Diamon

You know, I have nothing against you personally, and if anything I'm supporting you as a fellow developper, but I think you should choose between wanting to have serious discussions about the state of VNs, and promoting your own project. It's a trend that seems to repeat in your latest threads. There is a proper time and place for each of those (more precisely different sections in the forums for each of those), and just ignoring it feels like bad etiquette imo.
What does this new song you're promoting has to do with the topic of discussion of the thread? Don't you have a more appropriate thread where you should post it? If you're posting something that is supposed to create discussion, then you should try to focus on creating objective debates by finding pros and cons. While your own work can definitely be an example, it shouldn't be the focus of the thread. Else it just feels like you're trying to "clickbait" me.
While I understand that the dev boards are not receiving much love from the fuwa community, it should be something that should be addressed and discussed among said community to find the issues, instead of trying to find a way around it. 
Maybe my opinion is in the minority here, and if everyone thinks that posting those kind of threads is alright, feel free to throw rotten potatoes at me. But to me self advertisement and discussions should be two distinct things. If no one sees a problem, should I just go ahead and post discussions threads that actually aim to promote my own project?
 
Concerning the topic of discussion, I think that as long as your art is pleasing to the eye, you'll have no trouble getting people interested. You'll cater to a different audience, more people into comic books and less people into anime. Only thing is that you'll be targeting an audience that is less likely to know about VNs, and as a result be more wary (those people will expect more gameplay, fewer reading), but from what I understood you're trying to incorporate more gameplay elements in your game, so you should be fine.

You know, I have nothing against you personally, and if anything I'm supporting you as a fellow developper, but I think you should choose between wanting to have serious discussions about the state of VNs, and promoting your own project. It's a trend that seems to repeat in your latest threads. There is a proper time and place for each of those (more precisely different sections in the forums for each of those), and just ignoring it feels like bad etiquette imo.
What does this new song you're promoting has to do with the topic of discussion of the thread? Don't you have a more appropriate thread where you should post it? If you're posting something that is supposed to create discussion, then you should try to focus on creating objective debates by finding pros and cons. While your own work can definitely be an example, it shouldn't be the focus of the thread. Else it just feels like you're trying to "clickbait" me.
While I understand that the dev boards are not receiving much love from the fuwa community, it should be something that should be addressed and discussed among said community to find the issues, instead of trying to find a way around it. 
Maybe my opinion is in the minority here, and if everyone thinks that posting those kind of threads is alright, feel free to throw rotten potatoes at me. But to me self advertisement and discussions should be two distinct things. If no one sees a problem, should I just go ahead and post discussions threads that actually aim to promote my own project?
 
Concerning the topic of discussion, I think that as long as your art is pleasing to the eye, you'll have no trouble getting people interested. You'll cater to a different audience, more people into comic books and less people into anime. Only thing is that you'll be targeting an audience that is less likely to know about VNs, and as a result be more wary (those people will expect more gameplay, fewer reading), but from what I understood you're trying to incorporate more gameplay elements in your game, so you should be fine.

You've made a few similar threads recently, and the best, all-encompassing, advice I can give you is: just make what you want to make, dude. An indie visual novel isn't going to make you a millionaire, probably not even a living, so just make something that you can love and be proud of. That's the best pay-off you're going to get from doing this. Once you've done that, making money is a bonus.
Also you're not going to win any friends by saying: "Look how different and better I am than other OELVNs". It's really dismissive of other people's hard work and, contrary to ignorant popular belief, OELVNs are most assuredly not just a bunch of copy paste high school games. The shovelware shite on steam ≠ the sole representative of the OELVN scene. 

Since my first post doesn't allow me to continue on it anymore because it's too lengthy, I'll add the FAQ here.
I'll also add another guide from a fellow OELVN developer that is very interesting and that I advice reading as well!
http://blog.cyanide-tea.net/2014/09/17/what-i-learnt-while-working-on-visual-novels/
 
 
7°) FAQ
 
a°) Should I start on a small or a big project?
It’s probably the first question you should ask yourself. It is common sense and common belief that it's better to start to work on a smaller project in order to get experience, and once you feel more at ease, to take on a bigger project. While I can’t deny that it’s wiser to do this way, I can at the same time totally understand that some people might not satisfy themselves with a small project, and that they don't have the patience/time to take such a long detour.
 
It’s definitely doable to attack a large scale project as your first project, but only to the condition that the person leading is someone that has very good common sense, and that is very organized. Hopefully, this guide should have given you the good foundations for handling and managing even big projects.
 
