What do you think of individual character stories for otome?

[Ferdokki]

With the prologue being pretty much the important decision-maker for whether or not you want to purchase the routes, can you perhaps say what kind of stuff makes a good prologue? Or what you personally look for when playing the prologue?

Sorry I'm asking so many questions. It's mainly because I don't usually purchase online games, so I kinda have no idea about what people look for before buying.

[Caveat Lector]

Why not buy and download Jisei? It's the first of a trilogy of mystery VN's that ultimately tell one story while also standing on its own as an individual story. OELVN's that you can purchase and download online are much, much cheaper than VN's imported from Japan. Just contrast the price of Jisei on Sakebento's website to Rewrite or Clannad on J-List.

[Ferdokki]

Um, that's the point. I don't buy online games, I just don't prefer to do that.
But since the girl I'm working with wants to release her game this way, I'm just trying to get information regarding what people prefer, so that the release for her game won't be a flop.
As for the girl I'm working with, she doesn't mind buying character routes, but that's why we wanted multiple opinions, since ours are contrasting.

[Caveat Lector]

Has the girl you're working with checked out a few commercial OELVN's herself? Does she have any questions she would like to ask directly?

[Ferdokki]

The girl I work with only plays commercial VNs via iOS/Android, so neither of us really know anything about the fanbase for commercial VNs for PC. I know that entire games usually do well, but I need to know specifically about how well character routes sell (if they sell at all), and what people really want to see in a prologue before they buy, or what their expectations are for a purchased character route.

Neither my friend nor I want to rip off the players, so we're trying to get a scope on what people think.

[trooper6]

@Destiny: Yes, VN's are games too, but I've noticed that gamers tend to treat VN's differently from regular games, so I am unsure of how well commercial VN's do once they are released. One of the things my friend and I were discussing is that well-known developers (Voltage Inc, sakevisual, etc.) do well commercially because people are familiar with their games. But what about for unknown developers? How well do they do on their commercial games?

I don't tend to buy VNs from unknown developers unless a few things come together: there are outstanding reviews and the game is something different (I.e. Not just another otome game) and me giving money to the developer advances my politics.

Outside of that? What gets me to buy a game is that the developer has produced some free VNs and has thus built up a relationship with me. Then I'll buy what they put out even if it doesn't seem all that earthshattering because I like the developer and have played games of theirs for free.

[Ferdokki]

@trooper6: Thank you for the response! This was an original concern of mine that I mentioned to my friend when we were first discussing how to go about releasing the game.
When you say: "the game is something different", what in your opinion is "something different"? Do you have any examples?

[akemicchi]

I'm the same as trooper6. I'm pretty tentative about buying from an unknown developer that hasn't released games for me to sample, mostly because I'm unsure about the quality of the product they're selling. Even if there's a free prologue, I don't know if it would be long enough to hook me into purchasing character routes. The endings are especially important to me. I like to know that the entirety of the game I play will be satisfying, which is what I would usually find out by playing a completely free game. So just a prologue might not be enough for me.

If you released one completely free route, though, I would definitely be more likely to purchase the remaining character routes. (All of them, even; if I really liked the storytelling and gameplay, I'd want all the character's routes.) I don't think I would purchase character routes if all I got was a prologue. Unless the prologue was mindblowing and perfect and wonderful, I mean.

[Rozume]

It helps to release some free games prior to a commercial release. How about you make a small spinoff for free? That way you can get people familiar with the traits of your commercial game and they'd know what kind of quality to expect.

For games that are 'different'... I don't thing you need to be worried about that. Just make a good game with a good story. However, if you want to know an example of something 'different'... hmm... I consider my game in progress, Cancer, to be something different. It's an otome where the MC has a mental illness and goes to therapy in order to get help (whether she wants to or not). I don't normally otomes or games in general with mentally ill protagonists (where the illness is portrayed realistically) so I guess that would be different.

