Basic Knowledge on VN Making

[Vulpini]

Hello, first of all i'm gonna introduce myself, i'm Daniel aka Vulpini. For the past half year i've been strangely attracted to the Visual Novel Genre, and since a couple of months i started learning how to use Ren'Py and other resources used in the VN Making process. Luckily i have some Python knowledge and i'm kind of an amateur writer (most things i wrote are awfull but i like them anyway). In the VN kind of collide my passion for writing stories for diferent perspectives (you know, diferent routes based on decisions) and VideoGames. OK that was boring, now, let's get to the point.

What anybody who wants to make VN should be capable of do?

What knowledge should a VN Maker need to have?

I've been following all kind of tutorials from Python coding to Sprite making (i have absolutely no talent for this last one), and i'm too doing on my own some little games like "The Question" tutorial one. But i keep wondering myself if i'm doing the right things to learn this, because you know, i really like doing this stuff, and I want to do it Right. So, if in your hearths have a little of compassion for this random noob user guy, i, and all others who read this will apreciate it a lot.

Btw i learned english playing Pokémon, so please forgive all my sintax and orthographic other mistakes

[plainviewer]

Visual novels are usually made with teams. Each individual handles a separate job: writing, art, programming, music. etc.

Learning to do all of those skills by yourself will certainly take a long time. It's just easier to have a team instead.

Of course, even if you aren't adept in all these fields, anyone can still make a visual novel with basic knowledge. But compared to ones made by teams, the quality won't be as good. There are exceptions, but these people spend a long time practicing and studying. Since you're just starting out, that's more trouble than you need.

If you want to make a visual novel, you should be proficient in programming, writing, or art. Those are the three main categories in visual novels. Pick whichever one you're most adept at, and stick to it. Then recruit others to fulfill the other roles.

So the short answer: know how to program, write, or draw. Then recruit others to do the rest.

[Alte]

You don't have to work with a group, you don't have to make the art and music. Just understanding the basics of coding and writing should be enough to finish your first project. In my opinion, getting first-hand experience is utmost important of building a foundation for oneself.

For starters, I encouraged whichever materials you can't make on your own, try using pre-made assets to find what you're looking for. Some visual novel makers overseas from what I've seen are students or hobbyist, they have been using free materials to accomplish making the first step of recognizing their needs.

As for the basics of visual novel presentation, make sure the texts are easy to read and contrast with the background. Keep it simple.

If you managed to finish your first project, be proud of what you create. It can be always be improved or expanded.

[Vulpini]

@plainviewer

Of course i know that do it all by myself would be a waste of time. Excelling at all skills required for this it's allmost imposible (same goes for all other activities in the world). But i'm too against the over-specialization on one thing.

For example now i write the script and stories for my VN, and a friend of mine does the draws. Because non of us know how to pass the drawings to computer graphic assets, i'm learning how to do that.

What i'm saying is that i can write the stories and dialogues of the Project (that would be my role in a team), but i think that i should know too how to do other stuff, even if it's just the basic of art and programming.

@Alte

Oh yes, hope i can find a group from where i can work and learn from it too, but it's really difficult to do it (specially because what i can do more or less well it's writing, but i only write on Spanish). Guess i need to make a crusade to convert people to VN Makers, lol.