EdwardWongHPTIV

So.. many... games.. must... resist... *looks at cart* Over $300?! /sigh. *begins to remove some*
Joking aside, what's the news (if any) on the denpa release of the 2nd Grisaia? I'm debating getting the steam version... but I really should wait... right?
P.S. Fate Morgana is in my cart.

Please install Japanese language in my brain so that I too can partake of the Japanese releases while they're full of spunk.

(aka it's time to learn Japanese...)

How about give your translation staff a bonus if the lower base goal this time around means they're getting paid less.

So to summarize - Learn Japanese > VN Hook+Atlas > Hook+Web > 5 year old > Bing?
Well sounds like they need to start freezing human translators on their death beds. When the technology becomes available we can transplant their brains into a quantum-binary hybrid supercomputer with time dilated man-machine interfaces. It will run a sadistic AL taskmasker artificial life construct tasked with supplying all the brains-in-a-jar with a constant stream of text to be translated, proof read, etc. Surely they wouldn't mind be forced to translate for decades as a disembodied brain-in-a-jar! Someday we'll be living that dream! And we'll get fast translations of all the text! Into every language! From every language! Unfortunately, due to a completely avoidable error in a recursive routine, the TL supercomputer will lose track of what it's translated and get stuck in an endless loop translating everything in the world over and over again. Worse still it's workload grows exponentially until it consumes so much global resources that it renders the planet uninhabitable. Humans die out and still the supercomputer attempts to translate.
TL:DR - Learn Japanese but do not become an organ donor?

Bah, only one of my picks were on the top 10. While admittedly I got my start reading VNs on steam. I'd prefer DRM-free releases available elsewhere. Not that complaining will change anything, I'm sure steam is the best selling platform for them, and they'll probably sell even more that way now that steam keys aren't a thing. Meaning a trend to all-ages.

You know I've never gone to a Con... Some friends/family have in the past but I never got around to it. This thread has got me interested. Unfortunately Seattle is a bit too far for me. There was a time I'd road trip or fly just about anywhere for gatherings and such but I just don't have it in me anymore. I'm showing my age
Funny thing is I'm never played Katawa Shoujo. I keep meaning to... I'm fairly new to VNs as well. I've known about them for a long time but hadn't taken the plunge until recently. Which is strange considering how long I've been into anime and manga (lets just say decades).

I've pretty much convinced myself that I want to submit a panel proposal to Sakura-Con 2016. Below is a copy-paste of the text I've put together for the submission. I'm looking for ideas and feedback from you fine folks. It says so below, but keep in mind while reading that if you're here on Fuwanovel, you're probably not the target audience for the proposed panel; I'm aiming to help out less-experienced people who are interested in VNs but don't know where to start (think: everybody you know who read Katawa Shoujo, enjoyed it, and then never played another VN because they didn't know it was a thing). Ideas for further content are especially welcome, and I'll also welcome any critiques on wording, etc.,
 
Title: Getting Started With Visual Novels Description for the con booklet:
From newer series like Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Bladeworks to older series like Clannad and Steins;Gate, many well-loved anime are adaptations of Visual Novels. But many of the best Visual Novels have no such adaptation, but are available in English translation. If you want to see what you've been missing, or want to understand more about Visual Novels and the experience of reading them in the West, come learn:
- where to find news about recent and upcoming English-language Visual Novel releases
- where to buy officially-licensed English translations
- how to import visual novels from Japan and apply fan translations
- where to find communities for discussing Visual Novels and seeking personal recommendations
- how to find Visual Novels you might like Detailed description of the format:
The goal of the panel is to provide novice and intermediate VN readers with resources to get them bootstrapped reading new material which is relevant to their interests. The target audience is especially people who are interested in VNs, and who maybe have some VN experience (say, people who have only read Katawa Shoujo), but who aren't aware of the huge corpus of VNs available in English.
I'll be telling the audience about companies like JAST, MangaGamer, and SekaiProject; communities like FuwaNovel and /r/VisualNovels; tools like VNDB and (the new) VNTLS; and international shipping services like Mandarake and Tenso. I'll provide relevant examples of high-profile VNs available through each, and talk briefly about the relative merits of each. I expect this to take about half an hour to forty minutes, and then will use the remaining time for open discussion of Visual Novels.

Well, enough of the subjective posturing over who's viewpoint is correct or complaining about who's complaining ad nauseam!
How about 360 TB of crystalline storage with a projected lifespan of 13 Billion years *in* a fire of up to 374 F or 190 C. Well maybe fire is an exaggeration, but baking is permissible. Link
So in 5-20 years when (if) this tech comes to market we can archive the shit out of our VNs. Happy end?

Well, enough of the subjective posturing over who's viewpoint is correct or complaining about who's complaining ad nauseam!
How about 360 TB of crystalline storage with a projected lifespan of 13 Billion years *in* a fire of up to 374 F or 190 C. Well maybe fire is an exaggeration, but baking is permissible. Link
So in 5-20 years when (if) this tech comes to market we can archive the shit out of our VNs. Happy end?

http://www.engadget.com/2015/12/02/paypal-square-and-big-bankings-war-on-the-sex-industry/
Not happening anytime soon, unfortunately. Not sure if I want it to happen right now, either - even ignoring the above issue, there's the question of what kinds of adult VNs Steam would allow. Somehow I think they'd be a lot more likely to carry Princess Evangile's adult version than, say, euphoria or Maggot Baits. Considering that, I think I prefer the current situation for the time being, at least until the VN market outside of Steam grows some more.

As the OP summarized, developer AJTilley said he was told by Valve that sexually explicit content isn't allowed on Steam due to regional legal restrictions.  Steam is an international service, and therefore has to comply with laws in every region they serve.  Valve said they currently don't have the technical infrastructure to region-restrict explicit content in such a way that it would comply with the vast mosaic of international laws.  Honestly I don't see it ever happening because laws against sexual content are far too vague to reliably predict what types of content aren't allowed since they usually rely on "community standards".  You essentially don't know what's illegal until you lose the court case, causing a massive chilling effect as companies avoid content possibly related to content that could have a remote chance of being prosecuted.  Even the US, the so-called bastion of free speech has such laws, and guessing what would be illegal in that single country is difficult.  Now multiply that by 200.
Even if explicit sexual content were allowed, loli content would likely still be heavily restricted, which would STILL make eroge on Steam a risky proposition.  

All I expect from OELVNs is mature writing for adults, appealing anime-style or fantasy-style graphics, a high fantasy setting with swords and sorcery, engaging RPG combat, 1000-year-old goth lolis, and sex with said lolis--all voiced in Tolkien's elven language.  Is that too much to ask? 

What needs to stop is the school setting trope and all these garbage ass cliches that only works right in a Japanese VN but will never work in a western setting.
Example: No youre not supposed to go to love hotels or karaoke bars in a western setting VN. We dont do that shit over here....
Night clubs or going to a bar for drinks would be more "western appropriate" or actually going to your significant other's place instead of hotels or motels is more common here.
See? That shit isnt so hard to westernize... These OELVN developers just need to see the differences between our cultures and the Japanese if they want to "make it their own" and not look like copycat garbage VN.