:⁠-⁠)

hi, call me V! - 19 - they/them - tfc is rotating in my brain

[freakcircusofhorrors]

Happy Birthday Harlequin!

Another illustration with the studio @春醴记工作室! I’m so happy to see Harlequin receiving so much love! Thank you, everyone! So many beautiful and adorable artworks of our lovable little green menace! Happy Birthday, Harlequin!

And just like Pierrot, I ended up making another little tribute haha

Also, only today did I realize Harlequin’s cake flavor would actually be different… oops! =u=''

[voxsox]

my beautiful green goober happy bday 🗣️🗣️🗣️

[voxsox]

happy birthday to you green menace, have fun running ppl over with ur new gift that definitely isn't a concern to the general public!! this was my first time ever making a comic and it was actually pretty fun :)

[freakcircusofhorrors]

Happy Birthday Pierrot!

I made this illustration in collaboration with @春醴记工作室 Studio! I never imagined seeing so much love and so many beautiful artworks celebrating Pierrot’s birthday! I’m truly delighted!

I also made another fun one as an extra little tribute haha!

By the way, some of you may have seen the earlier post where the symbol on Pierrot’s left arm had the wrong color. That was completely my fault, sorry about that hehe. I was so excited that I let that slip by!

Thank you all so much for the messages for Pierrot!

[voxsox]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY U STUPID CLOWN

[voxsox]

very late bday art I made for myself!! I decided to redraw that one sketch neko did bc I need them both to hold me immediately 👅👅 I need that poly route to drop cuz I'm hopping on them at the same time trust

also have pierrot choking harle out bc he's despicable and deserves it (affectionate)

[voxsox]

I decided to do some doodles for the last @darthsuki stream!! the goober is really fun to draw in a chibi style and I'll probably do this again at some point! it was a good way to decompress from other stuff I'm working on 👅👅

thank u as always for the fun times, I always have a blast with chat 🗣️🗣️

[yoyrif]

It means a lot to me that someone as smart as Doc likes metal. No offense to the other smart people out there that like Beethoven and Wolfgang lol

Cropped versions below!:

[iwasbibliomaniac]

The Freak Circus Unofficial Masterlist

TFC Unofficial Masterlist (Day 1-2 spoilers)

Welcome, one and all, to The Freak Circus of Horrors...

...' fanmade masterlist lol

from the day of its release, the creator of the game the freak circus, neko, has been answering questions about the game and its characters, uploading art, and discussing his development process! there's a whole lot of super interesting stuff he has to say! like a lot. a whole lot.

like 487 entries a lot. (as of writing this post.)

if you wanted to get a handle on all that, you could trawl through his and the official tumblr's archive or use tumblr's subpar search function, of course! but i prefer having more options for filtering and having everything in one place. and also i am what might politely be termed cataclysmically autistic about both trivia and spreadsheets. therefore, lo: The Spreadsheet

the spreadsheet contains a summary column for easier reading and searching, cross-linked cells for overlapping subject matter, screenshots of the original post, a transcript of the post with image descriptions of any images (which allows them to be more easily searchable as well), translations into english, and categories and character tags. there are also several pre-set filter views that allow you to see only a certain category or only a certain character, along with a tutorial on the front page about how to make your own custom filter views if you want to look at something that's not an pre-set option.

so now if you're curious what neko has said about, say, the circus member's ice cream-eating habits (about which there are three posts), or if you remember there was an illustration involving harlequin cutting paper puppets but not where (the weekly update of 7/19/25), or if you vaguely recall a keyword from something you read a while back you want to reference for your theory post, or you want to look at everything that's ever been said about jester to help get him in-character in your fic, or you want to see what neko's answered before so you can ask a question with more confidence it's not one neko has gotten, it should be a lot easier to find these things!

i have a few stretch goals in mind--i'd like to create a searchable index page after this with links to common topics and then an faq page, especially for the stuff that's been asked and answered super regularly. but for now i am going to rest because i've been working on this pretty much nonstop for five days lol

anyway i really hope it's useful to other folks in the fandom! i made one of these for isat and i used it ALL the time. and it felt wildly uncomfortable not having one around for this one lol. please join me in the joy of The Spreadsheet...they're so nice...

[cattycupid]

Despite Everything… It’s Still You?

