Making an entire visual novel is hard enough, so could you imagine making one by yourself? Solo visual novel development is hard, but not as hard as you might think.
As a visual novel developer myself, most of my games are made solo – you can see my portfolio here. But how do we define “solo”?
Typically, a game is made “by yourself” if you’re not only the primary contributor but the only person with a say on the project. Using creative commons materials (like free to use backgrounds, music, etc.) and getting input / advice from friends doesn’t disqualify a game as being “solo made”. Even commissioning others, such as hiring a musician, can still be considered “solo made” if they don’t have a say in the rest of the project and are just being hired for an asset(s), whereas hiring a programmer can negate this because they work with every department (writing, art, sound) to bring it together. The primary factor is typically if they have a creative say in the project.
With the definition out of the way, how do you actually make a visual novel by yourself, especially if you can’t do every aspect a game requires? I surveyed over 30 other visual novel developers and together we’ve assembled some advice for you!
some stats
First, let’s take a look at who I surveyed. Over 30 developers answered my survey and here’s some general info on them.
how many visual novels have you made solo?
The biggest segment of people had made 2 visual novels solo, with a majority having made 3 or less visual novels by themselves. Quite a few people have made more than 4+ visual novels solo though, which is amazing!
Personally, I’ve made over 10+ visual novels solo as I’ve been making visual novels for 10 years as of this November (happy early anniversary to me).
why did you decide to make a visual novel by yourself?
People have a lot of different reasons for making visual novels by themselves rather than assembling a team. For myself, I like doing the different parts—I like using my own art, having it be my own words, and doing my own scene direction while programming.
I wanted to do the fun parts like drawing and writing and learn the difficult parts like coding also for fun. It seemed doable solo!
anonymous
Since I’m still just starting out, I didn’t want the additional pressure of leading or participating in a team. This way, I had the freedom to try things out at my own pace
Glueblade
I had tried to work as part of a team on a few [occasions], but discovered that 1) I have trouble sticking to deadlines, and 2) I find it hard to commit to work if I’m not passionate about what I’m making. When working in groups I often let my teammates down [because] of these things, so I stopped joining groups; however I was still interested in making VNs.
anonymous
No one else was going to make my stories. I commissioned voice actors and artists upfront [because] I personally don’t take “split revenue” or “promise of “future payment” and [would] never ask someone else to.
anonymous
To be able to take a blank canvas and transform it into a piece of art, to be able to point at it and say “I made that,” to give birth to something out of nothing, I find that to be meaningful and satisfying. The process is more valuable to me than the end result. Therefore, I have to be the one to undertake the journey of creation.
Nick
I’ve always found including more people complicates the process, it’s far easier just to manage myself. (I also enjoy writing, coding and drawing for them!)
Ekkoberry
what engine did you use to make your visual novel?
An overwhelming amount of people (72.7%, 24 people) use Ren’Py, which is also the engine I use. I was surprised more people didn’t use Unity with the Naninovel plugin, but this was a small sample size.
As I went over in my how to make visual novels guide, Ren’Py and Naninovel are two of the most popular engines in English-speaking communities for making visual novels.
why did you use this engine?
When I got started in 2021, [Ren’Py] felt like the engine to choose if you wanted to make a visual novel. I have worked in RPG Maker before but it already felt overly clunky to me and way more than I would need for a VN, so I didn’t want to go back to that. I’d also tried Novelty once many years ago, but had a lot of issues using it at the time and I discovered it was basically defunct when I looked it up again.
Carrot
I use Ren’Py because it’s an engine I first started learning and have been using since then. GameMaker because I have it and I want to use it to make more complex VN mechanic.
anonymous
Godot/Unity […] support mobile devices better than Ren’Py. I wanted to include animations with Spine, and I wanted more flexibility to add custom features. I also like coding in C# as opposed to modified Python. (I swapped to Godot after the Unity fiasco last year.)
Chattercap
Ren’Py is free and one of the most popular VN engines, so it felt like the obvious choice
Glueblade
Ren’Py because it’s what most people seemed to use for VNs so I wanted to at least learn how to use it. Godot because I’d used it for other games so I had more experience with that than with Ren’Py.
SeaLiteral
While Ren’Py is the primary recommendation for new developers, it’s important to go with an engine that works best for you. For myself and a lot of other developers, Ren’Py is the best fit for us, but it’s always good to look into other engines and compare what they can offer to what you want to make.
how big was your biggest solo visual novel, in terms of word count?
