How to Make a Visual Novel

Making a Visual Novel is MORE than just programming and art production! Learn how to scope your project, build your funds, spend your budget, market your game, and earn MONEY making Visual Novels!

This video covers some basic questions like, "What Kind of Game should I make?", "How do I make a Kickstarter?", and "Where do I find Artists and Writers?"

This is meant to be a primer for all of these elements, so I don't go into depth on any topic, but this should give you a starting point to plan out your visual novel production to make sure you come out with a positive experience, a great game, and a little cash in your pocket!

00:00 Is this a HOBBY or BUSINESS?
01:55 Pitch your Game!
04:27 Manage your Scope!
07:23 Set your Budget!
09:09 Build your Funds!
13:23 Everyone forgets this step, but you shouldn't!
16:15 Spend your Budget!
23:20 A Short Primer on MARKETING!
31:37 TAXES?!
32:59 What to do with your RICHES!

Make a Press Kit:

Steam Revenue Calculator:

"Pitching Anime Games to Entreprenuers":

Freelance Contract Template:

[makowieck]

It is 2AM and I gotta show tomorrow (?) at work then at uni. AND I STILL CANNOT TURN MY EYES AWAY. Sweet lord, this is like a handbook for my hobby

[Idlemage]

Thanks for this I'm getting back into this as a hobby and need a refresher. My first renpy project I made as a teen was a mess... But my art and writing has gotten better now as an adult.

[mauroifran]

Man, that was... I mean, at first you think "Hey, this ain't a Ren'Py video. Why should I care about all that stuff".
But as the video goes on, it gets not only interesting but also touches very important topics you'd probably have never thought about before. And that's huge couse it's the other side of the coin for making a succesfully game in general.
Again, really god vid.

[shark]

I just want to say how much of an amazing resource your channel has been! Beginning my first vn has been incredibly taunting, but your videos have been such a good resource for breaking everything down and a lot of good advice that’s hard to find elsewhere. Keep up the great work :)

[dralithi]

So many folks have gone to crowdfunding while they're in the mood board / concept phase. Waiting until you KNOW it's going to be completed is such great advice. PLUS - you'll have SO MUCH MORE content to share, so people can know what it's going to look, sound, and feel like.

[grain]

man I'm only a few minutes in and already overwhelmed by talks of teams and money and all that jazz 😵

probably useful for someone, but imma keep drawing people and making them talk to eachother

[oraora]

I'd love to see a video focused on getting jobs/volunteering (just generally connecting and becoming a part of) in visual novels! Going through good ways to market yourself and how to format things to get jobs as a background artist or character artist (maybe music or voice acting too idk).

[mrworldwide]

Something I think is good to remember is anywhere you can take on additional roles in development, do it, to an extent, make sure you never get overwhelmed, it's a recipe for failure

[CrownedCryptid]

You managed to make this pretty complex walkthrough sound so easy to understand! Great video as always!!

[BeautifulGlitch]

Oooooh, we've been called "smort" at doing sequels on this vid. Nice.

(Then we went to make a third game that introduce a lot of new systems and mechanics... but hey, it still re-used a lot of systems, concepts and assets from past games, so it still applies!)

Thanks for including us! <3

[collinvisser]

This video is "liquid gold" - I have not seen a such a detailed video in this subject - Just awesome thanks you so much for making it.

[Dizzydizzydizzy]

👍👍 awesome stuff as always, always happy to see a new video in my feed!!

[XRockgirl]

Your content isss gold! It really helps imagining more realistically what's the entire scope. Tyvm I'm subscribing!

[crafty]

Great content as always! You bring up very valid points that is important to know for people who want to monetize their games

[codeargent]

Great video! I always appreciate learning more about the business side of things. 💖

[phpTrash]

How do I estimate a word count before actually writing chunks of dialogue?

[MrIckIsHere]

This is such a fantastic and helpful breakdown!

[iamsuperBlast]

I'm glad I found this but man all of this sounds incredibly daunting... I can tell that management is not my thing at all...

I'm still going to try though. Thank you you so much for this video and all your other videos as well. I'm probably going to be referencing it several times at the very least.

[Xegethra]

I thought about making a visual novel, but I never actually tried it. Mostly for branching paths, and whether those paths go down entirely new directions or not and how many further paths can come from those. If I have an idea for a story, I don't want paths detracting from what I'm trying to tell. But having a choose your own adventure style story is something people like, I used to read all those Goosebumps books as a kid.

Then there's getting and or creating the assets for all that.

[JuleSan_jk]

Thank you so much for your dedicated work and sharing your personal tips'n'tricks - It is a great format you've created! 🥠