[nyx-of-the-dusk]

I’m guessing most everyone in the TFC community has seen Neko’s newest comic, Pierrot’s Outfit. I know I saw 4 or 5 reblogs of it in a row from people I follow. I’m one of the people who are part of the Patreon, so I got to see this comic a week early (if you’re not, and you’re an adult with the disposable income to pledge, here’s a shameless plug to go do that. Neko is a solo developer and a damn good one at that).

When some mates and I first read the comic, I, in a fit of hyperactivity and inspiration, came up with a bit of a theory. A week later, I still have faith in it and the document I frantically typed up at that time. I’d like to present this theory to you, with a bit of tweaking to my more overzealous ramblings.

Ever since Day 2 came out, I’ve believed that each of the 5 troupe members has some kind of inhuman feat with its own properties. Up until the comic, my thoughts were as follows:

Jester can mind control humans and give them different tasks.

Ticket Taker has access to a pocket/alternate dimension through mirrors.

Doctor uses necromancy to create and move his dolls.

Pierrot can interact with his own shadow and move among them.

But Harlequin? I had no idea. He’s an interesting character study with plenty of mysterious appeal. Of course, the asshole would bring me some pause.

Reading the comic, however, I had a bit of an epiphany. “What if I’m wrong about Pierrot?” In the comic, there are events that could be attributed to feats.

The shadow hand that loomed over the crowd.

Pierrot’s voice.

The second event was important enough to the troupe’s history that Jester forbade Pierrot from speaking in public again. So, does Pierrot have a booming voice and the ability to manipulate shadows? I don’t think so.

Before we get to why, I’d like to mention my evidence for Pierrot’s shadow manipulation.

During Pierrot’s show, MC mentions how Pierrot’s shadow looks like it moves on its own. They even say it moves opposite of him.

Pierrot’s shadow could have easily unlocked MC’s balcony from the inside, giving Pierrot easy access.

Jester called Pierrot a “huge shadow with golden eyes” when confronting MC.

Remember these, they might be on the quiz later.

Back to the comic. Harlequin is the first to talk to Pierrot post-massacre. His antics piss Pierrot off, which causes Harlequin to be stunned while Pierrot yells at him. When Pierrot tries to attack him, Harlequin says “I saved your life.”

This changes everything.

I think Pierrot froze up. He wanted to kill every bastard in that crowd, but he was too distressed to react quick enough. Good thing shadows move at the speed of light. The shadowy hand killed the crowd members before any of them could escape, painting Pierrot in red. Before the massacre, Harlequin wanted to stop Pierrot. Ticket Taker ordered Harlequin to not let any of the humans escape. If they did, the circus would be in grave danger. So yes, Harlequin saved Pierrot’s life. He was the one who killed the audience.

So, back to the feats I brought up in the second paragraph. I still think Jester can mind control humans, Ticket Taker has mirror dimension abilities, and Doctor brings back the dead. But…

Pierrot has a voice strong enough to stun his enemies, and maybe more.

Harlequin moves and communes with the shadows.

One more spicy detail to this theory, Pierrot doesn’t know this.

Quiz time! What was my first reason for Pierrot’s shadow manipulation? If you said the shadow dancing he did in his performance, you get a brigadeiro! If not, you still get one, I don’t mind sharing. If Pierrot knew Harlequin was the one pulling the shadow dance strings, I doubt he’d add that to his show. Pierrot's emotionally unstable as is. I wouldn’t be surprised if another troupe member (let’s say Doctor, the person he’s closest with) convinced Pierrot that the shadow was a trick of the light in the beginning. At this point, it’s like an old friend Pierrot doesn’t want to shake.

Speaking of old friends, let’s get into some Green Apple territory.

I think Harlequin has longed for Pierrot. He likely fell for both him and Columbina (he could have wanted a poly relationship between the three). After the Moonless Night, Harlequin knew he couldn’t be there with Pierrot. He not only drove Pierrot away, but the rest of the troupe. To some, he is the villain. A dark shadow in their presence the circus seems to be unable to shake. Others believe that shadows are par for the course; light cannot exist without shadows. Harlequin’s actions were a necessary evil.

