sanahtlig

This is partly an issue of genre and partly an issue of medium. The "harem" genre features a protagonist surrounded by girls competing for his attention/affection; this competition and the antics that result are often a thematic focus. Resolving that competition essentially entails a genre shift, which risks losing your audience. Visual novels resolve this issue by splitting games into a common route and several heroine routes (and sometimes a "harem" route). Visual novels are relatively cheap to produce compared to the time spent consuming them and are sold up-front as a complete product, so forking the narrative into multiple parts, some of which may not be consumed by each user, is commercially viable. Anime are more expensive to produce and typically represent linear, serialized experiences that have to fill broadcast time slots and sustain viewership over time. If you air something that doesn't interest a viewer, you risk losing him permanently; the viewer can't just skip to the alternate "route" for the day. As a result, harem anime are often compelled to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

What I remember about Shuffle is that it was scene-based--it jumps straight to the notable moments, much like an anime. This is likely one of the reasons it is popular in the West. Many games try to fill out each day from the protagonist's perspective, from when he gets up to when he goes to bed. It's very difficult to tell a compelling narrative like this unless your protagonist or setting are extremely unique and you can make each moment meaningful and fascinating. Most attempts fail.

Many of Ninetail's titles feature supernatural lolis. Their staff are notorious lolicon who often make the loli route the true route. @Seryuu would probably be able to offer further suggestions. You might also check out titles by Sakuranbo Elementary School and Studio Ring, including the iconic Please teach me ABC.

Boku no Kanojo wa Gatenkei: A drama about a loving couple's relationship over several years, from when they first meet at a construction job to the challenge of raising a child while dealing with relationship problems. One of ELF's finest works.

I do actually remember enabling Japanese text-to-speech in VNR. I don't think it was through Google though. I quickly turned it off however because the voice is monotonous, and since it relies on parsing, is often inaccurate. It's not like English where the reading of words you'd find in a dictionary is very close to 100% accurate.

The world doesn't need any more meme videos about machine translation though. Seriously, why would you want even want to enable this feature?

Given that the issue is likely related to scaling, you could try a different GPU (e.g., integrated graphics if you're currently using a discrete GPU) or scaling method (e.g., GPU instead of display, which can be adjusted in the Nvidia control panel). You could also change your desktop resolution and refresh rate to match whatever the game is trying to use (likely 800x600 at 60Hz), which might also circumvent scaling issues. I assume you've already tried all the compatibility mode settings and filed a support ticket with JAST? Also, there's a related comment on my Shiny Days article that sounds relevant. https://sanahtlig.blogspot.com/2015/12/shiny-days-restore-patch-released-installation-guide.html#comment-3130055714

If it doesn't work full-screen, I'd try windowed mode.

I guess the idea would be to try and sell non-adult VNs directly to Discord users. However, I can't imagine there are many Discord users looking for such titles that don't also have a Steam account or an account with the relevant publisher. Discord as a store is still a new concept, and it's not clear if the store itself will see much adoption--much less that people will use it to browse for and buy VNs.

You could try the School Days series. NTR isn't the focus--just one of many possible outcomes.

Erogamescape is essentially the Japanese alternative to VNDB. Its advantage is that the ratings / popularity aren't biased by translation status.

That tag excludes what you don't want--but note that if the NTR is too easy to avoid then the choices / gameplay come down to "Do I want to be NTR'd?" That type of game might not have the competitiveness or suspense you're looking for.

You could try the other Alicesoft games with sim gameplay and NTR. They're generally lighter than Oyako Rankan, from what I've heard.

Just be aware that there's a reason the patch isn't listed as "complete" on VNDB.

The divide exists in part because the Japanese have an entire professional industry built around VNs (predominantly eroge). You have developers that have devoted their careers to making these games--people who have worked in the industry for decades. The English industry isn't anywhere near as professionalized or mature--and there are cultural and commercial barriers that continue to hinder such development. An apples to apples comparison would be OELVNs on Steam and doujin eroge on DLsite. It just so happens that, right now, there is a lot more translated professional content than translated doujin content.

If all you care about is product, and you have no scruples at all about where they come from, then the Internet is your oyster. People who buy products from reputable sources--especially fans and hobbyists--tend to have certain expectations about quality and legitimacy.

I suppose it makes sense to handle Chinese negotiations from a Japanese office. Japan is closer to China, both geographically and linguistically. It's probably easier to find Chinese-speakers in Japan than in the US. The downside would be that Japan is notoriously insular and culturally homogeneous. It wouldn't surprise me at all that a Japan-based group would rush into a business endeavor with little knowledge of the people they're negotiating with or the fanbase they're selling to. Hiring native speakers, particularly from the target fanbase, often comes with the advantage of some degree of cultural competence. That said, the Steam page currently says "PUBLISHER: Sekai Project". One role of publisher is to accept liability and responsibility in situations like this.

Honestly I'd prioritize games that interest you over language factors. Rather than games you should start with, it's probably easier to list games you *shouldn't* start with, as most are pretty accessible. Beware of puzzle games (which often have riddles that are supposed to be challenging to native speakers) and games with very elaborate systems that are only explained in the game manual (many of Softhouse Chara's titles). Ninetail's Venus Blood strategy games are pretty inaccessible, but the problem there is that complexity has been layered on over successive iterations of the series. The earlier games have simpler systems and serve as a good entry point into the series.

Not really. I don't marathon the VB series because too much of anything (particularly games with similar gameplay systems) gets tiresome. Language complexity has nothing to do with it; that was a factor with Amatsukaze, but not any game since. As a general rule, games worth playing tend to have above-average language difficulty. I don't see why that would apply to gameplay hybrids only.

But these are exactly the types of games that beginners tend to start with! If reading the text is cumbersome, you'll want a game that mixes text and gameplay. Ideally, it'll be a game with either hookable interface text, a tutorial that explains basic concepts in the ADV window, or has a Japanese guide that can be parsed for gameplay info. Most games fulfill at least one of these conditions. Once you learn to recognize a few recurring terms like ATK, DEF, AGI, subsequent games become easier to pick up.

Reddit is mainly useful for news. It's hard to even have a discussion on Reddit these days because interesting (read: controversial) comments tend to get downvoted and hidden. Excessive moderation and even blacklisting are also problems. The life of any given topic tends to be less than 1-2 days, leaving only a small window for participation. Fuwanovel is more focused on discussion and community. It hosts a diversity of opinions and there's less pressure to conform to an established consensus. The blog section offers an opportunity to follow individuals and stake out your own space for expression. The more interesting topics tend to generate ongoing discussions that continue for several days or weeks. As for myself, I follow industry trends and play eroge, especially untranslated gameplay titles. I'm probably best known for my coverage of censorship issues.

As an aspiring developer, what types of VNs do you think best appeal to Western fans? Are there specific elements or focuses that might increase appeal? What role do you think marketing has in the success of a title? Should new developers like yourself invest resources in marketing, publicity, and community engagement, or should they leave that to publishers and sales platforms and focus on making games?

This doesn't feel like a serious attempt to promote the project. On the other hand, Doddler's retweet was probably helpful.

They'd simply file chargebacks. Credit card company policies heavily favor the consumer. I suspect Sol Press won't actually collect $85k here (minus any BackerKit income). But the real backers will be charged and it should be close enough to what was needed that Sol Press will benefit from any fake pledges.

I find it ironic that even their closing message to fans is from behind a firewall that blocks foreigners.