Completing a visual novel by yourself is already a big achievement, but there is a difference of magnitude between finishing one that’s a few minutes long versus a few hours long.
Over half of the participants answered that their biggest solo visual novel was under 35k words long, or around a couple of hours. However, 6 people answered answered that they had made visual novels over 75k words long, which is several hours. Personally, the longest (completed) visual novel I’ve made is right around 75k words, though my ongoing project Canvas Menagerie will be around 140k when it’s released.
how long did it take you to finish your 1st solo visual novel?
There’s a big variety of time frames for finishing visual novels, as some are made in a weekend for experimental game jams and some are multi-year passion projects.
Most people said they spent 1 month making their first solo visual novel, which lines up with most visual novel game jams being 1 month long (such as NaNoRenO, Spooktober, Winter VN Jam, and more).
Less than a week – 4 people
1-2 weeks – 4 people
Less than a month – none
1 month – 6 people
2 months – 2 people
3-5 months – 4 people
Half a year – 1 person
7-11 months – 3 people
1 year – 2 people
1 and 1/2 years – none
2 years – 3 people
3 years – 3 people
4 years – none
5 years – none
Over 5 years – 1 person
My first finished visual novel was made in 72 hours for Ludum Dare, a weekend-long game jam. It’s very hard to make a visual novel in that short a time frame, but not impossible!
what platforms have you released your solo visual novels on?
I was curious to see what platforms the developers I surveyed had released their visual novels to. Personally, I’ve released my own games on Windows, Linux, macOS, android, and HTML.
Windows – 32 people
Linux – 23 people
macOS – 28 people
android – 7 people
iOS – 0 people
HTML – 11 people
Consoles – 1 person
in the weeds
Now that we’ve got some precursor questions out of the way, let’s dive further into how to actually make a visual novel by yourself.
what are your first steps that you do when you decide to make a new solo visual novel?
There’s so many ways you could start working on a new project and pretty much no bad way to do so, but how do other devs start?
I do an outline, just cram ideas down, and then make a plan for how many art asset’s I’ll need, and break the plot outline into manageable chunks, and then I put things down into percentages like how much is written how much is drawn and programmed and everything
anonymous
Come up with a character or 2, have a general story concept in mind, maybe find a game jam I’m excited for with interesting constraints I feel I can work with.
Ekkoberry
Come up with a rough idea / synopsis for the story, then the main cast of characters. I tend to write detailed character profiles first before working on a story outline.
anonymous
I create an overview document where I plan out the story, scope, and materials needed for research, and I also assemble preliminary character designs & their color palettes in free dress-up games & slap them into this document. Sometimes if my idea is strong enough, I jump straight to sketching a character out with paper and pencil.
papaya
Often it’ll have been an idea that I’ve had for a while, but there was a crucial piece missing. (Mechanics, characters, plot hook) When I commit to development, I think of mechanical structure first. If the emotional arc can’t be conveyed through mechanics alone, then there’s no sense in going any further.
anonymous
I come up with a general concept for the game. It starts with a hook (e.g. “What happens after the happily ever after?”, for example), and then I come up with a general theme/central question. After that I come up with the beginning and the ending, and then I start to fill in the gaps between those points.
Chattercap
I go from a series of mental images, write a coherent story from it, then go into the visual design aspect like sprites and backgrounds
anonymous
Character designs and outlining usually are hand-in-hand for me. I need an idea of who the characters are, and what the story is, before I get to work on development proper.
anonymous
Personally, I start by doing character concepts and a rough outline. Sometimes when I feel really inspired, I’ll dive right into writing, but loop back around to character concepts and an outline before getting too far.
what are some useful tools when planning?
Just like there’s a lot of different ways to plan out your next visual novel, there’s also a variety of tools you can use to help plan it. Here’s a list of the commonly cited tools that were helpful when planning.
- Trello
- Google Docs & Google Drive
- Scrivener
- Twine
- Asana
- Miro
- Notion
- Good old pencil & paper
Personally, I like to plan things out in paper notebooks. I get a cheap notebook and throw everything in there – character bios, rough outlines, scene ideas, artwork details, asset information, and more.
how did you estimate the size/scope of the project?
