I understand that a lot of people making a new VN want to stand out.
I understand that a lot of creators want to do something "new and different" with their VN.
But why is it so hard to understand that there are some standards that exist for a reason?
If you're making a VN with a harem (three or more girls in romantic and/or sexual relationships with the main character at the same time, knowing about each other or that the MC has other girls), there are some extremely easy guidelines to ensure that you will get near-universal support.
Anyway. Just had to get that off my chest after this month's disappointments. Feel free to ignore me and let thiswall of text thread fall into obscurity, since this was more for me than for anyone else.
I understand that a lot of creators want to do something "new and different" with their VN.
But why is it so hard to understand that there are some standards that exist for a reason?
If you're making a VN with a harem (three or more girls in romantic and/or sexual relationships with the main character at the same time, knowing about each other or that the MC has other girls), there are some extremely easy guidelines to ensure that you will get near-universal support.
- No Other Men's Dicks In the LIs. This one should be obvious, but this one keeps getting fucked up. Yes, we know mothers are not virgins. Yes, we know girls with boyfriends or husbands at the start of the game are almost definitely not virgins. That's not what this means, and it's disingenuous bullshit for NTR fans to keep bringing this up as if it's some kind of 'gotcha'. What this means is that DURING THE GAME there should not be other men fucking any girl who is an LI (main girl or side girl, doesn't matter), or is going to be an LI (again, main girl or side girl, doesn't matter). There's no good reason for it. Even if it had to happen (e.g. a flashback about the MC's mother before the MC's birth), don't SHOW it to us. It's not titillating and it's not sexy to see another guy fucking an LI.
- Side note: Side Stories aren't a justification for this either, if the characters in the side story also appear in the main story, even in flashbacks. Side stories should be used to include more context for main story events, so they should be considered optional parts of the main story. Not playing a side story doesn't make its events suddenly not have happened.
- LIs Should Not Be More Interested In Others Than In the MC. This one should also be obvious. Girls who are already with the MC, or who are intended for the MC, SHOULD NOT make choices that place other people over the MC. They should not be encouraging other LIs to do things with people other than the MC. Even in harem stories with netori involved, while the LI may still have feelings for her current partner, there should also still be some form of estrangement between the LI and their current partner to permit the romantic and sexual theft of the LI away from that partner that the MC will be performing.
- Side note: I said 'people' here a lot instead of 'men' on purpose. I know a lot of people don't consider girl-girl activity to be NTR, but if the LI is more interested in fucking the other girl than she would be in fucking the MC (whether the other girl is also an LI or not), then it absolutely falls under this point as well.
- The LIs Should Be The Game's Focus. This one, again, should be obvious. The LIs are the ones that matter in these games. If you are showing previews and you get all excited about a character being introduced, and talk about that character a lot, especially if she's a cute girl, she should be an LI. Doing this with a girl who isn't an LI is a waste of artistic, developmental, narrative, and promotional effort. Girls who are not LIs should serve some important narrative purpose that literally could not be served any other way, or they are unnecessary to the game and their inclusion should be carefully considered. Editing is a virtue, not a sin.
- Side note: If a dev/artist likes a girl who is not an LI enough to be gushing about them during previews, why are they so determined for them to not be an LI? It's like they're setting themselves up for failure. If she's likable, she should be an LI. If she's not, no one will like that the dev/artist is spending so much effort on her. This is also why so many non-harem games fail, because the dev is putting so much effort into girls that are dead ends for the MC for a player who isn't on those girls' paths.
- Side note two: Female Antagonists generally escape this, but they're usually a lot more obviously not LIs than the kind of girls I'm talking about. Even then, though, a LOT of games include antagonists in the harem eventually, once they've been defeated, reformed, and redeemed. This is why most games tend to use male antagonists, though, to avoid having to either write a redemption arc, or justify why there can't be a redemption arc.
Anyway. Just had to get that off my chest after this month's disappointments. Feel free to ignore me and let this