days i was searching and searching and nothing :)... I would be very happy if someone know where to find this patch for ''sayonara wo oshiete'' and how to apply patch?Thanks in advance i realy looking forward to play/read this vn. Best regards

Looks like I lied. I skipped April... Currently I'm reading Mahoyo https://vndb.org/v777 which so far is fine...Nasu being Nasu basically, so it's verbose or dragged out in some places, but it's still entertaining. Next week NekoPara After, Pillagers of Raillore, Clover Reset, Happiness (2): Sakura Celebration, and Perennial Dusk: Kinsenka all release within two days and I plan to read all of them, so deciding a bit on the order of that, probably NekoPara > Happiness > Kinsenka > Clover Reset > Raillore for both spoiler risk and then who is on Steam for the minor help of fueling their algorithm early. But since that post above I have finished Omoneko and read (I'm going to omit very short titles unless they were good): Futatabu Fuyu ga Kuru Toki (https://vndb.org/v51099), ImaImo (https://vndb.org/v7766), Karehana (https://vndb.org/v19658), LOOPERS (https://vndb.org/v29445), Saya no Uta (https://vndb.org/v97), Onee-chan no Yuuwaku (https://vndb.org/v22483), reread Love, Elections & Chocolate (https://vndb.org/v4028), Mojika (https://vndb.org/v21667), Tayutama (https://vndb.org/v828), reread Nukitashi (https://vndb.org/v22899), Nukitashi 2 (https://vndb.org/v23741), Hentai Prison (https://vndb.org/v31055), Kouguchi Rinko (https://vndb.org/v25713), reread Kinkoi (https://vndb.org/v21852), reread Kinkoi FD (https://vndb.org/v24717), SugarKiss! (https://vndb.org/v26603), and Mrs. Hinako (https://vndb.org/v30294). Incoming wall of text with super mini-thoughts on all of the above. Woo...soo...from that big list starting at the top, Futatabu Fuyu ga Kuru Toki was a quick read (under an hour) but still managed to be decently emotional, but I wish there was more of it. ImaImo was incredibly good for an AA moege, managing to tackle some more serious issues than most of the 18+ ones do and is now tied for my highest rated Sprite game (fandiscs not included). Karehana was was fine nakige, but its comedy didn't land for me so it felt very one note. Loopers I was not a big fan of, since it largely felt like a commercial for Geocaching rather than a VN until near the end. Saya's Song I liked, but ultimately I feel is overrated (I gave it a 7.3/10) a bit, but is still well worth a read for most people. Onee-chan no Yuuwaku is probably my favorite nukige ever right now, both because it hit on some things I really like, and because it was just incredibly sweet. Love, Elections & Chocolate's official release is far better than the fan translation that came out before it, and on a reread I enjoyed it more than my initial read through, it's a solid game, but I'm unsure I'd call it a moege since it handles some serious stuff at times. Mojika is a trip, it's more of a game about the presentation than the story itself, story is pretty dark, but it's the presentation that will carry this, I'd recommend checking it out on some level, maybe watching a short clip of it, and if the presentation vibes with you then dive in. Tayutama was good (if you only read one route) and decent (if you read everything), it largely just retreads a lot of the same events between routes with poor read detection so you either have to manually skip and possibly miss some line changes, or you have to speed read through it, other than that it also has some surprisingly serious or dark moments in a "moege". Nukitashi's be nukitashi-ing. They're good, but all over the place. If you like perverted humor with a surprisingly serious story, then go for them, they're rated well for a good reason. Hentai Prison is my favorite Qruppo game, and features a lot of references to other media (mostly movies), and was funny at times and managed some serious stories pretty well. Kouguchi Rinko is a comedy-nukige from Laplacian, it had me laughing extremely hard, but that may not hold true for everyone. Kinkoi is still arguably my favorite moege (the only two I'd rate above it from tone work's I'm not sure I'd call moege), and its fandisc, while a step below it, is still very entertaining. SugarKiss! was very cute, sweet, and a grounded adult romance, but largely centers around smoking, so if you're against that, skip it, but otherwise pick it up when it goes on sale, cause it's recently done that at 95% off. Lastly, Mrs. Hinako is a netori (so you play as the person doing the stealing) game that actually tells something of a story, and it lives up to its English title with Mrs. Hinako being in a terrible relationship (husband cheats on her, never works, gambles their money away, doesn't raise their daughter at all), with the MC coming to "save her". Although I prefer its Japanese title for it which doesn't try to "sell" netori as being a positive thing, which lets you make up your own mind about whether it was good or not. Either way it was an entertaining story with some decent H as well. *deep breath* Okay, see you in June...maybe

Damn, is this forum completely dead already? Anyway, as predicted, I couldn't be bothered to continue Kimi ni Steady Instead, yesterday I started Frontwing's Time Leap. Today I entered first route. So far I'm liking it - it plays many of my favorite tropes, like childhood memories with a bit of supernatural mystery. It's also quite good looking despite using cell-shaded 3d models instead of sprites. The positive side of that is the dialogues feel much more lively. I'm playing PS3 version - it works flawlessly with current version of RPCS3, and can be hooked using Agent after some tinkering