How common are Japanese themed games made in Ren'Py?

[TrickWithAKnife]

I probably haven't played anywhere near as many Ren'Py games as many of the regulars here, but everywhere I look, games seems to to be either set in Japan, or have characters with Japanese names.

Does anyone want to hazard a guess as to what percentage of games feature Japan in some form?
Also, how do you all feel about so many games with Japanese connections?

[Samu-kun]

In reality, less than 20% I think. A lot of WIP topics feature games about Japan, but the reality is that less than 5% of WIP topics actually materialize into anything. You can check out a list of released games here... http://games.renpy.org/

[OtomeWeekend]

Why does it sound so weird when the English game developers make a game based and set in Japan when there are countless of games Japan made set in the English-speaking countries yet no one feels weird about it?

Ahem. My wild guess is 35%+. Somewhere in my mind tells me that some of those makers making Japan-set games were inspired by anime. I don't take it as a bad thing AS I USED TO BE ONE as well. But if you think about it, it's always those games that rarely gets completed. One, either the maker got bored with the idea because maybe two, he/she lacked the idea, research and experience to take his/her game to the next level. So far, the only game I think had done a good job on Japanese school setting(which I played) was (P)lanets.

Edit: I don't mean any offense to anyone making a JP-set game now. What I stated is just a pure possibility that wouldn't mean all the makers do it but still is a possibility.

[Samu-kun]

Since this question has come up so many times, I think some brave soul should conduct some research by digging through the list of completed renpy games and finding out once and for all just what percentage of renpy games are set in Japan.

[TrickWithAKnife]

Challenge accepted. (But just from the topics. Don't have enough time to play every game.)

[redeyesblackpanda]

My big project happens to be a game set in Japan. My excuse reasoning behind this was that the game's supposed to be a tribute to the classic BxG romance VNs. I've also got plans to set stories in other places though, and have made small games set elsewhere. I'm thoroughly unqualified when it comes to making even wild guesses, unfortunately.

Most WIP threads never do see fruition, and especially considering the newest wave of people motivated by Katawa Shoujo (will... not... cringe...), there have been a lot of "want to be" threads with similar ideas.

The VN scene is pretty much centered in Japan, and there are quite a few anime that are based off VNs (some of them being the highest regarded anime titles of all time), which I'm sure affects the makeup of the people knowledgeable of VNs, and thus, the makeup of people interested in making a VN.

Basically, someone that's into anime, manga, and those sorts of things, is more likely to be introduced to visual novels, and people tend to write what they're interested in. As anime and manga tend to be set in Japan, the ideas that come to their minds also tend to be set in Japan.

This is such an ugly post, disorganized post, but I wasn't able to fix it Sorry if it made anyone's eyes bleed.

[TrickWithAKnife]

My numbers may be a bit off, because I just checked the topics without playing the games. For the first 2 categories I checked the first 50 games of each. For the other categories I checked 25 of each.
My criteria was that the game was either set in Japan, featured the Japanese language, or all the characters had Japanese names. Some were a bit tricky to figure out, so I left them as unsure.

Completed games:
No Japanese theme: 74%
Japanese theme: 20%
Unsure: 6%

Works in progress:
No Japanese theme: 67%
Japanese theme: 33%

Hentai:
No Japanese theme: 84%
Japanese theme: 16%

Ideas/Old WiP:
No Japanese theme: 64%
Japanese theme: 24%
Unsure: 12%

Overall, it's less than I expected. I guess I thought it would be higher because the last few games I saw were all about Japan or featuring Japanese characters.
Personally my game is set in Japan too, so I can't complain too much. But I do worry that people will have a Japanese overload and get tired of it.

[OtomeWeekend]

Personally my game is set in Japan too, so I can't complain too much. But I do worry that people will have a Japanese overload and get tired of it.

Personally, no. To be honest, so long as you have a good story and design(or just story), people will love your game. And this is a gamer's point of view(as I play than I make). The thing is, people who knows bothers(like me) so if you are setting your game in a real-time modern Japan, a research is a must.

There is no such thing as Japanese overload or tiring out if you presented your VN in the best way you could.