Release calendar

Sources#

• Desktop appAvailable in 0.2.8
• WebsiteAvailable

The desktop calendar combines these sources, joined only when they carry the same catalogue ID, never by similar titles:

• VNDB release records, the baseline for release dates;
• the NextMoe catalogue calendar, fetched through the GalShelf service;
• the dates recorded on your shelf, shown as 书架记录 / Your record and used as the baseline only when VNDB has no date;
• new works from companies you follow on VNDB.

A scope selector chooses what is shown: 我的范围 / My scope (default), 书架 / Shelf, 关注的会社 / Followed companies or 全部 VNDB 发行 / All VNDB releases; the classic calendar also offers NextMoe. 重新读取 / Reload fetches the sources again. When a source can't be reached, the calendar keeps the last good result and says 显示上次成功读取 / Showing the last good read.

Which releases are listed#

• Desktop appAvailable in 0.2.8
• WebsiteAvailable
• On the website this is the All Japanese releases (VNDB) scope; the My shelf scope shows the dates you recorded.

The calendar lists only game releases of Japanese original works whose own release record, the one that carries the date, lists Japanese text. A Japanese entry that VNDB marks as machine translation doesn't count. Patches and add-ons (VNDB records DLC as patches), trial versions, packs or compilations that are none of their works' first release, unofficial or fan releases and products that aren't games are left out. Nothing is guessed from titles, stores or brands: a release whose original language, text language or kind can't be verified is not listed.

• 筛选说明 / Filter report lists the release records of the month that were left out, with the reason for each (for example 不是日本原作 / not a Japanese original or 这个版本没有日语文本 / no Japanese text in this release).
• A work whose genre VNDB's tags can't decide yet stays listed, marked 类型未核实 / Genre not verified.
• A work on your shelf whose release doesn't pass appears only in its own lane, 书架上的作品 · 不在日语发售筛选内 / On your shelf · outside the Japanese-release filter, never on a day and never in the counts. Your shelf record is not changed.
• Steam and HIKARI FIELD editions get a source badge only when a VNDB release record proves them (the release's own Steam link, or HIKARI FIELD as its publisher). The date shown is that record's VNDB date, and a later store edition never replaces the original release date. A store edition without Japanese text is mentioned only in the filter report.

Desktop versions up to 0.2.6 have no such filter: they list every VNDB release in the chosen scope, including releases of works that aren't Japanese originals, and show patches and trials as their own kinds.

How VNDB and NextMoe are weighed#

• Desktop appAvailable in 0.2.8
• WebsiteNot applicable

When NextMoe gives a specific day inside a month VNDB lists, that day is shown as a more specific date which VNDB has not confirmed. Releases are compared by kind, date, platforms and languages, so two different editions released on different days can both be correct. A postponement is marked 已延期 / Postponed with its earlier dates, and a release VNDB removed is marked VNDB 已不再列出 / No longer listed on VNDB.

In 0.2.5 a work whose sources disagreed appeared on each source's day with a 日期有出入 badge; the policy above replaces that.

Announcements are not confirmed dates#

A date that only NextMoe gives is an announcement from that source and may move. It is labelled 未确认 / Unconfirmed; a day-precise announcement gets a hollow day marker and is listed under 未确认公告（仅 NextMoe） / Unconfirmed announcements (NextMoe only). With the Japanese-release filter, such an announcement is listed only when NextMoe gives the work's original language as Japanese and doesn't describe it as something other than a game; it is marked 无发行记录，语言未核实 / No release record; language not verified. The time a resource or patch was uploaded to NextMoe is never treated as the game's release date.

Kinds of release#

The calendar keeps different kinds of release apart: first release (首发), new edition (新版本), port (移植), re-release (再发售) and announcement (公告). A re-release doesn't look like a new work. Patches and trials are left out by the Japanese-release filter; desktop versions up to 0.2.6 show them as patch (补丁) and trial (体验版).

Partial and unknown dates#

• Desktop appAvailable in 0.2.8
• WebsiteAvailable

• Only dates known to the day are placed on a day.
• Releases dated only to the month are listed under 日期未公布 / day unannounced for that month (on the website: Day not announced yet). They are never placed on a day.
• Dates known only to the year, a quarter or a season, and dates to be announced, belong to no month: they appear in no month's list. The filter report counts them.
• A postponed release still appears, marked 已延期 / Postponed, in the month it left.
• NextMoe announcements with a month but no day appear in the announcements list; NextMoe items without a day or month are left out.
• A partial date is never turned into the first of the month or into today. When you add a work to your shelf, its date keeps its original precision.

