Avoiderdragon: Games that are akin to visual novels and dating sims like Long Live the Queen, Katawa Shoujo, and so on have a reputation for being rather dreary and strange for a lot of people, especially for those who don’t regard anything that doesn’t have a dynamic enough gameplay to be an actual game. Notable titles in this genre though do have some pretty good writing and some mechanics that make worth noting. But perhaps Always Remember Me may better than the usual anime-laden stuff like Conception II.
SteamFirst: *cue up don’t you forget about me and raise a fist in the air* Get ready to be sucked into a world of drama, love, confusion and conflict in this virtual novel/dating sim game. Go on and grab some snacks and a drink and prepare to get in touch with your feminine side with Always Remember Me.
Hardcore Gamer: For a mere $1, you can get Dracula 4: Shadow of the Dragon, Always Remember Me, Raiden Legacy - The Return, and Hero of the Kingdom.
indiePub has publish4ed an article by Celso Riva of Winter Wolves about making (and selling) dating sims and visual novels.
From the article:
"For dating sims, the best way is to split the story into scenes. Those games usually have several characters that you can date and, through gameplay, you advance every subplot scene by scene...
Those games are also famous for having many endings. In fact, the more the better because it is normal to replay a game several times to unlock them all. It's a lot like achievements in other genres."
