finiteHP

So I guess our PHP setup wasn't that "unusual" after all...  Sorry it took that long either way, was out camping and not dealing with Invision's BS.
The themes need to be updated, as usual when updating IPB.

Probably. Almost certainly over, that is. In any case, the forums software will be running some indexing behind the scenes and things could yet get wonky. If you run into bugs, please speak up in this thread.
There are also several new features to the blog, but I left the list of them back in the United States and will need to recompile it. In the meantime, just assume that everything you like is filled with sparkly updates, and everything you dislike went away. 
EDIT: The visual formatting of the forums are a bit off as well. This has to do with our various forums themes. As soon as I get home tonight, I'll start the laborious process of updating them, and then things should be pretty once more. (Except for Rooke's theme. That one's just crap.)
EDIT: I mentioned it in the blog post, but whenever you come back and notice the forums are alive, please drop a big "Thank You!" to Nayleen (and, to a lesser extent, Invision) for bringing us back from the edge of the abyss!

Why can I only give a post one like. If I ever write something in English about beef stew and someone translates it to Japanese, I hope they'd do me the common courtesy of translating my beef stew as "nikujaga" instead of writing "beef stew" in katakana.
Regarding numerals, AP and Chicago (and probably the others) agree that numbers ten and under should almost always be written out, and certainly in this case. If you're making mistakes like that in publicly-released materials, you probably need a style guide, so here's a free starter kit, a lightweight, VN-centric style guide: https://github.com/FredTheBarber/EditingPublic/blob/master/style guide.md

Welcome.  Hope you enjoy your time here.

Guess they heard that Sakura titles are selling well in the west, and now they have dollar signs in their eyes because they've even two Sakura's in their name... 

Hi everyone ! I started Persona 5 quite a few weeks ago, and before I even installed the game, I picked up Futaba’s wallpaper from the PSN Store to put myself in that mode. The Persona Mode, I guess.
When both players and creators are in on the hype, that is when we have a great time. For instance, I can’t wait for Umaru season two, so I want to retweet messages from the official account, I want to support them with a bluray purchase, that sort of thing.
I hope to support The Last Birdling in any way I can, so today, I have put together some wallpapers and avatars for gamers to use:

If anyone decides to support me by using these assets, I am the one who is thankful, not the other way around. You are doing me a massive favor, and in the process, I hope it will help build excitement for that September 1st release.
Gamers want flexibility these days. Maybe you want the logo in a different position, or perhaps gone altogether. Depending on where your icons are positioned, you may also prefer the character(s) to shift left or right. To cater for this, I have included separate elements in each wallpaper for you to adjust as needed:

These wallpapers are available in the highest available res. Even if you extracted those assets from the game, they will not be available at this size. Hopefully at least one of them will suit your tastes.
All right, here is the pack:
http://birdling.invertmouse.com/birdlings-media-pack.zip
As usual, I hope you may consider wishlisting and/or joining our Steam community:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/629430/The_Last_Birdling/
Thank you!

Hi everyone ! The journey is over, and at last, I can announce The Last Birdling’s release date. Here it is:



September 1st, 2017! The Last Birdling’s Steam page can now be accessed:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/629430/The_Last_Birdling/

Recently, I have started to follow upcoming games that I want to keep on my radar. If you are willing to do the same for The Last Birdling, I would be so grateful. The “follow” and “add to your wishlist” buttons are available on the Steam page. I will be active on the community board, so I hope to hang out with you there.

As the release date approaches, I plan to post a new article every week. These articles will be available on the Steam page as well as my Facebook, Tumblr and all the other usual suspects. My social media links can be found here:



http://invertmouse.com

I am thankful to those who messaged in to say they fell in love with Bimonia and Tayo after the demo. After hundreds of development hours, those two have grown lives of their own. Once the game is released, I hope their story can be shared with as many people as possible.

Thank you!

I think ultimately, us readers won AX  , there's just so many choices, something for everyone and its not even the last convention of the year. Pretty content with the announcements. 

Controversial opinion here: I for one am glad that good games are being translated.

Happy about Evenicle and Damekoi .  Honestly I'm happy with any game announcement by most of the established Vn companies [the ones with proper translators to be precise]. The more choices the better for everyone. I'm even interested in JAST, maybe they'll announce that they're expanding and hiring more people to work on the Vns they have? maybe they'll up their game in some way, nobody knows what they'll be announcing so anythings possible lol.
Can't say i've ever been dissapointed of these expo announcements, I might not be interested in some but f-it, at least everyone gets a taste lol. The steam crowd, the casuals, the elites and everyone in between, we all just want to read some Vns man .
Ps: got 'awww' triggered by Korropokkuru, still reading D.I and Shiro called Kasumi that a few times, freaking cute. They translated it munchkin, but it means fairy or something right? anyway, its a cute word .

