InvertMouse

1) In my opinion, 'meaningless choices' are one of the biggest sins of the fad of creating the 'illusion of player agency' in gaming in general and VNs in particular.  This becomes a particularly nasty trend when the choices that matter are hidden inside the dozens of meaningless ones.
2) No, it isn't dishonest.  However, it can be irritating.  It is quite possible to be perfectly honest and get on people's nerves, and that is usually the case with non-detailed game overs.
3) Mass Effect 3's ending wasn't unexpected.  I gave up on Bioware making Mass Effect's endings making details of what you did throughout the game matter after 2.  I understood the logic, but it was still as annoying as hell.  Even KOTOR did this to an extent, as it was possible to completely reverse your choices up to that point by simply picking the opposite side near the end.
4) More branches can be a bad thing or a good thing, depending on the passion and sense of humor of the writer.  Tsukihime's alternate endings for all the heroines other than Kohaku provided a lot of flavor, for instance... and Devils Devel Concept's dual endings for each of the four non-true heroine paths created some radically different and interesting stories.  However, I've also experienced dozens of 'side-paths' that were basically excuses for fanservice.  It all depends on what you do with it.  As for editing... that depends on who you have got and how tight a schedule you have set.  An inflexible schedule will inevitably limit your possibilities, while a schedule that is too flexible results in development cycles that fans find intolerable in many cases.
5) In many cases, the point of the non-true endings in such a case is to provide perspective on the setting or aspects of the story that add depth to a true route later on.  In other cases, it is simply to make you love characters other than the true heroine so that it will be easier for you to emotionally insert yourself into the plot.  There are lots of reasons to do this, but those are the two I've seen the most often.
6) Yes.  Nonsensical choices that are truly nonsensical irritate me.
7) It is simply easier to do multiple paths using a game engine, from the reader/player's perspective.  One of the reasons the 'choose your own adventure' novels never really gained mainstream popularity was because of inconvenience.  In a game system, you can simply save at important choices and go back later if you feel you need to change things up.  How many bookmarks can you place in a book before it becomes impossible to read?

Hi everyone . Thank you again for letting me post my blog entry here:

This time I talk about the choice systems I have used in previous games, and the method I plan to adopt in The Last Birdling. Hope you like it!


 
A few points I would be happy to hear thoughts on:

1) If a choice has no impact on the ending, is it better for the game to be linear? I played Akiba's Trip recently, and I imagine a lot of those choices had no effect on the ending, but some of them were hilarious so they never bothered me. See, I always had this theory. If it has "attitude", you can get away with almost anything.

2) Is it dishonest to boast about x number of endings if most of them are just instant gameovers? This doesn't offend me, but when it is being done all the time, it results in a "yeah let me guess" type of reaction.

3) For those who have played it, how awful did you think Mass Effect 3's ending was? In terms of player agency, maybe it is a travesty compared to older titles like Star Wars KOTOR. That said, back in the days, cutscenes were less expensive to produce (well I wouldn't know a thing about that). Is it really possible to produce multiple vastly different endings when you know most players will miss a bunch of that content?

4) More branches means longer game length. Does it also risk potential fluff routes and less editing time (spellcheck, skim read once and call it a job done)?

5) What is the point of multiple paths if there is a true ending in the end? Though I want to be edgy and say it's pointless, I actually like true endings. Not those everything is magically okay ones, but it's good to have something that tells you yes, this is indeed the end.

6) Does it bug you when choices seem nonsensical, and you are forced to look up guides?

7) I wonder why visual novels often have multiple paths, but it's much less common with traditional novels? Of course, we have the choose your own adventure books. Maybe having to turn to a particular page is just a pain.
Thank you!

Hi everyone . Thank you again for letting me post my blog entry here:

This time I talk about the choice systems I have used in previous games, and the method I plan to adopt in The Last Birdling. Hope you like it!


 
A few points I would be happy to hear thoughts on:

1) If a choice has no impact on the ending, is it better for the game to be linear? I played Akiba's Trip recently, and I imagine a lot of those choices had no effect on the ending, but some of them were hilarious so they never bothered me. See, I always had this theory. If it has "attitude", you can get away with almost anything.

