Marketing Ren'py Programming

The Beginner’s Guide to Visual Novel Development

Hello, everyone!

Today, I have an interesting blog post to share with you.

We’ve talked before about marketing your game for Kickstarter, and ways you can advertise and reach a wider audience – but what about the parts that come before that? How do you create a game from scratch, with (perhaps) no prior experience?

It might seem like a daunting task, but I’m going to break it down into steps that should help you to get on your way to creating your very own Visual Novel. You can also use this post as a kind of masterlist.

1) Choose your Engine

First things first, you’ll want to look at the engine you’ll use to develop your visual novel. This post will be focussing on Ren’Py specifically, but I’ll list out some of your options below:

 

Price: Free

Ren’Py is a free software engine that runs on the Python programming language.

It’s the go-to choice of engine for many Western developers due to being easy to learn, having a lot of flexibility and being free to use.

Ren’Py requires the use of code rather than being drag and drop like some of the other options in this list, but with some practice you will find it easy to pick up. We’ll go over this more later on in the post.

Price: $14.99

TyranoBuilder is a drag and drop visual novel building tool that requires no programming whatsoever. 

While that may make it sound easier, it has its limitations. Many of the complex systems that are possible to implement in Ren’Py are impossible with a drag and drop system.

If you want to play around and make a short game for fun, then there’s nothing wrong with TyranoBuilder.

Price: $59.99

Visual Novel Maker is a robust all in one tool that comes with a full suite of features.

With a combination of click and drag and programming, VNM comes with quite a range of tools to create your visual novel, but you might find it a little difficult to learn. It’s not completely user-friendly, and slightly clunky in places.

At the very least, you’ll need to start with a basic knowledge of programming.

It also comes with a host of free-to-use assets that could be worth playing around with.

I strongly recommend that you try other options before Visual Novel Maker. 

Price: Anywhere from free upwards

Yes, you can make visual novels in Unity. No, I don’t recommend it.

You’ll be fighting an uphill battle to create features that come out of the box in other engines, and most people will not notice. 

There are VN frameworks out there for Unity, so it’s not impossible. Just ask yourself if you really need to use Unity to make what you envision.

2) Outlining and Ideas

To start working on your game, you need to have an idea, even if it’s vague. While I can’t help you with the subject matter, I can help you to expand your idea into a fully fledged storyline.

 

The Elevator Pitch

The first thing to do when you come up with an idea for a game is develop an elevator pitch. 

A short, one to three line outline of what exactly your game is about. Focus on what’s most interesting about your game – the themes, settings, conflicts and characters. The premise.

This is the core of your story, what makes it unique.

Something short, concise and to the point. Here’s a few examples:

  • A murder-mystery set in a post apocolyptic city, where the law can’t reach.
  • An astronaut stranded in space, lacking the fuel to make it home.
  • Unaware of the outside world, Raen lives his life in seclusion, until one day his eyes are forced open.
  • Follow alongside the demon Zhang Zhenli as he’s tasked with masquerading as a God and surviving the Celestial realm, all the while navigating his relationship with his sworn enemy – Prince of the Heavens, Song Tao. 

Expanding your ideas

From here, it’s time to expand your elevator pitch into a couple of paragraphs. Think of it as the kind of thing you’d put on the back of a book, a short blurb that describes your premise. Here’s a personal example:

A vast divide between two planes, a war that’s spanned millenia. The righteous good that is the Gods of the Celestial City, and the devilish evil that is the Demons of the City Beneath the Arch. Forever locked in an insatiable conflict with no end.

That’s what they tell you, anyway. Just what is ‘good’ and ‘evil’, after all? Is there a line that divides the two so clearly that allows no mistake in judgement?

The story follows Zhang Zhenli – famed Demon commander and strategist – as he wakes up in the Celestial City and is mistaken for a god, and must survive a week without being discovered. Along the way he’ll see new and old faces, both friends and enemies, and his life will be turned around.

