Narcosis

Like @Chronopolis already mentioned, what's really interesting is usually artist's own vision; most of them are usually tasked with specific workload and they are rarely given complete freedom over the project (although it happens, this is when we usually get really great art that feels like an extension of the game). That said, anything from additional information about particular elements, from characters to backgrounds (aka locations) is worth having, especially if we're dealing with creative people. What I love the most are typically works in progress, showing the drawing's evolution - from design and early roughs to complete artwork.

I'm sorry if my reply made you think that, but as I said - I had it on my backlog, was planning to play it and will, regardless of what you wrote. Actually, it made me even more interested to see what kind of flaws exactly it has and how do they impact the story. It's still a good vn, it just doesn't feel to properly utilize the plot to ammount for something greater. We'll see, whether I'm right or wrong

Holy Shit, I almost forgot, lol. IT'S CHOKE FULL OF REQUESTS You should be able to send it now. As for the songs, no idea. I spam the quickest ones atm

So, how many h-scenes were there already?

Was planning to read this one soonish, thanks for posting about it. It's one of those peculiar vn's, that had a chance for greatness but devs were unable to make use of it and create a compelling tale, that doesn't fall apart in the process. It's kind of disappointing, considering how well it starts with the prologue.

You can try again now

Links to the trial version: here, here and here. Full downloadable version can be bought here (NSFW). You can also search through japanese Amazon for cheaper bargains, including possible PE's. Support the creators and industry, don't pirate shit. If you don't have money, go get a job. It's not that hard.

@Eclipsed, why you do this to me

One day... one day I will get my hands on Evolimit. Surely.

You're right. I actually thought about including PR and advertising in my rant, but decided to skip wiriting on these, because even excellent PR can't really save a game when in odds against massive competition and plenty of it depends on the approach of the development team itself. That doesn't exclude the fact, that even any sort of PR can still have a substantial impact upon the initial release and reception of the game, contrary to none (Hey, I'm looking at you, Survarium). It just feels weird they didn't really put enough effort into their marketing campaign, despite producing such a high quality game, that was bound to compete on the market with similiar looking titles.

That will propably outsell all the major, top-translated vn's currently released on Steam?

I presume this is more of a question towards those, who already wrote or worked on a released game. As some of you may know, I'm actually in the process of designing a visual novel and been working on the script for a couple past months. As much as the tools and methods I decided to use had proven to be quite fine in the beginning, it came to a point where I can no longer efficiently work due to the sheer complexity of the story itself - it's peculiar, non-standard construction, events and all the character interactions and relationships that tie them together. I also found out using a couple different tools across the production stage became rather burdensome and I'm kind of annoyed of having to switch between multiple windows, web browser and text documents in order to continue, as it is highly distracting and I often end up doing everything except focusing on the actual script. That's why I'd like to discuss screenwriting for vn's and methods - or as we could say - different approaches to storybulding. How do you organize your work around script writing for vn's and most importantly - what is the software you use? What kind of structure do you prefer for your text-based documents? Do you had any experience working in team with other writers and how did it impact the whole creative/writing process? Do you prefer working with others or found that writing solo is a lot more comfortable, regardless whether the vn is linear or branched and with routes? What are your toughts in general? If there's anyone who's either screenwriting/storybuilding on a daily basis, I'd love to hear what tools you use frequently or is there any actual software you're really fond of, be it web-based or standalone. I'm considering switching from my current workflow method, as I found it to be rather unreliable and... quite messy, when things grew bigger.

