XReaper

They announced Sorcery Jokers as well as Sona-Nyl, which I think are pretty firmly in this category.
I expect you're right and such games are mostly a combination of loss leaders and passion projects for them. But I suspect they're also, to a lesser extent, risky investments: the opportunity cost is high and the payout so far has always been low, but chuuni titles have the potential to appeal to a different market than do the nukige and moege that dominate the western VN scene. If they can successfully tap a new market with a game like Sorcery Jokers, say by pulling a bunch of chuuni anime watchers into their fold, it could be a pretty big win for MG.

Hey guys,
 
Actually playing baldr heart (currently at chapter 11), i have to say that's i'm kinda disappointed so far with the game.
 
Gameplay side, the game is fun. It's obvious that the game was made by the same team that did sky, the gameplay feels similar.
On the other hand, story is disappointing. It's not that the story is bad by itself, but it's sad to see how it was done.
 
Here some thoughts about the game (contain spoiler):
 
If anyone had impression on the game so far, i'd be glad to hear them, for now, i won't give up the game just yet, it still might be better than i think it will.

We onboarded a new editor this week. With the closure of the Hanasaki project, the estimable @Tamaki Sakura will be joining us on Majo Koi Nikki, doing a final pass edit on top of the other editors' work. Progress-wise, it was a decent week across the board. Stats are, as per the new norm, up to date at the site linked in the previous post, but here's a snapshot of the current week for anybody who's allergic to hyperlinks:
Translated: 14537 / 40208 (36.2%), + 837 (+2.1%) week-over-week
Edited: 8411 / 40208 (20.9%), + 1055 (+2.6%) week-over-week
TLCed: 4705 / 40208 (11.7%), + 545 (+1.4%) week-over-week
Proofread: 5640 / 40208 (14.0%), no change
QCed: 4298 / 40208 (10.7%), no change

Nazi symbols are fine in art, sadly video games are still not recognized as art in Germany. However, Nazi symbols are not illegal per se, you're just not allowed to sell products with swastikas in public.
That means for example: A German shop isn't allowed to sell Dies Irae in public. But I'm allowed to buy it. The shop is also allowed to sell me the product as long as the game itself is not showcased in the shop.
Violence is historically the only thing that is censored in Germany. You guys might have heard of the Criminal Girls 2 and Valkyrie Drive debacle that happened recently and even we Germans are dumbfounded by it because it's so out of the ordinary. Most fanservice games got a 12+ rating in recent years even though they usually get a PEGI16 or M rating in EU and USA. Time will tell what happened there, I speculate some personal or political agenda is at work here.
It's important to notice though, that "Germany" does not censor games. Publisher censor games so they can sell them to teens in Germany. Because Germany takes youth protection very seriously, which is not a bad thing. It goes like this:
- Rating boards would rate a violent game with an 18+ label
- Publisher wants more copies sold so he targets the 12+/16+ audience
- Publisher censors the game to get the desired lower rating
There are essentially no video games in Germany that are illegal. If you hear about a game being "banned" it essentially means it's 18+. Every adult in Germany can buy every game he wants. Even uncensored versions from other countries. It's just that some games aren't allowed to be publicly sold, like I mentioned above. But that doesn't mean they are illegal. No work of art is illegal in Germany as long as it's fiction.
Censored games are the result of greedy publishers, not of German laws.
No, I think it's important that someone tells the truth so that other people don't believe half-truths.
We were speaking of importing stuff. "Distributing" is something entirely else.
The term "wirklichkeitsnah" (realistic looking) is something which often spawns arguments between Germans who discuss this topic. There is always someone who argues "If a Manga looks too realistic, it's child porn".
This however is NOT true. The meaning of "wirklichkeitsnah" is not a matter of interpretation. It's used for cases where a real abuse is filtered through a form of art. For example, an artist who uses a real child as a model. And it's safe for the customer to assume, that everything that is legally sold in Japan was produced without abusing a child.
The BKA (German law enforcement agency) explicitly stated in an interview in regards to hentai, lolicon and such that these forms of entertainment never satisfy the condition of "wirklichkeitsnah". To use another example, even the most disgusting toddlercon eroguro doujinshi is legal in Germany. Because it's fiction.
Being on the index doesn't mean that it's illegal. It only means it's liable to corrupt the young. Like I said many times in this post, not being allowed to be distributed does not mean that the product is illegal or that it's illegal to buy or own it.
If you are/know German, try to look at this: Liste verbotener Medien in der BRD
You will see that only a very small percentage of this list is actually illegal, and always for a good reason. Good reasons are for example (child/animal) abuse, glorification of violence (which is not justified as an element of art) or simple legal issues like not being authorized.
There are no illegal video games and only three illegal movies (two of them show real animal abuse, the third is actually due to a mistake in evaluating the content and wouldn't even stand a chance in court... @XReaper knows what I'm talking about, but that is another matter altogether)

