Hi everyone, I'm Hitori Ririko, a solo indie/doujin visual novel developer. My game, Love Where Touches, is officially out now! Today, I’d like to share the journey and thoughts behind developing this project.

I started out purely as a visual novel fan, especially fond of story-driven titles. Whenever I immersed myself in Japanese galgames, I found myself thinking how incredible they were—I was completely captivated by those works.

That led to the idea of developing a visual novel of my own. It just so happened that my everyday hobbies are drawing and occasionally composing music, skills that fit right into game development. As for the writing, I initially figured that having played so many story-rich games, I’d have no problem handling it myself. For programming, I chose Ren'Py, which is a really convenient engine.

However, I soon realized that making a visual novel was far harder than I had imagined.

Writing: Before this, I had never formally written a story of this length—the last time I wrote anything was for school essays. When I actually sat down to write the script, I realized just how many flaws my writing had. I struggled to clearly express the ideas in my head, and my phrasing was a total mess. I revised the script countless times, yet I was never fully satisfied. Perhaps this is just the limit of my current writing ability. Looking back, it’s honestly laughable how naively confident I was just because I had played a lot of great masterpieces.

Art: Even though I regularly practice drawing anime-style bishoujo (cute girls), my skill level is still far from enough. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to anatomy and coloring. (For the backgrounds in my game, since I have zero background-drawing skills, I used free stock photos and purchased assets, then edited them to fit the style.) I often end up drawing terrible pieces. Whenever I stared at the distorted sketches on my canvas, I wanted to quit drawing altogether, feeling like I simply wasn't cut out for this. Yet after some time passed, I always picked up my stylus again. The reason is simple: the 2D girls from Japanese stories have always kept my spirits alive, both then and now. Whenever I suffered major setbacks in real life, I would feel deeply depressed and often lose my sense of self-worth. But just thinking about going home to watch anime, read manga, play Japanese visual novels, or even draw some anime girls gave me the courage to keep facing reality. Unfortunately, there is no adult/NSFW content in my game, as selling adult works is strictly illegal in my country, and doing so could land me in prison.

Music: Whenever I feel nostalgic about a certain story, I go back and listen to its soundtrack. Great music leaves a lasting impression, and every great visual novel is accompanied by an unforgettable soundtrack. I started from scratch with basic music theory, listened to my favorite visual novel OSTs, and clicked notes in one by one on the piano roll in my DAW. I taught myself the entire process by watching online video tutorials. While I can compose using computer software, I don't know how to play the piano (or any instrument, for that matter) in real life. At first, I overestimated myself and thought I could handle the entire soundtrack on my own, only to realize later how unrealistic that was, so I ended up buying music assets as well. In total, I composed and arranged 5 original tracks for the game—6 if you count an arrangement of a classical piece—while the rest are licensed assets.

Programming: With the help of today's powerful AI tools, programming is no longer the biggest hurdle (though it can still get super frustrating and drive you crazy at times). If you're thinking about making a visual novel yourself, you really don't need to worry about this part.

Throughout development, I thought about giving up many times. However, I couldn't find anything else in real life that I cared about this much—the only things that truly excite me and get me talking passionately are visual novels and anime, so I pushed through to the end.

Since I’m a recent graduate with virtually no budget, there are many rough edges in the game that I simply couldn't polish. I originally planned to release it last month, but review delays pushed the launch to now. Even though there is still room for improvement, it's hard for me to keep working on it any further.

Perhaps in the distant future, I'll be able to make a second visual novel of my own. Or maybe I never will—but at least right now, I have no regrets about bringing my own game to life.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I'll be replying to everyone in the comments/discussion section.

Steam Store Page:https://store.steampowered.com/app/5099960/Love_Where_Touches

The game supports both Simplified Chinese and English.

If you end up enjoying the game, it would truly make me happier than anything!

Someone once said something like that to me with many vn writers and studios using their talent in making gacha game stories due to their more revenue. The word 'evolution' is subjective cuz some would argue being gacha makes it worse but that's different.

I played 20-30 minutes of the trial and this might be the most tedious writing style I've ever encountered in a game. Its so bad I'm genuinely considering waiting and reading the english translation for the first time ever.

Is it more scary than higurashi? how much jumpscares does it have? are there gory cg?

https://vndb.org/v27916

It’s strange because I was never a big fan of mystery/ detective shows or movies.  could watch them but I’d never call it my favorite genre. It’s something I got broken into through visual novel(s) - because it’s just one really! that kind of loosened something in my brain. In case you couldn’t guess, I’m talking about Kara no Shōjo of course (yes I will be using the o with the macron because it looks cool)

Something about Kara no Shōjo was just so different from the starting scene in “purgatory”. I think it was the Divine Comedy references that frame the story throughout, that “unearthly” feeling it gives the whole drama, like it’s universal in some way  can’t quite pinpoint. The story is also way out there, by the end, but appropriately messed up just as much as it needs to be. It drew me in so bad. Even the bad endings, I had to get them all even though a couple are major spoilers in essence. It was great, that first game.

