A Little Unfair

[BrokenAngel75]

It sucks that I can't make a Kinetic Novel or Visual Novel because of my lack of drawing skills. Never had the hand for being able to draw, only write. Not only that but I suck with computers so I can't even figure out the systems in order to make them. I have a Kinetic Novel in the works but it will likely not happen because writing is all I can do. Does anyone have any advice about how I can make a Kinetic Novel, since it will be my first one. Should I ask an artist and programmer for help? If I should then who should I ask? What will I have to do to convince someone to help me?

I'd like to hear any advice you guys have and if you have the same dilemma as me.

[Yomuchan]

This is taken straight from my renpy tutorial.

This step is split in two parts; if you're confident in your drawing skills, you can skip the next section.

I can't draw!

You're in a WORLD of trouble. Just kidding. Maybe.

If you can’t draw, don't panic; there are plenty of options for making art for visual novels that doesn't require drawing:

1. Character art: There's plenty of art that’s already out there that works for making your own visual novels. For instance, you can look at the OELVN Community Wiki, specifically the "Character Art" and the "Background Art" page. Remember to credit the artist if you use their art, though! For backgrounds, the next best step is... danananaaa... GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH.

Oh, and try this forum's very own 'creative commons'.

2. Ask/beg others: Yom might be an idiot, but he can make simple arts. Go ask him. WARNING: MAD cheap plug...

3. Choose a different art style aka STEAL (TEAM ROCKET STYLE): You can also choose a different art style for your visual novel, like silhouettes, real life images, paintings or even pidgeons. This has two benefits; you don’t need to draw, and it sets your game apart from the others... I think.

When you've found out what suits you best, go on to the next section.

[MaiMai]

If you're a writer, than you have the advantage of being able to finish writing a story and then that way you can go to the recruitment forums and recruit an artist and a programmer to help you bring your KN to life. A finished story has more of chance of attracting people to help you out. A lot of the people here aren't artists, but they can team up with one who is willing.

That or you read the directions for using Ren'Py and check out our creative commons section since there's a lot of free art resources you can use if you're not being particularly ambitious. You can probably still get help with programming even then.

[BrokenAngel75]

This is taken straight from my renpy tutorial.

This step is split in two parts; if you're confident in your drawing skills, you can skip the next section.

I can't draw!

You're in a WORLD of trouble. Just kidding. Maybe.

If you can’t draw, don't panic; there are plenty of options for making art for visual novels that doesn't require drawing:

1. Character art: There's plenty of art that’s already out there that works for making your own visual novels. For instance, you can look at the OELVN Community Wiki, specifically the "Character Art" and the "Background Art" page. Remember to credit the artist if you use their art, though! For backgrounds, the next best step is... danananaaa... GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH.

Oh, and try this forum's very own 'creative commons'.

2. Ask/beg others: Yom might be an idiot, but he can make simple arts. Go ask him. WARNING: MAD cheap plug...

3. Choose a different art style aka STEAL (TEAM ROCKET STYLE): You can also choose a different art style for your visual novel, like silhouettes, real life images, paintings or even pidgeons. This has two benefits; you don’t need to draw, and it sets your game apart from the others... I think.

When you've found out what suits you best, go on to the next section.

Thanks very much. That gives me a little more confidence. I'll try what you said out

[BrokenAngel75]

If you're a writer, than you have the advantage of being able to finish writing a story and then that way you can go to the recruitment forums and recruit an artist and a programmer to help you bring your KN to life. A finished story has more of chance of attracting people to help you out. A lot of the people here aren't artists, but they can team up with one who is willing.

That or you read the directions for using Ren'Py and check out our creative commons section since there's a lot of free art resources you can use if you're not being particularly ambitious. You can probably still get help with programming even then.

Thank you very much. And your right. If I finish I might get a higher chance of getting some help. Only thing is I don't think I'll ever understand Ren'Py. Just not good at all that coding. But I'll finish and see who is willing to help me make my first Kinetic Novel. Thank you very much for your help. Really appreciate it.

[Yomuchan]

If you can understand basic english, you can understand renpy.

In fact, I'm willing to teach you the very basics that you need to start a kinetic novel. All you must do is be willing to learn.

If you're interested, just step into the portal, and I'll take that as a ye-

WHOOPS, WRONG SCRIPT.

... uh, I mean, just PM me.