I presume Om3ga VNE is just an improved WYSIWYG enviroment for creating simple (as in, classic) visual novels with literally little to no programming knowledge required, contrary to Ren'Py which does require both at least the basic knowledge of Python and it's own syntax language. Sadly, this is also where the limitations kick in, as you're not really in control over your own program and the engine will do everything for you, which instantly reduces the ammount of possibilities available to game creators. From a technical perspective, it's complete barebones, with a simplified syntax language and a parser, that gives you the control over a script. Ren'Py allows complete freedom over your project. I also don't like the idea of integrated sharing of games and overall oversimplification, but it's only my opinion as someone who's been acquainted with a variety of different engines for years and someone using Ren'Py on a regular basis. That aside, I think it's a neat thing for newcomers, who'd like to get a gist on how vn's actually work (in terms of simple programming and algorithms), but it won't and really can't satisfy more advanced users, developers or people who seriously think about creating their own games. Might be a decent teaching tool, I'd say but there's nothing that couldn't be teached instantly by learning the basics of Python and Ren'Py and it's also a better investment. Technically, Ren'Py competes with the latest KiriKiri/KAG and Unity, but there's a couple other, incredibly good engines available for both commercial and non-commercial use (like YU-RIS); the only drawback is that they're japanese and documentation is obviously in japanese as well and most of them is windows-based; the difference is they're often technically superior to what Unity or Ren'Py can offer as barebone engines but nothing can really match Unity's learning curve and ease of use, coupled with it's full cross-platform support nowadays.

I actually remember some some people talking about it a while ago. That does sound rather worrisome. On the other hand, Walkure Romanze was an insanely popular franchise, which spawned a ton of merchandise. I wouldn't be surprised, if they actually make enough to not worry about anything. Either that, or they are perhaps working on another game, albeit production in complete silence isn't something japanese developers typically do. Actually, wasn't Ricotta a subsidiary of a larger company, along with couple other studios? If I remember corectly, they were responsible for a bunch of really good vn's, but I have no idea whether it's the same people working under different brands, or joint teams working under the same japanese publisher.

Lucia confirmed best girl <3

Aside from the fact their last game was released around a year ago, I wouldn't be surprised if Ishida P overworked himself, which led to serious life complications, but it's something pretty common in this business. The ammount of work pushed upon a single worker is simply staggering at times and when your health detoriates to the point, you're unable to lead a normal life anymore, there's very little you can do. Judging from his previous tweets, this might actually be the case.

