finiteHP

You...You mean eroges have been lying to me all these years?

You...You mean eroges have been lying to me all these years?

Bokuten, but what are chances of that since it sat at the same point for most (all?) of 2017 Shiei no Sona-Nyl Majikoi, but again what are the chances it actually comes out this year.  
I might pick up some of the others coming out this year, but I have to get get out of my VN slump first.

You're no weirdo, I'm quite the fan of OELVNs myself. You're not alone in that! 
Addressing your other point, though, I do think there are OELVNs that have no connection to weeb culture at all whatsoever. Cinders, in my opinion, is a good example of an OELVN that subverts many of the traditional connections to, er, weeb-ism. It has a distinctively European art style, no sexual content, and a lot of input from the player. It's not a perfect or all-encompassing VN by any means, but I think it stands as an example that a connection to weeb culture is not a necessary ingredient to make a successful VN. Unless you mean that people will simply see that it is a VN and instantly mark it off as a weeb thing... while I would like to think my fellow humans are more open-minded than that, it may indeed be the case.
I'm interested in taking on similar things, if you ever felt like working together on something or sharing ideas! I do agree with you that Fuwa is pretty barren, with the site being even more so than the forums.
On your first point about heroines, I agree that it is a defining attribute and a big selling point, but note that I don't think it should be removed entirely from the genre necessarily, just that the way for other types of VNs should be left open. You later mentioned Danganronpa, which I think is a good example of a very successful VN (although some wouldn't call it that, I suppose) that subverts the traditional trope of pursuing heroines' routes while also selling very well. 
Popularising Japanese otaku culture in the West is one way of looking at it, I suppose. It seems your opinion is the polar opposite of mine — I feel as though the West should have its own VN industry that stands on its own two feet, whereas you think that the Japanese media should be retained but popularised. I agree with you on the point that VNs aren't available physically in the West, and that digital distribution is often a complicated process due to the, er, proclivities, of some visual novels. 
I can't really disagree there. Porn games will always appeal to people that are interested in playing porn games, and I don't think having a gratuitous display of nudity and such will really change any of their minds. The way VNs are presented is definitely important in how they are generally viewed by their potential audience; I really can't imagine linking a friend that hasn't played any VNs to Mangagamer to look at Dies Irae, for example, without him getting the wrong idea about my interests...
I think you basically have the same ideas as Lesiak and I with regards to Fuwanovel itself. I think giving more attention to OELVNs could be helpful, without degrading the quality of content we have here in terms of Japanese visual novels. OELVNs rarely get any attention on the visual novels subreddit, which is perhaps the only other significant VN community. 
Are there good OELVNs being released though? Maybe, maybe not. But I feel like if one were released tomorrow, the world wouldn't know about it.

That tagline is literally what brought me here after I've (re)discovered visual novels and decided to devote more of my time to them. What makes me a weirdo is that from the very beginning I was actually infatuated with OELVNs and I'm only very slowly digging into the "proper" VNs.
My personal view is that VNs will always be a niche genre in the West because of their strong connection to "weeb culture", which grosses many people out (that very much includes OELVNs) and to a lesser extent because of the stigma connected to sexual content in them. And because people playing video games or watching anime around here are not really that much into reading. Apart from the super undemanding titles like Nekopara or Sakura games, there's simply no mass market for them.
I'm also pretty sure that VNs will never go far in the West without a healthy OELVN market. The actual "hardcore" VN community is very niche and hermetic, like most fandoms of this kind and as long as people are told to learn Japanese if they want to get involved and western stuff is treated with disdain, the community like ours really won't help things much. Progress is obviously happening thanks to more and more major JP titles being translated, but those also might hit a wall quite soon, if the fanbase doesn't expand steadily - I don't think those horrible sale numbers of A Sky Full of Stars are just because people were bitter about h-scenes - there's simply not that many people interested in buying quality JP VNs and the market is getting saturated.
I think an interesting question is what we, as a community, can do to popularize VNs in the West. I desn't look like we're doing much right now, because outside of the forums, the site is rather stagnant. While the VNs in the West are booming, at least in some respects, we're just cuddled in our own, super-niche corner, ignoring the filthy masses roaming around Steam and other places. Optimally, we should do something to reach people outside of our own little circle, how and who should do it is a nice topic for discussion.
EDIT: And when it goes to setting and giving VNs a "western" feel, definitely. But I don't think I've seen a VN developer that didn't come from the "weeb" culture and wasn't heavily inspired by some JP VNs. It would be extremely hard to escape that association because it's a core feature of the genre and part of its identity. The thing that we should do away with is mindless copying - there are situations where using Japanese setting adds something to the game (DDLC is a good example because it tried to look as generic as possible to make the twists more powerful and unexpected), but usually, it's just lack of imagination IMHO.

So I can spend time I could use to read VNs to complain about not having enough time to play VNs.

So I can spend time I could use to read VNs to complain about not having enough time to play VNs.

I only buy digital and generally buy from steam because their regional pricing is WAAAAY better than the exchange rates the credit card companies use (but worse than the real exchange rate).  If it isn’t available on Steam or doesn’t have a patch, then I buy it from the publisher’s site- specifically mangagamer so far.  I do have a few from Denpasoft (Grisaia), but those were from the Kickstarter.  I’ve got a few others from Kickstarter as well, or will if when they come out to be more exact.

Same for the same reason.

Same for the same reason.

All hail our mighty neko overlords.

