Japanese-style dating sims

[deerchan]

A lot of games made with ren'py seem to be based on medieval times, robots or college romances- but I haven't seen any real straight-out feel-good cute fluff dating sims like the ones in Japan that made visual novels popular. While most of those games are hentai-oriented, it'd be great to see some clean, just plain cute titles with dating themes.

I've played some cute games made with ren'py, but none of them seem to match up with the things I'm looking for such as magical girls (And when I say that, I mean 100%, transforming, magic weilding magical girls, not just cosplayers), maids, animal characters, lolis... I guess what I'm trying to say is, WHERE'S THE MOE? xD

Anyways, to sum it all up- Why aren't there more titles like this? Is it because there are too many of them, people just don't like making them, or...what?

(I apologize for being a weeaboo and wanting such things in advance, also, I'd like to make non-hentai versions of these kinds of games.)

[MaiMai]

I think it's what you said deerchan-- There does seem to be too much of that when you consider the visual market in Japan. And the magical girl genre in my opinion is a bit tricky to mess with. A lot of magical girl series tend to look the same (Like Pichi Pichi Pitch and Tokyo Mew Mew... I swear even the color schemes look identical despite having different plots and settings and characters.) The plot tends to sound the same too. Lead magical girl and friends or just single magical girl must fight evil monsters/organization... Well, you get the picture. I personally don't find the genre too interesting aside from obvious cases such as Sailor Moon :B

[deerchan]

Yeah, I was guessing that. Seeing as most of the community wants to put out new, fresh stuff, and those genres are usually over-done, I understand completely.

However, when I mentioned those, I was thinking of games like this (these are their video demos):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miSqLWtdgEY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVQgsWxUjC0 (My favorite dating sim, the one that really got my interst into them. It's actually a pretty hardcore hentai game but it's got amazing art, fun, original characters and a nice twist to the magical-girl/angel theme)

And who could forget http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mREX7WIsC0U Nanatsuiro drops, which is a very beautiful cutesy game.

Of corse I haven't played these games because they're in Japanese only and I have no money, but their presentations and storylines seem very appealing.

But also I'd love to see more otome games- I have a plan for one that includes the magical girl theme, also a boarding school one in which you play as a young girl who is integrated into a previously all-boy acadame. :3

[LVUER]

I think that because people here want to create something that different from generic Japanese VN. Perhaps they get bored or simply want to create something against the flow.

I have several design of game you mentioned... just haven't made them yet. After I finished my current project, I'm planning to make a Super Robot VN (if the pet project haven't started yet).

Though I think people won't have more than enough moe, so why don't we make one? Anyone up to the challenge?

[MaiMai]

I do like drawing moe girls! I wouldn't mind making art for someone even though I'm technically working on a project of my own so I doubt I could do it. 'A'

Also, I think artistic constraints is also what keeps people from making a magical girl genre besides being overdone. Also it's fun to try out other genres besides the ones you find in Japan and to see how it would look in the visual novel format.

[deerchan]

Well, I wanted to inject more moe with the Pet Project XD But I'd really like to do a small magical-girl piece. I think people do want to be original, but also that they see genres like magical girl to be to generic- Many can be, but if you take the genre and make something new out of it then you can have nice original pieces as well.

Ahh, it's great to know there are other people that have many projects in mind lol x3

[papillon]

Buried pretty deeply in my pile of potential projects is a semi magical-girl game... only it's one where using her magical girl powers turns her into a handsome boy, who all her girlfriends have the hots for, while she's trying to maintain her secret identity...

But I can only work on so many things at once! That one's not too likely to get done unless an artist turns up who *desperately* wants to work on that game and starts creating art for it. Once handed art I have a hard time saying no.

[Vatina]

It was a topic like this that ended up spawning the "Cute, Light and Fluffy project" which was supposed to give a good dose of cute moe and magic

But yeah, not a lot of typical cute school romances here. I guess most people want to make something different and have their project stand out. I guess even though the description "school romance" doesn't sound thrilling, it can still be done very interesting.

Just not my genre though...

Buried pretty deeply in my pile of potential projects is a semi magical-girl game... only it's one where using her magical girl powers turns her into a handsome boy, who all her girlfriends have the hots for, while she's trying to maintain her secret identity...

But I can only work on so many things at once! That one's not too likely to get done unless an artist turns up who *desperately* wants to work on that game and starts creating art for it. Once handed art I have a hard time saying no.

If I could duplicate myself I would do it Sounds fun. Alas...

[F.I.A]

A lot of games made with ren'py seem to be based on medieval times, robots or college romances- but I haven't seen any real straight-out feel-good cute fluff dating sims like the ones in Japan that made visual novels popular. While most of those games are hentai-oriented, it'd be great to see some clean, just plain cute titles with dating themes.

I've played some cute games made with ren'py, but none of them seem to match up with the things I'm looking for such as magical girls (And when I say that, I mean 100%, transforming, magic weilding magical girls, not just cosplayers), maids, animal characters, lolis... I guess what I'm trying to say is, WHERE'S THE MOE? xD

Anyways, to sum it all up- Why aren't there more titles like this? Is it because there are too many of them, people just don't like making them, or...what?

(I apologize for being a weeaboo and wanting such things in advance, also, I'd like to make non-hentai versions of these kinds of games.)

I will just be nice this time and say "Shut up and go concentrate on the people with tail".

