Clephas

Fact:  Did you know Japanese hamburgers use a mix of ground pork and beef called 'aibiki'?
 
Welcome to the forums.

1.  Strong protag (reasonably smart, capable, non-hetare)
2.  Emotionally moving
3.  well-written
4.  intellectually interesting
5.  funny
6.  good music that is also used effectively to enhance mood

Yurikago Yori Tenshi Made (http://vndb.org/v7071)
 
Izuna Zanshinken (http://vndb.org/v7070)
 
Yurikago has the first six, Izuna has all seven.  I don't know if you've played them or not, though.  Incidentally, I try to get everyone I meet to play these, lol.

There is a bodyguard protagonist tag on vndb. Search it in the tags section, then click on it, after which you can reorganize the list by date of release, popularity, or ratings. Rather than asking this kind of question here, it's best to go looking for the answer yourself.

There is very little a VN can do that cannot be done in another video game genre - though most gamers would not even consider VNs to be games at all. However, if there is one advantage VNs have that no other medium currently existing has... it is the greater leeway some companies give to their writers (outside of moege and nukige) thus allowing them to create stories that would not be allowed in other mediums either because they don't have much mainstream appeal, are socially unacceptable on one level or another, or take on issues no one wants to admit exist.

It's precisely because the medium isn't taken seriously that it can get away with all of this, which is one of the ironic aspects of it. Akatsuki Works games, for instance, always have a philosophical theme that they frequently approach from a point of view that would be considered cynical or anti-social, and they do it in a way that would most likely never have been allowed in another medium. To be blunt, this is just my personal view of the value of VNs... most people probably wouldn't agree.

Understand, I mean that amongst the 'visual' mediums (anime, movies, tv shows, video games, manga) in Japan, VNs are the most likely to do something with a story that none of the others would even consider otherwise. Anime series like Fate/Zero would never have been allowed in such an unadulterated form if FSN and Tsukihime hadn't 'gone there' and proven there was a demand for such works even in the current age of moeblob and brainlessness.

PS: Japanese paper novels are my other passion, for similar reasons. Where Americans have stagnated, there are still some seriously good new insights there.

There is very little a VN can do that cannot be done in another video game genre - though most gamers would not even consider VNs to be games at all. However, if there is one advantage VNs have that no other medium currently existing has... it is the greater leeway some companies give to their writers (outside of moege and nukige) thus allowing them to create stories that would not be allowed in other mediums either because they don't have much mainstream appeal, are socially unacceptable on one level or another, or take on issues no one wants to admit exist.

It's precisely because the medium isn't taken seriously that it can get away with all of this, which is one of the ironic aspects of it. Akatsuki Works games, for instance, always have a philosophical theme that they frequently approach from a point of view that would be considered cynical or anti-social, and they do it in a way that would most likely never have been allowed in another medium. To be blunt, this is just my personal view of the value of VNs... most people probably wouldn't agree.

Understand, I mean that amongst the 'visual' mediums (anime, movies, tv shows, video games, manga) in Japan, VNs are the most likely to do something with a story that none of the others would even consider otherwise. Anime series like Fate/Zero would never have been allowed in such an unadulterated form if FSN and Tsukihime hadn't 'gone there' and proven there was a demand for such works even in the current age of moeblob and brainlessness.

PS: Japanese paper novels are my other passion, for similar reasons. Where Americans have stagnated, there are still some seriously good new insights there.

Dies Irae, Kajiri Kamui, Vermillion - bind of blood, Zero- Devil of Maxwell, Jingai Makyou, Devils Devel Concept, Comyu, Yurikago yori Tenshi Made, Ayakashibito, Bullet Butlers, Evolimit, Tokyo Babel, Shinigami no Testament, Ikusa Megami Zero and Verita...

Also, if you don't like G-Senjou no Maou's story structure, don't play Eustia. Good high fantasy series (the elves and all that) are rare. Most of that type are plain moege with no decent fighting, are lame, or are nukige/rapegames...

