The Site
The simple truth is that while in theory a website with 30+ unique pages is a great idea, in practice if you're just one guy even multiple copies can run you down eventually. That isn't to say anything of Weebly though. I have tried Wordpress and Blogspot before and was never impressed with them...which may have fed into my blog hatred. Weebly has been a good server to me and I'm glad I am able to make such radical changes without bringing down the entire server (coughwebscough).
So while the basic navigation bar is still the same, all features, reviews and interviews have been merged into one blog. I'll be tweaking things moving forward but at least right now it has proven to be more effective in doing updates and just keeping track of the main pieces of the site. the only real downside I can see is that it isn't a limit to how many post you can see before going to another summary page, but comparing that to a site-wide collapse is like comparing night and day. But I am sensitive to the thoughts of everyone who may have preferred the old way so comment below if you'd like to revert back. I've put all of the old pages into an archive so if most people prefer that way I can just take a few hours and make the situation.
However, just having one blog is good for me right now so just know you may be up against a majority of one. The Fiction section and Media section will remain their own thing and I'll get into why a bit later, but on a administrative front I think it all works out. It also helps me with a small initiative I'll be nudging along this year that really got its genesis with my review of Bionic Heart 2. For the record guys...if you produce English Visual Novels, especially commercial EVNs, I follow you on Twitter. You're not subtle enough for me to not know when you're talking about me. May I suggest Skype? Or e-mail? I mean, if you really don't want me to see it that is.
More importantly than that, those complaints about the review did about jack squat in terms of context. What WOULD have made a massive difference if is someone sent me an e-mail with a detailed opinion on why they think I'm wrong. I would've gladly posted the rebuttal because I love that kind of stuff. I want the reviews to be open to discussion and discourse and if I thought everyone would read this site and agree with me, it would have a completely different feel than what it already does.
But that means not only having reliable people involved with the site that you know can write a cohesive review or an opinion to a review, it also means fundamentally changing just how reviews work around here. While I, like many of you, am not the biggest fan of numbered scores for games at the end of the day that's how the world works. Having more reviewers on one site leads to the inevitable multiple reviews of one game: especially the larger, commercial ones hat could potentially see three or more. I will have to take plenty of time to develop a few standards for contributors as well as how the scoring system would evolve from there.
This is, of course, a long term site goal but for those that ARE interested in contributing reviews in the near future, that's why e-mail exists! Write a review or a challenge to a recent review I've done and send it over to [email protected]. Who knows? This may be the start of a beautiful friendship!
Other than that the only real site development that needs to be reported is that I am starting to create profiles on different gaming sites where this is an EVN presence. I won't be everywhere because I stretch myself pretty far already considering. But if I think I can be somewhere and bring a different perspective to the conversation or give some information to someone who is interested in an EVN. So right now that's Desura/IndieDB and it'll expand when and where I see fit. I've been told making a Wikipedia is a sign of vanity...I'll refrain from it, I promise!
Digital Media
As I have said multiple times, VNs Now! is about recognizing everyone involved in making an EVN and that list does include the people who spend weeks and months at a time giving a project its own unique sound. This one is going to take time simply because while it is an area that is growing, it isn't growing fast enough for me to take a potential library of EVN original music and use it for anything just yet like a streaming network or something of that nature. But it is my hope that commercial EVN providers will continue to invest in original music while I plot on different ways to spread the word.
And I now I keep saying this but yes, VNs Now! TV will return. My biggest problem with the first few episodes is actually pretty straight forward: I was in front of the camera too much. With someone like Linkara or the NC that's fine because most people who are tuning into their shows are watching for their reaction to the subject, not the subject itself. With the General Assembly session biting into my time I didn't have the energy to plan for a redo. However, as the Thank You video shows, the Blip site is still active which means I'm planning on using it.
The only question is how.
My basic plan right now is to keep reviews here and just begin to move features and VN previews, such as playing through demos, over to the TV end. It isn't a perfect plan but it will begin to give people who never heard of English Visual Novels before a chance to sample everything without diving in head first. I'll also be looking into other things I can invest in video wise that can entertaining. I won't get into that just yet because that's still way, WAAAY off but just know that I'm putting my money where my mouth is on a lot of things that have yet to be seen.
Wait. I'm still talking about media? Because there is one more area I'll be looking into within the coming year: an Android app. Right now, I'm not producing anything worth being on an app for but with the growth of the podcast and the changes to how we present media here I am confident that I will have something app worthy sooner rather than later. Now why am I saying this in this forum? Well, if an EVN site manages to get an app onto a system like, say, Ouya, promoting said EVNs yet there are not EVNs available on said system, said app would be rather worthless, wouldn't it?
Fiction
If it is successful, I may do other stories like this. I doubt I'll ever do a permanent series to go with the site, but maybe something like a Christmas story, third year anniversary; things like that. It is probably one of the only things I will never be able to tie into the larger EVN community, but hopefully it'll be fun and it'll be an interesting ride for twenty-six chapters or so.
So that is where everything stands right now. So far the year has been very interesting and I can't wait to see where everything will be this time next year. Until then!