#visual novels
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Welcome to Duplicity!
Below you’ll find links to tags and the new itch page (once part 1 releases; tags will be added as they’re posted). You’ll also find some general information about the game and what to expect from here on.
As per usual, this game is a horror romance. It won’t feature any NSFW scenes, but it is not safe for minors. Minors DNI with this blog or the game.
Game Summary:
It’s been several years since you’ve been home, and a lot has changed. After failing to meet the strict deadlines of your former publishing house, your contract was terminated and you were left to fend for yourself. Once a prolific and popular author of romance and adventure stories, you’re now forced to move back home to live in your best friend’s apartment as their roommate. Struggling to figure out the next book in your series, you’re faced with many life-changing events, such as having to go back to work a customer service job you thought you’d left behind.
As you navigate this new chapter in your life, you’ll meet friends, old and new, and perhaps finally experience your own romantic tale… Just don’t trust everyone you meet.
(potential) Tag List:
#duplicityvn - general tag to encompass everything
#duplicitydevlogs - tag for dev-specific posts like progress and updates
#duplicity asks - tag for asks submitted to the blog
#duplicity griffin - Griffin specific tag
#duplicity tris - Tris specific tag
#duplicity taipan - Taipan specific tag
#duplicity dell - Dell specific tag
#duplicity nina - Nina specific tag
#duplicity savoy - Savoy specific tag
#duplicity riley - Riley specific tag
#duplicity melon - Melon specific tag
#duplicity mags - Mags specific tag
#duplicity all - general tag when everyone is involved in one post
#duplicity lore - tag for lore related to characters or settings
Here’s some potential questions I might get that I’m proactively answering now:
Why was the old blog deleted?
-I had a bad experience in the community and wanted to remove myself from it completely. I also had no idea where the game direction was going. Honestly, it started out with me wanting to make a yandere game with no understanding of what was going to happen really.
Why are you continuing with Duplicity?
-Duplicity originally stemmed from vague ideas about a horror romance I had started writing three years ago. Really, only some of the character names were similar. Once I started to feel like I wanted to come back and resume with development, I knew it needed a complete overhaul. So I went back to that old story and started piecing it together so it would work for a visual novel!
What changed and what can we expect?
-In the original demo, the game’s MC was around 20 years old. This has changed to player preference of anywhere between 25-30. Why? Because I’ve been wanting to see older characters in yandere visual novels, and just in VNs in general. I also don’t feel comfortable writing younger characters anymore. The characters’ ages will change depending on yours as well, which will be explained later. The only characters who have set ages are Mags and Melon.
-Speaking of characters, Sophie is no longer part of the story. I didn’t think about it at the time but I don’t want a minor to be included in this story when she’s not directly related to anyone, like a sister or a niece or something. In her place are several new characters: Nina, Savoy, and Melon.
-The game will be released in 3 parts instead of on a day-to-day basis. Part one will be mostly introductory but lengthy, part two will probably be the longest, and part three will mostly be focused on the endings of each route.
-The game will have more than just Griffin’s route. There are currently 9 endings I’m in the process of planning.
-As of the publishing of this post, everything previously known to the game is no longer canon, except for a few things.
What kind of asks can we send?
-Asks pertaining to the game and its characters and settings are all completely fine. In fact, it’ll probably help me develop the characters even better.
-NSFW asks are allowed! While there might not be NSFW in the base game (still juggling around the idea of a paid NSFW version), I am happy to write little fics if people are wanting them. I love writing, give me prompts!
-Hateful, derogatory, or other such topics that are sent to this blog will not be tolerated nor published. I wish to promote a safe space for everyone, and I won’t pay attention to any negativity.
-Silly and nonsensical asks are also allowed if they aren’t negative in context.
Alright this was long lmao but I hope it encompasses the general idea of what to expect from here on out! I’m not putting myself on a publishing schedule and I will update as frequently or as little as I do. I’m an anxious bean and can only do so much.
#duplicityvn#i hope everyone will like the new version ;3;#visual novels#yandere#male yandere#yandere visual novel#yandere vn#male yandere vn
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The last version of my guide is 2 years old, and doesn't account for some new features, new competition, and some rebrands, so once again;
Here's a purchase guide for when RPG Maker is on sale, as well as the Visual Novel makers available.
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phoenix wright: ace attorney trilogy is on sale for less than $10 this week. that's 3 games for basically $3.30 each. each of those games are 20+ hours long.
become a visual novel player. do it.
#visual novel#visual novels#visual novel game#ace attorney#gyakuten saiban#the ace attorney series was one of the first VN series I ever got into and it holds a special place in my heart#I highly recommend it!!!!!
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The reason nobody can agree where the boundary between "visual novel" and "adventure game" lies is because the term "adventure game" originated in the American gaming industry and was later loaned into Japanese, while the term "visual novel" originated in the Japanese gaming industry and was later loaned into English, but the meanings shifted in both cases, so the American gaming industry uses "visual novel" to mean something different from what it means in Japan and the Japanese gaming industry uses "adventure game" to mean something different from what it means in America, and now we've got two terms with (at least) four separate definitions between them, but nerds on the Internet who don't understand how loan-words work keep trying to directly compare them without taking into account that there are multiple only partially compatible cultural idioms in play.