The worst part – he’ll have to face the one person he hates more than anyone else, the one who led him down the path of vengeance against the Gods long ago – Song Tao.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, and you will 100% come back and rewrite it later when you get a better feel for your project, but it’s helpful in the long run for both yourself and potential team members.


Worldbuilding and You

Worldbuilding is a huge task, and really it deserves its own post. However, I’m going to point you in the direction of some tools, guides and platforms that may help you with worldbuilding.

Note: While I’m speaking about worldbuilding in a fantasy context, you’ll find it useful in many different genres.

So, what is worldbuilding? Worldbuilding is the process of crafting an imaginary world, figuring out how it runs, and giving it rules. It involves everything from geography and religion to magic and law.

But where do you start? Well, here’s a list of tools I use in worldbuilding:

Platforms
Here’s a couple of platforms that are designed to help you with worldbuilding.

Templates

Templates are a lifesaver. There’s hundreds out there that you can easily copy and paste, and are full of questions you can answer about your world to get a better feel for them. Here’s a few.

Other resources
There’s more resources out there than you can count on worldbuilding, but here’s a couple I’ve found useful.

Designing your Characters

By now, you should have some idea about how many characters/routes you want in your visual novel. If not, now is the time to think about it!

We asked our fans on Twitter how many love interests they like, and the answer: as many as possible, but you shouldn’t have some characters feel well-fleshed out, and others like they’re just filler.

Consider your workload and how many characters you think you can manage. I recommend starting out with 2-3 love interests at most.

Character Creation Sheet
You might already have an idea about what your characters will look/act like, but having it in written form on a character sheet will make your life much easier, and give you something you can hand over to your artists.

Here’s an example of the sheet we use:

Overview
Name: 
Current age: 
Birthday: 
Likes: 
Mannerisms/demeanor:
Dislikes: 
Strengths:
Weaknesses: 

Appearance
Eye color:
Hairstyle/Color:
Clothing:
Accessories:
Features:
Height: 
Build:

Alongside the above questions, we also write a paragraph on the characters history and personality, as well as a section on their relationships with the other cast members.

Of course, this is the absolute basics. You can go into as much depth as you want with your character sheets. I just encourage you not to get too bogged down in the details, since a lot of a characters personality and traits will develop as you write.

Here’s a couple of other handy links:

The Full Story Outline

So, it’s finally time to plot out your storyline! Exciting, and a little daunting. Note that not everyone creates outlines for their writing – there’s pros and cons, so it’s up to you whether you want to create one or not.

An outline can be as long as you want it to be – it could be a single page, or it could be a 30 page long document. You just want to work out the beginning, middle and ending(s) of your story.

There’s lots of different story structures you can use, too. Think of these as a skeleton for your story, but don’t feel like you have to use one. They’re an option, but not your only option! Here’s a couple of popular ones:

Dean Koontz’s story structure is divided up into four points, which you can view below:

  • The Trouble – Plunge your main character into terrible trouble right at the beginning
  • It Only Gets Worse – You character tries to get out of said trouble, but every attempt makes it worse.
  • Hopelessness – The bleakest moment. Nothing is going write, and everything seems as if it’s going to fail.
  • Success – Your character succeeds against all odds, and the story ends.

The Hero’s Journey is a wildely popular format used mostly in fantasy, horror and sci-fi. It was famously used in The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien.

There’s three major “acts” to this structure.

  • The Departure Act – Your character sets off on an adventure and leaves behind the ordinary world.
  • The Initiation Act – Your character fights against various trials and overcomes them, eventually leading to them ‘beat’ the evil. They become a champion, a hero.
  • The Return Act – Your character returns home in triumph, finding their way back to their old life.

The 7-point Story Structure is another famously used structure, and focusses more on delivering dramatic character arcs.