It also depends on the time available to work on this project of each member of course. It is also an option to not set this in stone, and to go “We’ll see how much it will end up to be.” Take care though, don’t be too ambitious. Don’t try to aim for a game that will have 7 heroines and 100+ CG… (unless you genuinely believe that you have the team to do that).
 
b°) How many member do I need? What is the ideal team to have?
It really depends on the scale of your project. But you should at least have one person that can fill each role that I listed above. It is technically doable to create a Visual Novel with a 3 men team (a writer that can program, one artist that can draw everything, and a composer), even though I’d only recommend this for small scale projects. Else, my ideal team would be :
One leader in charge of management in the team and PR (it can be a writer, but preferably if you have several writers working on your project).
At least one writer (can also be the programmer if he has coding knowledge or if you don’t have a  dedicated programmer)
One sprites / CGs artist.
One BG artist
One composer
One editor
One programmer that can also create GUI assets.
 
Depending on the size of your project, you might want to increase :
The number of artists (sprites / CG / BG)
The number of writers
The number of composers.
 
c°) I’m missing an *insert role* for my project, and I can’t seem to find one…
It’s definitely annoying and an issue, but there always are possibilities to do without, at least most of the time.
First, make sure that you searched enough. It’s necessary to be patient when recruiting, so don’t lose hope after merely one week of unfruitful recruitment.
I don’t have a BG artist : I already stated different solutions above.
I can’t find a composer : You can try to use free royalties track that are free of usage by everyone. Make sure to read the condition of utilisation first! (some tracks are not allowed to be used for commercial purposes, for example)
I can’t find a programmer : Either learn to use ren’py yourself, or try to use alternative engines that requires fewer programming knowledge (there are a few out there, but development for them is often stalled)
I can’t find a GUI artist : I’m not sure I can do anything to help you. Your best bet is to keep searching, and continue developing your project in the meanwhile. After all, GUI is not something vital for the development of your VN, and it can be done at any time.
I can’t find a writer / artist : Sorry, but you are screwed^^ ...more seriously, make sure that the problem isn’t coming from your recruitment messages / your VN concept that are not appealing enough.
 
d°) My project is stalling! No progress is being made! HEEEEEELP MEEEEE!
This issue can come from two different things : either your organization is not good enough, or either your members lack motivation.
It might not seem very obvious at first glance but the purpose of organization is to spare doing additional efforts for all the people working on the project. Make it easier to get started on work, and to share it with other people. Writers are not writing? Maybe you should help them to plan out the content that they are supposed to write. Artists are not drawing? Maybe because they don’t know where to find the references for this character they are supposed to draw. Make the information easily accessible (thanks to Trello, Google Drive, and Skype pms), and you will see that people will be much more active!^^
 
If your members lack motivation, it’s another problem altogether. First, did you follow the advices above? Yes? It doesn’t seem to have been very efficient? Well, once again, don’t underestimate the importance of bonding and creating bonds with your fellow teammates. The next thing that can help is : is your project interesting enough? Do the members see potential in what they are creating? If they do, they’ll be definitely more motivated to work on it. If they don’t, it’s your job to propose new ideas to improve the quality of your project and get your members more hyped than ever.
 
If your project is a commercial one, things are different since the people that you hire have the duty to furnish enough progress, they are paid after all. Creating something through the internet is a problem in a way that you can’t create and make people sign real contracts. So no one has any legal obligation toward you. But as a project leader, you are the one managing the funds and the money, so you are on your right to not give money until enough progress has been made.
 
d°) I have a member that only brings troubles to the others… What should I do?
Well sometimes it happen that you made an error of judgement, and recruited someone that revealed himself to be a troublemaker. It’s the job of the project leader to blow the whistle and to ask politely, but firmly that you don’t like the recent behavior of this member, and that if it were to continue, you’d have to kick him out. If that person doesn’t try to change his behavior, it’s your duty to kick that person, no matter how important he might be among the team (even if it’s your main writer)
 
e°) One of the member is not good enough / not putting enough effort into the project…
It’s very similar to what I said previously.
If it happens that not enough effort are made : calmly explain the situation in a message to the person concerned. Never try to guilt trip the member, and don’t attack him personally. Listen to what he has to say and explain clearly what you’re expecting from him. Warn him in a friendly tone. If it doesn’t improve, warn him more firmly and give an ultimatum. If nothing has changed after some time again, it means it’s time to demote/kick that person.
 
If the person is just not good enough, first you need to blame yourself because that’s probably the result of you recruiting someone without testing that person enough. Now, there’s no real rule about how to handle this, it mainly depends on what are your values. Do you think it’s okay to be unfair to someone and kick that person if that means a higher overall quality for the project? There’s no real answer that is right or wrong imo.
 
f°) I’m suffering from writer’s block!
First, did you make sufficient planning? One of the possible cause of writer’s block is having only vague ideas or concept, and trying to write a real script from those right away. The most planning (in the details!) you do, the easier it will be for you to write. Don’t hesitate to ask help with people to brainstorm ideas as well.
 
Secondly, sometimes writer’s block might just be you being a perfectionist. Like, you’re refusing to write bad or “meh” writing, and want to create something great on your first try. It’s not exactly the best way to go when writing, sometimes you must compromise and accept to write lesser quality stuff / fillers, and come back to it later. Because when you’re blocked on something, sometimes the best thing to do is just to write another scene and come back to this one later.
 
