Japanese developers avoid black loading screens for a genius reason 

You’re in the middle of romancing your 2D sweetheart, fully immersed into the role of the desirable and charming protagonist. But suddenly, the scene ends, and a black loading screen causes the display of your handheld to fully reflect your face. The fantasy is shattered by your own double chin and blank gaze.  

Surely many a gamer has experienced this phenomenon, which is arguably not limited to the romance sim genre, but Japanese otome game developers have been taking measures against this for years – by using white, gray and textured loading screens in their games. The topic was recently reignited on X thanks to a humorous illustration by a Japanese artist. 

Being romantic simulators targeted at female audiences, otome games are all about maximizing user immersion and making the player project onto the heroine as much as possible. Perhaps this is why the people making them were among the first to consciously tackle the issue of LCD displays reflecting the player’s face when the screen goes dark. Stories of there being an “unwritten rule” against using pure black loading/transition screens have been circulating among developers ever since the PSP-era of otome games.  

Loading screens of the first and second installments of La storia della Arcana Famiglia. The design was changed from pure black to a textured grey in response to complaints from users.

Of course, this does not apply to all otome games, especially as loading times themselves have become less frequent in romance simulators over the years. However, there are still some otome games and other female-oriented games being released that seem to be avoiding a pure black loading screen, such as Hypnosis Mic, The Idolmaster: SideM and Love and Deepspace. 

In response to a recent viral tweet explaining this UX solution, users have expressed their awe over the level of consideration shown by otome game developers. And while most people aren’t happy with having their eyes fried by pure white loading screens, it seems there’s demand for games of other genres and even webcomic apps to adopt similar anti-reflective measures. Although, the implication that most people are disturbed by seeing their own face while gaming is kind of sad.