Well, like I said, this is uncharacteristic even for a VN with "only" one pass. This should not be blamed on the lack of additional passes, because that would imply that it would be okay with those passes. This is a fundamentally bad translation, and not something you'd want to build off of. It showcases a lack of ability on the part of the translators. And the whole reason Mikandi couldn't afford additional passes in the first place is because the translators grossly overcharged them.
The way a professional VN translation usually works is:
Step 1: Translation. Simple enough. They translate the text and that's it. There is usually only one translator but occasionally there are multiple, working on different parts of the script. Most professional VN companies trust the translators they hire and do not extensively check their work the way many fan translation projects do.
Step 2: Editing. The role of editor varies company to company, script to script. In some places, they are primarily proofreaders, and in other places they work the prose more extensively. And some scripts absolutely require extensive reworking (though ideally, VN companies avoid hiring translators who would write translations that require that). Editors tend to get paid a good deal less than translators.
Step 3: Testing. Again, this varies company to company. Some use testers as proofreaders, others just want them to make sure the program runs bug-free. Testers tend to get paid peanuts. Almost literally.
That's about it. You don't have translators making multiple passes, improving the translation with every step, that just doesn't happen in most cases. In most professional VN translations, the finished script will look very similar to the raw translation, unless something went horribly wrong in the translation phase. If the raw translation reads horribly, then you have a bad translator. I'd say that the only cases where there are multiple real translation passes are cases like Flowers, where the company realizes the translation is fucked and scrambles to fix it.
The translation budget laid out by MIkandi Japan suggests a 9.5 yen per Japanese character total cost for the translation (before it was cut down to one pass). This is maybe two to three times what some of the highest-paying VN companies might pay for translation/editing/etc. That itself isn't all that bad, since VN translation pays a pittance compared to the rest of professional game translation, but when you offer quality that is dramatically lower than the competition while charging multiple times more for your work, there's a big fucking problem.
(also, for the record, around 10 yen per Japanese character translated is what a company like Square Enix or Nintendo might pay a translator for their raw translation.)
(also also, for the record, what 7 Happy Creations was charging for their third pass just might be more than what MangaGamer pays a translator for their raw translation, to give you an idea of how outside the norm these guys were charging.)
tl;dr: This translation blows. Raw translation is not supposed to look like this. 7 Happy Creations are scammers. Mikandi Japan are saps for falling for it.

MangaGamer will release free uncensor patches for future Steam releases of eroge, following the lead of English indie developers.
MangaGamer commits to free uncensor patches for Steam releases
From MangaGamer's official blog:
 

Dies irae, long-held to be the holy grail of chuuni VNs, is finally upon us! Often praised for its complex and wordy prose, its philosophical themes, its extensive and gloriously nerdy fight sequences, and the manner in which it deconstructs the chuuni action genre, it's a grand battle opera that has become a seminal work in Japan, and we finally have the chance to experience it for ourselves! Whether we're blown away or we're completely let down by the hype, it will be an interesting experience either way. It's currently only available on Steam. If you were a kickstarter backer, go to your Backerkit dashboard, the codes should be there.

First things first, the recommended route order: Kasumi -> Kei -> Marie -> Rea. The game's two parts represent the order in which the routes were initially released, but that is NOT the order in which you should read the VNs. The route order is unlocked, yet can ruin the experience if you go out of order. Stick to the recommended route order if you want to have the best experience, no matter who your favored waifu is. Furthermore, there are specific choices you have to make in the Rea route if you want the best, most complete ending in the game. Follow this walkthrough, composed by one of the game's translators, if you want an easier time with that.
The second issue: Bueehhh!? Two parts? DLC?? Freemium!?!? Ever since the prefundia launched last year, light has said that there would be two parts. Dies irae is an absolutely huge work, and would typically necessitate a $50+ price tag, yet Steam is a platform that is extremely unfriendly towards high-priced VNs. The split game setup was conceived as a way to combat the hostile environment for high-priced VNs on Steam. And just yesterday, light revealed that they will be offering the common route for free. So, it will be free common route + Act I and Act II purchasable separately, all in one storefront. 
Third issue: All-ages? Waitaminute! This was an adult game! Dies irae has a long and complex history of releases. To be frank, the initial release of the game was a mess that not many people actually liked very much. They then released a free patch that rewrote large parts of the scenario and added a good chunk of content, but it still wasn't enough. The second release of the game, Acta Est Fabula, added two new routes that further explored the universe of Dies irae and provided a new final route that was far more satisfying than the last, making it actually feel like a complete story. And then, a few years later, the all-ages-only Amantes amantes was released. It didn't add any new routes, but it did add a boatload of content to the existing routes, including an expanded final ending that is considered a must-read, as well as all-ages h-scene replacements that people have said do a better job with character bonding and development. Amantes amantes has ever since been considered the definitive version of the game by its fanbase, and is the version that was Kickstarted. However, light recognizes the weeaboo's love for porn, and is going to offer an 18+ patch that will add those h-scenes back in (and remove the replacement scenes). Unfortunately, this patch will take a little while to come out—it's currently scheduled for late July. Be aware of this if you insist on playing the 18+ version of the game. It's happening, just not right away. Also be aware that the version of the game on Steam now has long been considered THE version of the game to play.
Misc issues:
The menus for some are in Japanese unless you use Japanese system locale! If you're experiencing Japanese menus, switch your system locale. This is not a consistent issue, and the team is aware of it and looking for a fix.  (fixed)
 
