What are you all playing / reading lately? Whether it’s a VN or an IF.
It feels like most new IFs are either written by people who just discovered interactive fiction, would be better off writing a male gender-locked IF or a kinetic novel, or were inspired by a recent movie/anime and decided to make an IF based on it (I enjoy fanfiction, but they often come across as if they were written by teenagers, or maybe because they are written by teenagers). Meanwhile, older IFs either haven’t updated in a while, announce an upcoming update that keeps getting delayed, go through rewrites, don't back up and loose their writing or focus more on side content instead of progressing the main story.
As for VNs, the only ones getting consistent updates seem to be 14 DWY and Our Life: N & F, but even these aren’t free from drama. 14DWY has somehow been labeled a "gooner game" (I have no idea where that even came from). God forbid that anyone who isn’t a straight man enjoys some fan service—especially when there’s nothing even visual. Though, to be fair, some of the comments on its Itch page do scream "underage." The Kid at The Back dev decided to release it after development is finished, largely because, once again, people left comments about being unsettled by the yandere’s behavior—in a game that’s explicitly yandere. Even Our Life isn’t safe from controversy after the devs decided to stop episodic updates (tbh, I haven’t played in a while—just waiting until the characters grow up—so I still like checking for updates). Some VNs don’t hit the same because the interactive aspects feel so limited, and even then, they’re not safe from Patreon issues. Finished VNs also tend to be too short.
I went to play the new Lightweaver update, but having to restart again—especially after already replaying it due to DashingDon shutting down—feels exhausting. I don’t think I can go through it for the umpteenth time just to read a small update, especially when the author has already warned that saves might break in the next one. I don’t get why this hasn’t been fixed sooner or why no one is complaining about it. But no, instead of solving that, they’re prioritizing making a NEW separate (from cogdemos) hosting site for Patreon content, as if this is the whole point of hosted games.
It feels like most new IFs are either written by people who just discovered interactive fiction, would be better off writing a male gender-locked IF or a kinetic novel, or were inspired by a recent movie/anime and decided to make an IF based on it (I enjoy fanfiction, but they often come across as if they were written by teenagers, or maybe because they are written by teenagers). Meanwhile, older IFs either haven’t updated in a while, announce an upcoming update that keeps getting delayed, go through rewrites, don't back up and loose their writing or focus more on side content instead of progressing the main story.
As for VNs, the only ones getting consistent updates seem to be 14 DWY and Our Life: N & F, but even these aren’t free from drama. 14DWY has somehow been labeled a "gooner game" (I have no idea where that even came from). God forbid that anyone who isn’t a straight man enjoys some fan service—especially when there’s nothing even visual. Though, to be fair, some of the comments on its Itch page do scream "underage." The Kid at The Back dev decided to release it after development is finished, largely because, once again, people left comments about being unsettled by the yandere’s behavior—in a game that’s explicitly yandere. Even Our Life isn’t safe from controversy after the devs decided to stop episodic updates (tbh, I haven’t played in a while—just waiting until the characters grow up—so I still like checking for updates). Some VNs don’t hit the same because the interactive aspects feel so limited, and even then, they’re not safe from Patreon issues. Finished VNs also tend to be too short.
I went to play the new Lightweaver update, but having to restart again—especially after already replaying it due to DashingDon shutting down—feels exhausting. I don’t think I can go through it for the umpteenth time just to read a small update, especially when the author has already warned that saves might break in the next one. I don’t get why this hasn’t been fixed sooner or why no one is complaining about it. But no, instead of solving that, they’re prioritizing making a NEW separate (from cogdemos) hosting site for Patreon content, as if this is the whole point of hosted games.
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I agree with you on the save thing, its annoying to have to constantly click through the whole game, especially if you click the wrong choice and then have to restart again, which I do all the damn time. Saves definitely need fixing.
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