NaNo Update

Poll results show that not many people know what NaNo is. But that's totally okay! Because I'm going to tell you now. : D NaNoRenO is a yearly tradition among English VN makers. In the spirit of NaNoWriMo, we spend a month creating a visual novel from scratch. The goal is to start and finish creating the game within a month. Last year, we made My Magical Cosplay Cafe. This year, we're doing something a little bit different. Deji and I have been toying with ideas for a VN called "Swan's Melody," for a while, and we decided to use NaNo to make a demo for it. The final game will be much longer, but we hope to release a nice little preview to get you guys interested in it. It's less than a week before the NaNo month is over, and we've still got a ways to go. Will we finish on time? Stay tuned to find out!

Yup! I always do.	4 (2%)
It's my first time.	19 (11%)
Not this year.	30 (18%)
Never have.	57 (34%)
I don't know what that is.	81 (48%)

Votes so far: 166

Biweekly Poll(s) - Preferences, Preferences

Two polls in one post, since they're semi-related. Basic preferences this time around, but a pretty interesting read. Overall, it looks like people prefer control over the story more than anything else. The length, or the ending aren't as important as the ability to see the impact of the choices made during the game. I think that's cool. Figure out how many choices to offer is always tricky. Not enough, and the player loses control. Too many, and each choice because less meaningful.

I prefer my visual novels to have...

Lots of choices	158 (64%)
Lots of endings	156 (63%)
A long read	107 (43%)
Lots of characters	107 (43%)
A happy ending	134 (54%)
A really, really bad ending	55 (22%)

Votes so far: 244 

In a mystery game, I...

Only solve the case.	60 (27%)
Aim for the bad endings.	25 (11%)
Try to get all the endings.	157 (72%)
Look for side stories.	130 (59%)

Votes so far: 218

Biweekly Poll - The Hook

This go around, I asked you what attracts you to trying out a new visual novel. Some of the results I expected. Others were surprising. Here are the results out of 266 votes:

Nice Art	229 (86%)
Interesting Premise	214 (80%)
Favorite Genre	153 (57%)
Looks Different from Others	72 (27%)
Has an Artist I Like	73 (27%)
Has a Writer I Like	71 (26%)
Has a Composer I Like	25 (9%)
Has a Voice I Like	40 (15%)
Friends Suggested It	52 (19%)

The two strongest reasons were nice art and an interesting premise, which make sense to me, but I'm surprised that only 19% consider a friend recommendation to be a selling point. What makes you interested in trying out a new visual novel, specifically? Is there a certain kind of art style you look for? What turns you off from trying a new game?

Biweekly Poll - Minigames in VNs

Hey, it's time for biweekly poll discussion again. Yay! We're back to talk about minigames. Mostly because I've been playing a lot of stat raisers and sim games lately. >.> Here are the results of our poll:
Minigames in VNs?
No.   23 (11%)   Skippable   123 (63%)   Hidden Object Games   49 (25%)   Turn Based Fighters   52 (26%)   Puzzles   94 (48%)   A cool idea I will tell you about!   12 (6%)   Votes: 193
For the most part, you guys prefer them skippable, which I can understand. Some of you mentioned you'd drop me a note in the comments. I expect at least twelve cool ideas! >.> Also, if you have any minigames you really liked (or didn't) in VNs, let me know.

Biweekly Poll - I want to see more...

Yay, biweekly polls! A clear winner this time around (which always makes things fun). More dev posts for sure. I've already revived Wordcount Wednesday, but I'll probably do more "journal" type posts as well about the development process if you guys are interested in stuff like that. Any other things you'd like to see more of?
Development Posts   174 (83%)   Screencaps   122 (58%)   Sketches   112 (53%)   Twitter Updates   26 (12%)   Facebook Updates   32 (15%)   Sound Clips   29 (13%)   Videos   60 (28%)

Biweekly Poll - More Platforms

It's been a while since I did one of these posts. I've actually saved all the old results, but I wound up not doing a lot of discussion posts because I was away at a lot of cons this year. D: Well, no more! Discussions are back, and first off is something a lot of you guys have been pushing for: more platforms for visual novels. I've been experimenting with online visual novels. By now, you've probably played the port of Ripples by vNovel, and our site also features an intro to VNs novel done in JavaScript. I am definitely interested in doing more web ports, although those all require third parties and a lot of extra work from me, at the moment. We actually have a port of Jisei on spoon.net, but it's been largely unpopular (probably because it's up against tons of casual games by big name folk and also VNs are still not super popular). Anyway, that's the state of things right now. I've had a peek at the VN market for mobile phones, and by that I mean I played London Detective Story 2. I wound up with Moriarty trying to take advantage of me, so that was weird. o_o It was a lot shorter than the kind of VNs we make now, though, and we already make VNs shorter than the ones that groups in Japan make. Makes me wonder if it would be better to just release a bunch of short chapters instead of trying to make a full game. That would take a long time to download, too, ne?