[Ferdokki]

@akemicchi: thanks for the response!
Ok, so let's say the prologue was pretty good (we haven't finished ours yet, I'm just speaking hypothetically). If I mentioned in the game description some specifics for the game (length: 15 chapters, 2 endings per character, "Good" ending and "Perfect Ending", approximate gameplay time: 3 hours, etc.), would you be more inclined to buy a route?

I'm kinda iffy about releasing a completely free route because we only have 3 character routes for our game. If there were like 5 or something, I don't think I'd have as much of a problem.

Speaking of prologues, what in your opinion would be required for a "mindblowing and perfect and wonderful" prologue?


@PhoenixStardust: Thank you for your response too! =)
The problem with making the spinoff is that the current game we're planning is pretty massive, so making another game is going to take extra time. Plus, I am doing the writing/editing/story-planning stuff, I have no idea how to do coding/programming, and the girl I'm working with is doing the artwork, coding/programming, and writing/story-planning as well. So both of us kind of have our hands tied. We're both also too broke to hire people.

Thanks for all of your input!

[akemicchi]

It would be much better knowing the details of the game (approximate play time, routes available, etc), yes. If the price was right and the prologue was an enjoyable experience, maybe. Though honestly, I would really only be more likely to spend my money on a developer I know and trust, even if they've only released one game.

Haha, I understand. That's a third of your game missing if you released a free route. ;;;

Well, people have lots of different tastes. ;;; My perfect prologue would have tons of humor in it. I want to know that I can laugh while playing, even when things are serious. I want to know that the characters are endearing and interesting. I want to know the game will be fun.

As for 'mindblowing', I mean the plot would have to be different. If it's a stereotypical otome game set in a high school where we follow the main character's normal life, it's a premise that's been done multiple times and probably won't offer anything too new as a gaming experience. 'Mindblowing' would be something like... lol, I can't think of anything unique. Just... It's unique! And amazing! And it makes people think, 'Wow, I need to know more about this world!' or 'I want to live in this world!' Basically, it has to be a story that can stand by itself when separated from the romance. That's what makes a great game for me, especially if it can accomplish stirring up these feelings just by playing the prologue.

[Googaboga]

Well for me I like a prologue when it feels like an actual important and most of all fun part of the game and not just a little side thing used as a simple summary of the basic story/characters (which you could probably get from just looking up info on the game anyways).

But what I think makes a prologue great is when it accurately shows the overall quality of the game. If the routes are advertised as being fairly long, the prologue should be as well. If the routes have important choices and or big reveals the prologue should as well. If the routes have CGs the prologue should as well. And so on. Having the same amount of quality throughout the whole game like that makes it feel like a complete package even though it is several separate parts. If a prologue is nothing like the advertised quality of the routes when it comes to content I'd feel pretty underwhelmed ^^;.

[Ferdokki]

@akemicchi: Thanks for the detailed response! That's just the kind of honesty I've been waiting for. =)

@Googabooga: Thanks for your response as well. =)
One question I had was about the "big reveals". If it's a prologue and I incorporate a big shocker, won't that make the rest of the game predictable? Because you would already know what the problem/scandal is, so you would already know what else to expect in the game. =(

[Googaboga]

Well that really depends on the genre of the game. So if the game you are asking about is maybe more adventure or slice-of-life or something and there are only a few plot/backstory reveals I wouldn't count huge revelations as part of the overall content of the game. But if the game is mystery, suspense, horror, crime-solving, or something like that where making big discoveries is something that happens several times there should be at least one shock/gasp moment in the prologue to keep things interesting X3.

Like I don't know someone is murdered and in the prologue you discover that a character is actually related to the murder victim and no one knew. But in the prologue you don't actually find out whether or not them being related has anything to do with the murder or why it was a secret, that would be saved for one of the routes. I hope that makes sense ^^;.

[Ferdokki]

@Googabooga: Yes, that makes sense. Thanks for your input! =)