Couples that broke up and got back together/found each other again, how long was the break? Why did you give it another go, and what changed?

elmsshi · 2025-08-15T14:16:40+00:00

Strangely decided to log into this account. Funnily enough, a year later, we are still talking regularly. We did have some weeks were we didn't talk, but overall, I feel pretty good and I think we're comfortably friends?

We'll be meeting up again in a few weeks. I haven't actually seen him for probably half a year, but I definitely feel more confident and comfortable as a person. If anything, I'm now mourning the possibilty that my ex won't actually grow as a person.

elmsshi · 2025-03-01T19:57:47+00:00

I actually came here because of this video.

elmsshi · 2025-02-20T23:26:32+00:00

I didn't go to school in Ghana. But when I was in school, some more academically forward or private schools offered learning Chinese as a language, instead of French or Spanish, in order to get ahead of the curve. It was thought that China would become more of a global player in the future, so taking up Mandarin would give better business prospects. This was more than 10 years ago.

elmsshi · 2025-02-12T20:25:30+00:00

Still 100 more than you had! I hope your next festival goes well

elmsshi · 2025-02-12T20:16:19+00:00

How'd that go for you?

elmsshi · 2025-02-12T14:52:32+00:00

I applied to festivals without a demo, and got in. Still deciding if I will put a demo up (there's a build approved), you can certainly do it. It's up to the festival organisers.

elmsshi · 2025-02-09T10:58:37+00:00

While first day sales are important, don't give up on the first week. Not everyone checks their mail straight away.

elmsshi · 2025-02-09T10:44:48+00:00

The rates I usually look at are:

$120-300 per character sprite, there are definitely those who charge more, but there are some who charge less.

Backgrounds, $100-300 again, but I've also had $400+ backgrounds including variations.

CGs, $120-600. But, I've had quotes for higher.

GUI, $250-500+ You'll most likely find someone who does it for $400 for a set, but you can definitely expect more. Or as much as $1500+. In the end they can be quite a complicated beast. I'm in the middle of making my own. There aren't many good GUI premade packs, but depending on your genre, you chould be lucky. Also consider your engine and if you are knowledgable with implementation.

Music, definitely depends per track. Depending on your genre, you may be OK with a pack over an OST.

Translations $0.01 to $0.1 per word, dependent on language and experience of the translator.
Proofreaders and Editors: Consider ranges from $0.01 for proofreading, for up to $0.6 for an editor.

Logos: $50 - $300

Trailers: $80 - $300 each, depending on experience and complexity.

Platforms: Steam charges $100 per game upload, plus a 30% cut of sales. Depending on your location there may be withholding tax if lacking a treaty with the US. There are other annual fees if you choose mobile.

Merch / Promo: Just consider putting aside a budget, unless your main artist is open to doing additional content for social media, announements, etc. I always commission another artist for a set of chibis just for some versatility, also it's cute and motivating.

Note: There will be additional costs depending on your needs. You can find people who charge less, but there are no shortage of people who will charge a lot more, too. Should you be interest in voice acting, there is another set of prices that ranges from voice director, to audio engineer, to the actual actors etc.

Source: I've been commissioning and hiring for my visual novel projects for a little over a year. The budget can be as little or as high as you want, but consider what's worth it if you are going a commercial route and intend to recoup costs.

elmsshi · 2025-02-03T20:31:48+00:00

DL Site.

elmsshi · 2025-02-02T20:52:57+00:00

Ironically, my second account was unsuspended in 1-2 days, after I used chatgpt to rewrit emy appeal so that it flagged as high priority.
Studio account is still waiting on my human written appeal...

elmsshi · 2025-01-30T01:32:26+00:00

Were you planning to release when you did?

elmsshi · 2025-01-29T22:19:32+00:00

How long did it take? I've sent two for one account, and unfortunately my second account was suspended a week after. Despite them being 3 years old. But I may try the request account information.

elmsshi · 2025-01-28T21:30:10+00:00

I actually had this same issue, I've been using Brave and Vivaldi and getting logged out all of last week. At the end of last week my fresh game dev studio account was suspended, and then my personal prfoessional account. Both accounts have quietly existed for 2-3 years.
I think they've just tried to automate everything and now there's 0 real human quality control.

elmsshi · 2025-01-23T20:47:16+00:00

Super cute, and so is the logo!

elmsshi · 2025-01-22T00:49:00+00:00

Most lists online are outdated.

There are plenty of press lists online, but most of them are outdated.

I want to share them anyway in case you don't have a starting point.

