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market awareness was never JAST's strong point. Thanks for cheering me up this gloomy snowy morning!

So, the Getchu Bishoujo Game Awards 2015 are out. That was a lot faster than last year. Congratulations to Makura and SCA-Ji: Sakura no Uta won it. Looks like there's more to this title than just hype. I'm slowly getting interested. I made a short list with the 20 winners from last year with links to VNDB. 1.) Sakura no Uta (Makura) 2.) Sanoba Witch (Yuzusoft) 3.) Evenicle (Alice Soft) 4.) Sorcery Jokers (3rd Eye) 5.) Tokeijikake no Ley Line -Asagiri ni Chiru Hana- (Union Shift: Blossom) 6.) Amakano ~Second Season~ (Azarashi Soft) 7.) Miagete Goran, Yozora no Hoshi o (Pulltop) 8.) Pure x Connect (Smee) 9.) Hanasaki Work Spring! (Saga Planets) 10.) Hatsuru Koto Naki Mirai Yori (Front Wing) 11.) Custom Maid 3D2 (KISS) 12.) Primal x Hearts 2 (Marmalade) 13.) Rance 03 Leazas Kanraku (Alice Soft) 14.) Maggot Baits (Clock Up) 15.) Silverio Vendetta (Light) 16.) Koko kara Natsu no Innocence! (Clochette) 17.) Boku to Koi Suru Ponkotsu Akuma. (SMILE) 18.) Bishoujo Mangekyou -Kami ga Tsukuritamouta Shoujo-tachi- (ωstar) 19.) Koi x Shin Ai Kanojo (Us:Track) 20.) Soreyori no Prologue (Minori)

Not as good as Lumaria vs Everyone but still acceptable. /passes popcorn @bigfatround0

[18:48:15] 妹ちゃん: Tay, did I break fuwa's search engine? [18:48:45] Archmage Tay: ...? [18:49:36] 妹ちゃん: Basically I unticked the box, then I just ticked it back and saved. [18:49:44] Archmage Tay: hm [18:49:46] 妹ちゃん: Didn't think it would do anything [18:51:06] Archmage Tay: hm [18:51:11] Archmage Tay: looking into it [18:51:44] Archmage Tay: did you trigger a re-index? [18:51:52] Archmage Tay: like, manually, or something? [18:55:46] Archmage Tay: I doubt you caused it [18:55:51] Archmage Tay: I mean [18:55:54] Archmage Tay: it's more fun to pretend you did <19:05:12> "Nosebleed": Well Tay just said I probably wasn't the cause of the fuwa search breaking <19:05:22> "Nosebleed": Because changes only take effect when you click save <19:05:51> "Down": I'm still gonna push #blamenosebleed2016 if you don't mind DON'T BELIEVE WHAT THESE PEOPLE MAY TELL YOU #EXPOSED

So, they don't want to localize their games on our market? TIME TO LEARN JAPANESE

Because YOU DIRTY FOREIGNERS don't deserve the good vns and you SHOULD BE GRATEFUL for the few fan tls you get. If you beg hard enough MAYBE you will get one good official localization in 5 years.

Lolis

Fan demand may not be as strong on some of these titles as you may think. Koihime Musou wasn't a particularly large success. MangaGamer has maintained that Shin Koihime Musou would cost way too much to localize internally. There's a fan translation group currently working on SKM and MG has said that they're open to officially releasing that translation if it's any good, but they probably can't turn a profit if they do that game normally. At least, they believe they wouldn't. Also, keep in mind that MangaGamer is only one part of the equation here. The original developers and publishers of the Japanese games have a larger say in the matter than MG in a lot of cases. That's why MG is releasing Beat Blades Haruka this month instead of Rance, that came from AliceSoft who did not want to license out Rance, a very important property to them, as their first venture into the western market. I can only speculate, but I imagine Propeller wants the Steam money, so that's why Pygmalion and Tokyo Babel were licensed instead of Evolimit. These decisions aren't made randomly. It's very likely that Evolimit simply wouldn't make as much money as those two. Regarding Oretsuba, MangaGamer has already commented on this. Like SKM, it's too long, and it also has a higher skill requirement for translation if they want to do a decent job. This is another title MG has claimed would not be profitable to translate in the current environment. Well, they said that a year or two ago, so maybe things have changed since then, but they aren't pulling our leg on this. This is what they truly believe, and they're probably right. Regarding Tsuriotsu, I don't know if anyone at MG has ever commented on that directly, but my understanding is that it's a title they actually do want to work on but there's stupid business nonsense holding it back. With regards to Otoboku it's a sequel, and sequels rarely perform well, especially when the predecessor was pretty much panned and bombed. Otoboku 2 is by all accounts a FAR better VN, but it's also a very big risk because of the first one being shit. It's very important to have the correct perspective on these things. MG wields a lot less power and influence than you think they do and they can only do so much. edit: Also, same with SP. But SP probably pushes the all-ages/Steam angle a lot more aggressively and ropes in everyone who wants to cash in on the Steam market that way. Also I like how you mention positively stuff like g-senjou no maou, which is an easy, already translated title instead of something new because Akabei Soft won't let SP pick a newer title yet, and Purple Software/Chrono Clock which is identical to the Propeller situation (nobody wants that game over Hapymaher), and also they got one of Yuzusoft's least-liked titles from seven years ago because it's the one that can go on Steam. SP is hardly pulling in the fan-favorites or making nothing but power moves like you make them out to be. They've made a few good moves, but so has MangaGamer IMO. You conveniently left out how MG just recently released a title in the renowned Liarsoft Steampunk series, or are going to release one of the most popular doujin titles ever soon with Himawari.