The 7 points are like so:

  • Hook – This is where your character starts.
  • Plot Turn 1 – Conflict is introduced, and the story begins to pick up. 
  • Pinch Point 1 – Pressure begins to build, and the antagonist is introduced. 
  • Midpoint – Your character is driven to action against the conflict.
  • Pinch Point 2 – Further pressure is added, and your character is at their darkest moment. Everything feels like it will fail.
  • Plot Turn 2 – Your character moves past the failure, and works out what they need to do to achieve their goal.
  • Resolution – The climax and resolution to your story. This is everything that your story had lead up to, and where your character wins (or loses), and the game ends.

The formula for the Three-Act Structure was used by the Ancient Greeks, and is used nowadays often in Hollywood. It’s a simple structure, and easy to follow:

  • Act 1 (The Setup) – Used to introduce your main characters and setting, as well as present a problem that pulls the protagonist out of their comfort zone.
  • Act 2 (The Confrontation) – The problem that at first seemed easy to solve spirals out of control and becomes complex. The more your character tries to fix it, the more impossible it seems.
  • Act 3 (The Resolution) – Your character is up against the odds, and the stakes are high. One misstep could mean their demise. By the end, they’ve overcome the problem and grown as a character.

Elements of a story
Generally, the elements of a story are like so, even if you don’t want to use a formal structure:

  • The opening – An introduction to your main (and accompanying) characters, and establishment of the problem for them to overcome. Basically, you want to hook your players with an interesting enough opening that they don’t want to put it down.
  • The big event – Something happens, and your characters are forced to act! 
  • The tension and climax – This is the bulk of your story. Where your characters grow, become closer, and work to overcome their obstacles. This all comes to a head during the climax, which is the turning point for your characters.
  • The ending – This is the resolution to your story. Where you tie up loose ends and close your story.
This is loosely based on Freytag’s Pyramid, which you can view below.

Not every story will fit in to this structure, and that’s totally fine. These are just here to assist you if you’re feeling lost.

By now, you should have an outline for your story that will assist you in your writing.

 

3) Scope, Budget and Project Management

Now is the time to look at your outline and the scope of your project. You may need to go back and cut/add to your outline, as well as make other adjustments.

Scope

Scope is the size of your project – how much it encompasses, what assets you’ll need and how long it will take. 

You need to take a step back from your project, and work out exactly what you’ll need to make it a reality.

Managing Scope
When you first started planning your visual novel, you probably thought it should be 200,000 words long, with five love interests, 50 backgrounds and 150 CGs. While that sounds amazing, you have to consider exactly how much work that is and if it’s feasible.

An easy way to cut back on your scope is to look at your assets. Do you have a background that only shows up once, for 500 words? Cut it. Extra characters that turn up and say a single sentence? Cut them. 5 CGs that show similar things? Cut them down to 1 or 2.

Again, I really recommend starting small. 

 

Budget

At this point, you’ll also have to begin thinking about how you’ll finance your game. Here’s a few of your options:

  • Kickstarter
  • Indiegogo
  • Patreon
  • Self-funded
No matter what, you’ll have to fund (at the very least) a demo. Especially if you’re running a crowdfunding campaign.
 

Think hard about what you’ll be able to afford, and what you think will be a manageable financial target. This cycles right back into your scope – cut back in places that aren’t needed.

Create a budget plan and stick to it. Dedicate x amount of money towards each type of asset.

 

4) Time to Write

It’s finally time to start writing your script! Where to begin, though? Let’s start off with a few options:

  • Google Docs
  • Word
  • Scrivener
  • Twine
  • Ren’py (direct)
My recommendation is to set up a Google Drive and keep your outline/script there (as well as backups). Typing straight into Ren’py might save you some time later, but it’s much easier to proofread and edit in a Google Document.

Formatting and Tracking your Assets

There’s a lot of different formats to writing a visual novel. Here’s how we format our Google Doc:

A good idea is also to note when CGs will show in your script, as well as background changes. Then, start an Excel or Google Sheet to track your backgrounds and CGs, like so:


The Difference Between VN Writing and Other Forms of Prose

There’s a difference between writing a novel and writing a script for a visual novel. 