Anyway, let me know what you've got, what you plan on getting, and how you'd like to play your VNs. Do you want a bunch of short ones that you can get for cheap, or would you be willing to pay full price for a game the length that we normally make? Or, are you only interested in ports of our free games? How long do you expect a VN to be if you get it for a phone? What about a tablet? Xbox? Any other thoughts?

iPhone/iPad   
  122 (42%)

Android   
  57 (20%)

XBox Indie Live   
  29 (10%)

Internet Browsers   
  122 (42%)

Something Else (leave a comment)   
  16 (5%)

Nothing   
  52 (18%)

Biweekly Poll Feedback

Mmm...biweekly polls. My favorite time(s) of the month! Somewhat predictably, the most popular game we've done thus far is RE:A++. It was really interesting to see the thoughts on the other games, though. Poor MagiCos. : ( I'm actually pleasantly surprised that Jisei ranked second, as it's part of the Green Tea Line, and thus has fewer players overall. I secretly hope that Kansei unseats it and people like it even more. (Hm...not much of a secret if I just told you that, huh?)

RE: Alistair++	166 (75%)
Jisei	77 (35%)
Ripples	48 (21%)
[text]	38 (17%)
My Magical Cosplay Cafe	32 (14%)

And from before, I asked what sort of stuff you absolutely did not want to see in a visual novel. Shooting Games took the crown, and I agree with that, mostly because my reflexes are woefully inept. It seems that most people wouldn't mind minigames of some sort, but puzzles are less popular. Interestingly, nearly a fourth of you guys don't like stat raising. It is the same one fourth of people who didn't pick RE:A++ as their favorite game? XD

Puzzles	91 (23%)
Stat Raising	93 (24%)
Minigames	53 (13%)
Turn Based Fighting	119 (31%)
Realtime Fighting	175 (45%)
Shooting Games	264 (69%)

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I'll be heading out to Hamacon in a couple weeks, and A-KON afterwards, so now seems like the perfect time to ask about your convention-going habits. Oh, and if you'll be at either of these cons, let me know. : D

AAAAAAHHHH (Everything Post)

Hello. Remember me? Yeah, probably not. XD So what happened to me? A lot, really, including a lot of things that really threw a spanner in the works.

First off, the earthquake/tsunami/volcano in Japan. While my life didn't come to a grinding halt or anything, I spent most of my time and effort raising money for Japan. Besides the sakevisual donation pool, I helped organize and coordinate other donation efforts as well. This is the first time I've ever had the power to do more than donate out of my own pocket, and while I'm glad that I finally was able to do more, it really does take a lot more time and energy. As an update, we managed to raise $1056.25! You guys really are incredible. I didn't think we'd get more than a couple hundred or so, but you've all been wonderful. The money will be donated to Global Giving (who splits the money among various groups currently in Japan doing work) and the Japanese Red Cross.

Second, All-Con was this weekend. We teamed up with Sayuri Studios to spread the visual novel love a little more, and we had a lot of fun while doing so. Remind me to get more mood buttons, BTW. People like those. Also, ran out of Jisei shirts in medium size. Remember me to get more of those, too.

Anyway, con's over, I'm back, and I'm ready to work. That's a good thing, because we have two months until our next major con, and I intens to have Kansei and Winter in Fairbrook complete by then. I'm going to be buckling down into SERIOUS WRITING MODE, which means you won't really see me online very much. I'll try to keep you guys updated on how things are, but part of SERIOUS WRITING MODE is not distracting myself with the internet. Expect fewer blog posts and somewhat slower responses to email, tweets, facebook posts, forum posts, and whatever else. Biweekly polls will now be monthly polls, and Wordcount Wednesdays will now be Random Update Somedays. Don't worry, I won't be completely gone. Just a little slower than usual (although some might argue that I've always been slow XD).