Estimating the size / scope of a project is difficult for any game dev and almost impossible to get right for new developers. Even as an experienced developer, I still under & overshoot my estimates but I am much closer to my initial plans than I used to be.
there’s 10 different things: writing, editing, sprites, backgrounds, CGs, coding, UI, music, testing, and advertising and that’s how I calculate how much of the project is done. I have each “part” of the outline and I’ll write the first part and however many words that comes out to be, I multiply that by how many parts there are total for an estimated word count. First part is 5000 words? whole game is 9 parts, therefore it will be around 45k
anonymous
Knowing thyself, mostly. Gut feeling/estimates work if you have enough experience with execution. Getting those first couple of incorrect scope projects out of the way and learning how to [execute] is important! I believe you grow the muscle to scope over time.
Ekkoberry
I estimate based on what resources are available to me, and downsize if something I need is not available or if I know I will lack the means to produce a certain quantity of assets/content/features.
papaya
I look at the core idea / mechanic and see how far that can be stretched. If I think it’s too long and complicated, it’s probably not so good idea to do it solo.
anonymous
I think about how many characters (and therefore sprites) and how many scenes there will be to get an idea of how much art and writing will be required.
Glueblade
When I estimate my own scope, I first look at my overall idea. How long do I think it’ll take me to tell the story I have in mind? Will it take 25k words, 40k words, 70k words? How many characters will I need to tell the story? Will this be set in an isolated area, like a single apartment, or will it be spread out across an entire town?
For Crimson Waves on the Emerald Sea, I estimated it’d take me somewhere around 25-40k to tell the story of a vagabond and a runaway kid catching a vampire in a linear fashion. I knew the cast would be very small, with only 4 main characters, so the character art assets were very limited.
Managing scope can be hard, as even just one extra scene can severely bloat your scope – what if the scene requires multiple new, never used again backgrounds as well as an outfit change for the cast or a brand new character just for the scene? Still, estimating the scope from the get-go and keeping it in check is vital for proper management.
if your scope ended up much larger than expected, what did you do?
Estimating the scope is one thing, but if you aren’t accurate then what will you do?
[Once] I realized how large the scope was getting, I decided to start releasing [Our Wonderland] in parts instead. This helped me greatly for many different reasons. First, I could then focus solely on a single part at a time, and each part was a much more reasonable 30-40k words. Working on and releasing each part felt like releasing a small(er) standalone VN, and I was able to stay a lot more motivated because I knew that the goal was much closer and more attainable. This also allowed me to already have people playing the game much sooner.I can’t imagine if I had waited to finish the game and release the whole thing all at once. I wouldn’t have anyone playing or talking about the game for 2.5 years! Instead, I was able to get feedback and see people enjoying and loving the characters much earlier on, which was another point of motivation for me. Admittedly, it took a while for this to happen (I didn’t start to see any traction until the release of the third part, and didn’t have anything like the engagement I have today until starting around the first third of the fifth part). So that did hurt my motivation early on. But I think the combination of smaller goals overall really contributed in helping me to keep working even when I was feeling down and demotivated. I think if I were going to start working on another large VN again in the future (100k+ words or so), I’d do something similar and release it in parts as I find this quite conducive to how I work best.
Carrot
For me, MVP is always the goal, though I think it comes from knowing how quickly I can tire of a project rather than a firm ability to use a scope knife. (You don’t have to cut it if you never add it in the first place!) I tend to be extremely rigid with my projects and having the ability to resist the allure of additional ideas midway into the project has saved me many times.
Ekkoberry
Left out the things I didn’t have time to do. Thankfully, I tend to start with the most needed ones so that the things that end up missing end up being things that the story could still be understood without.
SeaLiteral
I realized my usual process was slowing down my estimated dev time, so I changed how I do things. I also cut out [unnecessary] assets and scenes that would have essentially added nothing or close to nothing other than extra work for myself.
anonymous
Personally, when I realize my scope is much bigger than intended, I assess why that happened and if I need to cut it back down or if I should just roll with it.
For my short VN Starlit Regrets which was made solo in 10 day for Velox Fabula 2, I knew from the get-go that my script would be 10k+ and wasn’t surprised when it hit 15k. However, I only finished writing the script on the last day (wrapping up the endings) and had to skip over some scenes I had outlined. Because it was the last day, I had also ran out of time to do some extra art variations I wanted – all of that had to be cut to ensure the game would be submitted not just on time but in a mostly polished state.