Here is a nice article from one of our Fuwa fellow that might help you! https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/8258-writers-block-combating-it/#entry220082
 
g°) Some members are arguing badly about something, and I’m not sure how to intervene…
It is something that is meant to happen at some point, arguments, more or less serious, will always happen. You have to know how to deal with them as a project leader :
Tell people to stay respectful and polite. It’s fine to not agree on something, or to be pissed at someone (we’re all human beings), but people have to stay respectful with each other, all the time.
Try to make sure there is no misunderstanding between the two members. You’d surprised to see how many arguments happen because people misunderstand each other. Have them state clearly what the problem is, on each side.
Try to compromise. Try to find a solution that both party will find acceptable, and that everyone will agree with.
And finally, when everything is solved, no ill feelings!
h°) Will money guarantee me to reach completion of my VN safely? Is a kickstarter a better approach overall?
To be honest, no. Keep in mind that having a project where you're ready to pay people only facilitate the recruitment : it allows you to choose among a larger number of possibilities. Of course, if you pay the people working on your VN more or less regularly, it will be a motivating factor for some of them. But it won't prevent drop of interest for the project, boredom, mistakes, conflicts (if anything, involving money might bring more conflicts on the table). Money cannot replace passion.
It's a tad different if you're hiring someone full time to work on your VN and that they depend on your money to make a living. If that's the case, you can expect the person to work with more professionalism on the project, since that person really needs the money. But again, you probably don't have any signed contract between each other (even if you had, if doesn't hold much value), so you have probably no way to do anything if someone decides to retire himself for the project for whatever reason.
 
Now about kickstarters, keep in mind that it's a double edged sword. You might want to take a look at this blog article about the failure of the second kickstarter of Dysfunctional Systems, I encourage every people that want to start a Kickstarter to read it : https://dischan.co/blog/2015/01/dysfunctional-systems-what-went-wrong/ (and additionaly an more in-depth analysis of the failure of Dysfunctional Systems : http://traumendes-madchen.com/blog/?p=1142)
Here is basically the moral of the story :
People will have paid for your promises, and you will have to keep your commitments : you are not allowed to lie to the people that backed you and betray them. Managing money requires a lot of work : a lot of planning, a lot of common sense, and most of all to be very careful. It's not something meant to make the development of your game easier, it can be as beneficial as it can be toxic for your project. If you don't have a good sense of how to value money, it's very easy to get overly ambitious because you're seeing a nice amount of money under your eyes. When starting a kickstarter, you're basically engaging yourself to release a product in the end, whether you want it or not. Meaning that if ever you feel that the project becomes a burden to you because you don't have enough motivation, or if real life stuff happens (it sucks, but it can happen to anyone). If ever despite of that, you decide that the VN cannot reach completion, be ready to give back the money to your backers, or face eternal shame and discredit on yourself. Most of the time, you won't have any money from the kickstarter left, so be prepared to refund people on your personal savings.  
Now, more generally, I'll have to add that commercial projects and free projects tend to have different mindsets when it comes to creation of a Visual Novel. 
When you're dealing with a commercial VN, the developers will always be to some extent worried about the sales of the game. That might influence how they create their stories (trying to appeal to a bigger audience), or how they react to other's people reviews / complain /criticism. They also have additional pressure in the form that they have to prove that what they created is worth the price for the reader. They have to deal with frustration and expectations from the people that bought their VN.
 
It's definitely not the case for free VN. They have much more freedom, in a sense, since they are not tied by any expectations of any form, at least morally speaking. If the reader is not happy with the VN created, it's much harder for him to complain as the only thing he will have lost will be time (Time might still be very valuable for some people though). Don't misunderstand though, I'm not saying people shouldn't complain about reading something that is free because they didn't have to pay for it. I'm just saying that the creators have no moral obligation to change anything or do anything about it.
 
i°) WE MADE IT! OUR PROJECT IS READY FOR RELEASE! ...but where can I distribute my VN in order to share it with the world?
Steam : always a good place, especially if you want to sell your VN.
Lemmasoft : it’s at least a good place to advertise it
Fuwanovel : A good place to advertise it as well
Mangagamer is a good bet as well, although I’m not sure if they are interested in distributing OELVN.
You can try also to get your game distributed in various site that promote indie games, such as http://gamejolt.com/ , http://itch.io/ , http://www.indiedb.com/ (the links are a courtesy from firecat)
 
If you have any question, or need any guidance for creating your own Visual Novel, don't hesitate to pm me, I'll be glad to help! 