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear (and I hope this doesn't sound rude), but nobody from Frontwing posted anything on 4chan.  I have no idea who made the /v/ thread (the OP of which was a screencap of a tweet from someone else who did an article about us asking on Facebook and Reddit), but it absolutely wasn't anyone here.  We didn't even make the thread on Reddit, I just posted in the weekly questions thread and then sanahtlig was kind enough to create a dedicated thread for us (on their own recognizance).  Just want to set the facts straight, mostly because I don't want it to look like we're being overly aggressive in promotion or anything like that.

I have proudly made the worst line for picking up a 2D girl ever in this review.
Read it here.
Then discuss below.

You may call 4chan however you like, but its general crowd is the one that actually buy expensive 18+ VN. Look, how they brought Rance to the West by purchasing many copies of BBH. That's why Mangagamer staff always hanging around there. Yes, /jp/ love to humiliate people, make up conspiracy and throw a stupid tantrum whenever they feel like, but its core VN buyers. Not Nekopara kids that make 100 threads of complain about high prices for "chinese picture books'. So, Frontwing is doing fine job to hear what they say. First hear, not follow every advice! It's basically a right thing to do for every respectfull company, right, Sekai?

Slowly re-reading Dunamis15, since back when I read it my Japanese was.... bad, to say the least. Finished the first arc - and just as I remembered, it was great, and quite possibly the best part of the entire story. It's the arc that goes from normal every day life to madness full of conspiracy and grim circumstances - it is the first time you're introduced to the exceptionally dark setting, while still keeping most of the plot a mystery. The problem is - at least from what I remember from my less than optional first read - that the actual plot is nowhere near as interesting as the setting itself, and it even goes for a weirdly out of place magical twist that seems to go against the tone of the VN up until that point. I'm re-reading in hopes of having missed something important that puts the ending into a better light, so we'll see.
As for the first arc alone, imagine Higurashi that gets fucked up a whole lot more and much faster than Higurashi itself ever does. The population is at a steady decline after the nuclear winter has devastated the world, yet on the isolated island - Dunamis base - students seem to lead perfectly peaceful and carefree lives. Their life is calm and full of fun.... at what price, though?

Nah, I didn't even find out about the /v/ thread until after it was archived.  I only really brought it up in the first place because I was surprised people there cared/were interested enough for there to be a 500+ post thread about it.
As I said to someone else on Twitter, I of course take everything on 4chan with a heaping pile of salt, but at the same time it is part of my job to monitor community feedback, so I felt obligated to at least give it a skim.

Guro belongs to the same exact group as low quality nukige. Get over it. People read it to satisfy their hunger for twisted things, not because they want a deep and engaging story. Nikuniku is exactly that - it exists solely for that purpose. It could have been better, if they'd actually use a different approach (Making them actually remember, what happened before, in one way or another - be it nightmares, reccuring daydreams or deja vu's), but it's their choice and I'm completely fine with that.
If you want something good, go read Sayooshi

Their PR people are bloody well trying. I commend them for that.
...My condolences as well, for what they get themselves into.

no matter how much i look at the statement of yours from every ancle that there possibly is to it, in its essence as a whole nothing makes any sense to me.

edit: anyway good luck derg, wish you ze best & hope you´ll manage seeing it through the end.