As for the sequels, the second felt too drawn out and ultimately unsatisfying in micro ways that added up, and the third, the finale was alright. Good series on the whole, but the first game is the only must play in my opinion. You can play it and leave it there and the story’s mystery lingers on, without everything being quite explained, which I liked.

In the years after I have also played Umineko and Higurashi and many others, but none have stayed with me as long as Kara no Shōjo. I have just it to thank for being interested in this type of storytelling.

PS talking about murder mysteries in general, what are you all playing/ looking forward to play? I’m in a dry spell right now looking forward to Psycho Sleuth (releasing next month, interesting plot revolving around mental illnesses that shape gameplay) and Unmasked Truths next year. Which means I’ll probably just replay Kara no Shōjo. Something calls me to it again, now that I rambled about it

Hello everyone!

I know everyone here loves visual novels to death, but I have also seen a sentiment around in the various comments and posts about visual novels being a dying medium.

While I understand the thought process behind that statement I wanted to refute that sentiment with my post today.

Did you know that out of all of the game genres in Steam, Visual Novels stand as the second most produced genre between 2019-2022 according to Steam DB? Meaning we have a lot of new entries everyday.

And yes, I know what a lot of you are thinking right now, a lot of them are bound to be AI, not Triple A productions, and often times it's just corn games hidden as visual novels, and yeah... it is hard to refute that.

But beyond all of that, there is a great many developers, who are just as excited as we are for visual novels and release passion projects every day, every year. Some of them might be a hidden gem you might genuinely fall in love with.

A Steam sale began today and it's running all the way until november 6 and it's all about visual novels! While the event banner hints at the majority of them being romance focused, you can find all kinds of VN's participating in the sale.

You can find free demos and hopefully something that picks your interest, trying them out and wishlisting games is the best way to support the developers that to this day, keep the genre alive through their passion and hard work.... Visual Novels are not dead!! We are rising higher, every day!

I'm tagging the post as a self promotion since a game of our own is part of the event, but I don't want all the attention to go to our game, it is my hope you browse around and try as many titles as you want, find many games you want to wishlist and notice that this genre is not going anywhere, anytime soon.

We have faith in it, and continue to pour our passion into developing exciting and new stories, you can get to the event through the link below or through the banner in our game page, let us know which games you are trying out, we would love to give them a look as well!

Visual Novel Festival here:

https://store.steampowered.com/curator/46266558-First-Love-%2528VN-Festival-Showcase%2529/sale/firstlovevisualnovelfestival

Utopia: Birth of The Heroes Demo

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4235700/Utopia_Birth_of_The_Heroes/

VNDB: https://vndb.org/v66121

I've played Paranormasight and currently playing muv luv, i'm having such a blast ! Really been a long time since i've played one, the last time was fruit of grisaia and I hated it unfortunately...

So here I am, humbly asking you guys if you know any VN i could play on mobile ? I've heard of possibly playing pc-only VN on android but i'm too much of a boomer to get how it works... Also i have in my log : Paranormasight 2, ever17, ace attorney, fata morgana and tsukihime...

I'm more interested in mature stories, i played kara no shoujo for instance and would love to replay it, if it is possible on Android let me know !

Also thanks to some youtube videos i've been interested in Denpa games : Tsui no sora, subahibi... So any recommendations is welcomed !

Ps : oh yeah i can't read a LEAK of japanese, but if you have easy ones it could be a way to start...

Hi r/visualnovels! My name is Yasmine (if you haven't seen my previous posts) and I am the developer for "if you stay", a short PC-98 yuri visual novel, which just came out today for FREE today on Steam and itch.io. It's been a long time coming, as my first visual novel that is finally out in the world. It's quite scary to be honest and hearing the feedback so far—it's been so positive and yet makes me only want to keep improving as a game developer and make better art, better stories.

DOWNLOAD LINKS:
STEAM: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4437140/if_you_stay/
ITCH.IO: https://yukimisoft.itch.io/if-you-stay

For that, I'm so grateful to everyone who's played it so far, despite it coming out later than intended. It really does mean a lot to me! Your support is truly invaluable.

If you haven't played it yet, please consider doing so and leaving a review! The game is relatively short (1-2h average) and makes for something cozy while it starts to get a bit chilly outside.

