Katawa shoujo featured on Kotaku.

[HeMeido]

I guess it's a decent history piece, if that's what it's supposed to be.

[Zahlman]

One final note before someone edits this for me: Katawa.
I'm sure that the guys that continually post "OMG Katawa is like calling someone a Fucking Cripple! It's a Taboo word!" aren't here, but I'd like to make something clear.
I asked a sample of my Japanese friends about the word. Of them, only one had heard of it, and basically said that it was so old that no-one cared.
There was one (yes, a total of one) 2ch post that mentioned the name. It was roughly (most likely machine) translated to read "Katawa is a Taboo Word." English-speaking detestors of the project picked up on this, but it's not that big a deal. Really.

Tvtropes may be to blame for some of this mess, as their article on the game makes this sort of claim.

[Notguest]

Not anymore.

[Tsundere Lightning]

And, to be honest, one of the handy things about pretty much every review that mentions the 4chan connection is the following statement:
"Sure, it comes from 4chan, but it's actually alright."

Play This Thing.com having that as its summary is pretty much why I downloaded this game, so yeah, I see where you're coming from. Even if the 'LOL 4CHAN DID SOMETHING GOOD' angle is a myth, it's not a harmful one. I just get annoyed at anything that needs a big fat citation needed tag.

[Warwick]

Play This Thing.com having that as its summary is pretty much why I downloaded this game, so yeah, I see where you're coming from. Even if the 'LOL 4CHAN DID SOMETHING GOOD' angle is a myth, it's not a harmful one. I just get annoyed at anything that needs a big fat citation needed tag.

Holy crap, PlayThisThing.com featured KS? I used to read that site, too, when I just got into the indie gaming scene.

Anyway, I threw up a comment that got promoted, which claimed that 4LS isn't affiliated w/ 4chan anymore, so I guess anyone who scrolls down far enough would see it.

[Aura]

The only problem I have with the 4chan association is the immense bias it puts on everyone's opinions. As an example, it's hard to gauge what someone thinks about KS when most people exposed to KS in this way react with "I thought it would be a steaming pile of utterly disgusting shit but then I played it and it was better than I expected". As a creator of the game, this kind of reaction leaves me feeling a bit down. Had 4chan not been mentioned, their first impression could've been radically different. It might've evoked different feelings. Maybe the people who will never play KS because they heard "4chan" would've tried it. I'm a little bit tired of always having to be on defense because everyone expects the worst of KS, of me and of my fellow developers (not that it's easy to spin "romantic visual novel about disabled girls" in positive light even on its own, eroge have their own baggage of bad reputation).

Of course, on the flip side of the coin, we have 4chan's incredible influence to thank for most of our fan- and readerbase (we ourselves have basically never promoted KS anywhere, not even 4chan itself), and the existence of the project itself. Some devs have been channers, hell, some still are. I see 4chan images and threads linked on IRC daily. As we've said before, we are not distancing ourselves from 4chan, we are distancing ourselves from the anonymous/lulz/epic/memes/trolling identity and culture as it truly and honestly just doesn't work with a project like this.

[G3n0c1de]

"I thought it would be a steaming pile of utterly disgusting shit but then I played it and it was better than I expected"

This sums up my initial reaction to the game. But after I spent enough time on the forums I now almost take offense to our 4chan associations. Perceptions change. When they play the game, the bad expectations are blown out of the water. And if they choose to poke around the forums, the associations with 4chan will shift to 4LS. It's unfortunate that some will choose not to play the game because of their hatred of 4chan, and I can't really blame them, but maybe if the KS gets popular enough, they might hear from others that the game is pretty good, and then they may give the game a chance.

[Mercutio]

thing is, people come up with really stupid reasons to hate games. yeah, some people won't play KS because of the 4chan origins, their loss. I know guys who quit playing WoW when Blizzard partnered with Activision, also their loss. you can't help people from getting butthurt over stupid things.

you can, though, make a product that proves the hatred is misplaced (and stupid). that's what the devs have done with KS. simple as that.

[Deimos]

Well, it's not like Katawa Shoujo has a real target demographic it can appeal to, although, certainly, some people are visiting 4chan and are into Visula Novels. Wasn't it established that this game is aimed at what the devs want and we are just some lucky parasites along for the ride?

[Loki]

thing is, people come up with really stupid reasons to hate games.

People are whining about not being able to crouch/go prone in Aliens Veruss Predator 3's demo, for crying out loud. Or being able to Iron sight. It's hilarious.

[delta]

Basically, the idea is that "for a 4chan project, it's not bad, I guess" is not the kind of feedback we want. We'd rather be held to higher standards.

[Deimos]

Basically, the idea is that "for a 4chan project, it's not bad, I guess" is not the kind of feedback we want. We'd rather be held to higher standards.

I think there is no real standard that Katawa Shoujo can be compared to. For anything concerning Original English Visual Novels I think it is rather probable that Katawa Shoujo is setting standards for others to come.

The one and only, and then still really vague, comparison I could do would be with Tsukihime but that VN has not the same "realism" as Katawa Shoujo; a comparison would do injustice to both.
Maybe only people who are in the independent Visual Novel scene in Japan or at the least very knowledgeable about it can really appreciate what gem you are trying to create.

[Smoku]

99, 9% VNs in general are japanese made...
katawa shoujo is the only one I know that's actually not made by Japanese.
and aye, this one shall be the one that'll become a standard and a good example for other that may come in the distant future.

[The Commissar]

99, 9% VNs in general are japanese made...
katawa shoujo is the only one I know that's actually not made by Japanese.
and aye, this one shall be the one that'll become a standard and a good example for other that may come in the distant future.

There are a few OEVNs I can think of, but they are either very short, or very bad (and some I just haven't played, or haven't come out yet). KS is really the first to actually try and get the English eroge to actually take itself seriously I think.

[Bara]

Basically, the idea is that "for a 4chan project, it's not bad, I guess" is not the kind of feedback we want. We'd rather be held to higher standards.

I don't know about anyone else, but I came to KS with no experience with 4chan. I discovered KS via the link from the rant section on Mega Tokyo. I had no expectation about KS other than I thought that it was an odd project but I liked MT enough that I was willing to give it a chance. 4chan is not my baseline for evaluating KS. This project earned my good opinion by having the core of good story and well made characters required for any good entertainment.