Darklord Rooke

I don't agree with VNDBs definition of a visual novel (yes, they do have one and yes, they have criteria which needs to be met before any games are added to their database.) They've made a pretty glaring error in their definition which results in games being added to the database which aren't strictly visual novels. But at the end of the day, you're right - it doesn't really matter. It's accurate enough for its purpose. I just didn't want people thinking everyone accepts VNDB's database to be completely accurate.

That is the worst definition of a 'visual novel' I have come across. A lot of adventure games fit this definition. No wait..... I stand corrected. Visual novel(n) - synonym for porn is worse. So it's the second worst definition I've come across.

Haven't played the demo, but I haven't seen honorifics used in any screenshots of the game (just looked again.) Are honorifics really that big a deal, though? Impressions?

Must be, 'cause everyone knows there are no girls on the internet.

That's good, then *thumbs up*

Jesus Christ! When did 4chan become a site worth reading? And why are people responding seriously to what is, very obviously, a troll post?

I don't visit a whole lot of stuff. Google News Fanfiction.net RPG codex RPG watch sportal baka tsuki are the ones I visit the most. I'm not on facebook and I don't use twitter.

I'm resisting the urge to try Analogue. I downloaded 'Don't take it personally' a while ago, and yes the game is good, but it wasn't my type of story and the themes had no impact on me.

I've ordered his books into the local library and can't wait to get my hands on them. I only heard about him when it was announced he was writing for the new 'Torment - Tales of Numenara' game. Back then I thought he was just some anonymous, no-name writer, but after a while I noticed there were too many people excited about his involvement. Have only recently had a peek at the books he's written and they look really good.

A visual novel of my choice would be unrealistic to make If I were to make a VN... You would start as a lowly nobody and your goal will be to carve yourself a niche in the world through subterfuge, military might, political wheeling, diplomacy or a combination of all these things. It would focus on 'choice and consequence.' You begin the game in a town looking to do anything to survive. The choice of task (job) you choose to perform will up specific traits in your character. Once you choose a job, all other options will disappear. This will be the first branch. The story will continue with you in your chosen service where you will meet other characters and have to perform certain tasks. How you perform these tasks and to which calibre is up to you and your traits. What happens next? Work your way to the top through your ability and hard work, at the same time making a certain character who has been doing the same job for 30 years and is finally on the verge of a promotion hostile to you? Will you seek to broaden your network of friends and allies, which may present you with a unique form of advancement later in the game (and how will you broaden your network, intelligence, charm). Alternatively you could seek to overthrow your boss and take over the business. But how? Deceit (is your intelligence or charm high enough, and if it is what method will you use?)Assassination (poison?) Blackmail? Congrats, you are a business owner, now what will you do and exactly who is hostile to you? Be careful to protect yourself. Onward further into the game and your position (whatever it is) allows you to perform a unique favour to the crown, anything from technical expertise to providing an obscene amount of money to finance a war. Maybe you take part in that war. Maybe they call on your skills as an assassin of no repute with no ties to the crown. You do them a favour (or maybe double cross them) and you are awarded with a piece of land (or maybe you just nick it from them.) The story progresses further, how do you manage your land? Or maybe the crown is pissed at you for nicking it and is sending a massive army your way. Quick, to the diplomacy table (what are your traits, if they're strong enough you need to send a letter with a diplomat. What that letter will contain will be up to you, but essentially what are you willing to offer to obtain military aid?) Maybe you made bad choices and never make it that far. You're living on the street with everybody hating you. Oh look, a bunch of thugs wielding knives. You have failed. :lol: Just a little unrealistic. I may write is as a piece of interactive fiction one day.

Oral ... Yeah, I know that was juvenile but I don't care

I want to expand on the last point I made, if I could, by posting something written by Lawrence Watt-Evans. He wrote it a while ago but I think the advice still holds up. It's about trying to improve your writing by writing in fanzines. http://www.watt-evans.com/soyouwanttobeawriter1.html

I only leave a review on stuff I love. So I've only left reviews on about 10 stories. Sorry *shrugs*. I'm not sure if this is the best method..... I see terribly written stories get scores of great reviews from fanfiction.net on a regular occurance.

An incredible, incredible interview with Yura, lead director of Project Phoenix. http://www.rpgsite.net/articles/460-project-phoenix-interview-with-hiroaki-yura

I've just bought Avadon - the black fortress and will be giving it a playthrough shortly. Wasn't really a fan of Avernum, but this is suppose to have more story and less open-world exploring, it's also suppose to be less hardcore (i.e anal). So I'm gonna give it a whirl and see how good it is. It's only $10 from gog, which is a bargain really. I've also just bought Betrayal at Krondor. I remember playing it once a long time ago and was incredibly impressed at the writing in the game. But I got busy, the game got hard and I promptly forgot about it. So I'll be giving it another spin after Avadon.

Stop worrying. There's nothing wrong with anything you have said Congratulations on your game, I hope it brings you lots of fame and fortune... and wild kinky sex. You may want to look at this page to help you in cutting the fluff from your works: http://hollylisle.com/scene-creation-workshop-writing-scenes-that-move-your-story-forward/ The page advocates a simple rule for scene creation. Each scene makes a change which moves the story forward (whether that be through plot or character or setting etc.) This may be too strict a rule for you to want to follow(it's not right or wrong, just one author's preference), but it's a useful rule to keep in mind. Yes, plenty do. Many VNs don't have what you'd call... tight writing. And yes, Little Busters is a prime example. Some people say that a little fluff is good for getting to know the characters and bonding with them. Others will say that good authors can do this while still moving the story forward. Personally I don't mind a bit of mindless fluff, but in moderation. Little Busters had too much for my liking.

You haven't seen Ruffles yet, a poor angel with amnesia EDIT: Bugger! I forgot to provide a link. And a name. So, it's called Project Phoenix and can be found here http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1300298569/project-phoenix-japans-indie-rpg-feat-aaa-talent

Hmmm, I may change this thread into a general kickstarter thread. ANYWAYS, there's a new JRPG/RTS in development with some serious talent on the team including: award winning fantasy author yoko enoki, final fantasy artist kiyoshi arai, and living legend Nobuo Uematsu. It's worth checking out:

There was a really good blog post written by (much loved indie-developer) Jeff Vogel, about when it is okay to steal games/VNs/movies: http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com.au/2010/07/sometimes-its-ok-to-steal-my-games.html

I stumbled across 'True Love' a long time ago, back before I knew what visual novels were. I thought it was an awesome game (still do), played a few more (seasons of sakura and stuff) thought they were awesome too... and then for some reason I forgot about the genre for many years. Probably because I got busy.

Vera takes issue with that

Excellent news Also, you don't have Bullguard firewall and Windows firewall turned on at the same time, do you? If you have more than 1 firewall running, they can conflict and things can become ... problematic. Happy gaming

I found someone who experienced your exact problem and he found turning off his firewall before launching the game did the trick. Might be something worth trying? http://www.telltalegames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32232

JAST has finally updated the website. It's very impressive. http://www.jastusa.com/yumina/# August 30th release. That's not so impressive. EDIT: Playable demo is available!