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(03/21/16 8:37pm)
In honor of Women’s History Month, Byte is doing a month long Byteing Question about the most iconic female characters and why they matter. Every weekend, two writers will look at two characters that are important to them in many different ways. Today, we look at Undyne.
(03/19/16 3:40am)
In honor of Women’s History Month, Byte is doing a month long Byteing Question about the most iconic female characters and why they matter. Every day two writers will look at two characters that are important to them in many different ways. Today, we look at Ellie and Ryuko Matoi
(03/17/16 9:30pm)
On a very special Women's History Month episode of the Mash, the women of BYTE convene to talk about their favorite female characters in nerd media! Check it out!
(03/17/16 8:56pm)
After last time’s severely disappointing game, I was feeling burnt out on otome games. It was like my dreams were crushed, something that I was so excited for turned out to be the most disappointing thing ever.
(02/22/16 9:55pm)
This week the Ed Board sits down and talks about some of their favorite memories of Pokemon in celebration of it's 20 year anniversary! They talk their favorite games, spin-offs, and movies! Check it out!
(02/22/16 9:35pm)
@Smalls2233
(02/18/16 10:28pm)
In a world dominated by terrible free otome games, one not so awful game will come and save the world. That world is the mobile market and that game is Niflheim+. This is a game that has its problems, a lot of problems, but that’s more than expected when it comes to any free-to-play game on the mobile app market these days. Despite its problems it still is a pretty fun experience that I thoroughly enjoyed -- when I wasn’t wanting to throw my phone at the wall because of how hard they made it to not put any money into the game.
(02/11/16 9:43pm)
Some games in this series are large in scale, others are pretty small, Re:Alistair is one of the smaller ones. Sadly, this means that the length of these articles are going to vary pretty heavily. Re:Alistair is a free otome game made with Ren’py by Sakevisual, an indie group. This is definitely one of the shortest games I’ll be playing for this, but it’s also probably one of the best. Despite its length, Re: Alistair++ is a really solid game that tells an engaging story that surprised me in the end.
(02/04/16 11:50pm)
@Smalls2233
(01/28/16 9:37pm)
@Smalls2233
(01/27/16 12:00pm)
by Meghan Duffy
@Smalls2233
Welcome to wild, wild world of otome games. It’s a world overpopulated with a large disparity between the good and the bad. Anybody can make them and put them out there easily thanks to the Internet and programs like Ren’py. This leads to some great games, some bad games, some weird games, and some games twelve-year-olds made.
I’m going to be playing all of them. Well, not all of them. I’ll be playing one a week for the rest of the school year and you’ll see me right here every week with something to say about each of them. Of course though, this week’s not about any game. This week I’m gonna tell you, dear reader, what an otome game is.
What are otome games?
Let me take about fifteen steps back and explain about what otome games even are and why they’re the most terrible, beautiful things out there. An otome game is like a subset of a subset of visual novels. There’s a couple of main types of visual novels, there are some that are there just to tell a story with limited choices, some gameplay elements like the Danganronpa series, then there’s the dating sims.
Dating sims can be broken down into a few different groups, there are the eroges which are more adult with varying levels of story. There are the ones geared towards men, be it straight with a male protagonist, or Girl’s Love, though some of the GL games may cater towards women but the vast majority are there for men.
Then there are otome games. They are usually centered around a female protagonist getting seduced, or seducing, a harem of men, or the Boy’s Love (or BL) route, where you’re a male protagonist getting seduced by or seducing a harem of men.
Some would argue that BL and GL deserve their own categories, however, for the purpose of this series I’m categorizing BL as otome and GL’s gonna stick with the male side, though if there’s a GL game that is clearly for women it may be done. I may even do some game that aren’t otome games but still fall under a dating sim if the game makes me laugh.
Types of Characters
What’s the most important element for a dating sim? What’s that? Did you say the background art? Well you’re right… I’m joking mostly. The most important part is the cast of datable men (or women). How can you date anybody without a cast of dateable men, unless you want to date that chair that’s in the background.
I mean go for it, I’ll just judge you. There are a large number of character archetypes that you’ll find, a great list to break them down for you can be found here but for now I’ll break down some of the most common character archetypes.
Childhood Best Friend Type
The person who’s always been there for you. You’ve known them your entire life and no matter what they’ve got your back. At some point in time you’ve gained feelings for each other but are too shy to admit it.
Example: Koujaku (DRAMAtical Murder)
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="266"] Photo Credit: DRAMAtical Murder[/caption]
Loner Type
Aloof and isolated by their own making, loner types are popular choices when making characters in otome games. They’re usually men of few words but have a tender heart when the player gets to know them.