TBH if I wanted an episodic VN for 10 bucks, my first inclination would be to skip over Corona Blossoms AND Supipara and get this instead:
 
 
The screenshots by themselves generate a wonderfully visceral atmosphere, I can feel it coming off the screen, and the description emphasises their primary hook - choice and consequence. 

But there is no permanent bodily harm... they do a re: zero on the heroines every time...
 
That said I can't stand gore but I wish you luck on this (bizarre grotesque) project Derg.

I like that they are so honest with it. Actually, I don't really think they did something particular wrong here, the situation has simply changed. The same thing is happening on Kickstarter too.
MangaGamer has already reported several times now that since the whole Steam hype started, they got a lot of new account creations, most likely from Steam customers. So the Steam customers who were really interested in VN's have already moved on and went to the retail sites of the big VN publishers like MangaGamer and Jast. It tells a lot that the several year old nukiges Eroge and ImoPara are almost permanently in the top five for ages now. And the Steam users who didn't really get warm with VN's are less likely to buy another one. So the 'Steam only' customer group got much smaller either way.
And while newer VN customers are now happily digging through MG's and Jast's game libraries, the older VN veterans just don't get enough from a short and simple title like Corona Blossom, especially with so many quality titles released by MG and Sekai. In principle, it happened what most people wanted, quality and a known and popular brand matters now much more than before.
Or in short words: Welcome to the world of competition!

One thing to appreciate, at least Frontwing is engaging with fans, trying to see what they can do differently. They did this with Sharin no Kuni, and are going to bring back the KS after making changes, and now this. Just this bit of outreach can do wonders for a company's image cough cough 

Continuing The House In Fata Morgana and
FUCK THIS FUCKING VN SO FUCKING HARD FUCK THIS WHOLE FUCKING VN FUCK IT ALL

I would very strongly recommend that you guys wait for an official announcement before jumping to conclusions on release dates.

Download the Beta Demo via Itch.io | Beta Demo Patch Notes | Beta Demo Survey  
The Letter's Beta Demo (V0.2.0) is finally ready for public consumption! Thank you so much for patiently waiting, and we sincerely hope you'll enjoy the game! The beta demo is a testament to what we've been doing these past couple of months, and we're proud of how much the game has evolved since its alpha phase.
This is more or less how the final game is going to look/feel like, and covers the same scenes as alpha. Except for that, every element from the first demo was changed. Beta is now feature complete, but we're continuously enhancing every aspect of the game in preparation for the full release. Please take note that not everything you'll see in this demo is final.
After you finish playing the game, please answer this short survey we've prepared. We value your feedback, so please don't hesitate to tell us what you think! We'll use the data gathered to further improve the game. And as a token of our appreciation, all survey respondents will receive a special wallpaper!
Questions about this new demo:
1. Do you like it? Hate it?
2. What do you think of the characters currently presented? Do you have someone you like in particular?
3. What do you think of the art style? 
4. How do you find the writing style compared to the alpha demo?
5. Any other suggestions, comments, critiques?
Thanks so much for your time!

The elitist circlejerk who likes to say this can't even read German. And we all know that you can only appreciate a work of literature when you read it in its original language.
Don't trust people who read English translations!

Kastel preety much nailed it with his wall of tweets a while ago; it's the kind of game, which will truly distance away it's biggest western fanbase, mainly because it's not about the coolness or story, but writing. Therefore - if you're an avid reader, you'll enjoy Dies, but if you're there because you've jumped on the hype bandwagon and expect a chuuni-tastic animey tale, you'll be disappointed; it's not where it's strength lies within.
I presume if not for such high production value, Dies Irae would more propably end up as an underappreciated gem of sorts.

pretty darn sure i did originally quote something entirely different there, but nice try in making me look like "everyones beloved brother no1 of galge/eroge"

pretty darn sure i did originally quote something entirely different there, but nice try in making me look like "everyones beloved brother no1 of galge/eroge"

There are MANY like that? Really? Because Grisaia and Clannad are probably the only ones that seem like they fit the bill to me.
Besides, there's more to price than just length.