Unlike novels, you have another aspect to keep in mind of – the visual side of things. Your sprites, CGs and backgrounds. Many of the details that you would’ve wrote in a novel can now be conveyed using your art assets! You’ll be spending more time writing dialogue and less on descriptive text.

This circles back to your budget and scope, too. When you write a novel, introducing a character is free. Going to a new location is free. For a visual novel, these cost money. This is something you need to wrap your head around from the start.

I recommend reading “How visual novel writing is different by Justin Kuiper” for an even more indepth look at the differences.

Editors and Proofreaders

Getting an editor/proofreader is an often overlooked part of visual novel writing. When you’re reading your own writing, you’ll often overlooking grammar mistakes and plot holes – which is where an editor can save your butt.

If you intend for your project to be commercial, definitely considering reaching out to a third party to go over your writing.


5) Art Assets

So – you’ve written your game (or at least the demo), and you’re ready to find some artists! Below, I’ll show you exactly what you’ll need and how to find them.

When contacting artists, always make sure to explain your project, the workload, and whether it’s a commercial product or not. More likely than not, they will have a different set of prices if you intend to use their work commercially.

What assets do I need?

Usually, there’s three different artists that you’ll need:

  • GUI Artist
  • Sprite/CG Artist
  • Background Artist
A custom GUI isn’t always needed (if you’re making a small, free game especially), but for a commercial product it makes all the difference. It sets your game apart from the rest and makes it look professional.

While you can have separate sprite and CG artists, I really recommend getting one person to do both.  Players don’t appreciate sudden art changes most of the time. Unless you can find artists with very similar styles, stick to one.


Commission Etiquette

When you’re working with artists, you need to make sure to set some clear standards of what each of you expect, since you’ll (probably) be working together for a long time.

Communicate your terms, and show respect. Appreciate that art isn’t instant and will take time. Artists are not machines that pump out illustrations, and you need to see them for more than their output.

  • When will payment be made? (upfront, after sketch, revenue share, etc.)
  • Do you need NSFW/fetish/gore?
  • Is there a timeline or schedule?
  • What’s the workload (how many pieces will you need from your artist in total)
  • Is your game commercial or free?
  • How would the artist like to be credited?
  • How many revisions per illustration?
Make sure to ask for any major changes in the sketch phase. Don’t wait until it’s nearly complete. If you need variations (think backgrounds – different furniture, empty rooms, seasonal changes) make sure to let your artist know up front, to avoid any issues later.
 

Where to Find your Artists

Finding your artists might seem daunting at first. However, here’s the four places we’ve found all of our artists.

Lemmasoft
Lemmasoft is a visual novel development forum (primarily based around ren’py) where you can talk to other developers, ask questions, and showcase your game. It also has a healthy sized “Recruitment & Services Offered” section filled with artists waiting to work on your game. Artists here are also used to working on visual novels, so you’ll have to do less explaining.

Twitter 
Twitter is an popular choice for many artists! You have a few options here – you could contact artists you already like, or search through “commissions open” tags to find people that may want to work with you. Since artists here may be not used to working on games, you’ll have to take the time to explain exactly what you’re looking for.

Deviantart
Similar to Twitter, Deviantart is filled with very talented artists who may be looking for a long term project. In general, Deviantart is a little harder to navigate, but not impossible. You can search terms like “commissions open” then browse by newest. It’s also worth selecting “journals” as your category.

Kickstarter
It’s worth checking Kickstarter for games with artstyles that you like – some of the artists may be open to more projects. 

 

6) Programming

Depending on your chosen engine, programming will be different. As I said previously, this guide with focus on Ren’py. Please look around for guides on getting started with other engines.

