There are currently just over twenty thousand titles on the Visual Novel Database. 3820 of them are tagged with genre: romance. However, only 263 titles are tagged as a dating simulation. (In my opinion, some of the examples with less than a 3.0 score barely qualify as simulation titles -- for instance, Hatoful Boyfriend is about 95% story and 5% stat management.) Also, as far as I can tell, only 74 of the 263 were written in English.Amberbaum wrote:Funnily enough the first thing that comes to my mind is......dating sims. Yeah, the thing that VN-haters are sick of.
In any case, think about what you want to accomplish with your visual novel. What factors will set it apart? What aspects will attract people who aren't active in fandom? A few examples...
* Pacing. Perhaps your story can start with proactive characters, or cut to the chase. In the first fifteen minutes of Sweet Fuse, the main villain appears, and the protagonist is angered by his hostage crisis. In the first ten minutes of Hakuoki, the protagonist meets a group of crazed soldiers (setting up its themes of war and madness), as well as the Shinsengumi.
* Characters older than twenty-five. Think about how you can portray an adult as a compelling individual. What have they achieved, and what do they still want to do? What conflicts do they deal with? Who are they alone, and who are they among other people?
* Genre. If you choose to write in a specific genre such as hard science fiction, then make sure that you what people expect from it. Also, you might benefit by not throwing in elements because they're considered popular or commercial. In other words, don't assume you need elves and dwarves in a fantasy novel, don't assume you need a love interest in an action story, don't assume you need songs in an animated movie...
* Conflict. What do your characters want, and what's keeping them from achieving their goals? Is there an antagonist? How do people deal with the conflict?
* Show, don't tell. How much story-relevant information can you convey through your illustrations?
* Tone. Do you want your story to lean more towards realism or absurdity? Would it be more accurate to call your story dour, goofy, or somewhere in between? Do heroic characters prosper in your story, or do only antiheroes survive?
Think about whether your visual novel can find a new audience. Maybe there are people who would enjoy your story, but they're active in a different fandom. Consider whether people who might like your VN are hiding in the indie comics community, or whether they find entertainment in roleplaying characters on forums, or something else.Amberbaum wrote:As an adult European woman I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and was happy to get away from the high school otome games. One would think some big company would pick it up considering all the romance novels and tv series that takes plays in that time period - but nah...