How to Write Visual Novels

[@deckrect]

Writing a character profile is a two edged sharp vorpal sword. I've seen people stuck writing useless data and seen people getting great ideas from it to add scenes and conflicts. I prefer sticking to what my college teacher told me: If you can't see it in the story, it doesn't exist.

[@ernestorio3550]

Your college teacher has a point. Like i've seen that alot of media and people are soo obsessed with the little trivias (like hobbies or past) connected to a character, but in reality some of it has only ever been referenced a few times on the main story or rather never shown / told. And i've made my mind that if these details had nothing to do with the plot, then it's meaningless. These details are either info from supplementary materials outside of the work (like magazines or interview) or at worst a mere fan theory

[@d.o.p.d.o.p.1775]

For plot driven stories, sure. But how about character driven stories you two??

[@deckrect]

@@d.o.p.d.o.p.1775 Goes the same. If you want dealing with a character who distrusts people and needs to learn overcoming this, you can do that without showing about his toddler years, family home and favorite food. Show only what matters. Build only what matters.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

@@d.o.p.d.o.p.1775 Also world building and for later use.... mean if you thought of it why not write it down it's fine? Like for instance the Wills were an early Concept for Star wars A New Hope but only came up 40 years later in the GCI Clone Wars.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

@@deckrect I mean... Yes you would as you kinda need to know why they distrust people to build the story better otherwise it could seem shallow. And yes even if they a foren exchange student and those details never word for word come up.

[@exodusthethirteenth]

Here's a piece of advice that helped me as a writer. Write an idea of a character. The reader will only take away certain information about your character. The idea I have is to put that in the spotlight. Make your character embody the memory in a sense. If someone was bad to you, you don't remember what they did, just that they did it. Your mind paints them in a bad light, and in a subjective story this would help out a lot. In terms of writing other smaller characters, you should keep a bunch ready, as a dungeon master I've had to do this, and when my players veered off course, we ended up using a bunch of these characters. They were basic characters that were given life through the choices the reader made.

[@deckrect]

I understand what you say, but when you deal with Interactive Fiction, you just cannot hold back much information from the player when this information is important to the choices. But, in order to avoid wall of text and boring info dump, a good trick is delivering choices for the player fill the character and it's "truths" before the information is sensitive, but along the way. Use the first act to expose the character to situations and dialogs where the choices states the character's point of view and behavior, save it as variables in the game and use it later. It speeds up the narrative skipping characters creation, allows the player to take part of the narrative and hides interesting things about the character from the player until it is necessary without compromising the choice capacity.

[@wmurd]

If someone was bad to you do you really don’t remember what they did? Kinda curious

[@magpie_monster]

having a central story arc is such a good idea. I love vns and want to write one myself, but I always get bogged down in thinking about branches too quickly. great video!

[@vimi]

"Break down complex tasks into manageable chunks" is my credo!

[@christopherpoet458]

I can relate to this. I have settled to just not make a game and just write out the plot using Twine as a Plot Guide. I am at that point that without help, I can't really "do" more to make something. I work 5 days a week and work on my two off days supporting myself and my Grandmother. One of these days I would like to make something of the projects I have come up with. One of these days.

[@zenenez]

I was so confused for the first like... five minutes of this video, because you mentioned branching paths and I was GENUINELY wondering why webcomics would have branching paths. It took me five minutes to remember that visual novel is not another way to say webcomic and I about lost it. LOL. Good video though, 9/10, gonna go make a VN now.

[@deckrect]

I used to be strongly opposed to choices leading to minor variations, because it felt like cheating, and every choice had to have impact. Impact still true, but I realized you may provide variations that changes the reader's understanding and the overall meaning of the whole story or a bit of it. And that's a powerful tool.

[@jamesoliphant8178]

I agree with this. All choices should impact the players experience with playing through the game but they don't have to effect the outcome of the game. In some ways the outcome of a story is the players journey through the story and not some ending scene or plot result.

[@moork]

I'm just at that stage of starting the writing, and it's really nice to have this kind of tips and pipeline. Thank you!

[@vimi]

I'm glad I could be of help!

[@deckrect]

Passing by to check how is the writing going.

[@moork]

@@deckrect nice, slow but steady, I am using twine for branching the writing .

[@glitchagon09]

@@moork how about now?

[@moork]

@@glitchagon09 thanks for the interest, I paused the development due to work, but I'm halfway there.

[@nosywendigo592]

Beginning and end is easy. The middles are the toughest to fill in. It can be daunting and scary. Maybe a video on how to fill in the middle?