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And here are the results of our latest poll: With 283 votes, there's a pretty clear winner (and loser) here. This is the first time we've had a clear loser. XD I didn't realize so many of us didn't like physical education. o.o

Math	72 (25%)
Science	81 (28%)
History/Social Studies	88 (31%)
Art/Drama/Music	197 (69%)
Physical Education	24 (8%)

--

Anyway, I'm off for now. My next two months will look something like this:

Please cheer for me. ^_^;;

Biweekly Poll (Also: Looking for BG Artist)

I'm looking for a new background artist for our in progress (free) otome game, hanami x 2. The previous artist, sadly, has had to drop the project due to real life issues. Above is a sample of his work. You are not require to mimic it. I don't mind 3D or 2D as long as it looks nice. The setting is Heian Era Japan. Email me at ayu@sakevisual.com with samples of your work if you're interested.

And on to the biweekly poll. Clocking in at 294 votes, this poll was a fairly simple preference one: "Which is your favorite season?"

Spring	121 (41%)
Summer	64 (21%)
Autumn	150 (51%)
Winter	113 (38%)

I was kinda expecting it to be even, but Autumn is definitely ahead of the pack. I'll admit, it's my favorite, too, because I like the weather during Autumn the most. What are your reasons for your favorite season?

--

I know these current biweekly polls feel a little random, but they're actually preference research for some stuff I'm writing. While it's not directly related to games in general, it's important for a game I'm working on in particular.

Belated Biweekly Poll and V-Day

Hey all! Sorry for the lateness; I've been out a lot lately and running around preparing for Kami Con next weekend, plus I spent all of yesterday out with my boyfriend. Anyway, a somewhat belated "Happy Valentine's Day!" to you all. I've spent this holiday single for most of my life, but I've always enjoyed spending it curled up on the couch drinking tea and reading shoujo manga.

Our latest poll brought in 305 votes, which is much more than we've had lately. Woo~! I asked about which area you considered yourself to be most proficient in.

A Writer	183 (60%)
An Artist	146 (47%)
A Composer	21 (6%)
A Programmer	45 (14%)
Not a game maker	79 (25%)

We need more composers, yo! I'm delighted to see so many creative minds, though. And yes, programming counts. I'd also like to thank you all for the fantastic feedback on the previous poll. I absolutely love hearing what you guys have to say, and the fact that you've provided me with so much insight in such a mature and eloquent discussion is overwhelming. I love you.

Current poll is another bit of research for a project that I've mentioned briefly before.

Biweekly Poll - Minigames

Hey, all! Look what I got in the mail the other day. Deji drew me like the prettiest thing ever. ::hearts:: It's up on my mantle now next to my Lelouch figure and my sonic screwdriver. I call it my mantle of yay.*

Anyway, this poll clocked in 255 votes, and I haven't seen this level of division before. I asked your thoughts on minigames in visual novels, and they really ranged the gamut.

Skippable	159 (62%)
Replayable	137 (53%)
Frequent	23 (9%)
Moderate	137 (53%)
Rare	42 (16%)
Not in visual novels	31 (12%)

I've been reading your comments and thinking about it, and I think I've hit upon an idea. What if the game allows you to choose between "novel mode" and "game mode?" In game mode, you'd be presented with a mini game in which you open a puzzle box. In novel mode, minigames are automatically skipped, and replaced with text like "After wrestling with it for a few minutes, I managed to open the puzzle box." That way people who want to just read don't have to be bothered to skip puzzles, and people who want to play will be able to. Beating all the minigames might unlock a hidden arcade or something so that you can go back and replay the games any time you want. Does that sound good? Any suggestions on other features or content?


*I never claimed to be good at naming anything.

Biweekly Poll - Art!

Another two weeks gone, and another poll down with 216 votes. MAN, a lot of you guys have Photoshop. I...don't. D: Yeah, I use Photoshop Elements, and occasionally SAI, GIMP, and Manga Studio. But hey, cool! Photoshop! I'm still working on the VN tutorials. They're progressing pretty well, but they're really, really long. I write too much. XD

Photoshop	110 (50%)
Photoshop Elements	32 (14%)
SAI	85 (39%)
GIMP	41 (18%)
Manga Studio	30 (13%)
Other	36 (16%)
Not an Artist	49 (22%)

--

New poll is similar to a previous poll, but the question is more focused this time. The context this time is Kansei. I've been working on a few puzzles in include, but I don't want to overwhelm everyone with a ton of puzzle minigames if it makes the overall story less fun.

