See you at AnimeFest 2014!

Hey gang, AnimeFest is next week, and we’re excited to see all of you! You can swing by to say hi to us any time at our table in the dealer’s room (hidden in the back, so think of it as a fun treasure hunt!). We’ll have all our Jisei games for sale along with free postcards and a demo of Backstage Pass on display. We’ve also got a panel on making visual novels, and we’d love to see you there!

Friday 8/15 - 5:00pm - Panel Room 6
Visual novels have long been a popular medium in Japan, and in the past few years they’ve been gaining popularity in the west. But did you know that you too can make your own visual novel? Join Ayu Sakata and sakevisual as we go over the process of making your own visual novel. We’ll talk everything from planning, to tools of the trade, and releasing your final masterpiece. There will be free stuff!

Conventions 2013

It's that time of the year, kids! Summer is drawing to a close, and sakevisual is about to make one last convention run. Here's our schedule for the rest of the year:

MatsuriCon - August 23-25, Columbus, OH
Head writer Ayu Sakata and voice actor Micah Solusod (voice of Naoki Mizutani and Adam Eaton) are both official guests of the con. The schedule isn't up yet, but look out for Q&A sessions with each of them as well as a "Making Visual Novels" panel run by Ayu. We will have a table in the dealer's room if you want to come by and buy cool stuff or get anything signed.


AnimeFest - August 30-September 2, Dallas, TX
We will have table in the dealer's room again this year, so please look for us. Several EVN creators will be hanging out at AnimeFest as well, so if you've wanted to meet someone, there's a good chance you'll see them at this con. Deji, the lead artist for Ripples and the Jisei games will be putting in a rare appearance (flying all the way in from Chile). If you have anything you've bought in the past that you want signed by her, be sure to bring it! Our "Making Visual Novels" panel will run on Sunday at 4:00pm. Check the program book for details. On top of that, PyTom (creator of Ren'py) will be leading a Ren'py workshop in the computer lab, so this is the perfect time for anyone who wants to make a VN to come by and get started!


M.A.I. - September 14-15, Oxford, MS
Hey, Mississippi! Looks like you've got a new con, and we're honored to be a part of it. Micah and Ayu will be guests here as well, with a table for you guys to stop by at to get sakevisual games or just chat. No panel information yet, but we'll keep you updated.

A-KON 2013 - New Digs!

Another year, another A-KON! This year, A-KON moved into a lovely new hotel with larger accommodations and a stunning amount of expensive (and potentially delicate) artwork. Thankfully, we didn't break anything, unless you count BREAKING IT DOWN for an impromptu dance party (Henoheno knows where it's at.) We shared a table with our friends at Sayuri Studios and some pretty sweet pachinko machines. In general, our table was a little out of the way, but persistent fans managed to find us anyway, which just proves how much you guys rock.

Bullet Points:
-Saw several cosplayers from various otome games like Hakuouki and Amnesia. It's really nice to see how popular otome games are getting.
-We got featured on the FUNimation live stream. Went on and talked about our games for a bit. :D
-I don't have to explain to people what visual novels are anymore. Three years ago, no one knew what they were. Now, nearly everyone has heard of them, or has a friend who likes them, or has tried one out on a whim.
-There was a food truck outside and I wanted a vegetarian taco, but they drove away. : (

Our next con will be MatsuriCon in Ohio. Be sure to check the official sakevisual site for an up-to-date list of where we'll be next.

Con Report (x3) + Yousei Update

Hey, everyone! I'm still alive! (Surprise.) Just finished San Japan, MatsuriCon, and AnimeFest, and I am tired. Had a great time, but maaan, that's a lot of dancing. XD I didn't get to run a panel at San Japan this year (going was a sort of a last minute thing), but we sold out of Jisei and Kansei. : D It's my first time selling out of games at a convention. *_* Many thanks to those who came by to buy or just chat with me.

MatsuriCon was my first time selling in Ohio, so that was an adventure unto itself. It was also my first time as a guest at a con, and I just want to thank everyone at Matsuri for being so nice to such an unknown. ^_^;; Shared a table with Painapple Teriyaki, and sold comics alongside games. Thanks to everyone who donated to the charity squirrel (long story) at the table. We raised $130 for the World Food Program. ^o^

Also ran into the first Li Mei cosplayer I've seen at Matsuricon. Almost screamed like a little child when I saw her, which was bad, because I was sitting in someone else's panel when it happened. >_> I'm still really, really excited - especially since she did my favorite outfit from the Jisei series.