[@christopherpoet458]

The middle is the fun part! xD

[@Mjumiman]

A big video on storytelling process? What a treat! Also, I don't know if I mentioned this yet but I really love your lighting setup.

[@vimi]

Thank you! I'm trying to switch it up regularly now, and I feel like it's getting better and better!

[@deckrect]

I specially like this video because it states some little tips that I had to find by myself, like the concept of a living document or writing down scenes and then arranging it into the outline. One thing I found that proved to be useful in my process is writing one or more scenes when I feel I'm stuck arranging the outline. I'm working in a project that was going very bad. I did write a scene and all changed. The characters, plot, mechanics... everything still the same. But it helped me finding the tone. Other times, writing a scene allows you to foreshadow the elements and the order they must come. Also, never fear rewriting what you already done.

[@vimi]

I wasn't gonna cover this in the video, because it's a bit nuts, but hiking has been a huge help in my writing process, too! It gives me the time and focus to digest what I've already written, and I'll usually have a much better grasp on my own narrative after a long walk!

[@deckrect]

@@vimi Really? I also go for a stroll! Or do the dishes, what I know is weird.

[@dnightwalker]

I have to add that, from experience, you have to be careful when you're writing your story. Everything you write down is potentially more assets that you're gonna have to add to your VN. Know your limits, and keep them in mind when writing. If you can only afford to commission art for a kinematic VN, and you're thinking of branching paths, then just make sure that the branching paths don't require new art, music, voice acting, etc.

[@christopherpoet458]

Yea, but that IS getting easier. We are not close to being able to fully speed up the production process but you can get character concepts through any art generator. You can get voices from Eleven Labs. The thing I never got was how games like College Kings gets the 3D Renders. Not just the scenes, but the whole thing. At the very least they do a good job of making it Look 3D. Someone mentioned something about a Daz Studio but that is completely out of my depth. And AI is just not yet there in filling all the gaps to do the whole production on my own. Sucks. Really.

[@hannahdeards9652]

​@@christopherpoet458Real visual novel fans and artists will never support content made with plagiarising AI 'artwork'.

[@christopherpoet458]

@@hannahdeards9652 Yea well, when you define your opinion on mistakes made on an industry that is less than 3 years old as if you expect everything to be perfect out of the gate, I suppose that is the mentality one would have. I honestly do not give rats ars if you like or dislike Ai art. You are entitled to your opinion. It is a shame your ability to respect a fellow artist though is so short sited. You don't get to make the call on who is and is not a real fan. You simply do not have that right. So if you are going to engage with me past this point, either you are going to do so with mutual respect regardless of differences, or I will simply ignore your existence.

[@mushroomcrepes4780]

I've written 4 visual novels in the past 2 years and never finished any of them cause I am too ambitious and just start doing everything head on without thought. But this time I really want to write it out and plan everything!

[@vimi]

I know this is probably advice you've heard a hundred times, but try doing some shorter projects to start: visual novels that only take a half hour to play through, with limited assets. You're going to learn a lot by finishing the process from start to finish!

[@christopherpoet458]

@@vimi Okay, but how do you know it is going to take half an hour to play? Or less? I noticed that a lot of published games aim for a 3 hour play period per "chapter" they release. But I never understood the formula to figure out how much you should put in to get X playtime. At least... I have not found an explanation.

[@vimi]

@@christopherpoet458 Testing, mostly. You can't exactly do a 1:1 determination from number of words to playtime, since there are lots of ways to slow users down, and not everyone reads at the same rate. So when you're running it past people, or you read it yourself, you figure out how much time on average it takes, and do an estimated playtime from that. After you play/make a bunch of VNs, you can get a sense of how long it takes to play too, but you mostly use that sense to know when to hurry stuff along, and when to let scenes simmer.

[@igretrovods9189]

1:43 that clip can be dangerous. Maybe a small seizure warning can be helpful

[@9ightdreamer]

Ive always dreamed of making games such as visual novels or RPGs. And Visual Novels is a main thing I wanna start doing!

[@user-di6qh2cq7r]

7:30 my favorite example of this is Katekyo Hitman Reborn! that started out as a gag manga and in 80 chapters turned into an action manga unlike anything else at the time (and currently on shonen jump). the second major arc after the tone shift still remains as one of the best arc seen in shonen jump!!

[@sailwindshadow]

Varia arc lives rent free in my mind. Incredible arc.