2) Is it dishonest to boast about x number of endings if most of them are just instant gameovers? This doesn't offend me, but when it is being done all the time, it results in a "yeah let me guess" type of reaction.

3) For those who have played it, how awful did you think Mass Effect 3's ending was? In terms of player agency, maybe it is a travesty compared to older titles like Star Wars KOTOR. That said, back in the days, cutscenes were less expensive to produce (well I wouldn't know a thing about that). Is it really possible to produce multiple vastly different endings when you know most players will miss a bunch of that content?

4) More branches means longer game length. Does it also risk potential fluff routes and less editing time (spellcheck, skim read once and call it a job done)?

5) What is the point of multiple paths if there is a true ending in the end? Though I want to be edgy and say it's pointless, I actually like true endings. Not those everything is magically okay ones, but it's good to have something that tells you yes, this is indeed the end.

6) Does it bug you when choices seem nonsensical, and you are forced to look up guides?

7) I wonder why visual novels often have multiple paths, but it's much less common with traditional novels? Of course, we have the choose your own adventure books. Maybe having to turn to a particular page is just a pain.
Thank you!

Hi everyone . Thank you again for letting me post my blog entry here:

This time I talk about the choice systems I have used in previous games, and the method I plan to adopt in The Last Birdling. Hope you like it!


 
A few points I would be happy to hear thoughts on:

1) If a choice has no impact on the ending, is it better for the game to be linear? I played Akiba's Trip recently, and I imagine a lot of those choices had no effect on the ending, but some of them were hilarious so they never bothered me. See, I always had this theory. If it has "attitude", you can get away with almost anything.

2) Is it dishonest to boast about x number of endings if most of them are just instant gameovers? This doesn't offend me, but when it is being done all the time, it results in a "yeah let me guess" type of reaction.

3) For those who have played it, how awful did you think Mass Effect 3's ending was? In terms of player agency, maybe it is a travesty compared to older titles like Star Wars KOTOR. That said, back in the days, cutscenes were less expensive to produce (well I wouldn't know a thing about that). Is it really possible to produce multiple vastly different endings when you know most players will miss a bunch of that content?

4) More branches means longer game length. Does it also risk potential fluff routes and less editing time (spellcheck, skim read once and call it a job done)?

5) What is the point of multiple paths if there is a true ending in the end? Though I want to be edgy and say it's pointless, I actually like true endings. Not those everything is magically okay ones, but it's good to have something that tells you yes, this is indeed the end.

6) Does it bug you when choices seem nonsensical, and you are forced to look up guides?

7) I wonder why visual novels often have multiple paths, but it's much less common with traditional novels? Of course, we have the choose your own adventure books. Maybe having to turn to a particular page is just a pain.
Thank you!

Phantom Trigger is stand-alone, you don't seem to need to know anything about the original to understand it. However, it will spoil some things, as the events of the third Grisaia game heavily influence its setting, so if you do plan on playing those games, play them first.

The company that made that VN later became Key

Her style reminds me of Key, is that related?
I still see a lot of fan devotion to some characters, but nowadays we have so many stories coming every month that it is almost impossible just to focus in one character. Usually I only get really attached to long-term anime characters, such as Pokémon's Ash's companions or book characters. These last are better because I can picture my best image of it while reading, so I will always fall in love for them.

When I hear fandisk I think "by the devs for fans" not "made by the fans" but that's pretty cool
She's definitely best girl in ONE, btw

Here it is friends :

The full entry:
http://invertmouse.tumblr.com/post/160040463084/devotion-to-one-character-kawana-misaki

I got this fandisc several years ago via an online auction. Chances are, it was originally produced for a Comiket from many years back. It makes me think, I wonder how often this sort of thing happens today? A fandisc over a single character, real life meet ups, sharing desktop accessories for fans to enjoy. It feels like such simple times, and I like that a lot.

I have never had a chance to attend a Comiket before. From the outside, the crowd looks intimidating, but when I browse through discs like these, it makes me think, yeah, I would like to attend at least once. We all know about the porn, but what is the atmosphere like? Happy to hear stories of Comiket and any other fandom stories that transcends the games.

Thank you!