[Alessio]

Buried pretty deeply in my pile of potential projects is a semi magical-girl game... only it's one where using her magical girl powers turns her into a handsome boy, who all her girlfriends have the hots for, while she's trying to maintain her secret identity...

Now where have I heard that before...? :)

[deerchan]

A lot of games made with ren'py seem to be based on medieval times, robots or college romances- but I haven't seen any real straight-out feel-good cute fluff dating sims like the ones in Japan that made visual novels popular. While most of those games are hentai-oriented, it'd be great to see some clean, just plain cute titles with dating themes.

I've played some cute games made with ren'py, but none of them seem to match up with the things I'm looking for such as magical girls (And when I say that, I mean 100%, transforming, magic weilding magical girls, not just cosplayers), maids, animal characters, lolis... I guess what I'm trying to say is, WHERE'S THE MOE? xD

Anyways, to sum it all up- Why aren't there more titles like this? Is it because there are too many of them, people just don't like making them, or...what?

(I apologize for being a weeaboo and wanting such things in advance, also, I'd like to make non-hentai versions of these kinds of games.)

I will just be nice this time and say "Shut up and go concentrate on the people with tail".

I know, I'm just asking the rest of the community why they don't make them as much. xD Like I said before I'm trying to put more moe in with that, if you could read previous posts. (which apparently is very hard to do.)

To be honest, the "cute light and fluffy" project didn't really cover those fetish things... They were just cute. x3 The only cat-eared character was the one on the main page, that I remeber.

Actually, I have yet to see a maid game (besides the Sailor moon fangame Moon-maid).

Buried pretty deeply in my pile of potential projects is a semi magical-girl game... only it's one where using her magical girl powers turns her into a handsome boy, who all her girlfriends have the hots for, while she's trying to maintain her secret identity...

But I can only work on so many things at once! That one's not too likely to get done unless an artist turns up who *desperately* wants to work on that game and starts creating art for it. Once handed art I have a hard time saying no.

Oo, very nice! I'd love to do the art for that after I finish my current projects...

I'm sorry if my ideas are stupid x__x; It'd just be really nice to see some more cute and less dragon slayers and elves going to college...

[Voight-Kampff]

Hmm. Well, that is an interesting question. And I imagine you're going to get any number of different types of responses. Likely none of which would be completely "right". But I may as well throw in my two cents...

I suspect that part of the answer has to do with how a person got interested in VNs in the first place. If what first hooked a person was one of those "straight-out feel-good cute fluff dating sims like the ones in Japan that made visual novels popular", then it wouldn't be hard to envision that person being drawn to that particular genre. And if that person were a creative type, they'd likely want to emulate that genre in their own work, to a certain degree.

Personally? I was never interested in those types of games. It wasn't until I was finally convinced to try Tsukihime that I gained any interest in VNs. Consequently, I'm more interested by darker titles with more plot and mystery and horror than moe dating sims.

[deerchan]

Hmm. Well, that is an interesting question. And I imagine you're going to get any number of different types of responses. Likely none of which would be completely "right". But I may as well throw in my two cents...

I suspect that part of the answer has to do with how a person got interested in VNs in the first place. If what first hooked a person was one of those "straight-out feel-good cute fluff dating sims like the ones in Japan that made visual novels popular", then it wouldn't be hard to envision that person being drawn to that particular genre. And if that person were a creative type, they'd likely want to emulate that genre in their own work, to a certain degree.

Personally? I was never interested in those types of games. It wasn't until I was finally convinced to try Tsukihime that I gained any interest in VNs. Consequently, I'm more interested by darker titles with more plot and mystery and horror than moe dating sims.

Hmm, yes, you're right.

It's sad that most people find VNs through cute dating sims (Such as my pathetic self x-x; ) There are many good titles out there. (I haven't seen a lot though, I've heard of Tsukihime and Fate Stay Night (That's a VN right?) but not many others...)

[MaiMai]

It's sad that most people find VNs through cute dating sims (Such as my pathetic self x-x; ) There are many good titles out there. (I haven't seen a lot though, I've heard of Tsukihime and Fate Stay Night (That's a VN right?) but not many others...)

I'm surprised you don't know much about FSN since it's probably one of the most well-known VNs. XD; The thing which makes Type-Moon VNs stand out among the vast ocean of the Japanese VN market is that the character development in their stories is unlike most of the published ones out there. It's deep, dark, and the universe TM created is equally complex.

A Japanese dating sim doesn't really offer that much at a glance and may appear shallow although there is nothing wrong with playing one for the sake of fun. As for myself, I'd play a sim if it was really good and had fun gameplay mechanics, but I still would rather read and play through an engaging story

[F.I.A]

I know, I'm just asking the rest of the community why they don't make them as much. xD Like I said before I'm trying to put more moe in with that, if you could read previous posts. (which apparently is very hard to do.)

I for one prefer consistency over tacking on everything I find. Moe is not something I enjoy writing, so there. Also, I read a lot.

Also, some examples fro
Magician = Go! Magical Boy
Loli = Mirai Imouto
Maid = Each Uisge

Ultimately, the problem with no dating sim in renpy is that not everyone is working his/her way into the DSE system.

However, it is ignorant to say that dating sims are still hentai-oriented these days, with most, if not all, getting a console port release. Not only that, there are a handful of games that are console specific, so you will expect no hentai on them(Example: Konami's Tokimeki Memorial and the recent Love Plus and SNK Playmore's Doki Majo Plus).