[@user-di6qh2cq7r]

@@sailwindshadow it was such a shell-shock and then the future arc hit and woah.... that arc still remains as one of the best arcs in shounen history in my honest opinion purely because well.... i dont think ive ever seen a shounen (or seinen for that matter) do what khr! did with future arc.

[@sailwindshadow]

@@user-di6qh2cq7r tbh i actually ended up not liking the future arc as much the longer it went, but i can appreciate how amano akira kept trying new things. it wasn't for me, personally, but it was still a good time. but i personally enjoyed the shimon arc more!!

[@bradnealip]

This is SO SO helpful. I'm only halfway through this video, and I've already gained so much traction on my idea. Thank you so much :)

[@vimi]

I'm glad to be of some help!

[@ShadowoftheMask]

Lot of useful advice here(especially when it comes to practical stuff like outlining and branches, I have hard time grasping how to write or plan out a branch), though always good to remember that different people have different writing styles, so for me lot of advice here just sounds kinda alien because I never really have issue of "umm what is this character doing here" problem since my writing approach is this weird train of thought which kinda starts from character personal motivations rather than idea of what I want to happen :'D Other thing I would comment that its usually better to do what you want to do rather than trying to figure out what would be profitable, since besides it being kinda hard to do market research, usually you do better writing anyway if you like what you are doing rather than trying to do something you aren't interested in but you suspect might be more popular.

[@shaynsnyolo]

Wow almost nobody talks about this. Big up to you for making a vid about this!

[@vimi]

I can see why there aren't more - it was really hard to do!

[@teacherdaniel3508]

Wow, this has been one of the most informative videos I've ever seen. Thank you!

[@vimi]

😳

[@Inddesign]

i must get this out of my sistem... i am currently on hiatus of my 1st "published" interactive novel, I was very discouraged by the lack of options that was given to me, also the bugs erasing my work. (i got this crazy idea of writing in english when I am an industrial designer and a non english native speaker.😂😅) but I still do not want to abbandon that "child" of mine. writer's block is serious, people! your advice and channel is pure gold!❤ thank you! but i am overwhelmed 😢

[@taylorneff844]

Just wanted to say your channel has been SO helpful for me! I’ve been making my first visual novel for the last year now while I’m still in school. Obviously doing a project like this is so much work but your videos have helped me see a clearer way through all of it. Thank you!

[@IgloNudelGames]

Hey, thank you so much for making this video! I really enjoyed it, I am going to be making my first visual novel. Due the to concept and complexity I have in mind, as well as time pressure, it feels a little overwhelming. However, this video was very encouraging! It was nice to confirm that my approach to writing and planning isn't too off, haha. It was also great to get some advice on how to branch the narrative and maintain an overview - some of the more scary things. So thank you very much :DD

[@vimi]

Thank you! I'm glad it was helpful!

[@HappyQCoins]

Have been thinking of starting on a visual novel The only 'professional' experience I have is illustrating, but I always wanted to write stories as well. I'll be revisiting this as a guide to get me through; thank you so much for this!

[@vimi]

I'm from an illustration background, too! Honestly, reading some of the awful books I was illustrating for was enough of a kick in the butt to get me into writing, and when I decided to go the interactive narrative route, I found the programming part isn't hard, either!

[@HappyQCoins]

@@vimi Wow, that's amazing! Absolutely can relate on bad writings, and wanting to get out some good stories. I've been feeling down lately because illustrating for other people's projects started to feel like an obligation. Starting on an interactive storytelling feels 'right'; very right and comfortable too, in my case. Something done for the joy of storytelling, not fulfilling obligations anymore. When you mentioned that programming part isn't hard, that gave me even more hope -- thank you so much!

[@vimi]

@@HappyQCoins Check out the DevTalk Discord channel if you want to connect to other visual novel artists, writers, programmers and musicians! I've found it to be a really good community of devs to bounce ideas off of, and get leads on good tools! discord.gg/devtalk

[@HappyQCoins]

@@vimi Oh my goodness, thank you so much for so many gems!! Just visited the discord and wow, so many stuff going on I'll learn to navigate through it -- couldn't express my thanks enough, thank you!!

[@deckrect]

If you draw yourself, then you already have the most problematic part solved. As we seen in the video, there is the hero's journey, but I confess I got far more comfortable with Dan Harmond's story circle and Blake Snyder's beat sheet. Both are great and after a couple of days studying it will increase your writing skills. I also get tons of tips from Film Courage.

