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Oh, well, I personally like all kinds of artstyles, although if you'd ask me for my favourites, they'd likely turn out to not be non-anime, but more stylized/unconventional spins on anime art... Like Steins;Gate for example. The point being, I'm a weeb, I like anime-style things and most people that will ever look at a visual novel for more than 5 seconds are either like me or Japanese. From their very beginnings, Japanese VNs had a pretty strong connections to anime and they are made primarily for Japanese readers, who seem to be pretty conservative with their tastes. Non-JP VNs are made primarily for weebs, often very explicitly copying Japanese media to appeal to Western otaku. While writing about VNs I always advocated for non-JP devs to avoid being copycats, but mostly in the sense of creating their own narratives and experimenting with style. I don't think rejecting anime art is needed that much, the thing you should probably try to avoid is being generic and uninspired, which a lot of VNs (from all sources) are. Plus VNs, no matter who makes them, are currently offering very thin profit margins, sadly making anything more than mild experimentation quite a big risk. You can make a non-anime one, but unless you absolutely nail the presentation, it might very easily appeal to no one – the weebs or JP otakus won't like the departure from what they usually enjoy and the broader audience still won't find your "waifu power point presentation" interesting enough to check out. Thus, I don't think VNs can really free themselves from anime art, or have much reason to do so. They won't get meainstream any time soon, considering they didn't already and the younger generations generally have the attention spans of gerbils.

In a different world over a lifetime ago, some young and geeky friends made a rough VN about mermaids and magic. The pandemic kicked up my love of storytelling again, and since I was already doing it for fun, I figured I would see if this particular flavor of story was still appealing to folks round here~ Welcome to the proper thread for Aquae ~Crystal Clear Waters~ a fantasy/adventure visual novel. Completely free to play as was the original though now with a much more vivid and expanded world to explore. Still mostly kinetic though now with the ability to change certain course of events through the player's actions and choices. While romance isn't a main focus, it is now an option. The original story was broken up into three separate arcs. Presently, Arc 1 is approximately 18.5k words and average 1.5-2hrs read time. Download for Windows, Linux and Android here! Presently, Arc 2 is just starting! The entire script itself is clocking in at 56,761 words and counting. The winds of fate rush in with the summer breeze. Travelers the land over come to take part in the annual festival and celebrate the lasting time of peace after previous years of war and strife. As paper lanterns begin decorating the coastlines above, there surges a troubling shift of tides through the underwater haven of the nerida below. Join Kaizarel - the wayward prince of the isles - as he embarks on an exciting night at the summer festival. Where he meets friends both new and old, including a mysterious stranger with rare purple eyes just like his own. In his attempts to discover the connection he and this strange visitor have in common, Kaizarel instead finds himself embroiled in both the politics of land and sea, as well as unearthing family secrets long buried beneath the sands. Will history be re-written, as waves upon the sand? Or will bloodshed remain? Early Character Concepts Questions for Lurkers: 1) The original story was released in arcs. After the release of ARC I, would you rather have the story continue to be released in chapters or would you rather wait for a complete game? 2) Does interactivity affect your level of enjoyment/engagement in the story? Does romance? UPDATE 7/3/22 - ARC 1 RELEASED!

I know nearly all visual novels are in anime sytle. And most of the people including me love that. But there are other drawing styles used in games on Steam like; Sixtieth Kilometer, Earth's Center Of Gravity, Monster Camp, The Pillar Of Earth etc. What do you guys think of those drawing styles?