Yet another thread from Firecat, that makes you go 【・ヘ・?】

We're now on steam greenlight!!
Please support us by voting and sharing the page with others!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=604416507

I like the artstyle and the story seems good aswell, i wish you the best of luck and seems you got something good in your hands aswell as putting in the effort. Looks great
Can't wait to try it out, hype begining

Last updated : January 20th 2016
 
 
NOW AVAILABLE ON STEAM FOR FREE!
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 

 
 
Staff list
Active members :
Diamonit : Project lead, Plot supervisor, Character design
 
Luna Chai : Writer (Common route), Graphics, GUI
DavidA. : Writer (Heroine route)
Clestae : Writer (Heroine route), Beta, editor
AnotherPlayer : Writer (Heroine route)
Suna : Writer (Heroine route)
 
Mac : Character design, PR
Sean : Side writer, Character design, PR
 
Reika : Editor
Rains : Proof-reader
 
Dizzyworld2 : Lead artist, Female Sprites, CGs
Elphaze: Male sprites, CGs
Yuuko : Backgrounds, GUI
 
Breeze : Composer
Ziassan : Composer
UltraKitsune : Composer, SFX
Yunyunsae : Composer
 
Zander : SFX
 
Zuka : GUI programmer
Jbonesy : Narrative scripting programmer
Ian : Narrative scripting progralmmer
 
 
Former members / Inactive members :
 
Blue wolfie : Composer , Arranger
danpc :  Project Lead, programmer, composer, idea bouncer
Hooves : Character design, idea boucer
 
 
    We, at Fallen Snow Studios, are all very motivated and excited to take part in this great adventure that is the creation of a Visual Novel, and we hope we'll be able to create something you will enjoy reading! Thanks for your time reading this, and don't hesitate to reply to this thread if you have any question, or if you just want to show your support! It means a lot to us!

That sucks :s
Though I'm kinda intrigued as for why you couldn't keep any of the script he had already completed? (if he has completed any, that is)
As a piece of advice, I'd recommend you trying to search writers on fanfiction.net, especially on the anime fandom (Steins;Gate / Fate being the most prolific). I'm doubtful it will help you to recruit on Fuwa (or even Lemma). Sure you might find skilled writers, but the issue is more on the commitment side, people on fanfiction are generally used to writing regularly for a long period of time, and they actually get feedback on their work to improve. themselves. But that often comes at the cost of recruiting someone that might not be familiar with Visual Novel narration / scripting / tropes, etc. Your project is really well done, and a lot of attention has been given to the details, so even people not familiar with the medium would be excited to participate in a project like yours.
 

A happy new year to everyone from us!
Since I'm feeling a bit lazy today, I'll simply content myself with posting the two blog posts we recently made :
- http://lucid9.weebly.com/blog/holiday-update
- http://lucid9.weebly.com/blog/happy-new-year
 
Some of you might have noticed that I have finally updated the front page, with new screenshots and info about the upcoming release, that we decided to call "Inciting Incident". We're getting on greenlight soon through Sekai, so I'm probably going to post something again relatively soon!

Last updated : January 20th 2016
 
 
NOW AVAILABLE ON STEAM FOR FREE!
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 

 
 
Staff list
Active members :
Diamonit : Project lead, Plot supervisor, Character design
 
Luna Chai : Writer (Common route), Graphics, GUI
DavidA. : Writer (Heroine route)
Clestae : Writer (Heroine route), Beta, editor
AnotherPlayer : Writer (Heroine route)
Suna : Writer (Heroine route)
 
Mac : Character design, PR
Sean : Side writer, Character design, PR
 
Reika : Editor
Rains : Proof-reader
 
Dizzyworld2 : Lead artist, Female Sprites, CGs
Elphaze: Male sprites, CGs
Yuuko : Backgrounds, GUI
 
Breeze : Composer
Ziassan : Composer
UltraKitsune : Composer, SFX
Yunyunsae : Composer
 
Zander : SFX
 
Zuka : GUI programmer
Jbonesy : Narrative scripting programmer
Ian : Narrative scripting progralmmer
 
 
Former members / Inactive members :
 
Blue wolfie : Composer , Arranger
danpc :  Project Lead, programmer, composer, idea bouncer
Hooves : Character design, idea boucer
 
 
    We, at Fallen Snow Studios, are all very motivated and excited to take part in this great adventure that is the creation of a Visual Novel, and we hope we'll be able to create something you will enjoy reading! Thanks for your time reading this, and don't hesitate to reply to this thread if you have any question, or if you just want to show your support! It means a lot to us!

Haven't posted here in quite a while...
We're still working hard on the common route! A lot of assets are being produced, thanks to the effort of everyone on the team! Guess I'll just post some assets, since sharing is caring
First : our podcast episode 1 video! 
Cover art : Dizzyworld2,
OST : Hustle & Bustle by Jason Walsh
Participants : AnotherPlayer, Mac
(Tips : do actually watch the video, you won't be disappointed!  )
 
So usually, I often put a background update here with an asset, but this time, I'll do even better : a background speedpainting from Yuuko!
 