However, for my VN Lost Lune, I had aimed for around 25-35k as a month long game jam entry for Winter VN Jam, but quickly realized that the script was going to be 40k+ and not something I could do in a month (at that time). Rather than cut down the scope, I worked on a short demo and have chipped away on the project ever since as a back burner project (which is now well over 40k+ and only 3/4ths written….).
If the project is your main project, then in a lot of cases you will need to cut things out. These can be things you remove altogether or things you leave to add in later, possibly as a post-release addition. Either way, reassessing your scope is vital.
how did you get the assets for your visual novel?
For this question, people were able to pick multiple answers, as someone might make some assets themself but also use free to use assets in the same project. 28 people said they make assets themself, 18 people said they use creative commons assets, and 8 people said they commission assets. Remember, there’s a strong overlap between these as 33 people answered this question.
I typically make most of my own assets and use a few creative commons assets such as backgrounds. On bigger projects I also tend to commission custom music, backgrounds, and trailers.
if you made assets yourself (art, writing, music, etc), what software/tools did you use?
People cited a variety of tools, such as….
Art:
- Clip Studio Paint
- Photoshop
- Paint.net
- Procreate
- Blender
- Krita
- Adobe Illustrator
Audio:
- Logic Pro
- Audacity
- FL Studio
- SynthFront
Writing & scripting:
- Google Docs
- Libre Office
- Obsidian
- VSCode
if you used creative commons assets, where did you find them?
People cited several different websites where they found creative commons assets, such as……
Art:
- DLsite
- Unsplash
- Pixabay
Audio:
- freesound.org
- DOVA-SYNDROME
- soundimage.org
the really important stuff
what should you keep in mind when you’re about to release a VN you’ve made solo?
Actually getting to the release stage of your VN is an admirable feat, but what are some things you should be mindful of when you’re ready to release it?
I suggest not rushing things, even if you’re entering a game jam. As some people will mention below, you should take some time to properly set up your itch.io page (and Steam, though that is a much longer process) for players. This includes….
- a proper description detailing the game, credits, any content warnings, etc.
- multiple screenshots of the game
- tags that fit the content
Double check your builds to ensure they can be played from beginning to end and don’t have noticeable bugs or any crashes. If you can, get friends to help test it.
This is advice for anyone but I think it’s especially good for solo devs who often wear a ton of hats: try not to let your health fall to the wayside in pursuit of game development. Sometimes you have to rest, and if you don’t, mental or physical exhaustion won’t care what you want to do.
anonymous
Get beta testers to keep your perspective fresh after getting used to your project for so long. Accept that your writing and art might improve over time, so try not to go back and infinitely make the assets better and better. Since you mostly created it, it will feel more personal, and you will feel more vulnerable sharing it.
anonymous
If you use itch.io, remember use all the tags your game could use. Don’t forget the tick box showing what platforms your game run, that is very very important! Even without marketing, tag help a lot to show your game to the right audience. Recolor your game page at the very least to make it more lively. A banner art at the top of the page is even better. And don’t forget to add nice screenshots, most player (myself included) tend to skip a game if there is no screenshots showing what the actual game look like.
anonymous
There are so many factors that can affect the success of a game, even a free one. And so many of them come down to luck. For instance, if a big streamer plays your game. If your game is in a category that’s very popular. If your game is put in the Fresh section on itch. All of these are out of your control, but can all greatly increase the success of your game. And if none of that happens, your game might sit there and not get much traction at all. AND THAT’S OK. It happens. But you might take it really hard and blame yourself and your game, when you shouldn’t. I guess what I’m trying to say is. Launch week kinda sucks!! You’ll likely experience a major slump. The release probably won’t be as successful as you hope, even if you’re actively trying to keep your expectations in check. But don’t give up hope because of an “unsuccessful” launch. Keep working on games. Keep being active. Keep talking about your work and your characters and your stories. The more you put out there, the more people will find your stuff. Take care of yourself during that launch week though. Plan for it! Plan for ways to treat yourself nicely and to take your mind off of things. Find friends in other devs who can relate. Play others devs’ games, especially if you’re part of a jam, not only to spread some love around, but also because you can learn so much from other games and styles. And above all, don’t let the trials of launch week keep you from creating.
