Visual novels
Visual novel is a subgenre of text quests, where the gamer takes little part in the gameplay, mainly being an observer, a spectator. Sometimes he is required to make a decision that will affect the further development of events.
What kind of genre
The visual novel is not a virtual dating simulator, as it is characterized by a large gaming audience. In such entertainments, the player mainly follows the development of events on the other side of the screen. The plot is revealed thanks to text inserts, pictures, animation, soundtrack and musical compositions. Also, fragments of anime-style videos began to appear in the novels.
A genre appeared in the land of the rising sun. It also develops and is popular mainly among teenagers.
Features
Visual novels have unique features that distinguish them from dating simulators.
- Several genres can be included in the novel: fantasy, horror, science fiction, love story.
- The plot is an important part of the gameplay, unlike quests.
- The presence of etty scenes (anime with elements of eroticism and explicit scenes with a hint of sexual intercourse, without its demonstration).
With the appearance on the market of Western countries, games of the romance genre began to be transferred to portable devices on Android and consoles with the removal of erotic scenes.
Gameplay
The story is told in the first person, the protagonist is an observer of the development of events. The visual part consists of a background that changes every day, a part or location, and sprites – actors. Often, the story is divided into days, not chapters, which makes it possible to evaluate progress every evening.
Important moments are accompanied by the visualization of large images with a lot of small details and may differ in style from the main scene. These inserts can be viewed at any time after they are opened. To see them all, you will have to go through the game several times, making a different choice in the places where the plot branches.
Some representatives of the genre (Symphonic Rain is an example) require the user to solve a simple task performed in the form of a mini-game. In this case, you need to play the specified melody on an unknown musical instrument.
Branching in the genre
Short stories are divided into several types, among all we will consider the most popular.
Sound
A very mediocre picture is actually completely replaced by a high-quality soundtrack. Music is often written specifically for the game, and the roles of the characters are voiced by professional voice actors. There are very few similar games in Russian.
Adventure (ADV)
In a small window in the corner (more often from the bottom left), text is displayed, the rest of the space is occupied by a background with characters. Brief frequently changing sentences, colorful effects, beautiful windows for choosing actions are characteristic features of the subspecies.
Otome
Games for girls, where one lady is surrounded by men bisenen – young and feminine handsome.
Kinetic
The player is only a spectator, because of the lack of ramifications of the plot, he cannot influence the course of events.