gr33n-schema

[gr33n-schema]

"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~

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

[gr33n-schema]

Omake Captive Devlog 3

It’s time for the third Omake Captive Devlog!

In the third screenshot, we introduce Samuel, Vernon's unpleasant and nosy neighbor. These two are the only ones who live up on this isolated mountain in Breckenridge, Colorado, and Samuel has decided to make that Vernon's problem. Samuel also has some secrets of his own that you'll be able to uncover. Not much is known about him at first, but he definitely throws a wrench into some of Vernon's plans. Even so, if you wish to escape from Vernon's affection, don't count on Samuel to help you out.

We'd like to apologize for the delay in the third devlog. Between family visiting and both of us getting sick, progress has been slow over the holidays.

We've settled on around 11 endings for Omake Captive (including secret ones!) though this is subject to increase. We're working on mapping these different paths out onto the outline, then making a flowchart to visualize where the story diverges. This has definitely been a challenge!

M3NTICID3 only has two endings, and the story diverges at the very end based on a single choice, so it was easy to keep track of the two paths. Omake Captive not only has ~11 endings, but multiple different story threads and tons of choices that need to be accounted for depending on the path. Keeping the pacing satisfying while keeping track of each story thread through wildly different paths is..surprisingly difficult. It's coming together though, and when the final piece fits, think it'll be very rewarding.

We've finished writing Act 1 and inserting it into Ren'Py with the appropriate sprites, backgrounds, and animations. ദ്ദി ( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ ) Next comes Act 2, where things start to get crazy.

Art assets are coming along steadily. There are only a few more indoor backgrounds that need to be done, then we can move onto the outdoor ones. I suppose I should mention that a good chunk of this story will take place outside in the great outdoors. Even though Vernon touches grass quite frequently, he certainly doesn't act like it.

-GR33N SCHEMA

[gr33n-schema]

The facility staff after the escape be like

[gr33n-schema]

Sorry little buddy, a girl has gotta eat.

[gr33n-schema]

Mr. Crawling my beloved

My new addiction

[gr33n-schema]

Omake Captive Devlog 2

It’s time for the second Omake Captive Devlog!

Introducing Micah, Naomi’s (Name changeable) childhood best friend. Naomi has the pleasure of having a lot of iffy guys in her life and Micah is definitely one of them. Ever since they were kids, Naomi has lived in Micah’s shadow. He’s always been an overachieving social butterfly in comparison to Naomi's plain mediocrity. He’s everything she’s not

They have a long history fraught with heartbreak and unspoken resentment, and now they’re sharing a room at an anime convention. Poor Micah doesn’t know what’s about to happen to him or Naomi, but his fate will eventually be in Vernon’s hands as well.

Moving onto the development side of things, most of the basic sprites for the game are finished. Only one more character needs to be colored-- Vernon’s weird neighbor Samuel. You will see him in the next devlog!

​-GR33N SCHEMA

[gr33n-schema]

Arquebus 2 "Official Ardent World Map" (1997)

[gr33n-schema]

Omake Captive Devlog 1

Welcome to the first Omake Captive Devlog! (pause for applause)

The idea for Omake Captive began as a question: what would joining the worst fandom ever look like? We had some ideas, but we ultimately decided that the worst hypothetical fandom would consist of you and one other guy. And he makes it weird...

He makes it so weird.

Thus, Vernon Crane was born! Creating Vernon’s character while developing his first obsession, Arquebus 2, parallels his upbringing. It was interesting to consider how the game could affect his personality, and vice versa. ​

We have been developing the idea for the game since we wrapped up M3NTICID3: Control Group in April. A lot of developments have been made since our initial idea, and the story has gone in some crazy directions. ​We have much more in store for you all (including more projects) that we can't wait to share!

​-GR33N SCHEMA

[gr33n-schema]

[gr33n-schema]

Arquebus 2 "PS1 Cover" (1997)

[gr33n-schema]

//a GR33N-SCHEMA Production// [COMING 2025 on ITCH.IO]

Be Vernon’s salvation or his spectacular downfall! (´･ω･`)

Omake Captive is an upcoming free 17+ yandere visual novel featuring a troubled otaku with a dark past who has far too much time and money on his hands.

For as long as he can remember, Vernon has been utterly captivated by Arquebus 2, a forgotten and underrated JRPG from the late 90s. He’s obsessed with the game down to the last pixel and game mechanic. He owns almost every single piece of officially released merchandise.  But now, there’s something even more intriguing–the newest member of his forum, you! |ω・`)

One day, while on the way home from an anime convention, you decide to impulsively attend a video game forum meetup at a lofty mansion tucked away in the mountains of Colorado. Little do you know, he’s been waiting patiently for this moment…

Play as Naomi (name customizable), a college student who has no idea what she wants to do in life as she finds herself suddenly caught up in Vernon’s obsessive, unpredictable tendencies and isolated, eccentric way of life. 

Features:

One perfectly deranged love interest

Projected 50,000+ Words (Subject to increase)

10 unique poses for Vernon's sprite (Also subject to increase)

A plethora of endings– good, bad, and terrible. 

Female MC with customizable name and username

Complete control over Vernon’s fate

Warnings:

Stalking

Abduction

On-screen murder

Torture

Gore

Violence

Drugging

And more! ♥

(Full TW list will be disclosed closer to game's release date)

[gr33n-schema]

100 Downloads! Thank you all for playing our game!

We have more stuff in the works that we can't wait to share!

[gr33n-schema]

Happy FEFO Friday

Who is she? Hmmm.... I repressed that memory.

[gr33n-schema]

Happy FEFO Friday

Rough sketches from some of the CGs! Which one is your favorite?

[gr33n-schema]

Holy friggin sweet Lois, it's FEFO from M3NTICID3: Control Group, available for free on Itch.io! Let's beat him to death with hammers!

[gr33n-schema]