If you don't mind ones that are only in Japanese, I can name thirty or forty truly epic games, but I'll start with ones that are just generally good: Harumade Kururu (this game starts like a harem nukige and turns into a serious mindfuck), Evolimit (any action game by propeller really), Ruitomo, Comyu, Dies Irae (for its unrepentant melodrama), Hapymaher, Grisaia (the first one), Haruka ni Aogi Uruwashi no, Jingai Makyou, Komorebi no Nostalgia, Otome ga Tsumugu Koi no Canvas, Sousei Kitan Aerial, Tiny Dungeon series, Draculius, Tsuisou no Augment, Vermillion - Bind of Blood. I could go on further, but I won't.

Register on this thread if you're interested in participation on a project and have the available time and commitment.
Alternatively, you could look for a project yourself in this thread here:
https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/7108-list-of-projects-currently-recruiting/

Format
1) Handle (the one you use or plan to use):
2) Positions you can fill:
3) Types of projects (VNs) preferred:
4) Availability (edit this one as you get involved in projects):
5) (VNs most interested in producing an ftl for:
6) Motivation for joining in on ftl:
7) Conditions* (any additional conditions, under which you will or won't work):

*Please mention whether you are fine with working on Yuri, Yaoi and Otome games.

It is recommended you don't say 'anything' on your 'preferred VNs' section. You should always pick games that fit your interests or were good enough to keep your interest even after it has tortured you for several hundred hours. It's one thing to take anything when you are making money, it is quite another to do so when you are a volunteer.

Example (by Clephas):




This thread has various rules to ensure the highest accuracy and usability:
-Do not register here if you believe you will be unavailable soon after. Commitment is necessary for projects.
 
-Please make sure to click "Show 'edit by' line" when editing you post, or at least, add a date for when it was last updated if you can help it.

-This thread will be heavily moderated to assure only posts which fulfill all the conditions will remain.
-If you fail to follow the format you will be PM'ed and we will inquire about what you missed. You will then edit your post with the missing information or will have it edited by a board mod.

-People who still remain on this thread will all be PM'ed by a board mod in order to ask whether they are still as readily available as they were when they registered. This will happen irregularly (but probably not more than 3 times a year).

The main reason I speak for large numbers of tls is to prevent burnout. An intelligent translator should weigh his pride and the project on a scale and choose the project every time. If he wants to, he can always go back over it later, after the project has been released. VN translations are so rare and exhausting that it is idiotic to even attempt to do it on your own on a project of any scale.

Edit: An editor's job is only to turn the raw translation into coherent English. The translation checker's job is to conform that coherent English to something matching the original meaning of the words without making it sound awkward (a primary reason why a tlc must not only have mastered Japanese but have good English writing skills). A project leader should never, ever be one of the translators. Translators are almost always the first members to experience burnout, due to the sheer volume of mental labor they undertake, and their work is also the most time-consuming. If a translator founds a project, one of his first jobs should be to find someone who is not a translator to organize and recruit members. To be blunt, the demise of most projects can be directly linked to translators taking on too much of the job of running the project themselves and being unwilling to hand over control to someone else. Editors are easily replaced, as are proofreaders. However, translators (and hackers) are relatively rare and difficult to recruit. All effort should be made to slow and prevent burnout of translators, as they are the keys to the project. To be blunt, 'if you translate it, it will eventually become a patch, but if you don't translate it, it will be nothing more than a bunch of words in a foreign language'.

Better is

1. translation
2. editing
3. TLC
4. Proofreading
5. QC

NEVER do editing after TLC for any type of translation project. Editors by definition ruin translations by accident as they go, and an experienced TL (preferably more experienced and skilled than the one doing the raw translation) is going to be able to perform the job of a second editor as well, conforming the redone english text to the original meaning without making it sound weird. Also, for large projects, you should have as many as four raw translators, preferably having split the game more or less evenly based on route, with the common route given over to whoever has the most free time or whoever is available at the moment (file it as 'anyone who wants it' or something like that).

Edit: The reason for four translators is that most VNs have around four or five heroines and the fact that a VN translation project of any size is just too much for a single translator in most cases. Nothing more certain to doom a project than a translator feeling isolated.

Edit2: For a regular sized kinetic novel (VNs with only a single path and ending - other than bad endings) two translators or even a single translator and a tlc would be enough. The larger the project you are tackling, the more people you are going to need, as most people aren't going to be able to hang on for six months to a year on a single project without burning out.