Just a few random questions

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#61

When you get down to it, Japanese borrowed heavily from Chinese, and Chinese is one of the only known remaining examples of languages that don’t have an ancestor language (at least, I don’t think ideographic kanji evolved from another prior system).

English is a horrific mismash of old French and old German. That’s why things like spelling and pronunciation are so slapdash and messed up.

So if we want to borrow ‘kawaii’ as a synonym for ‘cute’, I don’t think anyone can say otherwise. English already HAS duplicate words for a lot of things, because of its amalagimative history.

#62

Finishing with the conceptual phase for Saint Valentinus… which is the reason why I’m making this post. :slight_smile:

:wink: – about the eroge genre: specifically character development, script dialog, and story arcs. No… I’m not gonna use you to do any of this.

What I need is a second opinion on everything: someone who is well versed in b-gaming to say if they agree or disagree with elements of the project. Things like character designs and story progression. Despite us creating a b-game, not everyone involved is a b-gamer… in fact I’m the only “hardcore” follower. The lineup changed considerably since I originally championed this project… although it’s all been for the best. Thus I need a second voice of reason… or else this thing is only gonna be a rapist twincest title. :wink:

Now there are some things I wanna point out about this “adviser” position:

#1: You’re not gonna get paid: but you will get major props for assisting.

#2: Your comments and suggestions might be incorporated into the final product – or they might be totally ignored. I need a person who won’t feel offended if they make hundreds of suggestions, but not a single one make it into the title. Not to say this will happen… but I’m just saying.

#3: You can’t tell anyone else about Saint Valentinus. I’ll be sending manuscripts, artwork, and sound samples: basically you’re going to experience the development of Saint Valentinus along with me – but NOTHING of it can be revealed to another individual until I explicitly say so. Not to mention it might take another 10 months until the project is ready to go public: so you need to be able to keep classified info classified. No leaks. No hints. No nothing. No if, ands, or buts. I’m putting a lot of trust into this position…

#4: Obviously you won’t get to enjoy Saint Valentinus like everyone else: being on the “development team” is very different from being a “player”. Knowing plot twists and endings while playing the game, is different from knowing plot twists and endings while making the game. Not to mention that we’ve “reversed engineered” the characters and setting (i.e. the endings were done first, with the story crafted to suit them).

#5: No competitors. If you’re making a b-game of your own, I’m strongly against you joining. Reason being: crosspollination of ideas. If you’re part of another b-game group, then you should be 100% devoted to it. Working on more than one project at once is a bad thing – it hurts quality – especially since this is NOT a commercial venture to earn $$$.

#6: Long term commitment. I’m not looking for someone who will reply everyday or to each and every email… hell… I might not reply back for a week or two. We all have personal lives after all. I need someone who will stay until the end – someone who fully understands that it might take a year until a beta is out. There might be times when things seem burned out, but the fight must continue on. Ya gotta be with me for the long haul. So if you lose attention with something quickly… like say five or six months… don’t bother. :wink:

PM me if you’re interested: no need to send a resume or anything. Not like you’re getting paid or anything: supposed to be fun ya know. I’ll know about your “qualifications” from posts made here or on similar sources (mailings lists, Megatokyo board, etc). I’ll make a decision in about two weeks time. If I don’t answer back and say you were chosen, then you weren’t chosen. :stuck_out_tongue:

If you have questions, feel free to ask!

#63

How many of us here and there qualify then? :smiley:

How old is the captain?
Joke aside, shouldn’t you present at least the minimal info such as the genre? A ren’ai gamer may wish to know beforehand it’s not a kichiku or yarugee, for instance…

#64

I’m still trying to stay somewhat “below the radar” with this project for a few more months, so I’m trying to avoid MegaTokyo and the major ML’s for now. :wink:

However I admit that I’m being over secretive here – more so than I need to be – but it’s an old habit I have. Without getting too specific into the plot and setting:

Saint Valentinus is a non-hentai ren’ai. The player takes the role of a 17-ish year old male, who interacts with a datable cast of seven females. Originally that number was ten, but during the conceptual phase it was realized three were too underdeveloped and didn’t do anything at all for the overall plot. On that same light: waaaaay in the beginning I was pushing to let the player choose to be male or female, have a datable cast that included both sexes… but said goals were waaaay to ambitious and would have taken more time and money than the budget would allow.

The setting is a realistic one – no magic or super technology – although it’s maybe a decade or so into the future. Honestly this doesn’t have much effect on things, just a few minor elements here and there, but I thought I’d just point it out. The characters are for the most part “normal” individuals… not to say they are boring or anything: just that they can’t do anything your typical 18-year old couldn’t do. The plot is a drama – no open gore or sheer violence – and is aimed as a “true love” tale. Story spans over a timeframe of exactly one year.

Since the title is non-hentai, there’s no sex. For some story arcs it might be alluded too, but nothing erotic is actually shown. However that’s not to say everyone is “sexable” anyways – true love doesn’t always mean sex.

