The issue with Aselia the Eternal may have been related to other publishers holding the license for the all-ages version. With Seinarukana that could be less of a problem because there's only one other publisher involved (Cyberfront) instead of two (Cyberfront and Nippon Ichi). Steam's policies regarding adult publishers have also become more liberal.
Assuming the game is released on Steam, sales and therefore the “future of English H-RPGs” shouldn’t be at stake here. Releasing the game on Steam is a more effective means for raising awareness than even the best traditional marketing campaign for a non-Steam release. This shouldn’t be another Yumina as JAST now has a track record with Steam; unless there are issues with the parent company as is the case for Steins;Gate, but we haven’t heard anything of the sort for this title.
Of course that doesn’t mean that JAST shouldn’t pursue a traditional marketing campaign. Here are some of the things they should do (lots of repeats from above posts) not just for this game but for all their all-ages games:
- Create a promotional media package months ahead of release consisting of 20-30 screenshots, game play trailers, and a demo. Pictures and trailers should showcase game-play, translated dialog scenes, CGs, worldmap, etc…
- Research and identify all the various sites that targeted gamers frequent: Professional and amateur review sites, game media sites, game FAQ sites, and major anime news sites and blogs (ANN, Crunchyroll, etc). Send your promotional media package to the review sites and to media and FAQ sites where users cannot upload media themselves. Upload media yourself for sites where you can (like GameFAQs). Once you have the actual game completed send a physical copy of the game to review sites (to include anime sites that review anime related games) and be sure to include promo goodies such as fold-out posters, soundtracks, postcards, and other small merchandise to entice them to review your product.
Now if you’re going follow the above strategy I’d recommend you create a separate brand and website for your all-ages titles, separate from JAST USA (maybe something along the lines of Densetsu Games). You don’t want to scare away mainstream gamers with ads for Starless and it will increase the likelihood that “professional” review site will review your games.
I agree that a Steam release is going to be important for promotion and sales. I'd like to hear from JAST whether this is likely to happen (yes / no / maybe).
Mainstream steam gamer (more or less) reporting... 07
I dont say I am the best representative sample of people who are being target by "widening audience" operation, but:
1) I learned about this company and its games just because of steam,
2) I am not buying games for hentai content and likely wouldnt buy it unless its "all age" version or I am well asured, that hentai content is well fitting in story and not "disturbing" (you know what i mean),
3) Was kind of scared away by http://www.jastusa.com/ version of "not 18+",(yea Starless as was mentioned above), if you present such image as "all age version" I am likely to believe its just "porn with covered nipples".
4) If someone wants to sell game, he has to sell it as a game, if he is usually selling "porn" and wants to sell his product to someone who doesnt want "porn" but game, he has to be able to clear suspicions that he is traying to disguise porn as game (aka nobody would buy it if there wasnt porn) - steam releases works well for that unless everyone mentions how they patched it back to "porn".
I would more or less agree with what was said above...
Unless something have been recomanded to me (games sites, friends, forums.. good lucking getting spotlight of those i follow) you have about 10s to catch my attention while browsing steam new releases by:
1) first few seconds of video stream (visual novel style start is bad idea if you want to sell RPG/SRPG),
2) first few pictures of game (if you want to sell RPG/SRPG there should be more then visual novel pictures - combat, maps, charts.. which looks like there is some depth in game)
3) right "trigger words" in short game desription.
Lets take Littlewitch as example:
1) "looks like another visual novel" - well actually you catched my attention with this vid (its been long time since i have played PM1/PM2 but still....) but wouldnt caunt on that with broader audience,
2) "hay it looks like it has something more then visual novel in it - should i click those pictures?"
3) "training to become witches.......grow the skills.... send them on quests..."
.
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Lets read some reviews on steam + google... (hook, line, sinker)
"Was kind of scared away by http://www.jastusa.com/ version of "not 18+",(yea Starless as was mentioned above), if you present such image as "all age version" I am likely to believe its just "porn with covered nipples"."
This has been brought up several times now. There shouldn't be an entry for Starless in the all-ages section. JAST needs to remove that ASAP. It violently clashes with the other titles in the section, it shouldn't be there (it's not all-ages), and it's potentially scaring away customers.
JAST has actually done a pretty good job with the marketing of Little Witch Romanesque. That's a good model to use going forward with Seinarukana.
To be fair, the visual novel aspect of games like Seinarukana can't be totally dismissed, not when half the game (or more) is spent reading rather than playing. The gameplay definitely needs to be highlighted (especially since most visual novel style titles have no gameplay at all), but Seinarukana is not the type of game that will likely satisfy prototypical mainstream gamer who skips all text and just plays for the gameplay segments. The visual novel elements and story are half the package, and it does NOT compare favorably to mainstream titles if you take that away. Descriptions of the game need to be balanced to reflect this. As a VN publisher, I'm confident JAST won't overpitch the gameplay at the expense of the story.