Dude, you're judging 20+ hours long VN on their 10 line badly done synopses (synopses are somehow always terrible, I'm not sure how that's doable). Believe me, as far as I'm concerned generic school setting moege/whatever can eat shit, but there's a reason why SakuUta is currently my 2nd best rated VN on vndb. And the generic school setting moege argument doesn't hold, Dies Irae has high-schoolers and chuu2 superpowers, if you stay at that that's also one of the most generic thing you could think of in otaku media. The individual games are what matter more here.

My votes went to: Sayonara wo Oshiete (Probably the most unlikely, but I want it so bad) Natsu no Iro no Nostalgia (Moonstone seems to have had some success with MG, so it's worth a shot) Eromanga (More quality Clockup nukige? Yes please. Especially since this one has my second-favorite Hamashima art after euphoria) Honestly, asking for the big stuff like Baldr or Dies seems like a waste to me. I'm pretty sure they already know people want that stuff.

trust me, it would have been in translation already if the crew that translated euphoria was in charge, we have been hyping it a lot on twitter lol clockup fanboys unite!

Confession: I had half a lime leftover from making dinner, and of course the only thing to do with half a lime (other than making dinner, naturally) is to make a cocktail. Unfortunately, the resulting cocktail was stronger than I realized, so following James Thurber, I've firmly already landed in "not enough" territory and am thinking I should make another. I have my first first-round job interview (since quitting my old job 10 days ago) tomorrow, but I'm sure it'll be fine, right? brb, making another drink...

Here's what I asked for: 1) Kyonyuu Fantasy series (I'm probably the only one here who had a nukige on the list and as #1 ) 2) Dies Irae (hey, last year's speculations got my interest...and I'm curious if anyone can actually translate it) 3) Evolimit (because we need more Propeller)

A little (shameless ress) useless report because NepGear is love, Blanc is life; and I feel like writing/sharing. After a good amount of time, I've completed Re;Birth2's album (which means that I've done all 9 endings): As a side quest, I leveled lily ranks: Here is my "final" data: That's all folks, thanks for attention. Now i'm off to play Re;Birth3

playing this awesome new vn called "japanese vocabulary" you should totally check it out

Eh, if I remember correctly, the staff comment was on twitter. Somebody wanted to thank Key for making great games and Key answered with something along the lines of "Yeah, thanks, but please stop playing our games". Impossible to find nowadays I guess. It was before I used Twitter myself... It was probably... I don't know... six years ago? I think there should be some sources somewhere about Peter saying that he tried to talk with Key. His comment in the opening post of this thread kinda sounds to me that he's still pretty pissed about how he was treated by Key.

mamacon, okaacon I just want a girl who compliments me. I can't think of a relationship without a dynamic as anything but boring. Boobs or bust, I don't really care. Though C, the one that actually looks like a cup is best.

It still doesn't change the fact that the top 50/100 w/e title deserve to be there because well they are simply outstanding and thats why everyone including me want them in english. That has nothing to do with bandwagon or whatever. I just want to play the best VNs available.

I voted for Snow because I am evil. Don't even remember what other 2 titles I put xD I think they were Hatsuyuki Sakura and umm... Oh yeah Mashiroiro Symphony. (These were pretty randomly chosen though. Snow is shit)

I really like reading your progress on this game, and I'm glad your're enjoying it ^^ I was wondering if you were planning on reading Virtue's Last Reward, since it's its sequel.

oh my sweet, sweet summer child

This one is just too true.

Also Tomoyo After and Little Busters are getting official releases. It's probably just badly worded, they knew that Key was interested in the west. A JAST guy responded to me on twitter saying that they thought Key was SP's territory but even that's not really true these days. SP released Planetarian and Clannad, and now Key seems to have moved on. They're doing Harmonia themselves, and two different outside companies are working on Tomoyo After and Little Busters, so they'll probably just go with the best offer.

Ahh, this is the part where you dismiss games with really vague and misleading generalizations just like in the tournament thread. Okay, I think we're done here, you don't want to argue in good faith. lmao at calling himawari a lolige.

Yes! This, a million times this! We're super close to Thunderclapping the KS! And who knows...with a day to go after a successful Thunderclap we may drive home some of those stretch goals. Stay optimistic. Please share the link wherever you can! http://thndr.me/T7lwJD Thanks yet again for all the awesome support and for the Thunderclap idea. Seeeeeee, we listen.