Carrot
Promo. I’m bad at marketing so that’s always on my mind. With my current project I’ve been dropping various illustrations and news early so there’s a good back catalogue of content, I’m planning on doing a demo, and I’m going to ramp up more posting as I get closer to actually finishing the thing including a trailer.
anonymous
Tell people! it can feel very pushy to reblog or repost links before and after release. But if companies can spam the same ads over and over on your feeds, you can repost your release announcements once or twice a day. People follow you because they like you or your art. Trust them.
anonymous
Try to rely as much as you can on intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic motivation. What you make may go completely unnoticed by anyone else so the one person you have to satisfy is yourself.
Nick
what is 1 thing you wish you knew about making VNs solo before you started your projects?
You don’t have to feel obligated to make everything from scratch by yourself. I felt oddly obligated to do that (I didn’t even want to use Tweening libraries when coding my framework), and while I learned a lot, it took me a LONG time to release my first game. Take shortcuts if you need, learn stuff as you go along…game development is a marathon, not a race.
Chattercap
Working alone can kill your motivation faster because of all the different aspects you have to handle. Don’t treat yourself like an entire team in a single body, but rather a single body that has to move from desk to desk in an office, and be kind to yourself.
papaya
The first one’s gonna be a bit rough no matter how perfect you try to be, so just get through it.. It’s going to take forever, and probably be too largely scoped, but it’ll be SO valuable in teaching you how to make the next. Just keep going!
Ekkoberry
I wish I knew how many other “assets” I needed besides the game itself. It can take a lot of time to make a game page pretty, and you need content for marketing as well. It’s different kind of work [compared] to making game assets.
Ebbasuke
Having at least one person read your stuff as you write it/before you release it is great to catch mistakes, and it can also help keep you motivated.
Hollowmend
give a piece of advice to new solo VN devs that you couldn’t fit elsewhere!
Start small! The satisfaction of actually finishing something solo the first time will help drive you to be able to make slightly longer projects. Don’t start with your epic dream projects until you actually went through the first short project to know what to expect and scope down your dream project realistically.
anonymous
You will find that the people around you are more willing to help than you realize; feel free to ask friends for help with testing or proofreading or things like that. Extra eyes are incredibly helpful, since only having one set for most of the process can open you up to blind spots. But do keep your requests reasonable if you don’t have the means to compensate them.
papaya
If your project is free to play and not commercial: Make something because you believe in it and you’re the core audience. Of course it’s nice to make popular things and to have something appeal to a larger audience, but it’s so much easier to keep yourself inspired and to spread that enthusiasm to others you commission/have on board.
anonymous
Writing your script should be your #1 priority! I’ve seen lots of VNs fail to get finished because they get distracted by making/collecting assets and leave script writing for later. The script IS your game- Everything else is window dressing.
Hollowmend
Google annual VN game jams right now [or use this list], and try to schedule yourself time to work on one this year. If it’s a month long jam, scope nice and small. Think of a short 500-2000 word game with one or two characters and one location. Once you’ve made just one game by yourself, you’ll see how much fun it can be.
anonymous
1) Keep your scenes actively engaging. A bit of movement can go a long way. And that doesn’t mean your chars need to be moving wildly around the screen all the time! But even things like changing expressions for each new line the char says or small shifts in movement can help a scene feel much more immersive.
Carrot
2) Some people do this very well, but I think particularly in new VN devs, you could use music better in your VNs if you treat it more like scoring a movie rather than simply slapping songs in like an old-school RPG.
3) Interact with your fellow devs. I know people say time and time again that devs aren’t our main audiences. And they aren’t. But engaging with fellow devs on social media will help you feel more of a community and you can make some great friends! You’ll feel less alone in your devving endeavors for sure lol And you can play each other’s games and get some great feedback plus learn a lot!
To close this out, my advice to new solo developers—just go for it! Making art poorly is better than art that doesn’t exist. If you’re scared, don’t wait to ask for advice. The visual novel development community is big and there’s always people you can ask advice from to learn from their experiences.
Make the visual novels you want to see exist in the world.
This article ended up taking much more time than I planned, but it’s finally here just in time for Spooktober Visual Novel Jam. Game jams are a wonderful way to get your first game made. I recently finished Velox Fabula 2, a 10 day visual novel jam, where I made Starlit Regrets solo. I don’t like sticking to just ADV style for my VNs, so it was fun to try speech bubbles for the project!
….Buuut I’m already diving into a different game jam! At Studio Élan we just announced we’re doing a short internal game jam for yuri visual novels and I’m leading a small team to make a VN about a girlfailure witch who really really needs your help. Can’t wait to share more soon!
— Arimia