As you may (or may not, at least yet) know, ChuableSoft has filed for bankruptcy on 7th of July. In his Twitter, Ishida P - ChuableSoft's director - stated they had no other choice than to close, simply because it was not possible for them to continue with the company in it's current state. This may come of as slightly surprising, considering their previous game - Watashi ga Suki nara "Suki" tte Itte! (SukiSuki for short) won the 2015's Moege Awards and was met with warm praise - both from the fans, as well as community. The rights to the game were also acquired by MG and it's slated for an english release in late 2017/early 2018. How was it possible, that a rather well known japanese studio known for it's high quality charages went bust like that? As a fan and avid reader myself, I've been keeping an eye on the japanese vn industry for the past 15 years; More than a decade, with all it's ups and downs and various events, that shaped and changed it's face overtime. It's not hard to summarize, that even if the start of the new millenium had proven to be a highly productive period for japanese developers, things don't look as bright when you start to look past 2010. To put things short - it's golden age is already long over and creators are currently facing numerous issues, which had been slowly but steadily piling up within the last years. Market oversaturation is often being considered as one of the biggest culprits behind the increasingly difficult task for japanese developers to stay afloat as working businesses. The competition is fierce and industry itself is partially at fault for that; The ammount of new game makers rose expotentially after 2000's, while majority of them stemmed from the same exact community of fans. People, whom - as they grew up - changed from consumers into creators themselves. The otaku market is incredibly closed off and as such, consumes almost everything it produces by itself. It's a self-regulating social wonder of sorts that slowly grew for as long as 80's. Sadly, things finally came to a halt where it produces far more it's capable to consume. As such, to keep up with market's rising competition and social changes, creators had to start minimizing risks, often by lowering standards or switching entirely to budget works; if successful, such couple shorter games could support their more important, high quality productions, at worst make them stay afloat. This system worked for a couple of past years, but the more aware fans often kept pointing at the detoriating quality of games and nonsensical stories, which more than often subdued to popular tropes and cliches. Certain companies found delicate safety within particular niches, protected by circles of avid fans and doujinshi works. It's really difficult to presume, how long will they manage to keep up with the rising requirements, especially when trends change and people swap their interests. "A lot" does not necesarilly equate "good", neither will the fans remain forever loyal. The constantly lowering standards also caused a response within the market itself - people slowly got used to cheaper, lower quality games and as such, their needs grew smaller as well. This came to a turning point, where a lot of people began to feel content with low quality works and won't bother with better releases, mainly because they are a lot more expensive, far longer and usually harder to approach. Instead producing high quality games, companies turned to churning out budget-type games, often serialized or episodic in nature, but how are you supposed to keep up with a market, that literally has thousands of competing companies, each producing exactly the same type of games? Formulas that used to be highly succesful in the past are now often a nail to the coffin for many starting studios. This is especially prevalent for moeges and charages, often built around slice of life genre; the "coming of age" stories, that used to be so popular are now considered completely cliched and overused to the point, where multiple games released often feel alike; there's little to no distinction between them at first glance and this causes the fans to feel resigned and makes them lose their motivation to get involved with anything further. At the same time, thousands of games are being sold to thousands of consumers; each company has to make a living and that wouldn't be a problem, when the population of fans would be kept at a steady number. Unfortunately, the japanese demographics are clear on that - the population is aging very quickly, with losses greatly superseeding gains. The same can be said about the market itself - the ex-fans, who are currently producing their own games have less and less potential customers, as their generation became incapable to supply the population with a steady birthrate. It's a tale of an aging market, with people who slowly drift away from being fans, as the modern, day-to-day japanese life consumes them almost entirely. In the end, this means less and less total available revenue to creators. Less money available within the market means less available budget to create future games. This means everyone has to settle for less and cut costs, which further lowers the quality of the final product. It's a vicious cycle and one that is increasingly difficult to break from, once you get caught. In a world of merciless competition for disappearing population of consumers and aging fans, this means pretty much a single flop - especially an incredibly expensive, high quality game - can lead to a complete downfall. Growing risks prevent creators from retries and keep them pinned down to a life, where they barely scrape by from production cycle to another. As the costs grow, they finally find themselves in a difficult situation - often indebted and without funds, because their games didn't bring the expected revenue - where they simply have nothing else to do, than declare bankruptcy. This is more, or less what causes many studios - such as ChuableSoft - to finally close down. Sadly, I presume this is just the beginning and we'll see many more of our beloved companies closing down in the near future. The only hope now currently lies within the western market - a body of almost infinite possibilities, with a massive and constantly growing fanbase, always thirsty for new games. Perhaps it's time for the japanese developers to finally embrace that possibility and move on.

I'm getting older...

I'd highly disagree with both, but let's leave it at that. Good prose is not about self-insertion or fulfillment of people's dreams, it's about immersion vs. commercialism. The most successful, prolific writers balance on the edge of popularity and multiple risks, being incredibly good at what they do and being highly capable (and knowing how) to sell their works; if you want to be successful, you need to learn how to be marketable at your time and age and the bigger the target audience, the bigger the chance for success. If you want to know my opinion - most japanese vn writers are incredibly bad, but their lack of skill is something that came to be overlooked over the passing years. This steems from their otaku culture, that spawned the very market they are all a part of right now.

Mostly involving and entertaining stories set in distinct settings of their own. I prefer the highly atmospheric ones, with good art and equally great soundtracks if possible. I'm still hoping to see more games that feature anthropomorfic beings or entire races, those that typically dwelve into the sociopsychological side of things, issues and benefits regarding coexistence. Stories that explore unusual grounds are good, too and there's nothing better than tales of marvelous adventures.

That sounds like me 24/7

It's something that irks me as well and remains - unfortunately - prevalent in many japanese vn's and fictional works. It's perfectly fine to create very unique settings with peculiar traits, but they better be justified in a reasonable manner; it could be considered a taboo, for example, which would instantly create new possibilities to push the story in an interesting way. I guess it's one of those vn's - a perfect example of what shouldn't be done during worldbuilding; childish approach with no sense of actual rules, nor underlying logic that governs the world.

Go read Symphonic Rain instead. You'll thank me later.

Who would have knew they actually picked up DameKoi, after all. Fantastic news, although this pretty much means I'll have to wait a bit longer, considering I was planning to read it this year regardless, haha.

Where's a choice for neither?