Harlequin, like all the other troupe members, fits his role of the shadow. He follows Pierrot from behind. His shadow dances with Pierrot in a way he could only dream of. He sees Pierrot’s attraction to MC and wishes to learn more about them, maybe even falling for them too in the process. Hell, for Pierrot’s sake, he’d even help Pierrot break into MC’s apartment. It’s a good thing MC never mentioned locking that balcony door…

Harlequin sees Pierrot as a bright light to be protected from the darkness of humanity. He loves Pierrot more than just as a fellow survivor. If Harlequin needs to fight darkness with darkness, so be it. As long as the light exists, the shadow will follow. As long as there are shadows, the light will never be alone.

[nekoboydreams]

Hey guys! Did you enjoy Darthsuki's stream? It was really fun to see everyone's reactions to some of the scenes in the game haha! Darth always does an amazing job with the voices!

[janknabobfdi-xxxnitrodarkxxx]

this legit made me stop believing in knight papyrus

[carlyraejepsans]

i swear no videogame before has ever been able to evoke such staggering parasocial attachment in me as doctor w.d. gaster in deltarune. i used to think he should stay a mystery. every single line we've got from him since then has made me obsessed with him to a pathological degree. i need to find him. i need to reach him. "MY DELTARUNE" he says with the reverence of a man watching a chick hatch from the egg cradled between his hands. i feel like i could reach through my computer screen and hold it with him.

[carlyraejepsans]

he really is a scientist, and you can feel the intensity of his devotion to deltarune. in part we're subjects ourselves, yes, but more than anything we are colleagues. coconspirators. midwives to a dream he's devoted everything to.

....and then there's those moments where you can feel him blink. messing around too much with the save files, trying to defeat the knight anyway. for a split second, for a moment, you get to see that awe and curiosity turn to you. the one that makes me the most insane is the secret closing remarks you get if you do the impossible and finish up to chapter 4 without getting a single trophy. "WHAT ARE YOU." he asks. a question as worlds shaking as it is simple.

"What are you." i am someone who's been looking for you for the past 10 years. hello, doctor gaster. i am so very glad to see you.

[arimiadev]

"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~

How to Make Visual Novels, a guide by arimia

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)

Naninovel – Unity-based tool for making Unity VNs

tiny tools – collection of various game dev tools

Ren’Edit Add-On – Ren’Py script editing & feedback tool

Ren’Py Accessibility Add-On

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!

— Arimia

[hummingbird-games]

2024 in Review (Indie Games)

2023 | 2022 | 2021

Helloooo gamer friends!!!

I'm so tired.

Lol.

Anyhoo, y'all don't care about that!!! Y'all are here to see what games I played and what the heck I have to say about them! Reminders: I don't bash games I didn't like, and I try to post more in-depth thoughts and reviews and general yapping to Gem's Game Gems.

DEMOS

When Stars Collide - I am by no means a sci-fi girlie. I need a HEAPING dose of fantasy or fantasy elements to help me out. That said, y'all might remember how I went feral for Gilded Shadows, so I am locked in for this journey with WSC. It's just as mysterious and lore intense as GS, but also just as intriguing and engaging!

Love Me, Love Me Not - I looooove when a game charms me to pieces??? Our MC Addie, the introduced LIs, the story, the art??? Where do I begin?? Anyway, please check this one out y'all! I'm impatient for the full game (shocker, I know).

Threads of You: Beyond the Bay - So my thoughts and reactions for this one are on the side blog, but I really enjoyed the demo and I have eyes for Chris, Vince, and Alex hehehe.

Lost in Limbo - While I'd been keeping tabs on this game for what seems forever because of the character art that originally caught my attention, I almost didn't finish the demo because it was lowkey disturbing (I'm a wimp and not all horror is made equal). But!!! BUT!!!! I push through to the end, had a good time, noted that I need to play the full game in the daylight with the music turned down low. And I absolutely adore Ara and Xal so, so much.

A Simple Twist of Fae - Absolutely no one cares, but I read a lot of manga this year. Like, a lot-a lot. Like, ~180 books and 1/3 of that was manga. Anyhoo, When JMB announced she was cooking up this game, I was impatient to get my grubby hands on it. AND THEN I PLAYED IT AND IT WAS THE SHOJO INSPIRED GAME OF MY DREAMS?!?! Like.....I wish I could both have it on my computer and also on my bookshelf. Final build dropping when??? (Also the UI design is utterly delightful, I cry.)

