Origin of the terms ADV and NVL

[Milkymalk]

I'm in need of the origin of the terms "ADV" and "NVL" for the two styles of text in Ren'Py games.

Are these genuine Japanese terms or did they just pop up with Ren'Py? If they have been in use in Japanese as well, could you point me to a source, e.g. a magazine or official website (publisher, magazine, anything) that uses them?

[indoneko]

VNDB use them as official tag for text presentation style of a game.
ADV : https://vndb.org/g32
NVL : https://vndb.org/g43

[Milkymalk]

Unfortunately that is not good enough I need to either confirm the Japanese origin of these terms or come to the conclusion that it's western-made (which of course happens by either finding someone who claims to have invented it, or by not finding Japanese sources while looking hard enough)

[indoneko]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel

In Japanese terminology, a distinction is often made between visual novels (abbreviated NVL, derived from visual NoVeL), which consist predominantly of narration and have very few interactive elements, and adventure games (abbreviated AVG, or ADV derived from ADVenture), a form of adventure game which may incorporate problem-solving and other types of gameplay. This distinction is normally lost outside Japan, where both NVLs and ADVs are commonly referred to as "visual novels" by international fans. Visual novels and ADVs are especially prevalent in Japan, where they made up nearly 70% of the PC game titles released in 2006

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_game

Text adventures (1976–1989)
Telechrome^type output of Will Crowther's original version of Colossal Cave Adventure.

The origins of text adventure games is difficult to trace as records of computing around the 1970s were not as well documented. Text-based games had existed prior to 1976 that featured elements of exploring maps or solving puzzles, such as Hunt the Wumpus (1975), but lacked a narrative element, a feature essential for adventure games.[57] Colossal Cave Adventure (1976), written by William Crowther and Don Woods, is widely considered to be the first game in the adventure genre, and a significant influence on the genre's early development, as well as influencing core games in other genres such as Adventure (1979) for the action-adventure video game and Rogue (1980) for roguelikes.

Japanese adventures

Due to the differences in computer hardware, language and culture, development of adventure games took a different course in Japan compared to Western markets, generally focusing on visual novels and its subgenres in comparison to point-and-click and other graphical adventures.
Early Japanese adventures (1982–1986)
See also: Visual novel

In the early 1980s, adventure games began gaining popularity in Japan. The country's computer market was largely dominated by NEC's 8-bit PC-8801 (1981) and 16-bit PC-9801 (1982) platforms, which could display 8 simultaneous colors and had a resolution of 640×400, higher than Western computers at the time, in order to accommodate Japanese text. This in turn influenced game design, as NEC PCs became known for adventure games with detailed color graphics, which would eventually evolve into visual novels.

If you're still unsure whether Japanese publication use actual ADV/NVL term when talking about VN games, you could try to look for old issues of Japanese game magazines... for example : Dengeki G's Magazine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengeki_G%27s_Magazine

[chlorofinite]

A few games that use it:

恋愛初心者どきどき★ＡＤＶ

Genre, from the official site for Nanatsuiro Drops. The downloadable opening reiterates this at the end but with ADV as adventure/アドベンチャー. Flyable Heart, also by Unisonshift Blossom, also uses ADV on its site and in its downloadable OP movie.

恋愛アドベンチャー

"Renai (romance) adventure", listed as AIR's genre on Key's site.

学園恋愛ＡＶＧ

"School romance AVG". The genre given on the site for Rewrite+.

KeroQ's Subarashiki Hibi's genre is listed as 18+ AVG.

Here are the links to Japanese Wikipedia's disambiguation for ADV and AVG. Both list adventure game as a meaning.

It's been in use for a little while, at least.

[Milkymalk]

Wikipedia as a source is out of question because I'm writing my thesis (yes, about visual novels). But old issues of magazines sounds like a plan.

ADV/AVG for Adventure Game only means it's neither a simulation nor an RPG. The magazine "Dengeki Hime", while it was still published, only knew these three genres, with AVG making up around 90% of all games reviewed. As far as I can tell by now, the term NVL is not actually used in Japan.

[Imperf3kt]

NVL is used in Japan, as is ADV and other lesser terms such as SLR and various others.
If you require modern day proof of this, just visit (r18) DLsite

[Milkymalk]

NVL is used in Japan, as is ADV and other lesser terms such as SLR and various others.
If you require modern day proof of this, just visit (r18) DLsite

This is where I am confused about the use of "NVL" in Japan: CHAOS;HEAD is categorized as NVL by DLsite, but screenshots on VNDB show that it uses ADV dialogue. Additionally, there are only 6 titles in total that I find using "NVL" as a search term.
I'm not sure - does CHAOS;HEAD have player choices or is it 100% linear? I'm thinking that maybe DLsite uses the term "NVL" for visual novels that offer no choices to the player, so they are more of a novel and less of an actual game.

[Imperf3kt]

NVL and ADV as we understand them, are not how Japan sees the terms
NVL, to a Japanese person, means a game in which, there are little to no gameplay elements - most of the game is just a novel.