[Donmai]

Only thing is I don't think I'll ever understand Ren'Py.

Never say that! Try to start with this six-step Ren'py tutorial. Then go to the Cookbook section to get some tested recipes. Any doubt, you can go to the Questions & Answers section. We will be there to try to help you. Good luck!

[Armee]

Only thing is I don't think I'll ever understand Ren'Py. Just not good at all that coding.

Phhh...First of all, TONS of VNs don't have sprites, just simply BGs and others things. Go search for resources, start from small things, nothing is unfair because there are amazing artists can't write so they've to depend on the writer to make a visual novel, but yeah, some have all three skills to make a VN by their own ;3 Anyway, that's what most of people think if they don't be determinded when it come to making a VNs. You can't say you I can't never do anyting if you don't try to learn, at least the basic. You can't recruit people forever, beside, sometimes work on your own is better than group. People also can disappear suddenly ...

[TrickWithAKnife]

As people have said, use free art resources.

Keep making your own games to improve your writing and coding skills. Don't be too ambitious in the start. This community is quite forgiving for new devs, as we were all new once, and many of us still are. As your experience grows, you can get more creative.

If you have a project with a lot of potential and is mostly done, you could read the recruiting guide, and then hire an artist.
If you can't hire one, perhaps you can ask someone to do art, or do a skill trade. Keep in mind that asking an artist to do art for free is a really big request.

[trooper6]

You can learn basic Ren'py. Especially if you are doing a kinetic novel where there won't be any branching or choices. Have you gone through the tutorial? You're script could conceivably be something like:

Code: Select all

label start:
    "It was a dark and stormy night..."
    "Mary Sue hurried down the street, when suddenly--"
    "A wolf jumped out of an alley!"
    "Mary Sue gathered up her courage and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to the wolf's temple!"
    "As the wolf crumpled to the ground, Mary Sue gave a smirk."
    "It was her fourth wolf take-down this week. Soon she'd have enough wolf pelts for her own fur coat."
    "THE END"
return

That code right there will work and you'll have a game. Have you looked through the tutorial? Especially the code for The Question? Look over The Question and ask questions of the folks here! Everyone is very friendly! You can learn Ren'py!

As for the art...as others have pointed out, there are many ways to do a KN/VN.
-You can commission someone to do the art by asking in the recruitment thread. I am going to try and do the art for my first VN...to give myself art practice...but I'm probably going to commission art in the end. To the end, as I am working on coding the script, I am writing down every bit of art that I'd need as it comes up. So in a separate file I have written down: I'll need a customer looking: irritated, friendly, scared, arrogant, etc. I need a barber looking: friendly, curious, etc.
When I'm done with the writing part of the game, I'll have a complete list of all the art I want...which will make it easier for me to commission the art.
-You can look at alternate ways of depicting people other than hand drawn images. Looking at different examples can be very useful here. For example, some people use 3D programs like Poser or DAZ to make their people, posing them like dolls...I know fleet does stuff suing 3D models. You could follow the example of Todd Hanyes, who used Barbie dolls to make his film about Karen Carpenter: http://vimeo.com/344856, or look at the Irregular Webcomic, which uses lego figures for their images: http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/3284.html. (Note: The Karen Carpenter movie...although told with Barbie dolls...is quite disturbing as it deals with the singer's battle with anorexia).
-You can go more abstract and have no figures at all. The game "Face Time" uses bold, simplistic art that is really effective...but I think would be something a lot of different people could achieve.

So...there are lots of different options out there!

[fleet]

You don't have to use Ren'py.
Visual Novelty is free and uses a graphic interface (no writing line after line of code).
Here's the link. http://www.visualnovelty.com/

They also have a forum where you can get help.

You can also use photographs for artwork. If you get pictures from the Internet, make sure they are licensed for free use. You can also take your own photographs.

No matter what software or art technique you decide to use, I hope you have fun making your kinetic novel.

Very respectfully,
fleet

[Yomuchan]

Truth be told, I too felt that I could never learn renpy back in 2006. Come 2013, I run across my old downloads in my backups and find ye olde Eileen and decide for myself. "Okay! It's time to tie up this loose end!"

One visit to this place later...

I'm good enough to code and write simple VNs now. (Although I still have grammar issues here and there)

Here's a simple sample game I made for my tutorial.

PS: I PM'd you a 'crash course in renpy'.