[@deckrect]

I kind of dislike writing a "master" branching because it sounds like the right one. I still stumbling over different processes, but one thing that has been working so far is writing the blurp, write down characters and objectives and then making a wild and disconnected list of scenes I woul like placing in. Then I pick or create the starting scene. Every scene has a theme with exposition and/or conflict. For every conflict I ask if the main character gets what it wants at thar specific conflict. If "yes", then there is a "but" with a complication. If it is a "no", there is the consequences and development of the ongoing situation. I keep doing it aiming the previous organization of scenes and try to figure answers to close to that scene or a variation of that scene or any other scene that feels as an alternate option. Sometimes I even use these choices to set attributes and the like. I have projects with more complex systems, but it also works well.

[@vimi]

If a system works, it works!

[@erikdong]

Love this video. Clear, Concise, Efficient, and just awesome. Added value to beginners in the VNverse.

[@vimi]

Thank you! I'm planning more "soft skill" videos like this in the future!

[@starryeyed110796]

This was incredibly in-depth and helpful! Thank you so much :D

[@vimi]

Glad it was helpful!

[@yabuki2923]

Hiya. Just wanna say that I'm still happy to see all your videos, always really high quality!! This is a great rundown of the visual novel writing process (or writing process in general) and I'm definately going to swing this vid the way of some folks I know.

[@vimi]

Thanks! I'm planning out some more videos that delve more into developer "soft skills", so hopefully I should have some more videos coming out soon that will be helpful for writers and artists, as well as programmers and designers!

[@kawaiigroovycat4411]

I agree with your thumbnail. I think all VNs benefit from having more Rin in them.

[@kearalightning5844]

Thank you! There’s so few practical tutorials on writing visual novels. Please keep making videos like this! I’m curious what tools you use for your outlining and drafting before you get to the stages of building in Ren’py? Edit: wanted to add I especially love this technique of creating twigs with your streamlined bits

[@vimi]

I generally script out everything in a Google Document, and I'll use hyperlinks inside of the document to link to different sections, and a combination of document outlines to break the script into chunks. If I have any gameplay intense things, where the text is arranged a bit more modularly, I'll use a google sheet (excel doc) to arrange stuff out on a spreadsheet, and then TONS of tabs. I like to get stuff into engine ASAP though! I'll often do a lot of editing directly in engine, since certain lines hit different once I see them in context. It's a messy process, but it works for me!

[@S.O.SStudio]

I'm making my own Visual Novel so this helps. Thank you!

[@SunnyCress]

I’m making a tiny visual novel for my friends birthday and I mean there’s no way there’s room to include much of this but it is making me want to make more visual novels

[@The_Missus]

Thanks for taking the time to patiently explain the basics and making it fun along the way! Takes talent and effort but you made it look easy! Subbed and plan on going through many more videos.

[@Crim_Zen]

Interesting how you mention the fear of popcorn. Reminds me of Kent from stardew valley... it reminded him of war.

[@sirjamesfancy]

- 19:02 One is, lol. - I like the part where you mention little choices that don't change the story but give you individuality. Give your character personality. Also in Scarlet Hollow these little dialogue choices effect your relationships with characters, I assume with an invisible point system. - 23:23 Birb.

[@kerry5377]

So much good information here... just added it to my Writing playlist so I can rewatch it with some ideas in mind 😁

[@manamm_art6242]

As helpful as ever, thanks dude

[@vimi]

Glad to be of service!

[@archeacnos]

My method is like, having a random idea that could connect different endings, and then writing the scenario, and then getting ideas from nowhere

[@larissagranado7443]

Your videos are very good and super complete! You always explain in an easy way to understand, it helps a por Keep up the good work ♥️ Kisses from Brazil

[@vimi]

Thank you!

[@mbmaline]

nice to see another brazilian here

[@deckrect]

One more here

[@kiillabytez]

Hardest part for me was getting a great camera angle. Composition is the easiest but getting the right framing was always problematic.

[@pherostudio5398]

The aura of an artist is with this one.

[@vimi]

😎 I'm glowing

[@cyan1932]

Thank you , I’m trying to make simple visual novel , but I’m still a beginner.

[@The_hexgames]

Starting my visual novel and this video is so helpful! 🤩

[@foxdriftstudios]

Omg your channel blew up, well deserved!! Your videos are awesome! :D

[@vimi]

🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️

[@lexibyday9504]

I wish the visual novels I have played had watched this video. Too many times I've been up all night scouring the game for some hint of the one good ending (why is that a thing anyway) only to give up after unlocking every other ending and look up a walkthrough and... what the hell? the one and only path to the good ending reads like unlocking a super secret easter egg!!!

