Fullbody drawing of Iryna Rusia.
Iryna Rusia
Month: August 2017
How to Make Visual Novels
Visual novels are a fun medium for bringing stories to life that combine game mechanics, written stories, and visuals into one package. They’re not too hard to make on a technical level, and are a great way to get your voice out there. But it can be daunting to figure out how to make visual novels when you first start out. Let’s go over some basics first.
Update 2024: Added even more links.
Update 2023: Added even more new links.
Update 2020: Added some new links for resources.
Update 2019: Tweaked this some here and there to update it for 2019. Hope you enjoy!
Lights Out Post-LD Update Announced
Yep, fully announcing that I’ve started on a post-Ludum Dare build of Lights Out for the horror game jam held by a few acquaintances, Pixel Horror Jam 2. I’m still not sure how much I’ll add (I’ve been told I have to double the content, though that doesn’t necessarily mean story-wise), but I have planned to at least double the mansion, add more tiles, add at least one puzzle, add more interactions, add a sprite for Hiram’s head (which I already sketched, but never had time to finish), and make the game harder (making it darker to see). I’ve been working on it for the past few days- in order to make sure I don’t get burnt out and am able to add a lot more content to it, I’m going to pace myself (as the jam doesn’t end for another 3 months).
I did this stained glass piece originally during LD (I mean, of course I did) but never got to use it, but now I’m able to.
Lights Out (LD39) Updates
Here’s a small post-Ludum Dare devlog. Lights Out is now on 3 different sites, for all your browser-playing needs!
I’ve received a few comments saying that the lights didn’t seem necessary and that there should be some more foreshadowing/buildup to the story, so I’ll most likely make a post-LD build of the game with darker rooms and more interaction and story.
Still, I’ve received a lot of great feedback on this game, and I’m very happy that people like it! This has basically solidified that I want to do RPG Maker games for most of my future LD entries, as they’re a great way to blend game play with visual novel story telling.