Lemma Soft Forums

My link-grabber found this todat:

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2 ... ions_2.jpg

Someone should consider making one of these for the EVN community. (But not me - I have too much on my plate as-is.)

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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming" - Theodore Roosevelt

This would certainly be useful, and it would be nice for people knew to the EVN scene. I wish I was good enough at PS to actually do it myself.

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What would it be like though? Would the games be divided up like in the poster, or would it just be a list of popular EVN games?

I'd think that there might be useful divisions to be made. "Great Short Games" vs "Heartbreaking Works of Staggering Genius". "Gal-Games" vs "Games for Girls" vs "Adventures". And so on. Ideally, it should be something that you can point people to to help them to decide what games to play.

This has to be made by someone - or at most, a small committee - since you need to be opinionated to make it. We don't want to get the Ren'Ai archives or Ren'Py game list in poster form. Rather, we want people to be able to find a game to play, especially if they're new to the community.

If you were introducing someone who doesn't know what a visual novel to the scene, what would you give them? That's the question a poster really should answer.

My answer: Depending on who's asking, I tend to recommend ADRIFT or That Cheap and Sacred Thing. Both are well paced works that get interesting quickly, which helps to draw people in.(They're both science fiction, too - that goes down well with people I know.)

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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming" - Theodore Roosevelt

I think "Good Introductory Games" category should be there, in case someone is looking to hop in or introduce a friend, but doesn't know what to pick, with descriptions of who might enjoy it.

For example, something like Ripples would be good for this, since it is online and free, and very very short. I would recommend this to someone completely new who wants a taste of what they are like to go through, as it is at the most basic level of gameplay. In addition, someone who enjoys cute stories and good art.

Magical Diary: Horse Hall is something I would put here as well, for people who want a little extra gameplay and like stat sims. Naturally, this choice would be for girls only, but a guys version is apparently coming out so they would be put side by side.

Hmn... maybe what we need is something like... a site, dedicated to categories with pictures, descriptions, and links to full profiles when you click it. Like VNDB for OELVN.

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That's pretty slick.

But you're right. This would need to be done by someone(s) not closely affiliated with LSF. Well, if you want to avoid the finger pointing and gnashing of teeth over people who didn't get picked.

Hmm...given the state of the EVN community, perhaps this poster should be divided differently from your example. I'm almost thinking about a series of overlapping circles. Maybe one circle would be filled with "Good Reads" titles. Another circle would be filled with "Eye Candy" titles. And where they intersect, you've got the cream of the crop.

You could have different categories and/or more categories: circles filled with "BxG" "GxB", "BxB" "Sci-Fi", "Fantasy", etc.

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Errant Heart

I don't think it has to be done by completely unaffiliated people. I suspect it will be hard to find an outsider who's has a huge knowledge of the field, and is also interested enough to do the work. This sort of thing is done by the people who do the work.

We simply need people who have the guts to make a decision. And we - as a community - need to have the maturity to respect that not every game can be recommended.

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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming" - Theodore Roosevelt

There's never going to be a list that everyone agrees on - really it falls to individuals to make their own lists and have the guts to post them places other than here, I think!

(I mean, that poster you started with is CLEARLY wrong in a number of respects. For instance, some of the games listed in jp-only do have english versions, and I'm sorry but there is no way the first Sono Hanabira game should be in a highly-recommended pile. I hear the later ones are better though, I need to catch up. )

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Hanako Games

It's like VNDB, just with pictures instead of votes :'D!

If you had the results of a popularity poll from a large audience, you could base the 'popular' section on that. Since no-one's going to agree on something hand-picked anyway.

And yes an introduction to VNs category with very short VNs would be nice.

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Nanolife | Dev Blog | Pegasi's website | Twitter

Hmm....reading this makes me remember the days on The Muse Bunny before the admin shut it down due to disinterest and reality.

Every month...(or was it week...bah) a story would be selected and shown as the recommended reading for separate genres.

IF someone does decide to make a poster, why not at least make one every month or so? That way old VNs would be shown along with new ones, depending on how the creator of said poster makes it.

Just a small idea to toss in. You can just ignore me.

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Maybe we could do it seasonally? Such as, "Recommended titles of Winter 2012", Spring 2012, Summer 2012, ect. And, instead of just a poster, it could be a page on the main Ren'py website that has pictures and links to where the game can be bought or downloaded. Also maybe we should have a poll to decide which games are the best, so everyone has a say, not just people who decide work on it...

I think it'd be nice to be able to feature good games like this (it may motivate people to make more games as well), but, it may be more trouble than it's worth.

See, if you put it to the community it'll quickly turn into a complicated tangle that eventually becomes 'just play all the games, there aren't that many!' (Which is true.)

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Hanako Games

Yeah, this can't be a community thing - it needs to have some sort of editorial role.

Although I think we're finally at the point where playing all the games is more difficult than it used to be, at least if you have a job on the side.

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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face in marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming" - Theodore Roosevelt

You're both right, it'd be messy. But what about featuring particularly impressive games on the Ren'py site in general? Not just monthly, but as an archive. Maybe have a "recommended games" section?

Somebody like Beliar probably. I'm starting to notice a few EVN-friendly people in the JVN community (surprising, yes I know).

1.) Has to come from someone OUTSIDE LSF, otherwise will be circle-jerk
2.) Has to be someone who judges all VNs... whether JVNs and EVNs... with an unprejudiced yardstick
3.) Has to be somebody who plays almost everything out there that's a moderately big release (basically anything that's not a "Hey I'm new, I'm testing Ren'Py")