Saint Valentinus has a single “primary” story, which is heavily changed depending on which datable girl is chosen and the player’s success (or failure) with her. However the other cast members are not forgotten or ignored, even if the player rigidly pursues only one girl. They still maintain an influence in the would-be relationship. This is probably what will be the most difficult hurdle to clear (in that it will take the most time and resources to develop and maintain during the whole process). Originally we wanted it to be possible for the player to have “love triangles” happen with the 1st place and 2nd place girl… but the timetable argues it’s too ambitious (considering the various combinations). I’ll wait and see how easily (or difficult) mapping the “core plot” is before committing fully or totally throwing out the idea.

No harem endings… well… there will be twins if I get my way. :wink:

#65

Now, now, Narg, you about among all people here should know that ¬Åw¬Ç√ñ¬Ç√±¬Ç¬Ω¬Ç¬¢¬Åx and ¬Åw-√∂¬à¬§¬Åx don’t really mix… Don’t you mean non-¬Åw¬ÉG¬É¬ç¬Åx :wink:

Standard ADV? NVL?

[ 11-15-2007, 09:04 PM: Message edited by: OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol ]

#66

  1. Visual Novel (I’m more into the dialogue than anything else)

  2. Niether, I prefer no point systems.

  3. Unique casts are better by far to me. Although proper development of personalities is more important than stereotypes. If the dialogue makes me care about the character, I realy don’t care about the type.

  4. Size is not important, developement is.

  5. Without, helps me get into the role.

  6. Setting does not matter.

  7. Visuals of course.

  8. Irrelevant.

#67

ADV. I tried to espouse a NVL title, but the idea didn’t fly too well since when the others think “ren’ai” they imagine your standard ADV. :frowning:

Saint Valentinus is actually one of three projects that was selected: the other two were NVL based… so the sole ADV ended up being the winner.

#68
  1. Visual novel
  2. Pick and choose
  3. Unique
  4. For playable characters i prefer 1 of each gender, or at the moment where you play as a girl and go after guys. For the other characters, i prefer a small cast that are all connected ( attend school together, childhood friends ect )
  5. Face
  6. Realistic
  7. Visuals
  8. I feel that a game should be announced when a solid release date is set. Take XCA2, i was waiting all year for it cause the release date was ‘2007’ ( it was announced in what…March? ) . Now it’s ‘2008’, when this is done it makes me and probably others impatient for the game.
#69

#1: Dating Sim or Visual Novel
I prefer the standand ADV format for most games— but I love the deep story Visual Novels.

#2: Stat Points or Love Point
Love Points.

Even true “Stat” games still end up being “Love Points”. Work 8 days in a row, and the “begin dating the girl next door” event presents itself.

BTW, if you do an RPG game setting, I do like to have the RPG stats shown— but those usually aren’t tied to the Love Points, now are they? :wink:

#3: Standard Cast or Unique
Unique, no question. I’m so sick of the standard cast that I immediately get turned off of all those characters in the game.

#4: Size of the Cast
Unimportant. What’s important is character development and story. Small cast works better for that.

#5: Face or Faceless
Don’t care. Some games, I really didn’t like the “faceless” protagonist graphics, and found they took away from the graphics. But in other cases, I’ve found that they worked quite well.

#6: Realistic or Magical/Technological
I prefer magical/tech over “realistic”. Let’s face it, most of the stories aren’t realistic, so having a setting that is a bit non-realistic helps sell the story.

#7: Budget
Papillon is correct. The game engine must, MUST! have basic capability. A bad game engine will ruin a good game. So your product will have to meet a basic standard where it doesn’t get in the user’s way.

After that? STORY! STORY! STORY!

Then? Visuals.

Audio really isn’t important to me. Good voice acting is always a plus, but I can live without a game having any voice acting. Nice background music is always nice, but I can enjoy a game with no music or just some event music.

#8: Progressive or Get it Now
Don’t care. Unless the game really, really, really makes me drool, I’m perfectly happy to know “the game is still being worked on” or “the game is in beta/for sale”.

#70

#1: Dating Sim or Visual Novel
Depends on the plot / story. Make me care about the characters.

#2: Stat Points or Love Point
Love points just because stats can be so erratic in determining which girl you end up with. Love points are easy, whichever girl has the most points, that’s who you get.

#3: Standard Cast or Unique
Prefer a unique cast for the most part. I just want a girl or 2 who really stands out.

#4: Size of the Cast
Story, Story, Story! I don’t care about the cast size as long as the characters are interesting. Please make me want to win them.

#5: Face or Faceless
Really doesn’t matter to me, but I would pefer the main character to have a face.

#6: Realistic or Magical/Technological
Story again rules for me here. Make me care about the setting and the character interaction with it.

#7: Budget

Visuals If it doesn’t look pretty I can handle a slowish engine and no V/A.

#8: Progressive or Get it Now
Really depends on the game. If it’s something I want to see, then tell us it’s in development and then update when the title goes Golden Master.

#71

  1. Dating sim
    Most are Choose-your-own story format which gets boring after a while.

  2. Stat Point
    I like the whole idea of training your skills to impress characters.

  3. Standard
    I like the standard cast, more can be added on but a lot of the standard characters make the story ‘realistic’

  4. 5 or more
    Depends on the length of the game. The Shorter it is the more characters it needs.

