In April 2009, I conducted a survey to gauge the community's preferences and beliefs regarding romance visual novels. Here are the results from that survey.
1. How many games on the Renai Archives have you played?
3-15
Don't know
2. Of those games that you played, what made you most want to download them?
2 Recommended by friend
A shot for each release
a to e
a and d
a, c, and d
a, b, and d
Too subjective.
To gauge the "State of the Nation"
Both the artwork looked appealing, as did the story
Attractive screen shot on first pass, then story descriptions
a, d, and interest characters and setting
3. As a creator, what do you believe is the ideal game length?
5 Depends
1+ hours
e and f
4. As a player, what do you believe is the ideal game length?
4 Depends
5. At which file size would you NOT download a game regardless of content?
11 None of the above
6. "I would not download a romance visual novel where none of the datable characters appeal to me."
7. As a creator, I believe the most important aspect about visual novels is
Storytelling, in a manner which utilises the strength of the medium
Achieving the desired emotional impact
Making it enjoyable
Telling engaging stories
b and c
Telling an engaging story using the power of both visuals and sound.
That the characters, datable or not, are emotionally realistic, unique and don't annoy me.
Telling a nice story in a visually pleasing way.
A consistent overall package with no apparent glaring flaws.
2 Mix of c, b, a
An engaging plot that requires 'choices' and branching to properly tell the story
b, c, and d
8. I think gameplay in visual novels
a or b, depending on game
Depends on what kind of gameplay
Depends on the difficulty level
Don't care
9. As a creator, your philosophy on the number of datable girls is that
9 Depends on story
Not concerned
c with b's approach: good amount of options without overdoing it.
Why would a VN would be solely and exclusively about this?
Whats the budget problem? Write as much as you want
There should be as many as are needed to make a good story
As many as the creator can control and keep both necessary and equally important
10. I would include 18+ content in my game in order to
Does not appeal to me
If it is part of the game
Complete the story
b and d
Mix between plot with fanservice.
a and c
11. I most favor
2 Non stereotypical
5 Don't care
Capable selfless custodian
Clever girls
Shy, sad, and lonely.
Guys
Meganekkos
Characters that feel real
True to life girls
Characters that aren't shallow
Cute, normal girls
Characters who act responsible and know how to keep their cool.
a and d
a, e, f and traps
a, e, g, and h
Don't enjoy all these archetypes
a, c, d, f, g, j, n
12. "The player should never be presented with bad ends that do not resolve the story by themselves." Depends on story
13. What are your thoughts on English voice acting in visual novels?
2 Good voice acting > no voice acting > bad voice acting
14. How much do you READ WIP topics in the message board?
B, c
15. How much do you RESPOND to topics in the WIP forum?
16. If you do respond to the WIP topic, what is it about them that makes you respond?
2 a to f
2 Don't know
If I feel like I have a helpful suggestion to make
Mix of c, d, e
Depends on the topic, if there's some kind of an option I want to voice.
a and/or f
a, b d, f
a, b, d, e, f
b and c
a and b
17. What are your blanket thoughts on art in the visual novels made on Lemmasoft?
Mixed
a, d, and e
c, d
18. What are your blanket thoughts on the length of the visual novels made on Lemmasoft?
2 Don't care
Never played a full one
Between b and c
Depends on game
a, b, c
19. Imagine a visual novel making team. Who holds the ultimate authority over the project direction?
Depends on team
The team
The person most capable
a and d
20. "Visual novels should be in the first person.”
2 Doesn't matter
2 Depends on story
2 Depends
21. How defined and concrete should the protagonist look in a romance visual novel?
3 Don't care
4 Depends on story
Anything but A
a or c
22. I will not play a game that has this content, no matter what. (Check all that apply)
Yaoi ero
Male pregnancy
An environmentalist message
Moe
Abuse
Horror
23. "I market my games outside of the Lemmasoft community."
2 Not sure
24. "I favor anime styled visual novels over other styles."
3 Don't care
Thanks everyone for participating. Hopefully, this data will be of use to people. Luckily, I was able to get pretty solid data on all the questions I had for my game, although this most certainly was not the case for all of the questions.