[@mauriciomorali5392]

Great video! it helped me a lot with giving my story a bit of proper structure, thanks for sharing.

[@vimi]

Glad I could help!

[@johnmcdoesntexist5951]

I’m a simple guy I saw rin in the thumbnail I knew this guy knows what he’s talking about

[@vimi]

this guy knows what I'm talking about

[@FioreFire]

In my last visual novel, I got really stuck on the script writing even with clear understanding of character motivations in mind, because I just couldn't see a way for them to resolve the plot as they were. The solution ended up being to go back and change who one of the characters was as a person. It can feel wrong to tamper with your brain-children like that, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

[@lashwrithe01]

It's a really good idea to go all the way through first. I keep thinking that you need to think of every path right away.

[@mikem1406]

Excellent video, lots of good knowledge. I'm wondering if you use (or know of) a computer application that assists in creating the main plot line and then expanding into the branches and twigs? Perhaps you have a video on how to create an outline script in a document editor. Thanks.

[@vimi]

I'll definitely be making a video on this, but most of the computer applications I've been testing are aimed at professional game writers operating within a larger team (and they usually have Unity export options and everything!), but are WAY more complicated than what a hobbyist visual novel dev would need. I think the solution for most Visual Novel Devs doesn't involve a singular game program, but utilizing a few different ways to present game information (flowcharts, spreadsheets, and word documents).

[@LockandKeyHyena]

very useful video covering parts i haven’t seen other people go over! ty!

[@coraliacries4209]

you should probably put a flash warning for that boxing clip my friend and i were watchign and I had to rapidly scroll into comments and she had to look away quickly becuase she has epilepsy

[@vimi]

Thanks for the heads up! Added a warning to the description text!

[@coraliacries4209]

@@vimi thanks!

[@drunkentsundere]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge!! This has been extremely helpful.

[@vimi]

Glad I could help!

[@ultrasleep7615]

Great video! I wanted to make a VN out of my story off the bat, but thinking about everything in the video, I think I'd rather make a comic of my story first, see if there is enough fan support to warrant making a full fledged VN game

[@SerMon22]

Thank you. This is a video I sorely needed.

[@unbeknownstx12]

I wrote a novel an drew the first volume of my manga and have scripted scenes for voice actors , it’s been monumental in helping sequence the visual novel but for a vn with branching paths etc that’s the hardest part for me

[@kmat97]

Great video ! Rly informative and well organized :) Super underrated GJ!

[@vimi]

Thank you! I try my best!

[@nonkiru]

This video is incredibly helpful, thank you so much!!!

[@vimi]

Glad to be of service!

[@kiillabytez]

My greatest advice: Pretend you're making a movie. That's all.

[@northernlight7161]

You have so many good videos. Love you man.

[@BeaverShapes]

This is lifesaving. Thank you Senpai!

[@vimi]

[@WeepinAngel]

So like, I appreciate you sort of stressing the importance of character outlines to the story, but can you provide some tips on how to make a character? I've only got like one to two characters, and I don't really know how to make a character that doesn't talk like my protagonist.

[@vimi]

There are hundreds of strategies, theories, and methodology for writing "characters", and there's no one-size-fits-all solution that can work for every author. Except this one: Take a character you like - a person you know in real life, a character from another story, or an archetype - and just write them into your story. You probably already have a good grasp on what they sound like, how they would react to a situation, and what motivates them, so use that! You'd be surprised how often this is used in popular fiction! Sherlock Holmes was based on one of Arthur Conan Doyle's professors, the Joker was inspired by the film "The Man Who Laughs", and the "Byronic Hero" archetype, popularized by the poet Lord Byron, inspired everything from Edward Cullen to Wolverine!

[@elexetor_wrzod-Raven]

Visual Novel Progress: Step 1: Idea Step 2: Creating Step 3: Releasing Step Bro : i'm stuck Oni-chan

[@vimi]

Marketing Visual Novels is a whooooole different video.

[@luislodosm]

Great content, and love your setup.

[@daludna]

This helped a lot, thank you!!

[@strawbz_saintz]

I'm trying to make a dating sim and this is really helpful!! Thank you!

[@TheBBCSlurpee]

You are so real for this

[@tjreed7797]

Trying to practice commitment with a story idea and fleshing it out to a full fledged story I've been working on and off again. ATM, it's in its "jello" stage (a state where I'm satisfied with certain things but it's still up for some changes) and I'm not sure if I should continue with it or not since I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with where it's at.