Example: Subaru Sakamaki (Diabolik Lovers)
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Photo Credit: Diabolik Lovers[/caption]
Megane (Glasses) and Prince Types
The Megane and Prince types are cherished character archetypes in the otome genre. Egotistical and geniuses, the Megane and Prince types can and are frequently merged.
Example: Sakuya Le Bel Shirogane (Hatoful Boyfriend)
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="312"] Photo Credit: Hatoful Boyfriend [/caption]
Womanizer Type
Ah the womanizer. He goes after anything with a heartbeat. The main goal that comes with this character tends to be to bring him down to monogamy.
Example: Urie Sogami (Dance with Devils)
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="242"] Photo Credit: Dance With Devils[/caption]
Something-dere Type
Tsunderes, yanderes, you name it they’re all classic tropes. Every otome game has at least one of them.
Example: Takeru Totsuka (Kamigami no Asobi)
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Photo Credit: Takeru Totsuka[/caption]
What to expect & the end goal
So what can you expect from this? Starting next week I’ll have a fresh new article up about an otome game that you can read and maybe even play along to every week. Some of these games will be good, some will be bad, and these games will be just plain weird. I’m going to chronicle my experiences with each of the games, who I’ve chosen to romance, and what I’ve learned from each game.
In the end of this series I hope to pull together all I’ve learned and create my very own otome game. It’ll be free and up for download for all Byte readers.
Next week will be…
The one and only game where you get to go to bird school which is for birds and date some handsome pigeons. Maybe get murdered too if you play your cards right.
(12/24/15 1:00pm)
by Byte's Editorial Staff
It's the end of 2015, which means it's time to select the best games of the year. To celebrate, members of Byte's editorial board picked their favorite games to highlight. The games below are the favorites of Meghan Duffy (@Smalls2233), Byte's Creative Director.
3. Spooky's House of Jump Scares
“Can you, humble player, make it through a thousand rooms?”
For the most part, jump scares are cheap, lazy ways to scare players or viewers used by lazy developers. However Spooky’s House of Jump Scares turns that upside down. Far from the scariest game of the year, this free to play indie game is filled with charm and interesting character designs. Each area that you traverse has a different theme inspired by a different horror genre or idea. From spooky deer guys, to a weeping angel crossed with the Happy Mask Salesman, to the traditional evil Japanese girl ghost, trying to find out the origin of the design is good fun.
I’m a big horror fan and usually the words “indie” “jump scare” and “horror” all merged together to describe something tends to set off my “this is going to be terrible, Meghan, don’t subject yourself to this torture” radar. However I’m glad I ignored that and set off on this weird, wild chase to leave this maze of rooms. My only complaint is the rooms become monotonous after about one hundred of them. This could be used to set the tone of the game, to spook you when you come across something that’s not the norm or just because it’s a free game made by one or two guys, so it’s hard to complain too much.
2. Splatoon
"Woomy!"
Are we kids? Or are we squids? My sign is vital, my hands are… well they’re covered in ink. I’m on my knees looking for an answer, why is this game so dang addicting?
For the most part, shooter games don’t interest me. I’m not a fan of the normal shooters and whatever those darn kids are playing these days, but Splatoon has that Nintendo charm that makes me never want to put it down.
The brightly colored presentation and cute, stylized Inklings are such a breath of fresh air to the shooter genre that seems bogged down in browns and attempts at hyperrealism. Of course, that has changed a bit with games like Sunset Overdrive and Borderlands, but the vast majority of games still remain at that boring stage of trying too hard to be realistic. Splatoon is good, clean fun that anybody can pick up and learn how to play in a couple of hours.
1. Undertale
"Don't you have anything better to do?"
Very few games put me through the vast range of emotions that Undertale did. It has brilliant characters, incredible music, and gameplay that, for the first time in a turn-based RPG, kept me interested and invested. I’ve been into Undertale since the demo was released way back in 2013 and Toby Fox has been on my radar way before that, but not as a game developer, as the guy who did a ton of rad music for Homestuck.
I don’t think I could say any bad things about Undertale, to be quite honest. Everything about it is made with love and it’s obvious to tell how much care went into it. The world is vibrant and awesome and I never felt bored once while playing it. Frustrated and wanting to smash my head into the wall while battling the Mad Dummy? Oh you can bet that I was madder than the Dummy, but I was never bored.
(09/24/15 2:40pm)
@smalls2233Retro-inspired indie games on Steam are about a dime a dozen, but every now and then there’s a game that sticks out and makes wading through all of those retro-inspired games worth it. In this case, it’s Undertale, a game by Toby Fox. Initially, a demo was released in 2013 that garnered attention and led to a Kickstarter page that gained $51,124, about $46,124 above its $5,000 goal.
(11/04/14 3:01am)
In Sunset Overdrive, there is a segment where you grind on the back of a dragon, grab a lightning bolt-shaped piece of the HUD, and stab the dragon in the brain with it.