What Is a Visual Novel?
- Posted by Johanna on May 14, 2007 at 10:56 pm
- Category: Manga News
I’d never heard of a visual novel until I read about them at mangamaniacafe. They’re incredibly popular in Japan but unknown elsewhere, and the simplified description is an on-screen Choose Your Own Adventure story with anime-style art.
I’d be curious to try one out, but with prices from $20-30, they’re a bit much for an impulse purchase for me. The problem seems to be determining which market they should start targeting… the product sounds too much like a book for gamers, it’s too much like a cartoon for readers… I think the best thing the company could do would be a saturation campaign of free samples. Allow downloads from popular manga and anime sites. Ship sample discs in magazines. Give them out at conventions. Get that word of mouth going.
May 15, 2007 at 4:56 am
The Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series (which has been exported, and which I’m very fond of) is fairly close to the description of visual novels here. It has the graphical style, though it adds a bit more free-roaming and more complex puzzles than the description suggests.
May 15, 2007 at 4:21 pm
My friend has recently made a visual novel herself if you want to try her demo - it’s a free download:
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1605
They can be fun to play, I loved Pheonix Wright. It almost feels like watching a cartoon but at the same time gives you the feeling of reading a book… it’s interesting.
May 15, 2007 at 6:29 pm
That link gives “file no longer available”.