And just got back from the four-day con that is AnimeFest. Wound up hosting some extra VN panels with Sayuri Studios and Matt from L33t Str33t Boys, where we had a sort of round table discussion about how visual novels are developing in the west, the state of the market, and general differences between EVNs and JVNs. It was a lot of fun, and I'm considering adding a similar panel to our regular set if people are interested.

Aaaaand a Yousei update for all you brilliant, patient readers. I think I've been saying this for a while, but we ARE nearing the end. Yousei will be longer than Kansei and Jisei combined, so it's taken a lot longer for me to write it. We've also added some other neat things (like an in-game hint system and unlockable glasses for Li Mei and Gurski) and some updates to the exploration system, which was all new code I had to figure out. On top of that, Deji has been devoting a lot of time to create some excellent artwork for you guys (see above for details). I think the endings in this game are the most satisfying (and emotional) ones yet, and I hope that you all enjoy it.

I am hoping to release the game sometime in the summer (not much summer left...), but more than anything, I want to make sure it's good. We rushed Kansei last year, and a lot of bugs popped up. I don't want to make you guys have to deal with that again. I'm considering putting the game up for pre-order with all pre-orderers able to play the beta and give feedback.

For those wondering about the poll for free things, it's because I'm working on designing the game packaging right now, and I'd like to include a nice little bonus item. Still not sure what the bonus item will be, but feel free to leave your thoughts~

A-KON 2012 Report

Wow! Almost a week late, but hey, it's a con report! We are back from A-KON, and we had a great time! Handed out some Kansei stickers and buttons, and we even sold out of Winter in Fairbrook (our first time selling out of anything). Sadly, I received a shipment of Oneiro stickers the Monday after the con. You know, just in time to have a huge pile of stickers that I can't give away. : ( That means free Oneiro stickers at our next con, though (schedule on our website)! So keep an eye out for that, at least. D:

And speaking of stuff available at other conventions, check out this little in progress gem (you've already seen it if you follow us on facebook).

Sakura Con 2012 Report

Aaand, we're back from Sakura Con! First time selling there, so I was pretty nervous. D: Turns out, Sakura Con peeps are really nice. : D We shared a table with Sayuri Studios and spread VN-related happiness. We also had physical copies of Winter in Fairbrook, so if you want one for yourself, be sure to request that your local convention invite us. ^_-

Ran our usual "making visual novels" panel on Friday, but we didn't get a projector, so it became a "making novels and you'll have to imagine the visuals" panel. Awkward.

A big thanks to everyone who stopped by the table or came to our panel. We had a great time, and it was fun meeting so many people I've only spoken with online before. Our next convention is A-KON in June. Hoping to get Yousei done by then, so please cheer for us.

SakuraCon Plans

SakuraCon is in a couple weeks, and we're already busy packing! We've got a table in the Small Press section of the dealer's room, so you'll have to stop by the dealer's room to find us. Our table is SP17. It's marked on the map above, so you can find us. : D

I'm also running a panel on making visual novels. Right now, it's scheduled for Friday at 1:45pm in room 303. If there are any last minute changes, I'll update twitter.

This will be our first SakuraCon, and I'm very much looking forward to meeting everyone! If you can't make it, be sure to tell your Seattle friends to come get you something nice. ^_-

Mini A-KON 2012

Photo taken by Kyoko. Many thanks!

First convention of the year. Yeaaaaah! Also the first convention with Winter in Fairbrook physical copies*. It was only a one-day convention, but you guys managed to pack in three days of fun into it. We didn't get to run a panel this time, but it was fun talking about VNs with everyone who came by. Thanks to all the fans who dropped by to say hi as well! It was also my first time eating kimchee french fries. That was pretty crazy. o.o Melted cheese and kimchee are a bizarre combination. o__o

Please Anime made a neat little video that summed up the events of the con. It's got a bit of sakevisual in it, and a snippet from the voice actor panel with Micah Solusod, voice of Naoki Mizutani.

We've got more upcoming cons listed on our site. There are probably a couple more to come this year, so stay tuned.

*P.S.

If you're having trouble with Winter in Fairbrook, the activation code is printed on the disc. Enter it into the "One time Activation Email" slot on the "Buy Now" page.

Con Fanart Collection 2011

Over the year, I've collected some really nice physical fanart pieces from sakefans at conventions. Since the con year is over for me, I'm posting the 2011 collection for everyone to admire.

This one is actually a sticker. ^o^

Derek is very popular with the ladies, it seems.

From Anime Expo. Finding our table was already hard enough, so this was an especially lovely gesture.

The expression on the bottom had me smiling for days. I feel that way a lot, too. XD

Got this at a con in AL. Our first physical fanart. I'm pretty sure I jumped up and down a lot after I got this.

