Creating a visual novel

[Mr.VNA]

I've fallen in love with this type of game. I've always been one for stories and I think these have scratched that itch. After playing so many, I've started writing my own. I'm still in very early stages but I hope to be able to start actually creating them soon. I did have some questions though. Was hoping the community can help me with these.

Do games where you can give a custom name to the MC feel better to play over ones where you can't?
(In one of the ones I'm working on, I'll be doing several stories that use the same MC and I haven't figured out the coding to place a custom name yet. But I like to use a custom name myself because I like to self insert)

What is the best place to upload finished content?
(I've had issues with Mega and it seems like the only thing that consistently works is pixeldrain. I've also considered using dropbox)

What the hell is most sites issue with incest?
(Like the whole landlady/roommate thing always throws me off. We all know what it is in these situations....or at least I think so. Its to the point where taboo patches get made to uncover what is already known. Maybe its the sites where the content is uploaded is the issue but I don't know. Please explain) lol

Where is the better place to upload?
(I've heard a few places and they all seem to have an issue.)

Is it the sites that have an issue with the incest tag so it has to be disguised?

Would there happen to be anyone interested in helping or joining a discord if I create one?

 

[grimsbysteve]

I'm no game dev, but I do have an opinion on the custom name thing!

I prefer to have a custom MC name, I don't know why, but some names/identities distract me from the task in hand. For some reason, my go-to name when I get to set one is Max Young.

One thing I would BEG any VN dev to do, is stop any duplicate names (at least of significant characters), I don't want to call the MC Max, and then find out that his best friend is also called Max after I'm already ten minutes in. Maybe have a backup name, and if the MC is custom named the same as a significant character, swap in the backup name for that character. At least then when an LI is talking about "Max" I know it's me!

 

[AlBetGam]

I've fallen in love with this type of game. I've always been one for stories and I think these have scratched that itch. After playing so many, I've started writing my own. I'm still in very early stages but I hope to be able to start actually creating them soon. I did have some questions though. Was hoping the community can help me with these.

Do games where you can give a custom name to the MC feel better to play over ones where you can't?
(In one of the ones I'm working on, I'll be doing several stories that use the same MC and I haven't figured out the coding to place a custom name yet. But I like to use a custom name myself because I like to self insert)

I tend to like it, though it's not a dealbreaker. You will get a lot of complaints in the thread for any game that doesn't allow custom names though.

What is the best place to upload finished content?
(I've had issues with Mega and it seems like the only thing that consistently works is pixeldrain. I've also considered using dropbox)

Personally I prefer Mega or Gofile. Pixeldrain in a pinch. A few devs use Google, though it seems uncommon.

What the hell is most sites issue with incest?
(Like the whole landlady/roommate thing always throws me off. We all know what it is in these situations....or at least I think so. Its to the point where taboo patches get made to uncover what is already known. Maybe its the sites where the content is uploaded is the issue but I don't know. Please explain) lol

Where is the better place to upload?
(I've heard a few places and they all seem to have an issue.)

Is it the sites that have an issue with the incest tag so it has to be disguised?

The real problem with incest (and other 'controversial' tags) is monetization. Most devs need or at least really prefer to have an income for their game. Most of them set up on Patreon or SubscribeStar or a similar site in order to do so (because custom-building your own electronic payments infrastructure together is hard). Those sites rely on big payment processors to do business, because it's basically impossible not to if you want a customer base beyond just people who use crypto. And those processors in turn tend to be really uncomfortable with incest content (possibly out of personal distaste, possibly because they're afraid they'll get hit with liability for the transactions they process). So they tend to pass down compliance mandates requiring that their clients not process transactions for proscribed content. Everybody downhill from them has little choice but to at least pretend they're complying.

 

[smite22]

I like to insert a custom name most times usually it's something kinda tongue in cheek like Ben Dover and his wife Eileen Dover. Also consider if you use things like Ren'py or unity and Daz3d or HS for graphics and animation. I'm not a dev but I did bounce a couple stories around in my head and placed outlines for them here. Good luck to you.

You could also try to check out the development thread section for more info or assistance.

 

[ejectitembrilliance]

Yeah, incest is illegal in most of the world. (right?) This seem to include "glorifying" it. I dunno.
Many years ago I googled the lyrics to Sweet Sixteen after I actually paid attention to what he was singing, and like the first hit had a block on the site by the Police. I guess they made the ISP's in our country block it.

