Why is there so few cg in japanese vn ?

[Hitman98]

Been reading japanese vn for a couple years and always asked myself that question, i'm reading Air from Key right now and it made me think of that, a character is stuck in a bed unable to get up for many scenes but they still use the sprite of her standing, i just feel like there was all the reason to have a cg in bed but there wasn't.

Now that was just an example but i'm taking in general, in a lot of case i'm sure you can say it's because of money, you need to pay more if you want more art, but even some of the biggest company making the big vn don't really go out of they're way to have more.

You would also expect that there is some passion project and the artist would want to have as many cg as possible to make the game stand out or something, i don't really believe in the notion that there are so few cg to make it more impactful when there is one, in some cases maybe, but in most it doesn't convince me.

Hopefully someone with some deeper understanding of how japanese vn are made can explain, i'm rather interested, thanks !

 

[DawnCry]

Overall main difference between japanese vn and english ones are that they are supported in a different way. In the english ones most creators receive constant support each month thanks to patreon and a few different pages.

Now, if you think about how much a vn costs (and in fact most english games) you will find out that their budget is like 10x compared to the japanese ones. On another point the japanese have a tendency that when a game is a good success they usually give more content and updates for free, most games on dlsite for example follow this trend.

Being truthful it's just a matter of budget and expected return, that's mostly it.

 

[Avaron1974]

Considering a lot of those VN's are 50+ hours it's easier to reuse sprites/scenes than keep drawing new ones.

 

[woody554]

exploitation. 8fps anime, 2 frame action 'animations' of 'flying in the air', 15 cgi VNs - it's the japan way. most of it is shit spewed for stupid teenagers at the lowest effort possible.

 

[Hitman98]

Thanks for the answers !

 

[fidless]

There was this "western" game review site which compared daz3d vn to drawn ones.
"Why I can't see MC waking up from his bed, getting dressed, etc. 5/10 game."
One such CG can cost up to 500$. Maybe double, triple of that if it's done by professional for high-end VN. It's 100-500$ around here, but far from the "grisaia" art level.
Advantage, unique art, and emotion which 3D render will never be able to capture. Same as 3D anime will never be on the same quality as drawn one.
You can't compare draw art to renders and expect the same amount of art. I'd say it's even a different type of thing, noncomparable to games made by devs who made art from 0. Even if it's 3D. If everyone be making art using a blender, making their own characters and environments, every texture, every mesh unique, everyone would be using less CG too compared to how most f95 vn are made now. But it's expensive.
Plus Japan's living costs are high. Depends on the game, but earning 10-20k from sales is not considered a success, but a failure. Depends on the game I guess. I've been reading why some studios shut down after making a vn with gameplay/simulation (much higher production value compared to linear games/time required to produce etc.). So, it's cutting costs. Only the most important scenes get unique art. Plus culture, vn are like books with sprites. It's an acceptable format not to use a lot of CG and JP focuses more on writing to tell a story.
And I guess the budget. Most circles have a limited budget and need to minimize the costs. My guess.

 

[DuniX]

Because they are a Finished Game.

They release a complete game on a budget and a deadline.

 

[Machete]

The good question is: Why there are so few choices in japanese VN? And back in the early days of them there were a ton of choices in each game. I think the reason is voice acting. There is just so much voice acting you can affort and stuff in a game, so you can't have too many different paths and routes. And sex scenes. Even if the voice acting of the scenes is pretty much iterchangeable 'AAaaa iiiii uuuu.... It's so embarassing...'.

 

[Duke Greene]

Been reading japanese vn for a couple years and always asked myself that question, i'm reading Air from Key right now and it made me think of that, a character is stuck in a bed unable to get up for many scenes but they still use the sprite of her standing, i just feel like there was all the reason to have a cg in bed but there wasn't.

AIR is very old.

Modern Japanese VNs have a lot more CGs, sometimes easily pushing thousands. Assuming they're from an established circle with good budget of course—2D art is very expensive. Also most JP VNs are also fully voiced, which is also very expensive.
An interesting example is eden*. It's a fairly short VN and was released in 2009 but it doesn't use standing sprites, instead choosing various camera and lighting conditions a bit like Western VNs using Daz are doing. The game size was gigantic for 2009 and cost Minori a lot of money.

Edit: oh fuck didn't realize Machete had necroed the thread. Oh well

 

[Deleted member 14950]

Japanese developers are min-maxing.
Their goal is to sell new game with minimum development effort.
Hence, small amount of CG, boring recycled story, no gameplay.
When this cycle breaks and great japanese game comes out,
it's a celebration. Doesn't happen that often though.
Basically, Japan is a factory, they can make good cars and cameras.
Sadly, such approach doesn't translate well into creative products.

How's that for a haiku?

 

[Wildman Dev]

Sigh... I need to become a Japanese VN dev...

(Also, this thread is nearly 3 years old.)