Well, trying to sell this stuff to someone who "skips all text" is lost battle (or more like battle that shouldnt be fought at first palce).
Such game should aim for:
a) VN fans who want to get something extra into their regular cup of tee (i suppose vn company has this audience already)
b) those who play for story, dialogs and characters.... (important part is "play") and who are likely to expect zero gameplay from VN, and with current stream of VNs on steam you need to show them that this one has gameplay worth playing (before their attention span runs out), VN part will motivate them for gameplay and its not some rip off where you were originally supposed to survive stupid story/lame gameplay to get to a bit of nipples...
Game should be of course straightforward with its VN/gameplay ratio but thats stuff they read if you catched their attention on the first place.
Aselia was one of my favorite VNs, and a great RPG at the same time. It had a great story and the gameplay wasn't boring in the slightest. Seinarukana is one of the most amazing RPGs found in visual novels and a long-awaited sequel that I'm sure very few people would hesitate to play. That only applies to people who know about it, though.
I agree that Steam is one of the best places to sell your product, mostly because steam users tend to spread those games out like wildfire- There are tons of channels dedicated to people who take random games from Steam out to play and I'm fairly sure that includes JRPGs.
Also what the hell, Starless is in the all-ages page? Wow, isn't that game made by the creator of Bible Black? That's hilarious.
Let's see... Littlewitch Romanesque, Aselia the Eternal, Steins; Gate... scantily clad porn stars with visible nipples (Starless). Excellent targeted marketing, JAST. Way to put that all-ages section to use.
I suppose that JAST believes Starless is a must-have game that everyone should check out... whether they like it or not!
Apparently Seinarukana will be coming out after Shiny Days, but still this year. Since the current projected release date for Shiny Days is August 25th, that suggests maybe a November release for Seinarukana, if they want to capture holiday hype and Christmas sales.
So, I just watched the Little Witch Romanesque trailer to see how it was like, and I wasn't entirely convinced. I mean, they show off a lot of the game's art and CG assets, but there was very little shown on the side of actual gameplay. I know as a VN fan I'd end up liking it regardless, but I couldn't even determine whether the game would be fun to play or a drag to grind through.
Most Steam trailers generally try to flash screens of the gameplay, and it takes up like 80% of the video to show it. This trailer was more like 80% on the side of CGs and a scant few segments giving a glimpse of gameplay. Please please please don't do this for Seinarukana. Spirit of Eternity Sword has a good story yes, if you do a CG montage to the Eien no Aselia remix song it's even hyper, but people who don't have an inkling of what a narukana is will want to see the RPG's gameplay to know whether it's worth buying or not. Good trailers riding on a hype train are often the one push needed to make people on the fence take the leap of faith and buy the title, hoping it meets their expectations. With how good a game Aselia was, and having seen Seinarukana gameplay vids myself, those expectations should be set to a pretty high bar.
The game is almost done (manuals and LE items are all that's left) and I don't see any marketing. I'm getting worried.
Well, fans could always try to do what they could to make the game more notoceable. Once the game is out and I can give it a proper review I’ll be sure to post it in the forums I browse.
Is it still gonna be released in September?
According to jast, they’re finalizing special edition and other details. Release track is still on schedule - again, so it has been said. No actual date was set yet, so who knows.
I am curious as to what SE item or items maybe, I know JP SE had artbook, and OST beside all-age aselia
Shiny Days had pre-orders up for months before its first release date was set (and before the game was finished), so I'm a bit puzzled that the game seems ready for release within a month yet we've heard no news whatsoever other than "Hey, the game is basically done and could release any day now!" Maybe they don't want to market two high-profile titles at the same time? I'm stumped.
kinda surpirsed about no pre-order page to, thought they would have threw up by now.
It seems like they’re just manifesting their usual lack of organization in a different way. Rather than have the games take forever to come out, now they’re losing track of minor things. Like this sort of bad communication, and like allowing someone with a highly inflammatory username to remain on the forums.
It’s an improvement - there’s been more releases from Jast USA in the past year than in a long time - but it’s still definitely not ideal.
I also seem to recall somewhere stating this should be out by september but I cannot find the page saying thus anymore.. argh. Anyone have a link to it? Also, what's the most reliable way of keeping up to date on its progress? Seems that whenever I see one page, it gets abandoned and another one replaces it a few months later, so confusing.
Kinda bummed it's not out now though, I've been looking forward to it since before Jast even had Aselia =/. Waiting for Nighteye's translation, then renkosuke's or whatever his name was, then I was secretly in the know that aruduc was working on it, and caught his blog saying it was done years ago... and and.. arrrrgh *runs away crying*. I'm a patient person and all but this game has been particularly painful to wait for!
"Also, what's the most reliable way of keeping up to date on its progress?"
VNDB. They tend to maintain up to date release information. You could also watch JAST's Progress Update page on Tumblr.
tumblr now? blah, that wasn't where I saw the sept date but thanks. I'll probably refresh it 10 times a day for a few months (or more if they actually update it until then).