And lastly, of course, some fanart, because you all deserved it after waiting for so long without any news :

A bit late, but look at all the candy Akira got!  (Drawn by Yuuko)
That's all for the moment!
Stay tuned for some further updates soon-ish! (And follow the thread if you haven't been yet!  )

The HD graphics are really, really neat, especially on my 1920*1080 screen (which is a laptop with a 15" screen, so low resolution VN really hurt usually)
The translation is much better than the fan translation, though I haven't read much of the new version, but it flows better than before.
The remastered OST is also a big plus.
And the dangopedia is a nice addition, that can be very useful to players unfamiliar with japanese culture.
 

Haven't posted here in quite a while...
We're still working hard on the common route! A lot of assets are being produced, thanks to the effort of everyone on the team! Guess I'll just post some assets, since sharing is caring
First : our podcast episode 1 video! 
Cover art : Dizzyworld2,
OST : Hustle & Bustle by Jason Walsh
Participants : AnotherPlayer, Mac
(Tips : do actually watch the video, you won't be disappointed!  )
 
So usually, I often put a background update here with an asset, but this time, I'll do even better : a background speedpainting from Yuuko!
 
And lastly, of course, some fanart, because you all deserved it after waiting for so long without any news :

A bit late, but look at all the candy Akira got!  (Drawn by Yuuko)
That's all for the moment!
Stay tuned for some further updates soon-ish! (And follow the thread if you haven't been yet!  )

That sucks :s
Though I'm kinda intrigued as for why you couldn't keep any of the script he had already completed? (if he has completed any, that is)
As a piece of advice, I'd recommend you trying to search writers on fanfiction.net, especially on the anime fandom (Steins;Gate / Fate being the most prolific). I'm doubtful it will help you to recruit on Fuwa (or even Lemma). Sure you might find skilled writers, but the issue is more on the commitment side, people on fanfiction are generally used to writing regularly for a long period of time, and they actually get feedback on their work to improve. themselves. But that often comes at the cost of recruiting someone that might not be familiar with Visual Novel narration / scripting / tropes, etc. Your project is really well done, and a lot of attention has been given to the details, so even people not familiar with the medium would be excited to participate in a project like yours.
 

Haven't posted here in quite a while...
We're still working hard on the common route! A lot of assets are being produced, thanks to the effort of everyone on the team! Guess I'll just post some assets, since sharing is caring
First : our podcast episode 1 video! 
Cover art : Dizzyworld2,
OST : Hustle & Bustle by Jason Walsh
Participants : AnotherPlayer, Mac
(Tips : do actually watch the video, you won't be disappointed!  )
 
So usually, I often put a background update here with an asset, but this time, I'll do even better : a background speedpainting from Yuuko!
 
And lastly, of course, some fanart, because you all deserved it after waiting for so long without any news :

A bit late, but look at all the candy Akira got!  (Drawn by Yuuko)
That's all for the moment!
Stay tuned for some further updates soon-ish! (And follow the thread if you haven't been yet!  )

Haven't posted here in quite a while...
We're still working hard on the common route! A lot of assets are being produced, thanks to the effort of everyone on the team! Guess I'll just post some assets, since sharing is caring
First : our podcast episode 1 video! 
Cover art : Dizzyworld2,
OST : Hustle & Bustle by Jason Walsh
Participants : AnotherPlayer, Mac
(Tips : do actually watch the video, you won't be disappointed!  )
 
So usually, I often put a background update here with an asset, but this time, I'll do even better : a background speedpainting from Yuuko!
 
And lastly, of course, some fanart, because you all deserved it after waiting for so long without any news :

A bit late, but look at all the candy Akira got!  (Drawn by Yuuko)
That's all for the moment!
Stay tuned for some further updates soon-ish! (And follow the thread if you haven't been yet!  )

My wallet can"t handle all those awesome VN to buy / back...

Personally I think voice acting ends up a luxury most projects can't afford - especially since the lack of the player having an interpretation of their voice themselves could end up taking something away instead.  Poor voice acting is a weakness where no voice acting is not, and thus the only option becomes to question if you have the budget for high-quality voices and then only going for it if thus.  The demand for high-quality voice actors can be considered quite high, but it takes a lot of practice from the actors' end themselves to reach this goal, so it's difficult to make a role unless you have at least some experience.
I'd say it's like writing in one area - the ability to craft a comprehensible sentence does not mean one is capable of crafting the language of the story in a way that evokes emotion.  Similarly, the ability to speak in a coherent fashion does not necessarily imply that the actor can evoke the necessary level of emotion, both in accuracy and consistency with the tone of the story and the raw emotional power itself, that is necessary to make voice acting a benefit rather than something loathed.
To those looking to get into it - best of luck to you.  Don't expect it to be easy, but if you manage to pull through I'll be looking forward to what you can deliver, for better or for worse.

Have you ever considered the possiblity, that Princess Evangile is a simple moege without too much focus on tight plots and dramatic twists? It is for people who want to date the cover girls, while being led along by an easy to follow script and some tropes for humor and light tension. Some folks like breakfast simple, corny and cheesy.
 