Biweekly Poll - Rivenwell Class

Whoa, with 288 votes this might be one of the most even polls I've seen in a long time. It's also the most votes we've gotten yet. That's cool. Plenty of lovely angels among us. I'm glad to hear that. XD Which Rivenwell class would you play? I'm curious to know why you picked the one you did. I think I'd play a Knight, but that's because I really like to hack away at stuff with a sword. XD

Knight	57 (19%)
Guardian	58 (20%)
Angel	93 (32%)
Demon	80 (27%)

--

For those of you following sakevisual on twitter, you'll know that I'm currently prepping some tutorials. I'll be including a few involving prepping graphics as well, so I'd like to know which art programs you use.

Biweekly Poll - Game Releases

I've been playing around with some painting software that simulates various canvases, paints, and brushes lately. Part of me was wondering if I could make art nice enough to be usable for a visual novel. Short answer: No, I can't.

The latest poll had a pretty obvious winner. Medium length games are best, which makes sense. It's a happy agreement between content and waiting. As much as I wish we could release tons of long games, we're obviously not at that stage yet (maybe someday? <-hopeful). Until then, expect probably one or two free games a year (RE:A++ length), with a longer game in the Green Tea line yearly. MAN, that makes it sound like so little is going on. D: I write every day, and the artists also put in a lot of time and love into these projects. We want to make sure we give you our best, though, so it does take time.

Lots of short games	36 (16%)
A few long games	123 (58%)
Some medium-length games	157 (74%)
Long games with short chapters	60 (28%)

--

Current poll is a little bit for fun, but it does hold a certain amount of relevance. Details later. owo

Biweekly Poll - Nonhuman Types

Unrelated image is unrelated. Actually, it's a piece I was planning on using for hanamix2, but it clashes with the sprites, so I've got someone doing new backgrounds. The sprites are super cute, BTW. Maybe I'll post one on Wednesday?

Our latest poll covered nonhuman characters. I asked what sort of characters you like strictly in a character sense, and not necessarily as a romance option.

Elves	117 (51%)
Aliens	26 (11%)
Animal Ear Types	101 (44%)
Androids	65 (28%)
Angels	108 (47%)
Demons	138 (61%)
Deities	82 (36%)
Mermabeasts	37 (16%)
Other (Leave Comments)	16 (7%)

Tastes leaned heavily towards the ethereal unknown over sci-fi options (aliens, androids). Poor sci-fi. Comments also suggested faeries and satyrs, which are both most excellent. This poll was largely a curiosity poll for me. While this may bloom into something one day, I'd have to be crazy to start a new project now. >.>

--

The current poll is fairly relevant. Do you like lots of games coming out regularly, or would you rather wait for something longer and with more gameplay? A small game is something like [text]. A medium-length game is something like RE:A++. A long game in chapter installments would be Ripples (oops, did I just tip my hand?). As for a long game, I mean something that will be several hours on the first playthrough that might take a year or more to produce. Something akin to the Japanese releases. I know that RE:A++ is still really short by Japanese VN standards, but they have full teams to work on this stuff. So yeah. Medium length for us kids.

Biweekly Poll - Physical Extras

The above screencap is from Koenchu, a doujin game by Zero Zigen. I capped it because it made me giggle a little (I know, I'm childish), and I like posting random whatnot for the biweekly polls.

This was the most fun poll for me, because I'm a total sucker for extra stuff. I love buying collector sets and limited edition boxes just for the bonus books, stickers, CDs, and all that extra stuff.

Mini Artbook	158 (76%)
Postcards	49 (23%)
Jewelry	70 (33%)
Mousepad	47 (22%)
Guidebook	105 (50%)
Stickers	84 (40%)
Small Pin	72 (34%)
Other	45 (21%)
Nothing	18 (8%)

Mini artbooks are probably the thing I like the least, so it's a good thing I ran this poll, since mini artbooks ruled over everything else pretty handily. I really like the idea of making an artbook/guidebook as an extra. And hey, I'll probably throw in a sticker for good measure.

--

Next poll talks about non-human characters. Which do you like to see? Or do you think they're all overrated and I should do something involving mermabeasts? For the record, I'm thinking of characters in a general sense, not necessarily as a romanceable character.

