Official Post about Starless: Nymphomaniacs' Paradise

JAST Games Game Discussions
#561

@ Tim & Murderous Int

If you compare the combined views of the three unofficial videos posted thus far (less than 2,000) to the views of JAST’s official trailer (almost 30,000) you’ll see why it makes more sense to do a high quality official video demo. It’s also important to note that these videos only promote the game itself and not JAST/J-List.

Unlike a video review that you could promote on social media, the demo viewer isn’t told what to think about the release by a third person, instead they can begin to form their own opinion based on the free viewing experience offered to them.

On multiple occasions Peter has expressed his frustration with regards to finding ways to effectively market his adult games to various audiences so I don’t think you have much to loose in making a SFW video demo that isn’t restricted by the usual cock blocks that surround adult related content.

I understand that licensor permission would most likely be a requirement for this but it’s in both JAST’s and the content owner’s best interest to promote their games to the greatest extent possible.

#562

Yeah I agree, though I reckon a playable demo posted on the twitter/sites would do this better, more so than a HQ video. Since they can't show the actual sexual content of Starless, which is the main make-up of the game on a SFW video. The trailer video kinda covers the ground of a SFW promo, while giving a player a brief taste into what the game can offer. A demo could boost this if attached with the trailer, or promoted on the site. TBH though this stuff should have been done before the release to build up expectation.

But at the same time any promotion ad, reviews, gameplay videos for a potential unknowing person could also help with people picking up Starless.


I've been thinking of the idea of getting someone to translate the Lewdness demo, to promote interest in that game too. Though finding someone who would be interested and with the right skill set is harder than it seems. The best I could do solo is a dodgy machine translation. :(



#563

So how many different patches are there? So far I only gotten the uncensor one.

#564

@ Murderous Int


A playable demo would be great too. I think it would get less downloads than the video would get views but the people that do download it would probably be more likely to actually make the purchase (since they can sample the H), so both the video and the playable demo should be considered.


There are a lot of ways to potentially market Starless but somehow I feel that JAST has given up on marketing the game (after all the initial negativity); I hope I'm wrong though. I do agree with you that it's not too late to start promoting the game; I'd say the best point to start a marketing campaign would be after they release the upcoming two patches.


They do have a really nice official site(starless.us) for Starless but unless you saw the tumblr announcement post you probably missed it. The site could be a focal point for their marketing campaign if they ever launch one.


If JAST played their cards right they could advertize Starless in hentai manga from Project H & Fakku, Hentai DVDs from Kitty Media, or even do an ad in Rightstuf's next catalog. I think cross promoting titles with US hentai anime and manga companies would benefit all parties involved.


At conventions they could give away free Starless postcards (one piece of art work on one side and screenshots, release details, web links, and available promo media on the back) to people that stop by their booth but don't buy it right then and there. They could include these post cards in their J-List shipments (they could already be doing this, not sure) and see if other anime/manga retailers like Rightstuf and RACS could include these in their shipments that include adult goods.


They could reach out to anime/manga retailers that sell adult goods but currently none belonging to JAST, such as AKADOT, and see if they could get them to stock their titles starting with Starless.


They could also launch a funding initiative page (could be part of the official Starless website) for the localization of Lewdness & Dominance tying it to certain Starless sales goals. To spread the word they could have lesser goals unlocked based on fans spreading word about the initiative and Starless using social media (similar to more recent Kickstarters). For example certain amounts of youtube views, facebook likes, and re-tweets unlocking (and later extending) a translated demo for each title and other digital goods and/or creator messages.


Something to think about...
#565

@ Tim


Nice timing on adding the extra media to the JAST USA Starless product page!


Some extra exposure to Starless for the 2,000+ folks redeeming their codes from the Groupees bundle deal. Came for $4 Demonbane, stayed for Starless. XD


Looks like over half of them looked at the trailer too! Hope it translated into some additional sales for you guys.

#566

Anyone got their game shipped by the J-List yet? What the heck is taking them so long???

#567

@dogma https://mobile.twitter.com/jlist/status/605406369739468800

#568

I wasn’t really on much the last few days, busy testing Shiny Days >_<
I’ll try to round up a few things here…

Patch:
A few problems have cropped up, so we’re still working on it; optimistically speaking maybe have a test patch for the end of the week. I’m waiting on the build so I’ll keep you guys updated when I get it.

Game trailers/play videos/demos:
I think it’s a little past time for a demo of Starless to be made (we’ll keep it in mind for future releases). The game trailer did get some good hits with the Groupees sale, I haven’t checked the sales but I’m sure that extra traffic gave it some hits. Hopefully sales are going good enough we can get a few more Will/Empress titles under our belt.

Personally I think one problem with a lets play for this type of visual novel is #1 The target audience is for people that enjoy a lot of hardcore sex scenes… over the top really. You can tell that some of the reviewers are not these sorts of people even though they do enjoy eroge. That said, #2, a 15 minute video of ‘not video’ i.e. essentially a slideshow… of… ‘not hardcore sex’. For fans who know what they are getting into, it’s exciting and really stirs your anticipation, just playing the first 15-20 minutes of the game before the first event scenes, it’s really not very representative of the game. (I think a demo would be much better idea). Yes there are a lot of deep and interesting plot, but you have to be able to take the sex with it generally… a LP video would not really do it justice (most people decide if they want to watch the rest of the video within the first 8-20 seconds of starting… video action is the way to go imo.

