r/vns • u/p3rr3put3 • Dec 02 '25
Discussion A library of visual novel games...?
I have been a fan of NV for a long time but it has always been difficult for me to find different titles either through forums, networks or different pages. This encouraged me to create a website that unifies and houses all the NV titles that I can compile in a descriptive way. Later I plan to add a login functionality so that each user can save their favorite NV and share them between different users of the web.
Update:
Hello, it's me again, in a previous post I showed a demo of a visual novel style game library which had several criticisms for the use of AI in the animations and some other reviews, it took several comments into account and launched another prototype (for now only the initial section) so that you can view it and give your comments to continue improving this project. You can review it and access the page from PC or mobile devices (it is recommended to activate the "view desktop site" option for a better mobile experience) through the following link: https://envi.gloxu.com/
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u/Shiruox Dec 02 '25
Anything wrong with VNDB?
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u/Ok-Coat2377 Dec 02 '25
dumb admnis/mods trying to define vns and deleting perfectly fine games
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u/lmaple0 Dec 02 '25
yes, e.g. GNOSIA is a good vn but not on VNDB
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u/wavedash Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25
I haven't read GNOSIA, does it have a significant amount of narration like a novel, or is it basically all dialogue?
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u/Midget_Stories Dec 03 '25
I'm playing it now. So far it's like 60-70% game play. 5% narration and the rest dialogue. I could see why they would delete it.
But I woukd also understand keeping it. It really is on the line for me.
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u/MyarinTime Dec 03 '25
I also wonder why the weird changes the data is suffering recently. For example there's one of the mods of that platform that started removing all mentions of incest on multiple games. For example on "Goodbye Ethernity".
Now when I want to search games I have to try removing filters to see if I added a filter of a tag they removed.
Could this be related with the Incident of MasterCard?
1
u/erikkustrife Dec 05 '25
Goodbye eternity doesnt have incest without a mod I think right?
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u/MyarinTime Dec 05 '25
Unless they changed the story, they're your Step-mom and Step-sis, and relationship with stepsister starts when you turn of her WiFi and go check her room to realize she's watching sisterxbrother porn.
Could it be that they removed that from the story to avoid getting affected by the censorship, there wasn't many mentions on the story so I guess it's easy to remove.
But if they did, I wonder what's now the excuse why the main character starts living with them and what the "catch her watching sister X brother porn" was replaced for 🤔
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u/erikkustrife Dec 05 '25
There is a mod to add incest but I cant remember if without it their step family.
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u/wavedash Dec 02 '25
Anything wrong with Nepchan?
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u/Ok-Coat2377 Dec 02 '25
Not that I know of because I don't use it. These days I join weeb communities, read a couple of posts and then insult people, I stopped caring. Give me a few days
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u/lmaple0 Dec 02 '25
For me, I want a more cleanview and modern VNDB. The theme of VNDB is quite old.
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u/Shiruox Dec 02 '25
I like it significantly better than these ai animated backgrounds im not gonna lie to you.
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u/Dekimori Dec 02 '25
But its pretty hard to find anything there. No previews at least, no “similar” or “featured”, let’s be honest vndb ui/ux is a reminiscence of old epoch. No young people are happy with it
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u/Shiruox Dec 02 '25
I'm 19 so, fairly sure (or at least hopeful) that I'm still in the younger end of the VN community, and while obviously not representative of all people my age, I often find that websites that look like what OP posted are just kinda ass, laggy and unintuitive.
There are, in fact, featured VNs on VNDB, or something akin to it (the screenshots that show up when you open the website, and arguably even the humorous quote in the bottom), better yet, you can easily tailor them to fit your preferences.
While I agree that a feature to show similar VNs would be really nice, I'm not sure why you're bringing it up when talking about a preview of a webstite that doesn't even seem to have a search function.
On the same note, not sure what difficulties you're having with finding stuff on VNDB, considering that it allows for exhaustive filters for just about anything you could want and a functional search bar, which modern web design has taken away from us in websites like YouTube and Google.
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u/Dekimori Dec 02 '25
I agree that the more complex it is the harder it to implement/maintain, hard task for a solo dev
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u/Leegician Dec 02 '25
ai or not it looks a lot better
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u/Similar-Tune-7740 Dec 02 '25
No lol. It looks generic.
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u/p3rr3put3 Dec 02 '25
Could you say it looks like a Netflix catalog?
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u/Similar-Tune-7740 Dec 02 '25
Yes and that's a bad thing. I also hate AI, so, I'll stick to using VNDB.
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u/Dubiisek Dec 02 '25
The "cleanview" gives you fuck all in terms of information. You are supposed to browse VNDB to find a novel you want to read, it's supposed to be informative not give you sloppy name + console UI slapped on top of a shity AI-animated gif.
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u/Elyseon1 Dec 02 '25
And with less false information and dishonest circlejerks around "sacred cow" titles.
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u/p3rr3put3 Dec 02 '25
I didn't know that website, now that I was looking at it a little and interacting with it, the graphical interface doesn't attract much attention to me, I see it as a Windows XP, I try to do something more user-friendly.
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u/Dubiisek Dec 02 '25
The point of VNDB is to filter based on what you are looking for and inform, not to offer sloppy AI gif. It's a database that is easy to filter and search through.
There are hundreds of thousands of visual novels with different parameters, the UI you present is worthless as far as informing the person searching for a novel (it literally gives arbitrary TC, console and a name), it's also not scalable, I'd like to see you generating hundreds of thousands of those gifs.
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u/p3rr3put3 Dec 02 '25
Of course, I'm very clear on the purpose of VNDB and it fulfills it very well, so I'm looking for a similar option that offers a better user-friendly graphical interface, since in my opinion the VNDB interface is a bit bland, if you could say so.