Biweekly Poll - Bonus Content

Above: An in progress/practice image for a scene in Kansei. Looks like a fancy place to be. O:

I'm unreasonably excited because we had 286 votes this time. I wonder how long it'll take us to reach 300. I'm very enthusiastic about things. XD This poll asked what sort of bonus content you prefer in your game, and the answers were very interesting (to me, at least).

CG Gallery	213 (74%)
Music Room	99 (34%)
Endings Gallery	188 (65%)
Sketch Gallery	115 (40%)
Writer's Notes	117 (40%)
Artist's Notes	105 (36%)
Unlockable Wallpaper	115 (40%)
Bonus Scenes	226 (79%)
Unlockable Endings	214 (74%)

Extra content reigns king with bonus scene and unlockable endings beating out the standard CG gallery. Some really good ideas from the comments include a replayable scenes gallery (instead of just the endings) and audio commentary. I'm not entirely sure how audio commentary would work on a visual novel, but it might be nice to try at least a few scenes. Hm...I'll think about how it'll work. Someone also suggested a discount code for the next game in the series. I actually really like that idea, although it'll probably be a hidden easter egg like the outtakes reel in Jisei (owo).

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Aaand for this week's poll, more bonus materials. This time, we're in the physical realm. I've been intrigued by FUNimation's recent announcement to have special edition packaging and collector's sets, because I'm totally a sucker for bonus material. Do you guys like extra stuff, or do you prefer a simple release with just the game disc? As always, leave comments with more ideas. You guys usually come up with cooler stuff. XD

Biweekly Poll - Genres

Ooh, mysterious drawing is mysterious! >.> This round was a rehash, but a useful one nonetheless. We talked about genres we like. With 219 votes, we definitely have a better take than last time.

Slice of Life	102 (46%)
Fantasy	117 (53%)
Sci-Fi	47 (21%)
Historical Fiction	57 (26%)
Mystery	98 (44%)
Romance	173 (78%)
Cookies	65 (29%)

Sadly (or happily?) cookies are more popular than sci-fi and historical fiction. I wonder why Doctor Who is so popular. >.> Again, romance and fantasy lead the way. I guess that means I should think about doing a fantasy sometime. XD Do you prefer "high fantasy" like with elves, dragons, and magic, or more subtle fantasy like princes and princesses without much magic or things like that?

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New poll asks you which digital extras you like the most. I really enjoy putting bonus material in games, but time and budget constraints mean that I have to pick and choose what goes in. What bonus content do you like the most? I'm especially interested in hearing ideas that aren't on the list.

Biweekly Poll - Voiced Games

A nice 239 votes for this round. Much love to you all. The question of the hour is "Voiced games?" And the answers are:

Definitely!	89 (37%)
No, thank you.	24 (10%)
Either way is fine.	142 (59%)
Not if it takes longer to release the game.	63 (26%)

Thankfully, you're all kindly relaxed about whether or not the game is voiced. Of course, those who dislike voices always have the fantastic option to turn voices off (yay). It seems that there is a preference towards having a voiced game over a non-voiced one, though. That's cool - I really do enjoy adding voices to the VNs if I can, so for now I'll continue to include voices whenever it's reasonable. If it delays the release too much or makes the game too expensive, I'll cut them out, though.

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Next poll is a reprise, but I got fewer than 100 votes for it last time (it's from a while back). So...back to genres. Which would you like to see more of?

Biweekly Poll - Figures

It's been a long week. :: sigh :: Finally here, though. 273 votes, which I think breaks our record. Lots of votes are yay! Thank you all so much for the votes and the comments - it helps a lot. The poll options are basically the most popular ones I got from the informal survey I ran on facebook and twitter.

Alistair	81 (29%)
Jisei Protagonist/???	74 (27%)
Kuu	74 (27%)
Travis	59 (21%)
Shiro	97 (35%)
Derek	52 (19%)
I'm not interested.	48 (17%)

The comments have all been very encouraging, and at this point in time, I can say that figures are definitely in the future, but NOT the near future. We'll need a larger community, and I'd like to release a few more games before we really get into selling other things. In the end, visual novels are still my main concern right now, so I want to invest in making more of those before other things.

But I am hugely grateful to all of you for your votes and comments. Please do feel free to leave your thoughts still, as I always want to know what you're thinking.

--

New poll up, and it's fairly self-explanatory. Do you prefer your games to be voiced? Assume that the quality of the voices is pretty much the same as the voices in Jisei. I know some people love voices. I know some people turn them off no matter how brilliant they are. What are your thoughts?