Quick post to let you know I've released episode five of my episodic slice of life BL visual novel, Unluckily in Love: Fragments in Love on Steam here and Itchio here!
It's cute wholesome BL with a crossdressing maid boy and light master/servant roleplay what's not to like???
Dark Nights - Reflections is available on Itch & Steam! Thank you for being so patient and enjoy the contents. Early supporter keys have been mailed. If you experience any issues, feel free to contact: [email protected]
Download on itch | Download on Steam
Dark Nights - Reflections features:
- Revamped art & GUI
- 2 routes - 12 endings, 6 per storyline
- 10h+ 70k - 85k words per storyline. Total 178,988 words
I don’t think I have actually sat down and allowed myself to play a visual novel in quite some time… tbh I think it’s been roughly an entire year since I have. 💀💀 I think since I was struggling so much with Jack Frost I felt like I was taking time away from its development if I allowed myself to even enjoy spending my free time doing anything else— which is like super unhealthy. But I have now learned that not allowing myself to indulge in playing VNs or even other hobbies like reading has really hurt my motivation and even my creativity. A friend of mine told me that art cannot be created in a vacuum, I need to allow myself to enjoy other creative works- especially if I want my own projects to grow and prosper.
Soooooo that being said- if there are any visual novels you guys have enjoyed and would recommend that I play- please let me know :3 I like a wide range of stories so any suggestion will do!
I do want to replay some visual novels that I haven’t played in a LONG time- mainly replay Binary Star Hero (because it’s a fire game frfr) and jump back on the 14 Days With You train.
"I want to make a visual novel but don't know how"
visual novels are one of the most diverse and varied mediums out there and can be so much fun to make. if you've ever wanted to make one, it's pretty easy to get started!!
Overall Guide
this is a lengthy guide I made going over different parts of visual novels and how people make them! now let's go over some parts~
A quick overview on how to make visual novels including terms, engines, communities and more. You can get started making your own visual nov
What Are Visual Novels?
Visual novels are a medium of video games focused on storytelling through the use of static or low-gameplay mechanics. Most can be considered a subsection of interactive fiction. A lot of visual novels have no gameplay or minigames, but some do feature light gameplay. The important aspect is that the gameplay in visual novels is never the focus, and instead the game focuses on a story delivered through dialogue & narration in textboxes on the screen.
Some visual novels are romance, some are fantasy, some are mystery, some are NSFW, some are cutesy, some are kiddie. Visual novels come in all shapes and sizes.
Visual Novel Misconceptions
Visual novels have been around for several decades now, but parts of them are still misunderstood by wider audiences. Here’s some frequent misconceptions about visual novels.
"Every visual novel has sexual content."
Visual novels come in all shapes and sizes, which includes content. Not every visual novel has sexual content, nor is it required to sell well. Visual novels are a medium for storytelling rather than a genre, so they can be anything you want them to be.
"Every visual novel is a dating sim."
Similar to the last one, some people think every visual novel is a romance game or a dating sim. Not every visual novel has romance in it, nor is it required to sell well.
"Every visual novel has choices and multiple endings."
Some of the most popular visual novels out there like Umineko When they Cry don’t have choices. Choices and multiple endings aren’t required to make a visual novel—completely linear experiences are fine.
"Visual novels need to be long."
Some of the top visual novels on itch.io right now are under 25k words, which puts them under 2 hours of playtime. Visual novels don’t have to be a certain length—they can be as long or as short as the story needs them to be. There’s even an annual visual novel jam, O2A2, that focuses on making a visual novel under 1k words with limited assets.
"Visual novels don’t sell well."
This is very much your mileage may vary. Some visual novels sell very, very well, such as how the recent Our Life: Now and Forever Kickstarter gained almost $300k. Marketing is an entire field just like art and writing and isn’t something you can skimp on or push to the end.
"Visual novel players hate reading."
