Leaf is a Japanese

visual novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

studio under the publisher Aquaplus, and has offices in Yodogawa-ku, Osaka, and Tokyo. It and its competitor Key (to which it is often compared) are two of the most popular and successful dedicated visual novel studios operating today. It was launched out of obscurity by its early release '' To Heart''. Leaf used the XviD

video codec A video codec is software or Computer hardware, hardware that data compression, compresses and Uncompressed video, decompresses digital video. In the context of video compression, ''codec'' is a portmanteau of ''encoder'' and ''decoder'', while ...

in several games: '' Aruru to Asobo!!'', '' Tears to Tiara'', '' Kusari'', and '' ToHeart2 X Rated''. Since XviD is

free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

, released under the GPL, Leaf was obligated to release the

source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...

to those games under the same license. One still requires the game data to actually play the games with the source code. In addition, a free software

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...

, named xlvns, was developed soon after Leaf released its first three visual novels. Characters from ''

Utawarerumono ''Utawarerumono'' is a Japanese Tactical role-playing game, tactical role-playing visual novel developed by Leaf (company), Leaf, which released in April 2002 for Microsoft Windows as an Eroge, adult game. It was later Porting, po ...

'', ''Tears to Tiara'', ''To Heart'', and '' Kizuato'' are playable in '' Aquapazza: Aquaplus Dream Match'', a fighting game developed by Aquaplus featuring characters from various Leaf games.

Titles

*'' DR2 Night Janki'' (1995) *'' Filsnown'' (1995) *Leaf

Visual Novel A visual novel (VN) is a form of digital interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustratio ...

Series (LVNS) **'' Shizuku'' (1996) **'' Kizuato'' (1996) **'' To Heart'' (1997) **'' Routes'' (2003) *'' White Album'' (1998) *'' Comic Party'' (1999) *'' Magical Antique'' (2000) *''Tasogare'' (2001) *''Abyss Boat'' (2002) *''

'' (2002) *'' December When There Is No Angel'' (2003) *'' Tears to Tiara'' (2005) *'' Kusari'' (2005) *'' To Heart 2 XRATED'' (2005) *'' FullAni'' (2006) *'' To Heart 2: Another Days'' (2008) *'' Kimi ga Yobu, Megido no Oka de'' (2008) *'' White Album 2: Introductory Chapter'' (2010) *'' Hoshi no Ouji-kun'' (2011) *'' White Album 2: Closing Chapter'' (2011) *'' Tears to Tiara II: Haou no Matsuei'' (2013) *'' Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen'' (2015)

Leaf amusement softs

*'' Saorin to Issho!!'' (1996) *'' Hatsune no Naisho!!'' (1997) *'' Inagawa de Ikou!!'' (2000) *'' Aruru to Asobo!!'' (2004) *'' Manaka de Ikuno!!'' (2009)

References

External links

Leaf's official website

P/ECE's official Website
{{Authority control Entertainment companies established in 1995 Mass media companies established in 1995 Japanese companies established in 1995 Hentai companies Companies based in Osaka Mass media in Osaka