 

[SloppySqueezer]

The more customization the better in my opinion.

 

[Konnorman]

Custom names is a very big thing in VN's Alot of times its a deal breaker for most. The coding is fairly simple you can find the code on github, reddit, itch, and sometimes chatgpt.

The incest thing is just illegal in most areas so if the site covers their own ass so they can be viewed by dif countries etc. What i did in the VN im making is do it like the custom name. Where you can change what they are yourself. Default being landlady, landlady friend, roommate, friend, etc.

I'm using mega as i haven't had issue's with it. But pixaldrain is soiled as well!

Itch, fuck95(wouldn't recommend), here and thats about it! Itch is my fav as its so big and alot of big games are there so it draws in more ppl!

 

[Mr.VNA]

Definitely appreciate all the feedback and can keep this in mind as I'm doing mine. I'll probably update this thread a lot because I'm trying to figure everything out.

 

[Alex1980]

1. the name and gender of the MC is irrelevant to me personally. If it is possible to give the male MC an arbitrary name, I give the imu my name irl - Alex.

2.I agree, pixeldrain is a good choice, despite the fact that with normal speed you can download only 6 GB. But for large files I would choose GOFILE.

3.Patreon.

3.Don't really understand the question. Sites to access the game for paid subscribers? Probably SubscribeStar and Itch.io. I don't know how things are on Steam (I don't use it, I exclusively have pirated games). If you mean sites like this one, then if you have characters of not very controversial age - any analogs will do, like F*95 (besides, the audience is much larger there).

4. I haven't heard of sites where incest would be banned, if we're talking about resources like LL or F*95.

5. I don't use Discord.

 

[LewisCarroll]

I've fallen in love with this type of game. I've always been one for stories and I think these have scratched that itch. After playing so many, I've started writing my own. I'm still in very early stages but I hope to be able to start actually creating them soon. I did have some questions though. Was hoping the community can help me with these.

Ditto. I have experience with 3D & writing, but little in programing. So far Ren'Py is my biggest time sink.

Do games where you can give a custom name to the MC feel better to play over ones where you can't?
(In one of the ones I'm working on, I'll be doing several stories that use the same MC and I haven't figured out the coding to place a custom name yet. But I like to use a custom name myself because I like to self insert)

For me, coding is taking up 60% of my time. I'm eliminating as much code as possible. It's just way easier not to have to worry about setting new variables.

For me, the name doesn't matter that much. I don't envision myself in the game nor do I try to dream real or imaginary people in the game characters. That's just wrong IMO.

What is the best place to upload finished content?
(I've had issues with Mega and it seems like the only thing that consistently works is pixeldrain. I've also considered using dropbox)

I'd like to know as well.... however, since mine will have obvious loli content and I'm not going to try to monetize my games I'll just be uploading to several sites and update links as necessary. I'll also allow people to post my games as they see fit as long as they don't try to manipulate or take credit for the game. I'm researching how to do that.

What the hell is most sites issue with incest?
(Like the whole landlady/roommate thing always throws me off. We all know what it is in these situations....or at least I think so. Its to the point where taboo patches get made to uncover what is already known. Maybe its the sites where the content is uploaded is the issue but I don't know. Please explain) lol

Billing and stigma. Again, since I don't be trying to make money, it doesn't really affect me.

Would there happen to be anyone interested in helping or joining a discord if I create one?

Maybe, if you can manage it. Discord has a policy on loli content and many get shut down. You'll have to keep it loli free, at least in the open sections. If you don't have issue with the possibility of it being taking down, then Discord may be for you. The only reason I can see for Discord is to build a community around your game(s). Until I hit a few thousand downloads I'm not even going to think that far ahead.

 

[Mr.VNA]

Another thing I've been considering is doing something with voice actors as well. I've figured out how to add sound and music and I want to produce the best visual novels that I can. I think they would just be for sex scenes and then none during actual dialogue. Thoughts?

 

[ghostmaster]

Another thing I've been considering is doing something with voice actors as well. I've figured out how to add sound and music and I want to produce the best visual novels that I can. I think they would just be for sex scenes and then none during actual dialogue. Thoughts?

That's gonna cost you a lot, while giving dubious benefits. "Visual Novel" = important parts are art ("visual") and writing ("novel").
If you decide to add them - make sure that you game has separate volume slider for "character voices".