The Summit Library (FULL DEMO) - The last time I reviewed this game, we got chapter 1 as a taste, and I was. Locked! In!! The full demo gives us the first 2 chapters as well as the previews for all the romance routes and while giving everyone a whirl I'm *still* undecided on who to go for in the future, I must mention this: TSL is so aspec friendly???? I do love a game with smut, don't get me wrong looks at College Craze but sometimes I have my moments of being overwhelmed/sliiiiiiightly repulsed and the variety of options you have to choose how you react and interact with the various LIs in this game is amazing. (I have more thoughts on this, so I'll try to remember to post to the sideblog, but please understand that this game is totally worth your attention and time imo!!!)

Fully Released & Played (at least 1 playthrough)

Rabbit Trail - This. Game. Is. SO. Cute. *punches the air* 😭🥹(Copy + paste of my review on the itch.io page -> This was so charming, so fluffy, so cozy, just delightful all around??? I've only reached one ending so far, but René is just the cutest protag to play as, and his interactions as he delivers his mail made me cheese so dang hard! (Also, I wanted to fight his parents for not properly appreciating their kid LOL))

Stuck by Design - I checked this game out because I was looking into games that fellow programmers had worked on, and this cozy game stumbled onto my lap. The music was perfect, the UI is beautiful and clean, and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance of the VA for the LI, Yuki.

Wake Me Up If You Need Me - I called this game older!HSDJY MC x Ryan coded and I'm still right. The voice actor MAKES this game, and the interactions the player has with Reed is so flippin' delightful?? All my love and adoration to the game developer. May they make more beautiful games.

CTRL FREAK - The developer team brought us The Faithfulness of the Universe which is a banger in its own right, and CTRL FREAK is the team's commercial, finished project that I also found delightful. The soundtrack and the animations are chef's kiss 💛

Breathless Winds - Ooo, baby, ooo. So. If there is only one game you play from this list and you have some spare cash to spend (at the time of writing, the game is on sale!!!) please, please, check this one out. It left me absolutely spellbound, both the orginal demo, and then the full game. While I didn't get to blog fully about this one, and I only tackled 2 of the 4 routes, this game is absolutely everything. This is my indie game of the year. Poppy and her journey resonated with me, and between the music and the art, everything just came together so perfectly.

Wake Up Magical Girl - Listen TF up, if miseri creates it, I'm gonna play it, idc, idc. That being said...this game had a kick to it that when I finished my first playthrough, I had to stare off into space and gather myself. It takes the concept of magical girls and heroism and gave me a teeny tiny existential crisis, but other than that, I'm fine, it's fine, play this game, thank you.

Sleeping Under Spells - God, I love me a game where I get to argue with a LI. I love it. Bonus points if it's lowkey stupid stuff we're bickering over LOL!!

Our Wonderland - Yeah, uh huh, you thought you'd escape me talking about this game this year, didn't yah???? Too bad. The fifth and final arc dropped this year and I played it and I cried and felt for the briefest moments that life was okay. To say something different than my review of last year, I love that this seems to be the game that helps fellow ace devs find and flock to each other, I'm not kidding 🤣 so thank you Carrot for helping us fellow aspec peeps feel seen and validated and understood!

I Watched a Full Game Playthrough and Highly Recommend

Replay Boys - Okay so technically at the time of posting, there's still one more video I'm waiting to watch (Naja of BlerdyOtome uploaded her stream to YouTube) but my Godddddd. I've had my eye on this game for FOREVER but I was lowkey waiting for it to move to itch.io (I'm still a lowkey Steam hater 🥹) anyhoo, watching this absolutely wild game made me go ahead and buy a copy for myself to replay at a later time, but it's just great. The summary only scratches this surface of what the game entails 🤣

Gemi’s Gushies

(a list within a list of games that have devs trucking along in the background and I want to spotlight for y’all)

Save the Villainess - Life got away with me and unfortunately I never finished my play of the demo BUT what I have played was fun and I hope to return to this in the new year!

Woman of Xal 2 - Plot Twist Studios is on that Sequel Train with the next installment of WoX!!! Which I'm VERY excited for!!! I've unfortunately only completed one playthrough of this game, but the first game is definitely a masterclass in replayability, and I hope next year I'll be able to do a second playthough as I wait for game 2's Kickstarter!

...

And that's 2024! Any shared favorites?

- Gemini 🫶🏾

[ravenstargames]

AWWW LiL mention!! 👉👈💜🥺 Thank you for giving it a try even though it was scary! 🥺

[t4tstarvingdog]

men’s tits reblog if you are a true men’s tits lover