First Steps

Firstly, you’ll want to play through the tutorial that Ren’py comes bundled with to learn the basics. Below, I’ll put an example of a simple Ren’py game.


define f = Character('Frank') # defines the letter f to be Frank
define j = Character('John') # defines the letter j to be John

label start:
    scene bg room with dissolve # shows an image in the background named "bg room"
    show john happy at left # shows a sprite named "john happy" on the left
    show frank happy at right # shows a sprite named "frank happy" on the right
    
    j "Wow, we're in a game!" # creates dialogue for the character John
    f "I've always wanted to be in a game, John!" # creates dialogue for the character Frank

Start with the absolute basics and try out some of the things you learn in the tutorial.

Basic Guides

Here’s a few basic guides you can go through:

Complex Guides

And a few more complex guides:

Other Helpful Links

7) Sound and Music

You have two options for sound and music – either using premade, royalty free tracks or hiring a musician to create custom tracks. If you’re going down the road of premade sound effects and music, make sure to read up on the various types of copyright that may apply to them.

Premade music/soundeffects

 

Musicians

 

8) Voice acting

Voice acting is an optional part of visual novel development that can be somewhat time consuming and costly, but could possibly add a lot of worth to your game.

Mainly, you have two options – partical voice acting or full voice acting. Either way, you should have compiled all of the character lines to give to the voice actors before you hire them.

Where to Find Voice Actors

Twitter
Twitter is hands down the best place to find quality voice actors. VAs will FLOCK to you for a chance to voice in your project. The best way to find them is to put out a tweet saying you’re looking for voice actors, or post a formal casting call document (I’ll get into this below).

Casting Call Club
CCC is a relatively user friendly website where you can post casting calls and voice actors can audition for your project. While it’s a great tool (and one we’ve used in the past), we found that the quality here was much lower than holding a private casting call on Twitter.

Voice Acting Club
Similar to above, this is a forum where you can post casting calls and meet voice actors. 


Paying your Voice Actors

If you’re making a free, noncommercial game which you’ll make no money off of whatsoever, you can open up unpaid auditions and voice actors may choose to help you.

If you’re selling or making any money off of your game, then you must pay your voice actors.

You can view a handy guide on rates here, made by the folks over at VAC.


Casting Call Documents

Your casting call document is best done in Google Docs, and should include all the information for someone who’d like to audition for your game.

Here’s an example of the format we use (click to enlarge!):

 

Voice Directors and Casting Directors

Casting Directors are individuals who can handle the casting process for you by running your casting calls, setting up your documents, and sometimes directly contacting voice actors. They’ll also go through your auditions and create a shortlist for you to pick from. You can find lots of indie casting directors on Twitter (like this amazing one!).

A Voice Director handles your VAs after they’ve been hired – if you choose to do live directed sessions, they will schedule these with the voice actors and direct every session.

These roles are entirely optional, but streamline the VA process.


Audio Engineers

After your voice actors have finished recording and sent you their files, editing comes next. You’ll need to hire an editor who can cut the lines up to match your script, as well as balance audio levels and cut out unwanted sounds.

The more voice actors you have, the more of a variance you’ll receive in your files. Every VA has a different set up, so don’t expect the lines to get delivered to you ready to put into the game. This is the job of your editor!

Again, the easiest place to find an editor is Twitter.


9) Marketing

I’m not going to get too into marketing in this post, but I’ll go over a few points. All throughout the process of creating your game, you should be marketing it and finding an audience.

These days, more games are coming out than ever before. You don’t want yours to fade into the crowd, you want it to stand out. You can have the most intricate storyline, the most beautiful artstyle, the best voice actors out there, but it’ll all go to waste if nobody KNOWS your game exists. You have to get your game in front of as many eyes as possible.

Previously, I’ve written up a post on Marketing your Visual Novel for Kickstarter, but you can apply the techniques even if you don’t plan to crowdfund your game. I implore you to read over it and start your marketing campaign!


Afterword

If you’ve followed this guide, then you should now be the proud creator of a brand new visual novel! Congratulations!

You’ll also would have realized how much hardwork, love and money goes into creating even a basic visual novel. With one project down, you’ll be even more prepared for the next.

Thank you for reading this (much too long) guide, and I hope you found it helpful. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us.

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