Desktop versions up to 0.2.6 list month-only dates under 只登记到月 / Month only, and year-only or to-be-announced dates under 只登记到年或日期未定 / Year only or undated in every month of that year.

Saved months#

• Desktop appAvailable in 0.2.8
• WebsiteAvailable
• The desktop app saves months in its data folder; the website saves only public-scope months, in your browser.

The desktop app saves every month you open on this computer, in its data folder (cache/release-months.sqlite3). After closing the app, or while offline, you can still browse those months; the calendar says where the data came from (来自本机缓存 / from this device's cache) and when it was read.

• A saved month older than 24 hours is shown at once and updated in the background.
• The current month and the future months you opened are kept until the end of that month. Past months are kept as history and are the first to go when space is needed.
• 重新读取 / Reload reads the month again, ignoring the saved copy; if that fails, the last good result stays. A failed or incomplete read never replaces a good saved month.
• 清除缓存 / Clear cache removes all saved months. Your shelf, subscriptions and the history of date changes are not affected.
• Only public release data is saved: no shelf titles, notes or subscriptions. A damaged cache file is moved aside and rebuilt; when the disk is full, the saved months are kept and the calendar says the new month wasn't saved.

Desktop versions up to 0.2.6 keep read months only in memory, until the app closes.

Character birthdays#

• Desktop appAvailable in 0.2.8
• WebsiteAvailable
• No galbd link needed. With galbd linked, the desktop app also shows the current QQ group's birthday pushes.

Character birthdays are no longer part of the release calendar. They have their own page, 角色与生日 / Characters & birthdays: on the desktop under Discover, on the website as a tab of your shelf (see The website shelf). It doesn't need galbd: it shows the birthdays of characters from the works on your shelf that have a VNDB ID (today, the next 30 days and the whole month), and you can find characters by name or VNDB ID and open their portrait and works. Birthdays and portraits come from VNDB; an unknown birthday stays unknown, and a 29 February birthday is shown on 28 February in common years, with a note. On the desktop, linking galbd additionally shows the current QQ group's birthday pushes.

In desktop versions up to 0.2.6, the calendar has a 角色生日 / Character birthdays layer and Characters & birthdays needs a galbd link.

Subscriptions#

• Desktop appAvailable in 0.2.8
• WebsiteNot available yet

Subscriptions replaced the old wish list (old wish-list entries were converted once). Open a work in the calendar (Discover → Release calendar) to follow its game resources and patches, add it to your shelf or view its VNDB details; following and adding to your shelf are independent. To follow game resources or patches separately, adjust it under Resources on the work page.

The first check only records the current state. After that you get one notification each time something becomes available. Each source is checked at most every 6 hours (failures back off from 15 minutes up to 6 hours), by a background check the desktop app runs every 30 minutes. Nothing is ever downloaded automatically. Patches come from NextMoe and KUN Galgame (鲲 Galgame), game resources from KUN Galgame.

The gold mark#

New works from companies already on your shelf get a gold mark. The first matching rule wins: the same VNDB producer, then a brand relation (same brand, sister, parent or sub-brand, merged brand or family), then the same developer name. Publishers are ignored. Hover over the mark to see the reason.

On the website#

• Desktop appNot applicable
• WebsiteAvailable

The website's Release calendar tab has two scopes:

• 我的书架 / My shelf: the works on your shelf by the release date recorded on them. A day goes on its day, a month-only date goes under 日期未公布 / Day not announced yet, and year-only or unknown dates belong to no month (they are only counted). These are your shelf records, not verified release records.
• 全部日文发行（VNDB） / All Japanese releases (VNDB): VNDB release records with the same Japanese-release filter as the desktop calendar, with VNDB, Steam and HIKARI FIELD source badges, an 在书架上 / On your shelf mark and a 筛选说明 / About the filter list of what was left out.

Months of the public scope are saved in your browser; your shelf never is. The website has no NextMoe announcements, followed companies, subscriptions, gold marks or birthdays in its calendar. See The website shelf.