AnimeFest 2011 Report

And thus concludes our last convention of the year. Woooo! We staked out a couple tables in the dealer's room this year (not pictured: Sayuri Studios' table right next to us), met up with old friends, made new friends, and danced a whoooole lot. I'd like to extend a public apology to the dealer across from us who looked less than pleased to have listen to Girls' Generation, and Super Junior all weekend. At least it wasn't the Nyancat song?

In addition to our Making Visual Novels panel, I ran a panel called "sakevisual presents..." It was pretty rough, since it was my first time running it, so major thanks to everyone who came by to support us. I gave away some shirts, keychains, and a free copy of Jisei, plus everyone got to see the character designs for the Ripples sequel and the opening scene for hanami x 2.

Overall, it was a lovely con (even though the fire alarm went off every night), and I'm looking forward to returning next year. We don't have a set schedule for next year quite yet, but I'll let you know once we do. Remember that your best bet for getting to see us it to ask your local con to invite us as guests.

San Japan 2011 Report

San Japan was a couple weekends ago, but it's taken me a while to get around to this post (more on that later). We shared a table with Sayuri Studios, and as always, it was tons of fun. The turnout to the "How to make Visual Novels" panel was the best we've had yet, and I'm really excited to see all the people who are interested in making VNs. This is also the first time I've run out of free magnets and postcards. I'll have to bring even more next time! We also donated copies of Jisei and Kansei to the Anime Press Your Luck gameshow hosted by For Randy Entertainment. No one manged to win them, so if For Randy is hosting a gameshow at your local con, you might be able to win it there! : D

AHHHHHHHH!!! WHY ARE WE SCREAMING!?

The good news: I did NOT get in a car accident after San Japan! \o/-Woohoo!
The bad news: I've been having a few medical issues that have been slowing me down at work. Also, it's hot out, which if twitter is to believed, is a huge productivity killer. XD

What's up next: Our next convention is AnimeFest in Dallas next month. Before then, we'll have Winter in Fairbrook out (at least beta). I'm currently working as fast as I can to help get Cinders by Moacube out as well. My writing has been a lot slower lately because I'm only able to work a couple hours each day before it hurts too much to type. ;_; I've been doing better this week, though, so things should be picking up soon. Expect a progress update on one of our free games soon, too.

Anime Expo + Future Plans

And I'm back from my very first Anime Expo! It was craaazy, but I had a great time meeting everyone there. Visual novels got a great representation there with several EVN dev groups putting in an appearance (Dischan, Kinou Games, Kuroi Games, Okashi Studios, R3 Productions, Sakura River, Zeiva Inc. and Zero Zigen, to name some in alphabetical order). It was also great to meet a lot of you guys who I've only managed to speak with online. Sorry if I seemed kind of tired. I really was. ^_^;; Unfortunately, my body is still recovering from the accident, so I really wanted to sleep, and I was a little out of it during the whole thing. Being able to see all of you really made the trip worth it, though! Also, a big thanks to EigoManga for graciously inviting sakevisual to take part in the doujin game panel alongside Zero Zigen, Carpe Fulgur and Okashi Studios.

Now that the big con for the summer is over, it's time to buckle down and get some visual novels done! Kansei will be released this week (in fact, the countdown to Kansei will begin tomorrow), and Winter in Fairbrook will follow shortly after that. I'm also doing work with Moa Cube on a fairy tail visual novel called Cinders. Expect a release of that sometime this summer as well.

Once these three games are taken care of, we'll be turning our attention to a sequel novel that a lot of you guys have been asking for. Hint: See the sketch above for details.

For want of a better word..."Owwww."

A behind the table shot of me attempting to explain something or other.

Two things happened this weekend.
1.) A-KON 22
2.) I got in a car crash.

Pretty much in that order.

The bad news: My car was hit by some flying debris when I was driving home from the con. The car spun out of control and crashed into a wall. I wound up bleeding and bruising a good deal, but no bones were broken, and I'm happy to be alive. Unfortunately, I did lose a lot of sakevisual stuff in the crash, and the car was towed by the police, so I can't get to anything that survived, anyway. Free games will not go on hiatus, but they will have to move a lot slower, as most of my spare money will now be spent on getting a new car instead of funding free games. D:

The good news: I make backups of my work (and you should, too), so all of our in progress games are still alive! Kansei is still in beta stages, since I decided that I want to do a lot more testing before I'm comfortable releasing it. I'll be opening up pre-orders for Kansei soon. Anyone who pre-orders will be given access to the beta version, as well as a direct line to provide your thoughts and feedback for the final game. For anyone who did a Kansei pre-order at the con, please email me at ayu@sakevisual.com so that I can keep you in the loop. Also, A-KON was a lot of fun, and I'm really happy that I got to make new friends and see familiar faces. A huge thanks to everyone who came by the table or went to my panel. I wasn't expecting so many, and you guys completely overwhelmed me. Thank you so, so much for coming (and also for laughing at my terrible jokes).