Here it is friends :

The full entry:
http://invertmouse.tumblr.com/post/160040463084/devotion-to-one-character-kawana-misaki

I got this fandisc several years ago via an online auction. Chances are, it was originally produced for a Comiket from many years back. It makes me think, I wonder how often this sort of thing happens today? A fandisc over a single character, real life meet ups, sharing desktop accessories for fans to enjoy. It feels like such simple times, and I like that a lot.

I have never had a chance to attend a Comiket before. From the outside, the crowd looks intimidating, but when I browse through discs like these, it makes me think, yeah, I would like to attend at least once. We all know about the porn, but what is the atmosphere like? Happy to hear stories of Comiket and any other fandom stories that transcends the games.

Thank you!

To put it simply... in about 70% of the story narration I've read in Japanese, there is no distinction made between first and third person.  A lot of  this seems to be because the philosophies that drove the development of our linguistic bases are distinct and come from two differing vectors (incidentally, the biggest reason why experienced tls will often say 'Japanese doesn't translate into English') that don't always intersect (think of the languages as two formless blobs that are attached at some points but not at others).  Generally, when they teach you Japanese, the deliberately do so in a first-person manner, because that is how one converses with others.  However, in Japanese narration and story-writing, the language can be taken as being third or first-person most of the time, and there might be only a single sentence in an entire scene or chapter that defines which it is (meaning that there are times when you are required to grasp the scene as a whole to understand which form it is taking).  Ironically, the times when it is most likely to take on a distinct first-person perspective are when the 'alternate perspectives' come into play, since many writers deliberately alter their styles subtly to give an impression of really looking through another person's eyes. 
Edit: At least part of the basis for my statement lies in the fact that I've come across scenes in the past where statements that seemed to be in first person were also mixed up with clearly third-person wording.  At the time, I thought this was some kind of mistake (this was fairly early on), but as I read on, I realized that it was just a part of the style.  While a writer might choose to define an entire scene as first-person, he might switch back between the first and third person repeatedly in a single scene, making it confusing if you are still translating Japanese into English in your head while reading.
Edit2: Perhaps the only Japanese VN I've ever run across done almost entirely in third-person is Noraneko Heart. 

I hate perpective changes when we have a first person character, although only when frequent. The worst case for me was a book series with 12 - gasp! - books and they only started to shift in the middle of the series. Taking it to VNs, Kindred Spirits on the Roof did it perfectly. It was designed to work with its changes, it was there from the beggining, and most characters actually improved the story by having their POV shown.
Another great instance is the Infinity series - Ever 17 was the best, even - where all the story was connected to the character's point of view.
Umineko (Ryukishi in general) has a terrible shift, as you NEVER know when it will happen, and it seems more lazy than relevant.
If you are doing a first person narrator, I really recommend you to stick to it and use it the best you can. Sometimes, not having a character describing its fall (your image) could be better without shifting if the author is good.

This reminds me of Fata Morgana. If I recall correctly, it handled perspective shifts in a similar way.

Remember11 is INCREDIBLE about this. It basically takes place in two different settings at once, and there are two protagonists- the driving force of the story being that THEY KEEP SWITCHING BODIES. Essentially it's a huge perspective shift, and even besides that the game incorporates two routes- one for each protagonist. Let's say that you did something you obviously shouldn't have as Satoru in Satoru's body, and died on the third day. If you start to play the Kokoro route right after, you die on the third day without warning when you shift perspectives- because Satoru died in that body on the third day!
Definitely play R11 if you want to read a VN about shifts in perspective.
Ever17, also of the Infinity series, plays with perspective as well. Two routes are from one perspective while two of them are from another perspective.
I also agree that The House In Fata Morgana frames its story beautifully, but it isn't necessarily a perspective shift per se. Check it out anyway, 
999 employs perspective in a fucking LEGENDARY way but I can't explain more.

Some VNs use perspective change really effectively to enhance the experience, even when using the first-person (though the distinction between first-person and third-person in Japanese is far less distinct than it is in English).  Light and Akatsuki Works, in particular, tend to use this to give vital perspectives at key moments of the story.  However, some games spend too much time in alternate perspectives (Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart), and the results can be... unpleasant.

Man, I am already cringing . Some of you recently gave me permission to post about my projects more often, so I am going to do it. I will do everything I can to write quality content rather than just going me me me.