I don't think so, that's most probably Akabeisoft2 fault.

I just put a bunch of Liar-soft titles there, I don't really want anything else. I'll have to hope Gahkthun sold enough for Mangagamer to translate rest of the Steampunk games and more. Besides lately Mangagamer has been working with and putting out all kinds of interesting and varied VNs, so I'm more than happy leave the localization decisions to people how know what they are doing and what's actually good in Japanese.

https://vndb.org/v515 pretty good story so far, but with all the good H-scenes i find myself pausing to fap far too often

Some two pages into this thread I decided I wasn't qualified to vote in these polls. Some five pages in, Down is basically talking about how he, of all people, isn't qualified to vote in these polls (fair enough, because after all, even if you have the ability to do so, who actually reads everything?). My current conclusion is that, given that you should only want something to be translated either if you don't already have a good grasp of it (through whatever means), probably nobody is really qualified to vote in these polls. Unless you're voting based on having read all the works in a poll and based on what you think other people ought to read, I guess? In which case, sure, vote, but it somehow seems a little bit like an empty gesture...

The RPG gameplay in VN hybrids is typically pretty bad. If I want to play an RPG, I'll play a good RPG.

The points of the article about the guy who attacked Pratchett are not the most interesting part of it. But it's only tangentially related - it's more about despairing at how many books we'll never read and how we derive pleasure from simply not liking an author we've never read, I'm more fascinated by the way opinion constructs itself, especially when in this case it's based on anything but the actual work, since that's pretty informative on the way opinion forms itself when you actually read the thing. And I haven't read Dies Irae either. Hence the irony. Regarding your last point - no, they probably won't do well. They're already sort of a niche within a niche (each in their own way) in Japan too, they make okay sales, not incredible ones (except Masada, whom I suspect would also be popular around here, not necessarily for the good reasons but well I'm talking out of my ass since I haven't read a line of his). I'm not looking to defend any game or w/e though, I... just find this whole discussion around those polls absurd in an interesting way.

Alright, it's time for me to p(l)ay off my bets.

Mangagamer doesn't hate money. Considering how much Muv-Luv raked in and how much Baldr Sky is wanted in the west you can bet they already tried. If they don't have it in their line-up it means Giga isn't interested - either in a localization period, or in localizing through Mangagamer. Same for all the other popular titles tbh.

https://vndb.org/v5244

Damn pedos are winning

You've made a few similar threads recently, and the best, all-encompassing, advice I can give you is: just make what you want to make, dude. An indie visual novel isn't going to make you a millionaire, probably not even a living, so just make something that you can love and be proud of. That's the best pay-off you're going to get from doing this. Once you've done that, making money is a bonus. Also you're not going to win any friends by saying: "Look how different and better I am than other OELVNs". It's really dismissive of other people's hard work and, contrary to ignorant popular belief, OELVNs are most assuredly not just a bunch of copy paste high school games. The shovelware shite on steam ≠ the sole representative of the OELVN scene.

I am going publisher hunting in a month and mangagamer is on my list.

That's me someday~

done, although some questions were a bit tricky to answer, like the one that asks about how you get vns, you can only choose one answer... I do pirate vns and I also buy them from steam and from others sites too, why can't I make comments on that specific question? So yeah that answer is wrong no matter how I answer it, same thing goes for a few others....

I prefer this kind of Japanese sword

If god made a bunch of short videos, would we call them devines?

New users shouldn't be allowed to post, until they have a total of 100 posts.

I'm really worried about the option for added content and routes honestly. I can't see adding those working well at all in Alternative. And considering how age's latest VNs have had a pretty shitty reception I'm not sure I'd even want any new content if it was written by like Kouki or something.

I am really looking forward to seeing what kinds of localizations will come after this. I remember thinking after I backed Clannad... "Hey... it would be cool if Muv-Luv got localized sometime..." Wishes granted~ Perfect excuse for me to replay this though, as I have been meaning to do that. Alright guys... let's get into the spirit of Muv-Luv~

Thieves never understand my humor, because they take things literally.

Harukoi Otome Licensed by MangaGamer Purchase Here Summary Together with his sister Umi, the protagonist starts attending a former all-girls school which will soon be closed down, supposedly because of deteriorating birthrate. Ending Guideline / Suggested Route Order If you want to save some time you can save after you've done the prologue, the prologue choices are always the same so this doesn't affect any ending (After the choie "Let's be honest"). "★ both means it doesn't matter what choice you choose." Umi's route needs to be finished first if you want to do Yuika's route (Thanks Kaguya) Route Guideline Hayasaka Umi Good End Serizawa Yuika Good End Fuyurugi Kisaya Good End Bad End Orito Riru Good End Kusuhara Ayaka Good End Bad End Kiryuu Sonya Good End Attribution Engrish Translator: Charmed. Much thanks to Zakamutt for helping with some of the editing. This walkthrough was formatted by Nosebleed with the help of Kynbound on the editing If you see any mistakes please contact a mod in order for it to be changed.