So let us see what all the hype is (or isn't) about! Use this thread to share your experiences. Remember to use spoiler tags and to properly label them for anything spoilery.

Surprise! Dies irae is delayed! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1986219362/dies-irae-english-localization-project-commences/posts/1899216?ref=backer_project_update
The folks on the Dies irae team maintained that there would be a May 31st release all the way until just a few minutes ago, when they announced a sudden last-minute delay to some time "this week." Reading Steiner is on twitter making it sound like this will be a super short delay. We all know how light operates by this point, though.
So place your bets! Will light actually make their revised release estimate? Will Dies irae actually release this week? Or will light find a way to fuck up spectacularly? Will it even come out this year?? Who knows! Crazier things have happened.
Isn't this exciting? It's probably better than playing the game itself! Thanks, light! 

I've made so many mistakes in my life.

I've been learning some HTML/CSS, and to no cause could my knowledge be better applied than a dedication to my good friend OriginalRun. As such, I've decided to craft a website that makes liberal use of CSS's styling capabilities so as to yield maximum Renness. Enjoy!
https://originalren.blob.core.windows.net/ren/ren.html
Acknowledgement to my friend @Keisuke who wrote some JavaScript and identified a few missing parentheses that made the website a total mess of scattered images.
EDIT: The website appears to have expired. For posterity, you can download it here. Extract the folder and open "index.html" in your browser.

I didn't even know that she held the day hostage!

Man, such a click-baity title .

As some of you know, I released Unhack 2 recently. People who gave the game a chance mostly enjoyed it, but I had a hard time with discoverability. I hate shameless plugs, and I wanted to do the show-don't-tell thing, so maybe I was naive.

Currently, I am working on The Last Birdling. I pour my life into these games (the earliest ones embarrassingly bad), so I don't want to pretend they're just for fun anymore. Still, I don't want to cross the line. Different forums have different rules, after all. The Fuwanovel forums are pretty kind and generous in terms of guidelines. Can I throw a couple of questions out and see what you think?

1) If we have a new project to announce, should we restrict it to the Original VN Projects section, or can we post about it on Visual Novels Discussion? Is it a case where if it is a Western VN, it can only sit in the Original VN Projects section? Big Japanese releases clearly are allowed in Visual Novels Discussion. I am happy to follow the rules if everybody else does the same, but yeah, I would like to know what the situation is.

2) Do we have issues with creators plugging projects as their very first post on these forums? There are places where that will constitute an instant warning or even ban. Actually, I guess this one doesn't apply in my case since I've loitered here for a while now.

3) I want to write up some articles related to my upcoming games, which also links to bigger discussions. Is it okay with you guys if I shared them on this board? Hopefully I'll come up with something worthwhile (while sneakily talking about myself which shames me so much) along the way.

Thank you so much for allowing me to be honest guys. Hopefully you won't find this annoying. I've cared deeply about my work for many years and really want my situation to improve .

Absolutely. So I was reading a VN the other day, and this girl went and talked to the protagonist! Can you believe that? Broke my imersion right there, such a thing would never happen to me.

I know right? Apparently, I have lived a very sheltered life. 

youve never been in a situation where youre surrounded by 5 girls on a daily basis who all are experts in various fighting styles and weapons while attending a school where its acceptable to challenge someone to a duel with no repercussions at all from the officials? your life is weird, dude.

Hi Nier! Thank you for your question .
The Last Birdling will not have a kickstarter campaign. The community has supported my previous projects, and thanks to them, I am able to fund recent games on my own. I noticed on other threads you like to support English VNs, so I very much appreciate that! But yeah, though Kickstarter can be a good promotion tool, I cannot undermine what the community has done for me in the past five years.

It is all around better than Vesperia... but Vesperia's Yuri was a Batman-style character... pure heart *snickers*

Your description of your brother sounds awfully familiar...