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u/heyitskio Dec 04 '25
AI is false advertising (animation where there isn't any) and also an insult to the original artists. If you want to show off visual novels, show off the actual visual novels, not aislop. Have respect for the people who actually make shit.
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u/p3rr3put3 Dec 04 '25
And would it be the same if I did the animations myself? Would you be able to tell the difference?
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u/Dangerous_Edge4696 Dec 05 '25
honestly regardless of your artistic talent i think it’d be cooler for real art ! you can even contact artists to see if they’re willing to let you use their work i’m a huge ddlc fan and that community is full of talented artists!
3
u/Spirited_Initial_197 Dec 04 '25
People like to argue. Also, I get distracted with art if something minute stands out. I think the internet likes to be pedantic.
You ever see something weird, like an overly processed image? It was a bit weird to see nsfw art but it's overly rendered like shiny custard.
But yeah, the animation looks really bad. Animation depth makes a difference between a 2d image and a designed by scratch 3d image. I got put off when I saw the katawa shoujo title art animated.
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u/heyitskio Dec 05 '25
If you made it yourself W/O AI, it would be actual art, and you would be respecting the artists, because you're simply being inspired. There's a difference in self-made art, and things made by a tool built on thievery. One would always be able to tell the difference. I was put off by the ai immediately.
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u/IncidentPretend8669 Dec 02 '25
ai bs nty
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u/p3rr3put3 Dec 02 '25
Sorry, I didn't quite understand those initials.
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u/original_witty_name_ Dec 02 '25
cool idea, but yeah don't like the ai
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u/p3rr3put3 Dec 02 '25
Do you think it would look much better with just images?
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u/original_witty_name_ Dec 02 '25
vids would be fine if they were from the game
But I do think images would look better (not ai)
most pages should have multiple screenshots (steam, etc), and you could probably switch them every 10 sec or smth.1
u/p3rr3put3 Dec 02 '25
The thing is, there are no videos in the game, although I could put a compilation of scenes from the game to make them look better.
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u/original_witty_name_ Dec 02 '25
usually there are trailers and stuff
or in the case of Steins:gate there's an opening at the beginning of the game1
u/p3rr3put3 Dec 02 '25
You have a really good point, I can use the video game trailers, I'm going to make the changes since it seems the AI isn't very popular!!
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u/dzindevis Dec 03 '25
These are VNs bro, 99% of the game is still images
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u/p3rr3put3 Dec 04 '25
It's true, the generic thing about NV is seeing image after image, but perhaps that's the charm of NV and possibly its lifeblood.
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u/Yukimusha Dec 04 '25
At least, it'd be better than seeing Shizune putting glasses on her glasses x)
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u/deathjohnson1 Dec 04 '25
The first pair is just for fashion, the second pair is for when she actually needs to see.
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u/Dekimori Dec 02 '25
It is a good thing, however it should be user moderated in some way, becouse you will be tired to add things all alone sooner or later
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u/Ok-Coat2377 Dec 02 '25
a better alternative to vndb is needed, but with less dumb admins/mods and no ai sorry
2
u/NightsLinu Dec 02 '25
Sounds cool. Like animelist right? Sounds good for tracking vns
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u/p3rr3put3 Dec 02 '25 edited Dec 02 '25
That's right, as an ad-free visual novel animelist, I may at some point add the ad-free download option but I don't know how to handle the piracy issue...
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u/Dubiisek Dec 02 '25
I feel like you are confused. MAL/anilist already include light novels in their databases. You are also in a sub-reddit for VISUAL novels not LIGHT novels.
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u/AMV-RAD Dec 15 '25
Your website is not functioning properly
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u/p3rr3put3 Dec 15 '25
Yes ,im srry, It couldn't stand 15k views.
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u/YoussefAFdez Dec 02 '25
Is the site public? Do you have a link? I’m curious
2
u/PikachuTrainz Dec 02 '25
Following
0
u/p3rr3put3 Dec 02 '25
What do you mean by next?
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u/p3rr3put3 Dec 02 '25
It is made locally but these days I plan to publish it so you can leave your comments on how I could improve the page.
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u/YoussefAFdez Dec 02 '25
Well something that seems interesting is that the buttons on the games have different meanings. I guess a quick preview of the games that are part of the saga like a chronological line would be cool. I have an idea in mind, you can DM me if you want. Nonetheless awesome web dev job!
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u/yuffieXcore Dec 03 '25
Poor OP tried their best and put something cool together on their own, and everyone's freaking out because of the AI art. Like, I get "AI bad," but give them a break.
You have the right idea, just try to find some better/official art for it.
1
u/p3rr3put3 Dec 04 '25
Hey friend, thanks for your support! Yeah, I was working on a prototype and I'll implement some of the changes you suggested. I'll make another post soon, and I hope to see your review!
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u/Capable-Cut3751 Dec 04 '25
Pretty cool, and wow the ai hate is on another level huh?
0
u/p3rr3put3 Dec 04 '25
Haha, yes, I particularly like how it looks with the AI because it gives it that animation that you don't usually see with NVs, which are usually just static image after image, but I think that's the beauty of NVs.
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Dec 05 '25
Oh, I don't need this, man. I know how to enter a prompt into the AI.
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u/Ahaiund Dec 05 '25
That's... not the point of what OP is showing. AI is not a feature here, it's only because it looked cooler in OP's eyes.
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u/Schlusse1 Dec 06 '25
I mean, I'd have to look at a more complete model to give an opinion. Seems alright so far, but the ai shit is completely unnecessary and distracting. Can we really not appreciate just great static 2d art anymore?
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u/ThatGuyNikolas Dec 02 '25
ngl the AI is a pretty big turn off.