Indie Game Dev - Blog Posts

How To Make Your First Visual Novel

I'm yet again in a talkative mood, and as someone who has made/helped make over ten visual novels, I figured I would be Qualified™ to talk about it!

Step One: Pick Your Fighter... er... Engine!

Deciding the game engine you want to work in is the first step to having a game! Ren'Py is the most popular, free-to-use engine for visual novels, with tons of add-ons done by creators such as Devil Spiδεr and Feniks. Other commonly-used engines include Naninovel (an extension to Unity) and RPG Maker.

Step Two: Wait, What Goes In The Engine?

Whodathunk that for a visual novel, you need a story and visuals!

Clip Studio Paint has a series on making visual novel sprites, though any old art software works for making visual novel art. As for writing, I highly recommend Better Fountain, an extension to Visual Studio Code which enables to you to write in Fountain syntax. For music, I recommend Audiostock which gives access to hundreds of thousands of songs with their subscription service.

Step Three: But What Do I Do With All Of This?

Spoilers, your first visual novel... probably won't be your best. You have to make it to break the first timer's curse. Study your favorite visual novels, listen to other developers' processes, learn more about art/writing/music/etc., and remember that it doesn't have to be perfect. In a year of making visual novels, my work went from the left image, to the right:

You can do it too! Now go out there, and make visual novels!

WIP of the chibi sprite!! Gonna work on the mascot of the game first :p hopefully I can get a fake trailer animated once this is done !!

The stable version of Alice at Sea from SAILOR ALICE Project has now officially LAUNCHED (8.31.2024, 21:00PDT) 😭😭🎉 Thank you to everyone these past few months 😭😭😭

The game is available on Windows and Mac. Please support the release!! Thank you! 🛟⚔️

SAILOR ALICE: Alice at Sea 🛟⚔️ 【Open Beta】

Public Open Beta— from now until August 18th! (v. 1.b.2.2) For Windows and MacOS

An indie RPG Maker game about an elf and the climate crisis.

Check it out on itch.io!

itch.io

[ OPEN BETA ] SAILOR ALICE: Alice at Sea by wEkki

I'm a drop in the ocean.

“Sailor Alice: Alice at Sea is a nautical fantasy adventure made in RPG MAKER MZ. The story follows the shut-in elf Lilibet, after she sends off her apprentice to become the hero that saves the princess. Shortly after her student's departure however, the innocent request of a red skinned foreigner sets in motion a series of events. Something's . . . not right about the sea, is it . . . ?

In 200 years, the world's atmosphere will collapse. Bringing disasters such as extreme weather, this is known as the "mana crisis." An environmentalist of 2,000 years, Lilibet has long abandoned her hope. If she can recover all her memories, perhaps she'll find a person who's still fighting. A "hero."

Part of the game's purpose is to raise awareness to the climate crisis it parallels. Lilibet's world might be set to end in 200 years, but parts of East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia (the region the game's archipelago is based on) will become uninhabitable within the next 20 years.”

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Hi, I’m a 17 year old Filipino American digital illustrator and UTAU developer! Recently I wanted to take a swing at game dev, so I’ve been working on my first game, SAILOR ALICE: Alice at Sea! With my age and the threat to my motherland, I’ve been pretty worried about climate change ^^u. It’s a short light-hearted 3 hour game with 6 chapters, and in those three hours, the player gets to spend time completing side-quests and talking to NPCs to build MEMORIA FLOTSAM. The 3rd ending can only be unlocked on a second playthrough.

It’s currently not in a stable state, and is still meant to be at a stage in development where I can still make some large changes. I would really love to hear people’s thoughts, feedback, and ideas on the writing/narrative/characters/etc. The stable version will launch before August 31st as a submission to SuNoFes 2024.

Any reblogs and support is highly appreciated….!! 🛟⚔️

just felt like doodling lilibet’s design from the beta launch rkgk :]

SAILOR ALICE: Alice at Sea 🛟⚔️ 【Open Beta】

Public Open Beta— from now until August 18th! (v. 1.b.2.2) For Windows and MacOS

An indie RPG Maker game about an elf and the climate crisis.

Check it out on itch.io!

itch.io

[ OPEN BETA ] SAILOR ALICE: Alice at Sea by wEkki

I'm a drop in the ocean.

“Sailor Alice: Alice at Sea is a nautical fantasy adventure made in RPG MAKER MZ. The story follows the shut-in elf Lilibet, after she sends off her apprentice to become the hero that saves the princess. Shortly after her student's departure however, the innocent request of a red skinned foreigner sets in motion a series of events. Something's . . . not right about the sea, is it . . . ?

In 200 years, the world's atmosphere will collapse. Bringing disasters such as extreme weather, this is known as the "mana crisis." An environmentalist of 2,000 years, Lilibet has long abandoned her hope. If she can recover all her memories, perhaps she'll find a person who's still fighting. A "hero."

Part of the game's purpose is to raise awareness to the climate crisis it parallels. Lilibet's world might be set to end in 200 years, but parts of East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia (the region the game's archipelago is based on) will become uninhabitable within the next 20 years.”

-

Hi, I’m a 17 year old Filipino American digital illustrator and UTAU developer! Recently I wanted to take a swing at game dev, so I’ve been working on my first game, SAILOR ALICE: Alice at Sea! With my age and the threat to my motherland, I’ve been pretty worried about climate change ^^u. It’s a short light-hearted 3 hour game with 6 chapters, and in those three hours, the player gets to spend time completing side-quests and talking to NPCs to build MEMORIA FLOTSAM. The 3rd ending can only be unlocked on a second playthrough.

It’s currently not in a stable state, and is still meant to be at a stage in development where I can still make some large changes. I would really love to hear people’s thoughts, feedback, and ideas on the writing/narrative/characters/etc. The stable version will launch before August 31st as a submission to SuNoFes 2024.

Any reblogs and support is highly appreciated….!! 🛟⚔️