Sure, there are plenty of things worth adressing in Princess Evangile. But it seems like you're expecting it to be something that it isn't even trying to be in the first place. You ain't gonna find Clannad or Grisaia in here, you know?

This list won't feature the VNs in order of "how good they are". Rating them would be way too much of a clusterfuck to me.
The VNs are not in their respective order. Meaning number 1 is not the best, and so on.
 
1_CHAOS; HEAD
 
2_Cross Channel
 
3_G-Senjou no Maou
 
4_Fate/Stay Night
 
5_Forest
This Visual Novel is the easiest visual novel translated to get a bad ending without using a walkthrough- which just adds to the fun of it. It makes a massive amount of references to common literature, which makes it even better.
 
6_Katahane
It may seem like an ordinary moege- the atmosphere is light, the story is full of cuteness, which you can note by the character design and soundtrack. It gets really good in the middle, and you'll be dying to know what happens in the end. A game with multiple perspectives, it's definitely one of the most enjoyable Visual Novels I've ever read.
 
7 Majikoi
 
8_Little Busters!
 
9_Tsukihime
"You shouldn't tell lies that you can't even fool yourself with"
 
10_Swan Song
A post apocalyptic Visual Novel.
 
11_Symphonic Rain
 
It may seem like your ordinary moege. Trust me, it's not.
 
12_Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo (and sequel)
 
13_Sekien no Inganock
Steampunk. An atmosphere full of mysteries and references that will make your head blow up.
 
14_Steins; Gate
A visual novel that deals extensively with time travel and it's consequences.
 
15_Utawarerumono
 
16_Fault: Milestone (1 & 2)
 
17_Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni 
 
18_Kara no Shoujo
 
19_Umineko no Naku Koro ni 
 
20_Planetarian
 
21_Ever 17
Another top 10.
 
22_Remember11
It lacks in the ending, but otherwise the story of this VN has enough to easily become one of my all-time favorites.
 
23_Zanmataisei Demonbane
 
24_Rewrite
"Could it possibly be rewritten, this fate of hers?"
Another one that enters the top 10.
 
25_Narcissu
 
26_Grisaia no Kajitsu
 
27_Saya no Uta
Only if you enjoy dark and messed up settings.
 
28_Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni
 
29_Eien no Aselia
 
30_Rose Guns Days (1 & 2)
There are small sections of gameplay on this one, but you can skip them by pressing the space bar, so this still qualifies.
 
31_Sengoku Rance
I feel obliged to comment on this VN before suggesting it to anyone. It's an Alicesoft title, which speaks a lot for itself... If you don't know how it's going to be like, well.. Kind of tough to describe. Lots of sex, including comedy rape. Alicesoft tends to make the whole story a comedy until right near the end, where things actually do get serious. It's worth checking out, if you don't mind Rance's personality. 
 
32_Phenomeno
Want a short VN that can captivate you for their whole duration? Here is it.
Visual novel adapted from the youth horror novel written by Hajime Ninomae and illustrated by yoshitoshi ABe.
 
33_Ef- A Fairy Tale of the Two
 
34_Dysfunctional Systems
Another one great for those who want short Visual Novels.
 
35_Daibanchou
Another Alicesoft title. While Rouga is not near Rance's level when it comes to pissing off people, alicesoft's style is something which often doesn't please people. 
36_Yume Miru Kusuri
The endings pack quite a punch.
 
37_Kikokugai- The Cyber Slayer
 
38_Eden 
 
39_Hoshizora no Memoria
 
40_Katawa Shoujo
Yep, it's somewhat overrated. Still, the fact that it is substantially easier for those who are starting to play visual novels to read should not be discarded, and overall, the story was good.
 
41_World End Economica
 
42_YU-NO
 
43_Shikkoku no Sharnoth
Yep, there is a minigame on this one. If you download a save data you can skip the minigame, though. So it still qualifies. Another VN that enters my top 10.
 
44_Muv Luv Alternative
The first Muv Luv didn't have enough to enter this list. You should still read it, though~
MLA is definitely awesome.
 
45_Dangan Ronpa
 
46_Comyu - Kuroi Ryuu to Yasashii Oukoku
 
47_Hanachirasu
 
48_Ayakashibito
 
49_I/O
 
50_Deardrops
 

Hey everyone. I'm glad to announce that we're reviving the Mentorship Program after reworking it a bit. The thread will be divided into two main parts, one talking about the overall changes and one talking about the recruitment process. Feel free to share your thoughts once you're done reading this wall of text. 
 