[@vimi]

That's always a rough spot! Personally, I like to let stuff like that rest. Work on some side projects, pump out some short stories, try a new hobby for a bit, and come back to it when I'm refreshed. Sometimes you need time away from a story to realize which are the important parts, and which parts are fluff. Worst case scenario, if you really can't fix it, you can move onto a new long term project, and leave that until inspiration hits you! Wait, scratch that, worst case scenario is you commit to finishing a story you don't like. blegh.

[@ggadams639]

Very intersting video! I'm really bad at writing but I really want to achieve my project

[@vimi]

You get better at writing by achieving projects, so you're on your way!

[@pyxilate]

I’m currently planning my own Visual Novel (it’s called High Fantasy) and this is really helpful! Thank you so much. I was wondering if there was a way to add a combat system into one, or if that would change the game too much?

[@vimi]

I have a whole video on creating an RPG combat engine in Ren'py! It IS a bit of work, and there's a LOT of other systems you likely need to design and implement, but it's doable. It's worth evaluating other game engines to determine what would be the easiest one to work with your ideas , of course. Godot is pretty good, and RPG Maker works REALLY well with any VN/RPG hybrid. Lots of other choices, too!

[@813South]

I just came across your channel at 1:46 am est because I’m trying to get my second VN started and you have great advice thank you. By the way do you use twine to write out your stories

[@vimi]

I usually write out my stories in a Google Doc, with separately annotated sections. For complicated segments, I'll make a labeled story flow chart, and throw it in the doc, including the text for the separate sections underneath.

[@813South]

@@vimi I think you would find twine very interesting. I use doc as well and with twine you can copy a paste your work and it has a flow chart and you can do so coding in it.

[@keokluck]

I loved this so much, thank you.

[@vimi]

You're welcome!

[@andresgeary4433]

Really good video!!! You have won a new sub!!!

[@vimi]

Thanks for the sub!

[@edge83mediallc]

This is a brilliant video. Thanks

[@YaboiFoon]

TAIGA THUMBNAIL LETS GOOOOO

[@zuck3rn]

This question isn’t really related to the video but do you have any tips for art? I’m working on my own visual novel and I honestly don’t know how to start with visuals

[@vimi]

I'll do some videos on that soon. In the meantime, try to design your characters with STRONG SILHOUETTES. Younger artists tend to start by sketching out a full character, details and all, but you want to start earlier; just try to get a sense of their shape and silhouette. A lot of strong designs start with a rectangle, triangle, or oval, and build or subtract from them to give a suggestion of a character: their body type, props, personality, etc.

[@deckrect]

I had the same problem, but my solution was very specific for a hobby adult game made for fun. I'm using a software from thrixxx Interactive. I tried unity, but was too heavy for my PC. There are a few sites with free assets like sound, background and characters. But you have to adjust your vision to what you find. If you are making it for fun and not business, there is a bunch of free resources.

[@It_a_Kis]

Started watching that because I have this unfortunate tendency to make my VN ideas into just fragmented scenes in an overgrown setting 😅

[@vimi]

The adage "in writing you must kill all your darlings" became popular for a reason. Lots of us have really great fragmented scenes in our back pockets, and the trick is finding stories where they can fit and thrive.

[@Mehdix69]

Bro is carrying the whole visual novel future writers

[@samyychannomnom9536]

Do you think an idea for a written novel would translate well into a visual? For example, would Twilight be a good visual novel? How would branching paths be incorporated into the story of Twilight that's already written, or would that just be subplots? Thank you!

[@vimi]

I don't see why an idea for a written novel wouldn't translate into a visual novel! Not every story needs branching paths, though! Visual Novels without branching story paths are called "Kinetic Visual Novels" and are totally valid. That being said, you have some really good ideas for different story paths in Twilight, I do not want to be the one to stop you!!!

[@rhipsi]

i hate how funny the editing is

[@nolalb824]

been thinking of doing a vn with a friend, lets see where it goes :D

[@vimi]

🤞

[@valiantshadow89]

“You don’t wanna suggest that one’s, like, the correct choice- *push in* One is.” Man knows what’s up! :p :p :p

[@vimi]

we all know which one too

[@angelos3049]

It's kind of funny when I started my visual novel. I already wrote a ton of the script and then I tried it out and I found out I was completely unsatisfied with it. Deleted about 1000 lines of script and started from fresh and got some stuff I am pretty damn content with.