For those who like the game and want to support its development, you can choose to buy the the creator support add-on HERE for 6 USD. It includes a mini art book, the soundtrack, and additional goodies I'll continue to update with in the coming months (so stay tuned in the community updates!)

There's not much left to say. If you have any questions/bugs/issues, please drop them below or email us at [yo@yukimisoft.moe](mailto:yo@yukimisoft.moe). I have since updated the itch.io page due to some problems people were having with downloading the game (Steam is OK), but I'll continue to monitor for future issues and fix them as soon as possible. A new update will also be on the horizon to fix issues that I am currently aware about.

Thanks guys for your support and I'll talk to you soon!

- Yasmine

Social Media Links

• Twitter: LINK
• Bluesky: LINK
• TikTok: @ yukimisoft

FYI please also consider checking out the music my composer and friend, William Gomez, has made! He's the reason why I got to make this game and I'm so glad I got to work with him again after our first jam together for the original "if you stay": PORTFOLIO TWITTER and BSKY

In search of any VNs where the characters get humiliated, exposed, embarrassed and/or toyed with. Leaning more towards mature-themes and women-led casts. Even better if it affects the story but it doesn’t have to.
Thanks very much!

i want vns where as it progresses you feel more and more despair until the ending leading to something very tragic and sad. best example i have of this is looking glass insect from subahibi and meakashi-hen from higurashi. if you have played either of those chapters ( especially the subahibi one ) YOU WILL KNOW WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT T_T seeing zakuro getting bullied and how it esculates… to her killing herself in the end… oh my god its horrible. its horrible so horrible. but i love stories like this. they stick with me a lot. same with meakashi-hen, shion she was isolated and then all these things… and in the end she falls from the roof. that ending monologue i will actually never forget

pls recommend me stuff like this ! i know its technically spoilers in a way but im fine with that !! i want something that will make me feel the same amount of despair like these 2 chapters did !!

Hi r/visualnovels! I'm one of the four devs behind Brush with Temptation. We all have day jobs, so this has been our evenings and weekends, and putting the opening out today is honestly a little scary.

Riku retook the entrance exam for a whole year to get into Shiratori Academy of Art. On his first day a sketchbook hits him in the face. It belongs to the "Ice Queen", top of every test and barely talks to anyone, except she isn't cold at all, just so shy she can't finish a sentence. She's also his new roommate. There's a curtain between their beds. It's a classic ADV-style VN: Riku narrates the story in first person, and reading is the main part. The drawing assignments are short breaks between scenes.

Since it's an art school, you actually draw. Every assignment is a mini-game you draw with your mouse, and your score puts you somewhere in a ranking of all 250 first-years. Where you land changes which choices you get.

About AI use: we write the script ourselves and no AI. Character art, CGs, backgrounds and UI art use compositions generated with AI image tools, which we then extensively redraw, corrected, retouched and checked by hand. The music and sound effects are AI-generated, and AI helps with the code. We have no budget, and this is how four of us can make a game at all.

What's in the free demo:

• The whole prologue, about 1–1.5 hours
• Two drawing assignments: coloring for the entrance exam, and speed drawing while the professor guesses what it is over your shoulder
• English, Japanese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese
• Windows only

The demo is finished; we're just waiting on Steam to verify our account. Until then, the video above is our opening. The song is "わたしの色" (My Color).

Website: https://brush.ottergonstudio.com

Any thoughts on the opening would mean a lot to us. If you have opinions on drawing mini-games in a VN, good or bad, we'd love to hear those too.

Thank you for reading!

– the OtterGon four

I decided to go for Limelight Lemonade Jam for my first, I read a couple scenes already. I'm using Luna but I don't know what set up would be best For my try I had the text in japanese and had it show me the translation too, but I remember seeing something about texthooking that copies the text to the browser? That should be pretty comfortable with Yomitan.

According to Jiten there's 19k+ words with 7k+ of them appearing only once so I decided to hold off on mining until I get the hang of it a bit.

I figured I would ask since I'm sure you've learned a lot from experience. Any advice, warning or anything I should keep in mind or prepare for is very much appreciated. Thanks!

Been replaying Phantom of Inferno on Steam, and I can’t help but be slightly bugged by the fact in episode 9 of the anime (phantom: requiem for the phantom 2008) the animators went and changed the failed suicide attempt w knife scene in the VN to one of the same character holding a gun to her own head.

Just… why? Why bother w only changing the weapon used in the attempt? Is it due to Anime only censorship laws/tv station rules which don’t affect the VN? Idk.

A little Amakano 2 and Gin iro Haruka collab