Now a game genre such as a visual novel has become quite popular. Novels are developed not only by professionals, but also by amateurs. How to make a visual novel yourself? What are the features of this genre? What programs can be used to create visual short stories?
What is a visual novel
Before answering the question of how to create a visual novel, it is worth a little deeper into the essence of the concept. Visual novel is a genre of computer games, which is characterized by not very high interactivity. During the game, the image and text are displayed on the screen, while the player has to switch from one dialogue or action to another. Occasionally, a player will be given a choice on which the further course of the game depends. This genre appeared in Japan, but because most of the visual novels are made in the style of anime.
Sometimes visual novels are identified with dating simulators. They are made in the same style, but have a different essence. In the visual novel, the plot is important, and the further course of the story depends on the player’s choice. In the dating simulator, the main one is the player’s strategy aimed at communicating with other characters and gaining sympathy.
Game process
The player in the visual novel will have to make a choice, which will affect the further development of events in the game. Usually this is some action, or the answer selected from the list of phrases. Often, visual novels have several endings, and it is the choice of the player that will lead to one of them.
There are quite a lot of text in visual novels, which helps to reveal the plot and characters more deeply. Some short stories may include mini-games that must be completed in order to continue the main game. Visual novels in Japan are voiced by professional actors, music is written specially for them.
Most often, the narration in the game comes from the first person. The player has to go through a kind of quest before reaching the main goal or reaching the ending.
During the game, on the screen we can see a set of backgrounds and character sprites (moving image). The main character remains behind the screen. Below the image is a line in which the text appears. At significant moments, more detailed artworks appear on the screen that depict the event. You can open all the arts only after passing the game several times and making different decisions each time.
Visual novels in Russian
This is a genre of interactive art that is rapidly gaining popularity in Russia. This happens due to foreign visual novels translated into Russian (in most cases, Japanese). But there are attempts to create "your product." The following fairly well-known games can be distinguished:
- "Red space".
- "Book of the Dead: Lost Souls."
- "Eugene Onegin".
It is also worth noting a large number of amateur projects. Therefore, many fans of the genre are wondering: how to create a visual novel yourself? Is there such an opportunity at all? With the growing popularity of the genre, the number of visual short stories created in Russia increases. Competitions are held among the creators of short stories, entire teams are created for projects. In general, the genre has great prospects in Russia, and games are in great demand among the townsfolk.
How to create a visual novel
It is worth remembering that the three main components of visual short stories are: graphics, text and sound.
There should be a lot of text in the visual novel, and it should cause a desire to read it, and not to skip and move on. A fascinating plot is the main advantage of this genre over others. Therefore, it is important to think through and plan the outline of the plot well initially. It’s also worth it to think carefully about the player’s choice: they should influence the course of history and its ending.
Graphics is an important component of the visual novel. The style in which it will be performed depends on the wishes and goals of the author, but do not forget that poor graphics are unlikely to cause a desire to spend several hours playing the game. Graphics should be pleasing to the eye.
In Japan, dialogs in the game are voiced by seiyu (voice actors), but you can do without it. However, music is a very important component of the visual novel. It is she who is called to maintain the atmosphere and help the player concentrate on what is happening.
Scenario
First of all, when creating a new project, it is necessary to think over the scenario of the future game. An important step in creating a good script is writing a plan. As soon as you come up with what exactly your story will be, you need to make small sketches: to retell in them briefly the whole plot and the future ending or endings. It is also important already at this stage to roughly understand where exactly the player will have to make a choice, because the further development of the plot will depend on this.
No less important in visual novels are characters who will interact with the main character. The author should know a little more about his characters than the reader, which is why it is important to think through the characters well in advance: their character, motivation, strengths and weaknesses.
Visual novels mainly consist of dialogues, which is why it is important to make them lively, interesting and not clumsy. Do not add too much “water” to them. Characters must communicate with each other, like living people.
Graphic arts
An important component of the visual novel is graphics. When working on a new project, it is important to think over not only an exciting plot, but also roughly imagine what style will be used in the game. If you yourself have artistic skills, then you can master the rendering of the game using various graphic editors. However, if you don’t know how to draw, you should think about involving the artist from the outside.
In the schedule of the novel there are three components:
You can create backgrounds yourself or search them on different sites with pictures. Do not just forget about the license to use and copyright. It is better to study the rules of the site that you are going to use.
The same goes for sprites. You can search them on the Internet, hire an artist, or draw them yourself.
Software
Due to the popularity of games, there are many programs for creating visual short stories. Most of them are in Japanese, but there are also Russified ones.
You can list some of the programs used to create visual short stories:
- Ren'Py.
- PONScripter / ONSlaugh.
- Blade engine.
- KiriKiri Adventure Game System.
- Novelty
Not sure how to create a visual novel without being a programmer? One of the most popular and convenient programs in this area is Ren'Py. This is a fairly easy to use engine, which is also free. Ren'Py is a debugged program that works like a clock. It takes up a bit of RAM, and it is quite possible to modify it in the absence of any necessary functions. However, to use it, you need to understand at least a bit of coding, otherwise problems may arise, since this is not a visual program. The graphics for the game will also have to be done in separate graphic editors.
Thus, the creation of a visual short story is a laborious and rather complex process, which, however, can be mastered alone. To do this, it is enough to have a certain amount of knowledge and skills, as well as hard work and imagination.