In summary: Please be patient with me. I didn't lose much progress for any games, but it will be a little harder for me to get work done in the coming months, and I'm afraid that funding for free games will be thinner than it was before. I promise I'll do my best to get them done, though.

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).

--

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. ^_^;;

AFest VN Panel Part 02

More video from AFest. This one covers planning a VN, drawing story trees, the steps you go through to make art, and brief discussion of programming and music. Most of you VN creators probably already know this stuff. Please keep in mind that I giving advice to people who I expect to be working solo or in very small groups so there's a lot of emphasis on streamlining things, working small, and using free resources when possible.

AnimeFest 2010 Report

Aaand we're back from AnimeFest. Woooo! This four-day convention was filled with fun, free goodies, and lots and lots of dancing. Our wonderful friends at Sayuri Studios were also present to spread the visual novel love with games never before available in print, and Zero Zigen's doujin game, Koenchu. Our table in the dealer's room this time was a lot nicer than our table at A-KON a few months ago. Besides having more games to sell, we also sold some buttons, t-shirts, artbooks, and the ever-coveted RE: Alistair++ plushies. We also gave away a ton of stuff including free stickers, postcards, and mini-art prints. A lot of people came up to the table to say hi to us, and it was absolutely wonderful to meet so many fans of our work. You guys rock, and I'm incredibly grateful that you all came out to see us. Thanks for all the kind words, the great suggestions, and for just being so much fun to talk to.

We ran a visual novel panel twice - once on Friday and once on Sunday. Much love to everyone who came out to see us. I've got some edited video from the Sunday version up on YT for your enjoyment. Here's the first part; more will go up on YT as I edit it. Many thanks to Sayuri Studios for recording all of this for us.

Altogether, I'd say that AFest was loads of fun. Thanks to everyone who came to say hi to us, thanks to everyone who came out to the panels, and thanks to those of you who came to the table to dance with me. XD I'll be doing my best to attend more conventions in the future so that I can meet even more of you guys. Visual novels, rock rock on!

Ayu dressed as Kuu, just without the magic gradient hair. XD

Back from San Japan

Wooo~! Just got back from San Japan. I am so tired, but I had a good time. I didn't put in an official sakevisual presence this time; I was just there to spend time with some friends (some are pictured above running the charity auction).

I had a great time meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends. I donated a copy of Jisei signed by me and Micah Solusod (Kizaki's voice actor) to the charity auction. It got paired with two volumes of mystery manga (like Detective Conan) for a mystery bundle. I like to give a huge thanks to all the wonderful people who bid on it. The $150 from that along with the several thousand from the other cool stuff we auctioned off will go to building a well in Africa so that people can have clean drinking water. I love you guys.

Anyway, I'm back and alive. If you emailed me, messaged me, or otherwise tried to contact me over the weekend, I'll be writing back to you soon.

A-KON 21 Report

And a week later, I'm finally getting around to posting this. Haaaa... Anyway, hey! For those of you who didn't know, sakevisual was at A-KON last weekend. Amidst the crowds of thousands of people, we shared a booth with the Japanese doujin circle, Zero Zigen. It was a pretty small affair for us. We had a demo computer where people could play the Jisei demo or RE: Alistair++, we sold Jisei, and we gave away lots of RE:A++ stickers. We also met a lot of cool people, and had a lot of fun.


We had a special Koenchu premiere panel where Zero Zigen and Sakevisual fielded questions about Zero Zigen's bilingual release of Koenchu Sora, what visual novels are, and how you (yes, you!) can make your own visual novels. Discussion ranged from comparing various engines (Zero Zigen uses Kirikiri and sakevisual uses Ren'py) to recording voices in person versus over the internet. In case you're wondering, I'm the one with the long black hair and striped glove, completely clueless to the fact that someone is taking my picture.

Lots of love to my booth girl, Tsayan, for holding down the fort while I went to the Zero Zigen panel and later galavanted off through artists alley in search of fresh blood to hire. And yes, she's dressed as FionaWings.

Fact: Real men play otome games.

Bonus shot: Ayu dressed as Mikoto from Zero Zigen's Koenchu Sora.

A video showing off the stuff that we sold and gave away at A-KON.

A huge thanks to everyone who came by the booth, bought a copy of Jisei, went to the panel, or just said hi. We had a great time, and if their latest blog post is any indication, so did Zero Zigen. I hope that we can make it to even more cons in the future so that we can meet all of you~