 
Rework
 
Introduction to the Mentorship Program: New VN players will be able to easily request a player mentor who has some experience playing VNs and is willing to be a friend and contact as they begin this great adventure. The mentor will email/PM an introduction to the new player, talk about the VN player's first game (and, ideally, nerd out with them), suggest follow-up games based on the new player's preferences, and be willing to answer quick questions such as "How do I make my computer Japanese?" or "What is a senpai-sama?".   What was changed with the rework: How is this different from the original experiment? Well, we tweaked a few stuff here and there. I don't know exactly how many Mentors we had, but I believe starting with too many was a mistake, so we're going to start low and add more with time if needed. For starters, me and Tay thought about going with 5. I'm now the Mentorship Coordinator, meaning I'll be responsible for gathering feedback, redirecting the mentees to their mentors and all that. I'm basically going to be the one doing what Tay would have had to do, giving him some more space to focus on other aspects of the website that need a bit more of his attention. This also ensures a more efficient communication route for everyone, as we all know Tay is a really busy man. You could say that I'm a quality of life bridge. We don't have anything set yet, but I'd like to post an update regarding the project status every now and then, maybe monthly. This would contain feedback from all the involved parties. What the mentors think about how we're doing, what the mentees think about the usefulness of the project, my very own thoughts about the efficiency and progress we achieved compared to the previous update. I highly value communication, not only between the involved, but with the community as well, it's a way to show that we are, in fact, doing what we volunteered to do, and that we're a reliable way to introduce someone to the genre.  
 
Recruitment
 
Now that I explained what was changed, let's go for the fun part, the recruitment.
 
Requirements: Played at least 4 of the Starter VNs listed below, and find it enjoyable to talk about them. Capacity to open-mindedly nerd out about visual novels. You need to be nice.  Have some Fuwa exposure: Been a member of Fuwanovel for at least six months and have at least 100 posts.  
Starter VNs: Katawa Shoujo Planetarian Narcissu Fate/Stay Night Clannad G-Senjou Steins;Gate Eden* Higurashi Saya no Uta Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo   What you'll do as a mentor: You'll get an email/PM with a new mentee's contact information. With that in hands, you'll send that person a PM/email (based on their preferences) introducing yourself, telling a little about your history with VNs, and whatever else you feel fit for a first message. After that, essentially, just be nice and be a friend. Answer their questions, talk about the game they're playing, nerd out with them (Sakura = best girl), offer game suggestions, show them around Fuwa, help them find the next game to try, etc. Make friends!  
What changed from before?
I added a few VNs to the Starter list, and with that, I felt that increasing the minimum amount of read VNs from the list was needed. While some might find some of the additions questionable, I believe lots of people are being introduced to the genre through steam, which makes games available there a bit more valuable. The same goes for short and popular ones such as SnU and for ones with great anime adaptations such as Steins;Gate. I'll probably add more eventually, but that should be a good list for now. I removed the part that said "Not a big time commitment", as that's something entirely up to how your interaction goes and to how many mentees you choose to take. Just keep in mind that as we're trying to have just a few mentors for now, we might have to set a minimum of newcomers each will have to take care of, just not sure how many. I didn't mentioned the Handbook because I'm still to work on it, some small changes will be made and some will be updated, don't worry, you'll have it once it's ready.  
 
Final words
 
I find the Mentorship Program to be a really great thing we have here, and simply letting it die would be a shame, that's why I decided to talk with Tay and revive it. Interested in being a Mentor? Send me a PM with the following form filled and we'll talk more there. This thread is an announcement and the changes should be discussed here, please don't post your form here nor PM me with your thoughts about the rework, unless you, for whatever reason, really don't want to make them public. 
 
 

It has jelly beans inside

Imho, bonding in a forum as big as Fuwanovel doesn't have the same connotation as bonding in a group of friends. There's a simple reason for that : in the end, we're all a bunch of strangers to each other. Ren, you want to use games and activities as a purpose for bonding members between each other, but I think that can only work among people who already appreciate each other's company. I play games / participate in events when I know I can have a good time, and it's just not likely it will happen with people I don't know. Sure, I could take the time to get to know those people, but the keyword here is time, if I already have a group of friends to play with, and other activities that keep me busy, I'm not sure I'd take the risk to involve myself in potentially time-consuming activities where I'm not sure I'd enjoy myself as much as with my friends.
 
In a community with so many diverse people, where so many different people can be found, I think Fuwanovel really thrives with it debates and exchange of constructive opinions about Visual Novels. That's the simple reason why VN discussions is still going strong, because no matter how different we all are, the one and only common thing that links us all together are Visual Novels. And it seems normal to me that bonding should come from those discussions, rather than random activities. And, relating to one of Rooke's post earlier, this bonding is deeper than one you could get from activities, since you genuinely gain a sense of respect for the people with whom you exchange constructive ideas. To me, that's the real sense of community we could develop on fuwa. As mentionned earlier, the fuwa reviews are a prime example : when I see one of Ryechu's reviews (or any other reviewer), I read someone's opinion that is structured and well thought, that I may agree with or not, but no matter what I will relate to it because it talks about Visual Novels, and people are all here because of their interest in Visual Novels. I gain respect for people who are able to make me reflect about VN, or teach me new things. Maybe it's just me, but I bond with people that I respect. When you had personal issues and you made this thread saying that you might not be able to continue your activities on Fuwa, I remember posting something in the thread, but it was more because I respected you as a person for giving so much of your time to Fuwanovel, rather than because I was sad that you wouldn't be able to host your events.
 
tl,dr : Fuwa's dynamism comes from the discussions concerning VN with all the members, bonding comes from people exchanging opinions and gaining respect for one's well written thoughts, so community events/programs should probably focus on VN discussions (could be a lot of things, organized debate, VN polls, VN discussions thread similar to /visualnovels/, ...)
 
