MilanaWalters wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2017 11:15 am
in regards to art style, its weird how ppl prefer anime more, i really like realistic one, though i admit smtms anime art can look great too.
i wasnt a big fan of art in Quantum Conscience, but the art in Serafina's Saga is gorgeous.
I also prefer realistic art style. I think it might me due to me being tired of anime style. There isn't much variety in having strange hair and eye colours as in for different body-types. A big part of anime style hobby artists just won't bother with bone-structure or facial-structure or they don't have the necessary skills. Characters vary too often in only their height. But on the other hand if it's done right and the artist knows how to draw anatomy and different faces, it can truly be a treat for the eyes. Then there are pretty anime art styles and anime art styles who I won't like no matter what.
storykween wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:38 am
...In terms of art style, I thought I'd try my hand at a more traditional anime style, but it's nice to know you like my usual style!
I think for this format and the regulars that prefer it (Mobile player/MM player/GREE player) or people who only know this format and have no exposition to PC video games/English VNs this might be the best choice. Jack from Winter Wolves games once made a survey about art styles in VNs and the result was that people preferred anime art style (
) with semi-realistic on the second place. Personally, I think this result might be due to the fact that people who started developing an interest in Anime and Mangas in their younger years (teens or kids) got later in contact with Japanese dating sim/harem/otome games after travelling through animu land via the inter
weebs in search for more animu content. Mainstream animu land (let's just ignore Mamoru Oshii, Hayao Miayazaki or Naoki Urasawa) came with it's own ideas on how a story has to be, character archetypes, art-style and whole bunch of lovely animu tropes. People absorbed it really fast and thus their expectations for this sort of media was being shaped and formed. Fanservice in JP media differs from western fanservice and it doesn't always resolve about nudity or panty-shots. Certain character types, behaviour or physical traits that makes you : "Huh? What the heck is so sexy about that? I swear you all have been brainwashed by this format into loving it. This whole place reeks of fetishism." -> "Mekane-Guy? I dig that! Ohhhh sexy-eyepatch man (it's just a damn Eyepatch!)! He is such a perverted tsundere! I love the arrogant, oujisama prince type".
Japan made this genre popular and I would say that the majority of players who play VNs/otome/harem/RPG maker games with romance elements are mostly made up of people who developed an early interest in Japanese media
-> then found Japanese dating sim games
-> the popularity spawned western fans to do their own VNs/romance games that uses a similar game structure if not the same
-> those who don't develop their own games became customers for western VNs once they found out that they exits.
This audience is closely followed by, let's call it, Bioware game/romance consumers. I don't know about the rest, but this is how I perceive the VN audience landscape and their tastes. It's mostly the Bioware audience (and the small rest) that wishes for a more realistic or unique art style and some sort of gameplay mechanics. The traditional otome/Vn player that weren't being fed JP RPG games are often confused with any game mechanic that goes beyond "choose right option for more romance points* or senseless stat grinding (because bishie no.2 needs 120 in beauty if I wanna unlock his special good end) I think the Lemmasoft regulars on the other hand are much more diversified in terms of preference and how they came in contact with this genre. And not every VN genre lover knows about this place.
Back to anime style. It gives you an immediate recognition amongst the dating sim crown that aren't even aware that western developers exist. For them only Japan can provide their favourite medium and you'll be damned to stray from this formula. Tho, I think not everyone from this group is so pedantic. Note: I am not kidding you when I say that there is a large portion of female players that only play via mobile and only play Japanese or other Asian otome/dating sim/GREE games. I literally had to tell someone from one of the otome facebook groups I am part of what a PC VN is and why it doesn't have any events, why it doesn't have any avatar items, why it doesn't have a friend option and why it doesn't need any checkpoints items. Or I have to explain to them what a rar file is and how to unpack it. Convenience is very important for them. Some of them turned up their noses when I tried to introduce them to 7KPP from Azalyne studios because it had stats and they didn't wanted to invest their time in figuring out the game mechanics. I can understand being overwhelmed by 7KPP's game mechanics and just wanting for something easy to play. What I can't understand is not wanting to play Cinderella Phenomenon only due to not having a walkthough ready because making choices without knowing the outcome is "eww" and developing an understanding for the ingame characters, so you know what options to pick, is hard
/s
(yes.....I am a salty asshole. I'll admit that. I have my own frustration with this genre or the audience that runs after the cheap fanservice crap instead of treating it like a gimmick and how it impacts the focus of this genre, but.....eh. Fanservice games are fine. They are like fastfood. I don't mind them and you can eat them once in a while. It only becomes bothersome when it spills over into high quality mouth watering cuisine, thus muddling up it's presentation and overall taste. A gourmet course(game) can be downgraded because of that from a 5 star to a 4.)
storykween wrote: ↑Tue Aug 01, 2017 10:38 am But I know it's hard for that to work with everyone's schedules. There will be a way to skip ahead in time or rewind to things you missed (probably via in-app purchase). Anyway, it's definitely a bit of a departure from our other recent work (and we WILL return to Echoes of the Fey afterwards), but I hope you enjoy this nonetheless!
Hm, I think one of the interesting thing about Woodsy studio's products is that they always turn out to be interesting. I will never forget Quantum Conscience's unique game mechanic and how it impacted the story. That game left me with a enlightened but ambivalent feeling similar to when you watch a really good film that has a crushing ending with a really good message. Like a horror story that won't end well and you know that it never ends well in reality. Something that leaves a mark on you and makes you think. Heavy fare. Not necessarily something that one wants to play over and over again, but something that you will definitely remember even if you haven't played it in 10 years.
So hypothetically speaking, if you want to experiment - why not? If it turns out to be a good cashcow, that makes people happy and won't rip them off, opposite to a problematic cashcow (EA's bought out Sims franchise) then that's good. Maybe you can add some mechanics or features that will give MM players something new. My only beef is that because games like that have to be constantly maintained and new events have to be written, it will halt any future PC games productions, like it did with Chertiz. That's why I hope you will find the happy medium between maintaining it and maybe continue developing PC VN games (like you mentioned with EotF) And if that doesn't work out then that's life. Maybe I will end up playing it like crazy or not. Who knows.
TL;dr - Me talking about artstyle, VN audience and that you should just continue doing what you have been doing: Experimenting, expanding and to improve your skills. I also hope that you will continue making your own music for your games and best of luck.............
I really admire how do nearly everything on your own for your games. No stock music etc.