[@vimi]

I will say, I became a MUCH faster writer after I realized I'd be deleting most of what I write anyway 🥵

[@angelos3049]

@@vimi Totally get what you mean. It is quite painful to delete a ton of script after you worked hard on it, but always better to delete and start fresh than to keep it in and be unsatisfied with it. Gotta say I really appreciate the renpy video's you've made so far. Has helped me change a ton of the stuff in my visual novel so far to the point where it feels a lot more fluid. Definitely one of, if not the best renpy tutorial maker out there.

[@vimi]

@@angelos3049 Thanks!

[@faizamoezi510]

DAMN if thé trophy of thé best guide are Real this guide will have it

[@vimi]

[@fanadrawnimation3001]

J'aime bien avoir très peu de personnages dans une histoire (elles ne sont jamais aussi longues qu'un roman de 3h00 et je ne fais pas d'histoires épiques avec de l'aventure). Le mieux est d'avoir un personnage principal sur lequel se concentrer. Un perso sympa le connaissant et étant assez présent et lui apportant un côté positif qu'il n'a pas par exemple ou qui l'aidera. Notre perso peut apprendre de lui même sans que l'autre lui fasse clairement des leçons de vie. Un perso déclencheur comme par exemple le Patron dans l'histoire de mon VN en cours actuellement qui va embaucher notre gars dans sa société secrète pour ses aptitudes et surtout sa manière de penser peu commune qui lui plait bien. C'est à ce moment-là que tout commence réellement à devenir intéressant (sa commence très vite car tout est dit et montré très rapidement et simplement en ne parlant des choses importantes pour bien comprendre cette chose qui rend notre gars un peu..spécial (rien de magique, hein) et des problèmes qu'il doit faire face dans la vie de tous les jours ainsi que sa personnalité résumée brièvement et de son objectif un peu flou mais que l'on comprend d'une certaine manière par nous même. Ainsi, le Patron va l'emmener dans sa nouvelle vie et R qui est un perso apparaissant peu de temps après pour une certaine raison est liée au Patron et va beaucoup apporter à notre consciemment comme inconsciemment (c'est le perso sympa à avoir comme je l'ai expliqué plus haut). Avec tout ça, l'histoire avance toute seule et on va en apprendre plus sur notre gars, R et le P ainsi que leur relation père-fille (idée apparut par la suite qui est l'une des meilleures) et tout ceci, sur un fond de course poursuites avec un embouteillage tombant mal, inventions, problèmes, kidnapping douteux, révélations bien amenées (je pense) et passé influent forcément sur le présent de divers manières. Il y aura pleins de sujets différents qui vont bien ensemble et il n'y aura pas de: "moi j'ai été adoptée, c'est important, je suis triste mais rien ne se passe par rapport à ça et sa sort de nulle-part pour rien amener"... Donc, voici des exemples et des conseils faciles qui pourraient vous aider si vous avez du mal sur ces aspects. (Je me suis éparpillée, je sais. J'ai la flemme de me corriger donc je laisse ça comme ainsi. Peu liront et surtout jusqu'ici donc ce n'est pas grave après tout). (Je ne me mets pas sur un piédestal ni mon histoire. Je ne suis pas écrivain (plutôt script et pour usage personnel pour l'instant) et donc je voulais juste paraître confiante car même si j'aime ce que je fais car mes persos, je sais que beaucoup pourraient s'y attacher autant que moi et que mes idées restent originales (je déteste les clichés si ce n'est pas pour en rire et le vu et revu quand ce n'est pas agréable et sa l'est rarement) mais je sais pertinemment que mon travail ne vaut pas une bonne histoire écrite par un professionnel intelligent.

[@gungancrab]

15:59 I am punished for drinking while watching this video. Thank you for sharing your process. This really helped me unravel how I was going to write my game story.

[@moonhall]

25:44 This will now be included in my visual novel mark my words

[@porky1118]

18:40 Who said, we would create trees?

[@creeperselvaggio3754]

Thank you some much for all you are doing

[@Dimumouto]

This may sound like a REALLY dumb question with an obvious answer, but how would you apply the topics in this video to a sound novel instead of a visual novel? I'm working on a sound novel myself and outside of the whole branching path system (since I won't have one), I think I can apply a lot of this to my own work.