As advised, I have posted a blog entry on how to handle perspective shifts in VNs, using The Last Birdling as an example:
I want to use this chance to ask if anyone got examples of VNs that handle perspective shifts in unique ways (visual or word wise)? Many VNs are written in first person, which can make readers stumble during viewpoint changes. I know in An Octave Higher, the game shows the new POV character standing alone on a black background first. Mind sending me some more examples?

I want to use this opportunity to say The Last Birdling has been approved for publication on Steam as of a few hours ago. Really thankful for the votes guys.

Thank you so much !

Man, I am already cringing . Some of you recently gave me permission to post about my projects more often, so I am going to do it. I will do everything I can to write quality content rather than just going me me me.

As advised, I have posted a blog entry on how to handle perspective shifts in VNs, using The Last Birdling as an example:
I want to use this chance to ask if anyone got examples of VNs that handle perspective shifts in unique ways (visual or word wise)? Many VNs are written in first person, which can make readers stumble during viewpoint changes. I know in An Octave Higher, the game shows the new POV character standing alone on a black background first. Mind sending me some more examples?

I want to use this opportunity to say The Last Birdling has been approved for publication on Steam as of a few hours ago. Really thankful for the votes guys.

Thank you so much !

Man, I am already cringing . Some of you recently gave me permission to post about my projects more often, so I am going to do it. I will do everything I can to write quality content rather than just going me me me.

As advised, I have posted a blog entry on how to handle perspective shifts in VNs, using The Last Birdling as an example:
I want to use this chance to ask if anyone got examples of VNs that handle perspective shifts in unique ways (visual or word wise)? Many VNs are written in first person, which can make readers stumble during viewpoint changes. I know in An Octave Higher, the game shows the new POV character standing alone on a black background first. Mind sending me some more examples?

I want to use this opportunity to say The Last Birdling has been approved for publication on Steam as of a few hours ago. Really thankful for the votes guys.

Thank you so much !

Man, I am already cringing . Some of you recently gave me permission to post about my projects more often, so I am going to do it. I will do everything I can to write quality content rather than just going me me me.

As advised, I have posted a blog entry on how to handle perspective shifts in VNs, using The Last Birdling as an example:
I want to use this chance to ask if anyone got examples of VNs that handle perspective shifts in unique ways (visual or word wise)? Many VNs are written in first person, which can make readers stumble during viewpoint changes. I know in An Octave Higher, the game shows the new POV character standing alone on a black background first. Mind sending me some more examples?

I want to use this opportunity to say The Last Birdling has been approved for publication on Steam as of a few hours ago. Really thankful for the votes guys.

Thank you so much !

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 .

1: I'd keep the announcement thread in Original VN Projects, but some people post their threads in VN Talk and I don't touch them, simply because there's no hard quarantine rule that I'm aware of.  I'd make one announcement thread and make another discussion thread in VN Talk if I were you.  Having an announcement/update thread that doubles as a discussion thread kinda gets messy, at least if there's enough activity.
2: Nope.  Nobody cares.  Happens all the time.
3: Sure, feel free    You could make a blog, and also link to your blog articles in the discussion threads for your individual games.

Pretty sure there are little to no restrictions over here on advertising your own game. We've had VN devs in the past loading this place with discussion about their VNs. I remember blacksands entertainment in particular making a thread every week or so at some point about their game.
But that's really what a lot of us are here for: To talk about VNs. As long as you're not overspamming the forums, any advertising from your part will be more than welcome. I'm sure I'm speaking for a lot of us here when I say we'd like to see you talk a bit more about your games Inverse. I think you only post about your games when they release/ are near release. 
Questions like: What inspired you to make this particular VN? Are ones I'd be very interested to have you and other developers answer, even if it may seem like ya'll are just promoting yourselves when you do.
It could just be that I'm a fan of yours and that I have no qualms with shamelessly promoting my own stuff

I would say just try to do that by yourself (I mean posting your original VN thread at VN Talk section), because to tell the truth I didn't knew the regulation about that. Although I could tell one thing though that most of the users here didn't really had problem with that. That's all I could say for now, and good luck to your project.

Don't be afraid, nor ashamed to advertise your own works.