Happy Christmas.
It just occurred to me I barely have any images on my computer, so why the hell would I have Christmas themed ones?
Oh, I have an idea:
 

I'd probably have the whole fanbase of Nekopara on my door, as cats are the only possible "children" I'd have.
I have to say that I thought this was an eroge, and would probably read it. "YOU are the dad of a hot chick whose boyfriend is coming over. She is your piece of heaven, your perfect breed, and since your wife died, you only have daughter-chan to live with. Now he wants to steal her?????? And, what... he is BEAUTIFUL? YOU have to deal with your feelings for your little girl AND her kareshii. Do you want it INSIDE or OUTSIDE? I mean, "him"."
I took some liberties here, but yeah, it could totaly work

As with previous years, the time's come to combat the communists with capitalistic, Christmassy camaraderie.
Also as with previous years, I am lazy, so I will be posting the same set of Santa hats with which you may adorn your as-of-yet-inferior avatars:

The hats are numbered so that, if you are are technologically and/or artistically inept, you may ask me (a slightly less technologically and/or artistically inept individual) to put a particular Santa hat on for you. Or, as in previous years, somebody else will do it before me, because I've yet to patent my madd skillz.
If you're cropping using MS Paint, ensure that "Transparent selection" is enabled under the "Select" tool, and that your secondary color is white. If you're using a fancier program, then use the magic wand or whatever to make stuff transparent, and then do some other things, I don't know.
If you want me to put your hat on, first note:
You should ensure that you don't already have a Christmassy version of your avatar from a previous year. Specify a number from the hats above, if you have a particular one in mind. If you instead want me to decide which would look best, then I can do that, but prepare your ocular cavities for the worst. You're free to make a special request of some variety, but each additional request increases the probability that it will be poorly executed on my part. Some avatars aren't very aesthetically hat-friendly, such as those in which a character's head is partially cut off from view. Animated avatars require a lot of work. Your avatar may not arrive expeditiously, for I am a busy man. Merry shizzle.

That's a problem for some, but not for everyone (I don't really give too much of a shit, for instance). The further censorship that happened in IMHHW was a much bigger dealbreaker for many. 
The actual biggest issue is that the IMHHW translation that was pure garbage. We still have no confidence that it will be any better in this release. I explained what Moenovel exactly is and how they translate things in this week's VNTS, if you're interested:
 

https://twitter.com/JRyechuR/status/931710867665817600 - I enjoyed working on both titles
@Nier, just a general note that it's infinitely easier to work on games that are developed by companies a publisher already has connections with than to try to work with a new company. I didn't look too hard, but it doesn't look like ANY of the companies you mentioned have any sort of relationship with any English-language companies, subsidiaries and all. Again, didn't look too hard though.
Marigold has been around forever, Bishop/AiCherry have been around literally forever. So has Anim. I have no basis for this, but I'd think that, if you partner with a company for a specific title, the first thing they'll ask is "Why not this newer game?" Some of the titles you mention are a few years old, and would fit into that category.
Also, I edit what I enjoy. Your "bottom of the barrel" is my "sweet spot." I'll kindly ask that you not trash other's tastes
If you have particular suggestions, might I suggest sending [email protected] an e-mail? I hear that's the preferred way to put up suggestions...

Well said! I was hoping that this would be something like Monster Musume with maybe some drama/SoL and routes for the monster girls.
But yea, after seeing this, I am glad I never tried it before looking around =/
Why are the Japanese so obsessed with R$pe anyway /sigh. Or Netorare for that matter, I dont get the people that enjoy that crap lol.

After every translated monster girl game, something dies inside me.
Either its monster girls raping you violently like in monster girl quest or its this kind of twisted shit. 
Why cant I have some vanila monster girl boobies.
 

I know there are different visual-styles of anime/manga. You got the Ghibli style and the semi-realistic one etc etc
When we started development of the game for the picture seen below, we wanted to give it a unique look. Not just because we would (hopefully) gain more attention but also because I have never been
a fan of something that is mainstream. But still, I am interested in hearing your opinion.
If you were to play a 2D anime-game or watch an anime film with this style, would that be uncomfortable or ugly to look at in your opinion?

Scripting comes before testing. Testing and beta testing are the same thing. Beta testers play on an actual build of the game and their duties involve proofreading and testing for stuff involved in script implementation, like lines that display incorrectly, are cut off, that kind of stuff. They also test the program itself, making sure that there are no bugs or crashes. You need the script in the game to do this or else there's not much point.
The main effort involved in "scripting" is making sure the game works with English text on a English locale computers without any issue. Sometimes, this actually involves rewriting the entire game engine from scratch. This is often what's happening when a game is stuck in "scripting" for a long time. Another reason for it to be stuck there is sometimes the Japanese developers actually handle all the technical work and the process of requesting features/changes and waiting for Japan to implement them can take a very long time depending on the company. MG not wanting to rely on this process is one of the reasons they started reprogramming many games with their own engines in Unity.
Once the programming groundwork is laid, updating the actual game script into a live build of the game tends to be not much effort at all, so there's no real reason for them to wait until after proofreading to do that tech work. This is true sometimes even with amateur projects. On Dracu-Riot, it takes us no more than a minute to get the game running on the latest version of our scripts.

I'm alive (more on that in this morning's upcoming VNTS post)! What's more: I've sought out stable internet, and I've given Fuwa a good ole six-hour blitz. Lots got done, but I think you'll all be very glad to hear that...
All themes should be back up and running! Let me know if you run into problems with any of them! I fixed the thing. I removed the other thing. I've flagged all accounts who turned traitor and used Rooke's Crappy Default Theme. They are traitors to the cause and will be punished. Once more we are all equal, and some are more equal than others.  Joking aside, themes should work. Give it a go, and let me know what I unintentionally broke.

Heh, only the most awesome theme on the forums :3
It seems that, at the moment, 'likes' only work with one theme ...

There is one theme that always works perfectly.
Just sayin' :3