[@vimi]

We're crafting within an inherently interactive medium, and I think it's worth exploring how you can thematically incorporate player interaction within your narrative, even if it doesn't "branch" the story. I called out "Minigames" specifically in the later part of the video, but think about it more like "how I want the user to advance the story". By default, the user usually clicks to advance (kind of boring), but what if you replaced that default action with a ludonarrative twist? What if instead of clicking, they had to wipe away the previous screen, like in the visual novel "If Found..."? Or what if the only decisions your reader made were what drinks to mix, like in "VA-11 HALL-A"? Even occasionally altering the default input from "click" to "swipe" or "scroll" can give a part of your story a different feeling! This is a complicated idea that will DEFINITELY get its own video later on, but it's something that I've tried to keep in mind with my own visual novels; making them not only fun to read, but something fun and surprising to physically engage with, that enhances the story you're trying to tell!

[@BiberandDolik]

Duuude! Exactly what i was looking for! Subbed! Do you have any opinion on using Midjourney and other AI to create characters? Also, what are some VNs you enjoy that inspired you or you learned from?

[@vimi]

Currently Steam doesn't allow games that use AI generation, and there are many copyright/legal issues involved with AI generated art, so if you have any intention of widely releasing a VN for profit, simply from a practical standpoint, devoid of my private opinions, I advise against using any of those tools at this time. I'm a big fan of The House of Fata Morgana, but I feel like I learn the most by playing other contemporary indie VNs, since if I see anything cool or interesting, I can always reach out and ask how they did it!

[@RM-xr8lq]

you can use AI for the concept art and internal references, that is what most professionals are doing already (much faster than photobashing). the less detailed you are in your prompt the more average and derivative its designs will be though, so make sure to be specific

[@Wrong896]

This video is about visual novels and it has araki book VISUAL NOVEL ARE A JOJO REFERANCE

[@vimi]

See if you can spot the JoJo references in my latest videos!

[@The00glie]

15:50 i understand the struggle 😔

[@vimi]

it's okay 😔

[@4Usuality]

great information here

[@lovemoonforever6068]

So, I'm writing my own interactive visual novel game rn, it has the theme of loop with a dark element of it, but idk how to tell the full story while also keeping the time loop story, so an advice would be greatly appricated! + 1 sub to you

[@vimi]

Don't worry about putting everything you like into your one story! Figure out what's the most important element of your game, and make sure everything else is in service to that. There's a reason they say you have to "kill your darlings".

[@lovemoonforever6068]

@@vimi Thanks for the advice! Hope you have a great day!

[@aurorasowerbii]

This is also just generally good writing advice! thanks!

[@porky1118]

26:25 Another collab tip: Use Git (or another VCS)

[@vimi]

Yes!

[@soundrogue4472]

0:07 what about kinetic novels?

[@vimi]

"A lot of videos I've seen on Branching Narratives and Visual Novels," is what I called out specifically for showing that chart. If you have videos you'd recommend on writing/designing kinetic visual novels, let me know! In the meantime, expect some videos on the topic very soon (this Saturday, specifically!)

[@Marianoejar]

Are you interested in playing / reviewing watchers' finished VNs?

[@vimi]

Not particularly. I'm focused more on VN making on this channel, and aiming at other VN devs, so I'm not exactly the best target market for VN reviews. I will, in the future, be covering some visual novels and other narrative games that I feel are worth analyzing and taking inspiration from, but I don't want to open myself up to getting 30+ VN review requests every month, you know?

[@nyn2k259]

Nice video, tell me about assets, & sites we can get them from thanks.

[@JuleSan_jk]

The traffic lights!! XDDD Pretty informative and looooong video! I agree that the best storytelling techniques come from MangaKa! In Germany this book you recommended was never published :'/ What is the full title, maybe a link to it? ^^

[@vimi]

Hirohiko Araki's Manga in Theory and Practice: the Craft of Creating Manga www.amazon.com/Manga-Theory-Practice-Craft-Creating/dp/1421594072

[@JuleSan_jk]

​@@vimi Thank you very much for the infos! Does this book makes more sense to read, if you're familiar with the JoJo's Saga? (Which I'm not^^") Did you read the Bakuman Manga-Series? Another great example for learning while reading entertaining stuff

[@vimi]

@@JuleSan_jk You don't need to be familiar with any of Araki's work for the book to make sense; he mentions his own characters only for some template examples. And I love Bakuman!

[@JuleSan_jk]

@@vimi Pretty cool²

[@escapefr0mslender]

I'm making mine so i can get better at programming, because visual novels aren't very.. "rich" code-wise.. Well thats what i thought.. I thought it'd be easy to make but its so hard. I'm too prideful to stop now so here we go

[@vimi]

You can do it!