A vast, vast majority of visual novel readers want a visual novel—they want a game that is light on gameplay and heavy on reading. You don’t have to add gameplay to a visual novel to keep people interested. Rather, minigames added at random can deter players. Visual novel players want an engaging story—if you’re worried of losing their attention, then focus on a tighter script or cinematography.
"Visual novels need to be anime style."
Visual novels originated in Japan and most do have an anime style, but visual novels do not need an anime style to sell well. The art style for a game will change the audience for the game—players who want something anime style probably won’t be interested in a semi-realistic style, but other people will be. It’s all about finding the right style for your story and finding the audience who responds well to it.
Visual Novel Terms
Here’s a list of terms you might encounter in visual novel and game dev communities.
EVN / OELVN – stands for English Visual Novel and Original English Language Visual Novel. Two terms used for describing Western VNs that are made in English, although EVN is used more frequently nowadays. An EVN/OELVN is specifically a visual novel made in English first, not a visual novel that has an English translation (and was made in a different language first). There are several variations of this, such as JVN meaning Japanese Visual Novel and RVN meaning Russian Visual Novel.
Kinetic novel – a visual novel that’s linear with few or no choices. Has only one ending. Also called a linear visual novel, linear game, etc.
Game jams – an event where developers have a set amount of time to make a game, ranging from a weekend to several months. Some jams have themes that the games must follow as well as other restrictions while others are more freeform. Nowadays, most jams are hosted on itchio. You can find a list of visual novel game jams here.
Game engine – a piece of software used for developing video games. The most popular ones for making indie VNs in English-speaking areas are Ren’Py and Unity, though Tyranobuilder is very popular in Japan for indies.
Text/code editor – when programming, you’ll need another piece of software to edit and write code that works with the game engine. Some popular text editors are Visual Studio Code, Sublime, Atom, Notepad, and more.
Character sprite – the individual character art that changes expressions and can move around the screen. Can include multiple outfits, pose changes, and more.
CGs – although it typically stands for Computer Generated, CGs in visual novels typically means the cut scene art where no sprites are shown (unless there's a side sprite on the textbox). CGs are usually reserved for special scenes and are the type of artwork you’d see in a CG Gallery or as promotional artwork.
UI / GUI – the User Interface / Graphical User Interface. This is what the player interacts with such as the textbox, main menu, save / load screen, settings, and more.
ADV mode – the standard reading mode for visual novels, short for Adventure mode. The textbox is located at the bottom of the screen. Popular examples of this are Steins;Gate, AI: The Somnium Files, and Amnesia.
NVL mode – a different reading mode for visual novels, short for Novel mode. The textbox covers most of the screen. Popular examples of this are Fate/stay night, Tsukihime, and Umineko When they Cry.
Dating simulator – dating sims are some of the oldest forms of visual novels and are essentially stat raisers where you spend time with various characters with the goal being to romance them by getting your stats high enough. In Western spheres dating sim has become synonymous with a romance game, where stat raising is not involved, but it’s important to note that dating sims refer to stat raisers a lot of the time. Unlike otome, a dating sim doesn’t refer to a specific sexual orientation.
Otome / Otoge – roughly translates to “maiden’s love” and is used to describe games with a female demographic, usually dating sims & romance games which feature male love interests and a female protagonist. Some otome games feature female and other gendered LIs, but male LIs are still the primary focus.
Eroge – an erotic game. If a game has sexual content in it, it’s an eroge. The original Fate/stay night (not the remastered version on Steam) is a popular example of an eroge.
Resources
And now, let's look at some tools and links for actually making visual novels.