First off, of course, I need to make a disclaimer. This survey was by no means scientific in any shape or form, so take the data with a grain of salt. Of course, there was the typical bias that comes from a voluntary survey. Worse still, now in retrospect, I get a feeling that maybe I should have logged out and posted the survey as a guest so that people didn't give me responses that I wanted or did not want to hear. And then finally, the responses were by no means anonymous, so that probably contributed to further bias.
In any case, allow me to make at least make some loose analysis of the data.
Game Length
In general, people favored shorter game lengths from the stand point of the creator than the player, although the data is by no means conclusive. Most players appear to favor longer games, with the majority of the respondents favoring games of at least 1 hour length. A sizable portion of the players wished for 2 hours or more - currently far beyond the play times of the majority of the games offered here. Creators can modestly expect longer games to be welcomed by most players, although whether they themselves favor longer games is indeterminate.
File Size
There is a firm consensus across the board: File size ultimately does not deter many people from downloading games, provided that they are good enough. The plurality of the respondents voted for the largest option, 1 gig+, while all of the "other responses" were "none of the above," or no limit. Creators can be reasonably sure that most of the board will not be deterred by large file sizes.
Datable Girls
Data is roughly split on whether the respondents would download a game where none of the girls appealed to them. While in the minority, a sizable portion of the respondents still said they would not download a game where none of the girls appealed to them, signifying the importance of creating likable characters.
Most Important Aspect of Visual Novel
Data appears inconclusive at best. Nearly the plurality of respondents wrote in answers, although the data appears to lean vaguely towards the plot element over the art, interactivity, or character element.
Gameplay
There appears to be a moderate consensus of most respondents favoring gameplay. Creators can reasonably expect that visual novels hybrids with gameplay will be welcomed in the community.
Number of Datable Girls
Data is inconclusive.
Adding 18+ Content
In general, the majority of the respondents either would not include 18+ content, or include it only for storyline purposes. While the data is far from being conclusive, it appears most of the community generally does not favor 18+ content merely for the sake of sexual titillation.
Favorite Character Type
Data is inconclusive. A better designed survey will probably be necessary to gauge this question.
Bad Ends
In general, the large majority of respondents do not feel that all ends have to resolve the story. The data appears to allow for pit trap endings that leave the story unresolved, so long as there are alternative endings present in the game.
Voice Acting
There appears to be a firm consensus of neutrality towards voice acting. Very few have negative options of English voice acting in visual novels, so creators can expect voice acting to be accepted so long as they are of decent quality.
WIP Topics
Creators of WIP topics can be assured: Even if nobody posts in their topic, most people are at least skimming through it. However, what exactly causes them to go from skimming to actually posting remains almost completely inconclusive.
Current State of Games
The majority of respondents are either satisfied or pleased with the current quality of art in the majority of games. Creators can reasonably be sure that so long as they hit a modest standard of artistic quality, most people will accept or enjoy it.
On the other hand, the respondents lean mildly towards favoring longer games, although the data is far from being conclusive.
Team Management
In general, there is a weak consensus that the writer should hold final authority over projects. Whether this is a sound team management strategy or merely a popular assertion remains to be seen.
The Protagonist
Data is inconclusive.
What People Don't Want
The data is inconclusive. For starters, the options did not specify whether any of the listed content would be 18+. For example, assuming that all questions assumed 18+ content, it makes little sense for teacher-student relationships to be viewed more positively than under aged sex, considering that both would involve under aged sex in the first place. Furthermore, the age difference and the gender of the teacher would factor considerably in the responses. In addition, I assume that 18+ tentacles and slapstick tentacle comedy would have very different responses. Not only that, but in regards to under aged sex, the ages of the two partners would also be a factor.
In general however, in terms of the order of content that people do not want, rape, yaoi, and tentacles rank in the top three in that order. A better designed survey will probably be necessary to gauge this question any further than that.
Marketing Outside of Lemma
It seems that roughly half of the respondents market their games outside of the community.
Anime Styled Games
In general, the respondents appear to mildly favor anime styled games over other styles. Creators can expect most anime styled games to be met with welcome, although the data still supports the fact that games of other style can still find a sizable interest as well.
! Was sure a lot of work.
Everything I want to say has usually already been said... that or there isn't really any kind of comment I could make other than 'hey, looking good!'...