Of course we will promote quality content we can find, but sitting down to record the first 20 minutes of the game is not on my list of priorities honestly speaking.

Promotion:
We are setting up an affiliate program for JAST (Jlist has one that is already used to help promote adult material) so that will add to our promotional arsenal. I agree that we should make the individual game sites more well known; I’ll be looking into how to better utilize them.
We used to have poster adverts in our JAST and Jlist adult orders, we have stopped them because of inefficiencies. Specific posts cards sound like a good idea but it seems like from past experiences such targeted advertisement does not give a worthwhile return, the scene is not big or developed enough to do this just yet.

Kickstarter is a tricky beast, we know that some groups are using it, I personally do not know the specifics of it but there are various reasons why we have not looked further into that venue (I believe Peter mentions a few points in various interviews).

Starless shipment
The game was delayed a few weeks ago because of a problem at the printers (the boxes specifically). It is supposed to be resolved by now, so hopefully shipments will be going out as early as tomorrow. When I get confirmation that we are problem free, we’ll make an official announcement. Thank-you everyone for being so patient.

#569

You should do a Let's Play for Shiny Days at least. It'll be like an anime episode; I'm sure it would draw a lot of attention. Not everyone wants a narrator making inane comments while they're trying to see what the game is like. What they DO want is a quality video that shows the game crisp and clear.


Do Shiny Days and Raidy look like they're still on track for a digital release by Anime Expo?

#570

Also, are you interested on feedback prior to the launch of your affiliates program? I have interested parties who would be delighted to discuss this with you and/or Nicholas Graham.

#571

@ Tim

Good to know that a demo isn’t out of the question for future releases. And if you do a demo you could host it exclusively on the game’s official website, ensuring that all your hard work spent building the site doesn’t do to waste. It would also make sense to list each game’s individual website on your upcoming titles list (on tumblr), official forum post, store pages (to link to the demo), youtube trailers, etc…

I agree with sanahtlig that a video demo does make a lot of sense for Shiny Days; out of all of your titles this one would be the one to benefit the most from this type of promotional format. Although any type of demo for Starless would have been great, I understand that you guys have a really tight schedule and have to prioritize your time accordingly (new games, patches, conventions, etc).

Also I wasn’t recommending you do an actual Kickstarter for the other Empress titles; it would be an initiative similar to MangaGamer’s Minori fundraiser. However unlike their fundraiser you could use various smaller incremental sales and social media benchmarks to unlock various promo goods (translated demos, etc) to spread the word and keep the fan base engaged, with the final goal being localization of Lewdness and Dominance (either as a direct license or via a Kickstarter inspired pre-order campaign on J-List).

It’s a more direct way of telling fans that sales of Starless will determine whether or not we’ll get more games from Empress. With the rough start that Starless got (understatement of the century, I know…), I think there’s a lot of potential customers holding out on this release who need a little extra incentive. I’d hate for lackluster sales of Starless (partially due to it’s “rough start”) to be the reason why we won’t see any more games from Empress (or any other hardcore titles for that matter).

#572

New update!:
For everyone who bought Starless LE; we’ve finally started shipping them… We have 400 ish going out today and another 400 going tomorrow and more next week. Sorry again for the delay, we hope you enjoy the artbook and interview.

Also: We have the 1st test build of the patch, I’ll be checking it over the weekend and hopefully we can get it done by the end of next week (cautious optimism!) This patch is all graphics fixes, once it is finalized we will work on the rechecking of the script for a script patch. Thank-you for your patience.

More excitement!:
In case you didn’t see my announcement (in the announcements section), we have the new forums going up for beta testing soon and I need beta testers to help us test the new forums; we also want your input on any features that need tweaking so please sign up!

#573

I feel like Ima never play this game. Maybe I should suck it up and turn off my brain so text errors dont bug me.

#574

Mine shipped finally! Very excited to get my copy in the mail :3

#575

I just got an email to expect my copy to ship within 24 hours. :smiley:

#576

No email yet here. =(

#577

Woot, just finished my last final and came back to see a package waiting!

The box is nice; alot sturdier then most PC boxes. Learned something from the quick interview with Sei Shoujo. I always wondered why the hell the band King Crimson would pop up everytime I googled one of his games. And I'm happy with the artbook, it's always nice to have something physical of digital artwork.


I also noticed that you guys included an "extra" key code to the game on this little starless business card, was that intentional?


I really enjoyed Starless; hoping more of Empress' games get an English port in the future. I was really bummed when starless got announced thinking I'd never get around to it, glad to see this finally made it.

#578

Nice! I can’t wait to get my copy, but do you mind sharing a picture or two in the mean time? As for the download code, yeah, it’s supposed to be included. I believe the download we got before was for pre-ordering/purchasing the game. We got a digital copy to hold us over until the game shipped. It’s nice they included it.I’m also definitely on board for more Empress titles. I will 100% support you guys.

#579

Thanks for the update Tim. All the pieces of the Starless puzzle are slowly falling into place…

I’ll still wait for the other two patches before I start the game though, but good news none the less!

#580

Got my email about the shipment i hope to get it by next weeks so happy