Some ideas that I didn't put many thoughts in it, so they might be bad ideas :
- Would it be possible to rank the thread replies depending on the number of like? It would push people to write more relevant stuff (since it does feel rewarding to have your post being the first one displayed). very similar to /visualnovels/ once again, but it gives more meaning to the like system, and might have the benefit to make the more relevant content be easier to spot (I always found it bothersome as a user to have to scroll through mountains of pages to be able to be able to find the relevant info needed when I wanted to reply myself, and it's even more overwhelming in topics I'm totally unfamiliar with.
 
- Separate the member lounge into two different things, a "Community activities" section, and a "Real life talk" section. I think that anything that doesn't belong to those two categories could easily be posted in the "other discussion" section. If the real purpose of the member's lounge is bonding, then, there's probably nothing better than having a section in the forums where you can share your problem, worries, ask for advices, tell a funny story or sad story that happened to you recently, rant about your problem in real life... Because empathy is also a real form of bonding, much as you happen to care about the characters in VN when they have issues, the same can happen in real life. It wouldn't be the brightest section ever, but not everything has to be cheerful and happy go lucky in a forum.

Ah, a sense of community, that's a tricky business. I hope you don't mind if I ramble for a moment or two .
 
I remember talking with quite a few people about group friendships, and feeling sad about people going their separate ways and how you deal with it, how you stay together, and etc etc. The fact of the matter is this - if a group of people only comes together to have fun and talk about hobbies, muck around, share a laugh, play a game or two, then that group of people will always split apart at some point in the future. The bonds forged between these people are too superficial to withstand any tension, or any semi-serious inconvenience. Let me quote a story from Jeremy Clarkson's past:
 
"Back in the eighties I spent pretty well every saturday night with the same group of freind's in a King's Road basement bar in Kennedy's We laughed all the time, we went on stage with the band, we sang, we drank ourselves daft and we knew, with the sure-fire certainty that night will follow day, that we'd be mates forever.
 
Had one of them been accused of gouging the barman's eye out with a lawnmower, I'd have told the police I was dead at the time and that I knew nothing. I would even have taken the heat on his behalf, had push come to shove. Which would have made me feel awfully foolish today because I have no idea where two of those friends are, and, for the life of me, I cannot even remember what the third one was called.
 
How did this happen? Presumably, when I said goodbye for the last time ever, I really did believe I'd be seeing them all again the following weekend. It wasn't like we'd had a row, or that they'd all grown beards or moved to Kathmandu. We just went home and never saw one another again.
 
And this happens all the time. I went throug my address book earlier and there are countless hundred of people, friends, muckers, soul mates and former colleagues who I never see."
 
This indeed happens all the time. You’re friends with somebody when you’re 15, but when you’re 20 you suddenly meet up and find you no longer have anything in common. And the depth of the bond between you two isn’t strong enough to overcome this. Or you suddenly got busy, and you’re too tired to want to do anything, whether you continue to stay in touch will depend on the strength of that bond between the two of you. That is to say, is your friendship real or do you just meet up to whack out a rounds of Persona Arena at the local arcade every day? Because if it's the latter, then the slightest inconvenience or hardship will snap that friendship and chances are you won't even regret it breaking. Similarly, your forum games sometimes involve a bit of work and if bonds aren’t strong enough or incentives aren’t there for people to want to withstand that, then people won't participate.
 
This brings me rather round-aboutly to my point (‘round-aboutly’ is a word… now *shifty eyes*.) You’re an exceptional entertainer, Ren, but you don’t build a sense of community through a mutual sense of having a good time, a community is built upon very real and deep bonds.  I understand where you’re coming from though, the Members Lounge was supposed to be a place where members of the community could share real parts of their lives with other members, because this act of sharing is one of the ways people bond and grow close to one another. It was supposed to foster a sense of community before it failed spectacularly and hilariously, so that idea was my one attempt at that. You can’t shove a sense of community down people’s throats, so… not much you can do. This is kinda where I say ‘that’s life’, then I laugh nervously, give you a hearty whack on the shoulder, and offer you a strong drink . 
 
Anyway, Fuwa is surviving by being a place where people can come and talk about Visual Novels. So we may not be a close knit community, but it’s a place where people can relax and talk about common interests, or participate in projects, in a non-judgemental and respectful atmosphere. And maybe that’s not so bad. Maybe that's all it needs to be for now. Maybe it will be something more in the future.