Engines & Programming
Ren’Py – free visual novel engine
Twine – free text-based game engine (usually used for interactive fiction)
Feniks Ren’Py resources – various add-ons and tutorials by Feniks
Game Jam & Short Dev Advice
Game Jam Survival Guide - Essential Tips and Tricks
Releasing 8+ games (ft. game jams) and when to take a break
making game development backup plans
Advice for Leading VN Game Jam Teams
How to Make a Visual Novel Solo
How to Finish Your Visual Novel
Design
How to Make Visual Novels
Visual Novel Conference Talks
Visual Novel Cinematography & Design
Art Direction & Execution in Visual Novels
Making Impactful, Impressive Character Sprites
Post-production Techniques for VNs
Vimi’s Visual Novel Design
Writing
Writing Interactive – guides for narrative games writers
Visual Novel Conference Talks
Writing Mystery Visual Novels
How to Design Interesting Choices in VNs
The Intrigue of Ambiguity
Artwork
Clip Studio Paint
Krita
FireAlpaca
Medibang
GIMP
FastStone Photo Resizer – batch photo resizer and editor
FotoSketcher – various settings to apply artistic filters to photos
Marketing
How to Market Visual Novels
Marketing Visual Novels FAQ
Marketing Fundamentals for Indie Game Developers
Marketing your first indie game – What we learned from releasing the same game twice
The stairstep approach to indie game marketing
Marketing your Visual Novel for Kickstarter
Visual Novel Press-Kits
Audio
Eric Matyas music & SFX
Vita-chi SFX & graphics
Free Music Archive
Free Sound
dova-syndrome
Misc.
Lemmasoft Creative Commons Forum
itch.io visual novel resources
Google Fonts – free fonts
Uncle Mugen backgrounds
Canva – browser & desktop graphic design tool
Unsplash – free photos
Wrapping Up
all in all, visual novels are a fun medium to explore and play around with. if you want to make something short as a test run, try joining a game jam! if you want to see how varied visual novels can be, try playing some indies from itchio! at the end of the day there's no bad way to start making your own visual novel. hit the ground running and go for it!!
I've been developing visual novels for over 10 years now, blogging about them on my own blog and releasing visual novels through my studio Crystal Game Works. I hope this guide helped shed light on how to get into the medium!
Say hello to BEE’s redesign. The OLDEST existing character in the Jack Frost Universe, they were originally created about a year before I started on JF for an entirely different project which I scrapped (fun fact it was a horror yuri visual novel- I fumbled so hard scrapping that lol). They are canonically the player character’s friend from middle school. Bee has quite the extroverted yet down-to-earth personality.
I love them so much- I have changed their design quite a bit. I will admit, I may recolor this another time as their skin tone is a little too desaturated (which is ironic since their initial skin tone was oversaturated imo)- but I am happy with this!
It is a future plan of mine to give Bee their own story taking place in the city they grew up in AFTER the completion of Jack Frost.
Let me know if you have any questions regarding them heheh :)
Today I'm Gonna Play: LuGames: Lunchtime Games Club
I've been feeling like playing something short and light, and thought Visual Novels might be a decent choice to do just that.
LuGames fits the bill in which you meet a cast of characters with different personalities join together to create a games club at their school. It comes under the straight male harem romance genre, which isn't something I'm usually into with the VNs I like (mystery adventure types like Zero Escape), but I did need something light so I kept my options open.
The art is pretty cute and fits the vibe of the game! The character designs are serviceable, and it's quite easy to tell which character is part of which trope so you know who you'd like to pursue. Background art was also nice for the most part although I did notice some CG scenes which felt a little jarring to see, but it worked for what it was trying to portray.
The story was pretty nice as well. I didn't know what to expect but I found myself liking the group bond together as you progress, and also see the individual growth of each character. Although this mostly depends on who you pursue. Some characters will stay the same or outright disappear. I'm not sure whether it's intentional or if it's based on choices but this helps encourage replayability by checking the other routes. The writing was decent and at times there were a couple of funny scenes that made me laugh. However I did find that the ending was really abrupt, and wanted to know more about the future of the cast.
The music was nice too, and often fit the tone of each scene. It had a cutesy and goofy vibe to it most of the time and had some more emotional beats for more serious moments. But the former sounds more memorable to me.
Overall, the game was a nice time. It's reminiscent of those wholesome slice of life, or CGDCT type anime which I like to watch occasionally. It's worth a try if that's something to your liking.
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
gracieabrams