  5. Face
    I prefer them with a face since i find it…odd when they have no face.

  6. Realistic
    I prefer the realistic theme since they are more of the ‘Pure love’ type of games.

  7. Visuals
    Visuals are what makes a game.
    I can stand not having Voice Actors
    I can stand a slow game or a big file size

  8. Progressive
    I’d prefer it be Progressive. That way we can let you know of any ups or downs of it.

Edit:
Just realised how old this topic is. Sorry, didn’t realise it till after i posted.

#72

Huh, I guess I never answered this. Well, now that it’s on top I guess I’ll give it a go.

#1: Visual Novel, but I like both

#2: Love points, stat points kind of piss me off, in True Love I always lose an education point on the day of the last test, so Remi will never fuck me at the end. Kind of pissed me off, but I wouldn’t say I hate the system either.

#3: I don’t mind either, but some variety never hurts.

#4: One of my favorite games only has 3 girls. But one of my favorite games also has 8 girls. So I guess as long as the game is fun and memorable then I don’t really care.

#5: No preference. Though eyes are kind of nice.

#6: Mostly realistic, but magical is fun too.

#7: Engine first. If the game fucks up a lot I probably won’t play it period.

#8: The way PP does it now is perfectly fine.

#73
  1. Visual Novel.

I don’t like dating sims.

  1. If I have to choose, love points.

But logical branches are something I like more. There don’t need to be any points involved at all.

  1. Unique.

Variety is the spice of life, after all. But this isn’t that important to me.

HOWEVER… if your name is AUGUST, please hire some artists who can draw a different cast. Giving characters different names in each game doesn’t change the fact that you’re reusing the same characters each time. =p

  1. I think 3-5 is good. I’d prefer longer, well-thought-out individual stories than having more girls to bang.

  2. Face. I’d also like my protagonist to be voiced (if the other characters are voiced). If you want to silence him in H scenes, go ahead =p

  3. I don’t mind, it depends on the story. A make-believe reality or area (such as in Syarin no Kuni) doesn’t have to be magical fairy land, mind.

  4. Audio. Good music, voices and good use of sound effects interest me more than pretty pictures, although I do like pretty pictures.

For the engine, if the game setup is perfectly functional and gives me plenty of save slots, as well as a good already-read-text skipping system if I need to replay the game multiple times… that’s all I need. I don’t need fancy minigames or in-game battles or mahjongg or anything like that.

  1. Progressive. Give me a website, some sample CG, maybe a bit of plot. But don’t dare give a release date too early; when the release date is announced on a game I’m looking forward to, I want to put it on my calender. I don’t want to have to white it out half a dozen times because the date keeps changing (damn you akabeisoft2).
#74

#1: Dating Sim or Visual Novel
Both. As long as there are good characters and/or a good story, I’m happy.

#2: Stat Points or Love Point
I’ve never played a game with love/… points but I’d like to try.
Nevertheless, I’d say it should be better without.

#3: Standard Cast or Unique
Originality will never hurt but I’s still like to see my favorite types of girl in the game. At least to counterbalance the presence of the types I hate.

#4: Size of the Cast
I prefer games with 3-4 girls because the lenght of the game usualy don’t match with the number of girls. If they did a game twice as long with 7-8 girls it would be perfect.

#5: Face or Faceless
Faceless… I don’t need to see the guy’s face.

#6: Realistic or Magical/Technological
No preference. I’m fine with everything.

#7: Budget
(A) Visuals - the paper dolls and CG illustrations.

#8: Progressive or Get it Now
Since it doesn’t really concern me (because I don’t speak japanese) I can’t really say… but it’s still better to announce the creation of the game before releasing it.

#75

Heh… because two people asked in the same week. :stuck_out_tongue:

This little project is not dead. Everyday I’m working on some aspect about it. However there are some things very far along, and then there other things so very far behind. :oops: One thing I’ve learned: using commission services to as a means to outsource talent, is VERY time consuming. Really tests your management skills in certain things.

In any case… it’s going along… not in dev hell, despite all appearances. People I’ve promised to be in the alpha phase haven’t been forgotten. However I need more time to collect everything for the alpha builds. Begging the potential artist… music selection… scenario checking… debugging. See, I do have an excuse for not posting a lot on the Eroge Review site. :wink:

#76

#1: Dating Sim or Visual Novel
No preference, actually I don’t know the exact difference between the two :roll:

#2: Stat Points or Love Point
Slight inclination towards stat points, most likely because it gives more flexibility and possibility.

#3: Standard Cast or Unique
Actually I am a bit amused by the standard kind of casts. Definitely something unique

#4: Size of the Cast
Size, matters not. I would prefer a good cast. But if I had to pick one, I’d say a large cast, the more the better.

#5: Face or Faceless
Definitely one with a Face.'Nuf Said

#6: Realistic or Magical/Technological
No prefrence.

#7: Budget
Visuals, with game compatibility coming second.

#8: Progressive or Get it Now
Definitely progressive.

Done :slight_smile:

#77