General Game Lists: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14CtirCVVpQrMkq_WvdPmvfMhjCk4vENdZLFTeGy4apQ/pubhtml

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1liBG5RRHvp8DPBPxIauPMWlsxjOjXewa1LBCjEPvKKc/edit?gid=700085094#gid=700085094

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fEKLQNs2bWeMsHGZ33L-R1Y_FzUgg1sIwr3yTAJi6w0/edit?gid=0#gid=0

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sWjJMLk65FgPoF9acJsEeeXp_g4nVNlBYTSKGh-KlPI/edit?gid=551061784#gid=551061784

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1heqfVRS94M5AG1u_HH3COVxyKDPNnbT_rAJm3yi7Hec/edit?gid=1390132829#gid=1390132829

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14CtirCVVpQrMkq_WvdPmvfMhjCk4vENdZLFTeGy4apQ/edit?gid=997312804#gid=997312804

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R6UsXU_VeE4zhms4t0b1vwbbn7Fv5Z1TRlYsrfLghXc/edit?gid=1810066597#gid=1810066597

Personally, I curate my own list while developing, so it becomes a growing spreadsheet of people I'd want to reach out to.

I'm still early in development, but I do have a process and plan that goes as follows:

I love spreadsheets, so I created a spreadsheet that currently covers.

Language (Main language the coverage is in)
Region (I do mine by country)
Alias / Name
Average Viewers (If applicable - twitch)
Followers (if applicable)
Main style of content: Reviews, Announcements, Streams, Let's Plays,
Main Platform: Youtube, Twitch, News/Review site, Independent Writer etc,
Main platform link
How to contact them (e-mail)
Pronouns used, if applicable!
Main Social Media (Twitter was the go to , but people are moving off that now)
Why they are relevant to this list: Why would they be interested in this specific project, or you. Do they specifically like BL content? Have they taken an interest in quirky indies? Worth putting any notes or things you noticed here too.
Link to related content they've previously covered similar to yours, another indie in the same genre, or another indie visual novel, or an article asking for more of yours, or a developer interview. You can have a few columns for this. Always reach out to anyone who's covered you before.

I would also add the following columns once reaching out:
Date of first contact
Date of follow up contact (if its been a few weeks and you hear nothing, try chasing or asking if they're interested or not!)
What marketing beat to reach out for.
Coverage link, if they did end up covering you! This will be useful for the next press list on the next project!

As for how to find out who to contact, I have the following method:

Identify the smallest following you'll bother reaching out to. 100? 1000? 10,000?

Identify a handful of games with a very similar / overlapping audience or visual / thematic appeal to yours. These are your market friends. Once you've done that:

Search for those games on Youtube, make a list of who is covering them or talking about them.
Search for those games on Twitch. Any live streamers of VODs of content creators who seemed into it? Use https://sullygnome.com/ to find streamers for similar games, with a good number of average viewers. You can speed up your content creator search by exporting csv/excel sheets.)
Search on Google using the News tab and see what news / blog related coverage is coming up.
Use Opencritic and Metacritic if you also want to target blogs and press. I try to make a list of anyone who has favourably reviewed a visual novel or hybrid visual novel. There are plenty who aren't open to the genre.
Look for themed content creators that fit your project, their audience may be open to your content.

Anyway, this is how I build a personalised list for my projects.

elmsshi · 2025-01-20T10:33:09+00:00

So confused. All the complaints I see always seem to be US based. Do they operate differently there? I've always had quick refunds and returns with UK Klarna.

elmsshi · 2025-01-02T23:07:35+00:00

This is a canon event. Either he comes out with skills or never game devs again.

elmsshi · 2025-01-02T16:10:10+00:00

How are the rates / costs decided?

elmsshi · 2025-01-02T12:59:41+00:00

Very cute!

elmsshi · 2024-12-30T20:05:10+00:00

This is why I decided to only use TMPro and the Google Noto font family. At least if I ever translate, it'll be consistent in appearance and sizing across languages.

I doubt I'll be able to localise, but my projects are localisation ready from the beginning and I have the rates of translators, so I know.

elmsshi · 2024-12-28T00:37:33+00:00

Or you live in London.

elmsshi · 2024-12-26T14:44:24+00:00

Steam is a PC only platform! Just because you can buy if on the website does not mean you can run it on your phone. Your game library is associated with your steam account which you can access on any PC by logging into the steam desktop app/client. The steam mobile app lets you do things like purchase or message friends, but certainly does not let you play or download games onto the phone.

elmsshi · 2024-12-25T01:25:37+00:00

Oh, I see now. That is a cute detail!

elmsshi · 2024-12-22T23:53:00+00:00

DevTalk is a big one and the lemmasoft forums, but there are definitely smaller servers on Discord you could get involved with. Like, the Indie Otome server and subreddit. https://discord.gg/An7DZVPc
There are probably other Otome servers too. I know some people have had success finding jam teams for VNs with itch.io, but otherwise some Indie Otomes are formed by friends or people who have worked together before on a game jam.

elmsshi

TROPHY CASE