Lemma Soft Forums

The 90s comic look of Gloom and Doom was a bit polarizing because some people didn't really like the sketchy lines and solid black inking, so I'm experimenting with different styles now for my next game. Here I'm trying a look that's still semi-realistic, but without the large black areas. What do y...

I managed to find two publishers to help take my Ren'py game to consoles, and the deal is basically they'll a percentage of the sales - initially it will be more in their favor until they cover their investment (porting, localization costs), and then it'll be whatever split you work out with them. M...

Always structure your story before you start writing. Establish how it starts, how it ends, and how to quickly and efficiently go from the start to the end. Don't add fluff like side stories yet. If your main story doesn't feel complete, then you make it work. The story will be interesting if you kn...

I wrote Gloom and Doom to be a VN with two protagonists, who exist separately in the first act before banding together in the second act onwards. The reason I did this was to examine the same theme (depression, lack of direction in life) from two different perspectives. One character has all the pow...

Also, I feel like you have to think more like a "screenplay" rather than a novel. More dialogue, less prose.

Hi everyone, Just wanted to share some tips on how I usually put emotion into my writing. Essentially, it's identifying key micro-moments - tiny trigger events - that will connect with your audience and make them backfill their own emotional baggage into your scene to make it relatable to them. Hope...

What's your take on Campbell's character tropes? A lot of screenwriting gurus whiz past that stuff in favor of story structure, but I have found shamans, zealots and shadow selves very instructive. I love this stuff, and I think it's important for people to place their characters into archetypes......

Strong main characters are important, but having memorable minor characters can be a huge boost for the overall strength of your story. That doesn't mean they need to have deep backstories or anything - you can't really go too in-depth into a character if they only appear in one scene, after all - b...

I recently made a video to outline the different phases of a marketing campaign and the content should be designed to reflect the expectations of a customer during each step. Hope you find this useful! There's a weird echo on my recording, so please try to ignore that.

Hey thanks! It's really kind of you to drop the feedback, and I'm taking your feedback with extra care because I really liked that article you wrote about choices in VNs.

Thanks for sharing this! I'm interested to find out a bit more about your experience with press releases. When you say it didn't work, do you mean: 1) The media outlets did not respond, or 2) You earned some previews and articles, but they did not direct any significant traffic to your distribution ...

Hi everyone! Promoting and marketing games are usually the last thing we want to think about as VN devs, preferring to spend time writing or fixing bugs. I feel this way too, even though my day job is actually in marketing! Anyway, one of the talks I've given a few times is about the application of ...

A lot of times in your first draft, you still didn't really understand the essence of your story and you're just writing here and there in an effort to find something that works. By the time your first draft is done, you should have a clearer idea of what your story is truly about. Who is the most i...

Hi everyone, When I wrote Gloom and Doom I extensively based it on the Hero's Journey, but it wasn't like I just took the basic structure of Star Wars and then just changed the setting to include dragons - I followed the Hero's Journey in the way it takes the audience on an emotional journey that is...

I really enjoyed reading your article. A lot of things to think about. The thought of using certain choices to help with the story's pacing blew my mind. Thank you! Thank you so much! Feedback like this really psyches me up and motivates me to want to keep making VNs and writing more guides. Thanks...