#gaming#video games#adventure games#visual novels#genres#taxonomy#demarcation problems#arrant pedantry
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R18 Visual Novels/Games + Mobile Games Masterlist
R18 Indie Visual Novels
My Dear Hatchet Man
14 Days With You
Particles of Reality
Dachabo! Digi-Pet-Sim!
The Gaydere
Restart Heart
See Thru: Need A Friend?
You and Him
Don't Trust Him
Boyfriend EXE
Don't Look
Glass Mind
Colored Gaze
Forcefully Yours
Ai-yo Kogane san!
Hopeless Romantic
Duality
Broken Colors
Cannibal Sweetheart
Honey Hotline
A Cry for Help
The Snake's Taken a Spouse
Mine
10:16
Worthy Lover
Favor
Mad Room No. 3
Bad End Cinderella
First Time
Close to Obsession
Rotten Dinner
Metanoia
The Kid in the Back
Get to Know: Coffee Date
A Double Sided Mirror
Idolatry
Mobile Games
Dangerous Fellows
My Psycho Boyfriends
Yandere Boyfriend Leo
Yandere Classmate Aiden
Yandere Richman June
Yandere Stepbrother Dean
Killing Kiss
In Search of Haru
My Puppy Fiance
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A more in-depth guide for creating visual novels, especially in the horror, horror-romance, etc circles
Some of you have seen my previous, smaller post on crafting visual novels, especially in this little space of Tumblr that a lot of us have found themselves in. Since that post took off, I've wanted to create a longer guide to help touch on some points I've thought about for the past few months.
In case you've never heard of me, I'm Kat, also known as catsket. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Game Design. I've been making games for nearly 5 years, and I've been doing visual novels more "professionally" for 2. You may know me for Art Without Blood, 10:16, God is in the Radio, or Fatal Focus. I'm here to help you make your first visual novel.
Please note that my advice does not fit everyone, and you may disagree with what I say. That's okay! It doesn't work for all. That's why there's thousands of resources out there.
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER MADE A GAME
So, you have an idea for a huge visual novel. Horror, a shady and obsessive love interest, a little bit of woo-hooing. 100k words. Maybe a million. What is this, the 07th Expansion?
I notice a lot of people getting into visual novels are artists first. That's okay! I wanted to do art for games before I realized how much I enjoyed writing. And even less of you have probably touched Visual Studio. Again, perfectly okay. We all start somewhere.
My number one piece of advice? Make shitty games.
What does that mean?! My recommendation to those who have never done games is to make a bunch of shitty ones. Think of a theme, or hell, even join a game jam, where you make a game that fits a theme in a short amount of time. Spend about a week on your game. Focus on making something polished. Polish your mechanics. Polish your output.
I recommend, if you can, to make at least 4-6, if not more, kind of shitty games before hopping into longer projects. Making a game is a skill, just like art, just like writing. And game development is combining ALL of these together into one big soup being stirred by a skeleton hand puppet. You'll get into the rhythm and see what works for you.
It also helps you learn, perhaps, the second most important thing here: do you even like making games? There are cases out there where people have created video games (not saying visual novels) just for clout. That's no fun for you, that's no fun for your players. And you might go through this process and find that you don't like making games. That's completely okay! It's not for everyone.
Also, you can use these shittier games to gather an audience. I've built my audience because, for the past few years, I've been releasing games that slowly give me growing fields of eyes every day. A success story overnight is a rare one. It takes time. It's like building a brand, but you aren't a brand, you're an artist.
REV UP YOUR ENGINES!
Ren'py is the number one engine you will be recommended. It is very beginner-friendly, with lots of tutorials, assets on itch.io to use and download, and support. The engine comes with a few tutorials in the form of games, whose code you can freely browse. This is the engine I use most often. Most visual novels you see are made in this engine.
Twine is a text-based engine that most people use for interactive fiction. You can add images and audio, though, if you don't mind messing with HTML. I use Twine for text games and for outlining for my larger games. Ever played Degrees of Lewdity? Yeah, I know you have. Don't ask why. That game was made in Twine.
RPG Maker has multiple versions and has been used for exclusively VNs if you don't mind fucking around with plugins. It can definitely give your game a super unique feel. I recommend RPG Maker MV, since it has the most resources. This line of engines usually costs money, but it often goes on sale for under $5-$15.
People will recommend TyranoBuilder, but as a user and player, the lack of options and the format the games often come in is just...not fun to navigate. It advertises itself as little to no code, but it's often evident in the final results. Some good games have been made in it, though, so if you want to use it for prototyping/practice, you can. I'm not a fan, but that doesn't mean that fans don't exist! This engine costs money.
Not an engine, but check out Ink! Super useful scripting language that's used for more professional projects.
DEMOS, DEMOS, DEMOS
You've got an idea for a long-term project, and now you want to show it to the world! But wait, wait, don't do that yet!
When should I start advertising my game? This is a personal opinion, but I say that you should not start advertising your game until 50-60% of your demo is complete. Why? As I've discussed with some fans of indie VNs, they can name quite a few projects that have been in the "working on the demo" age for 1-2+ years. I've been in the Kickstarter MMO circles. If you, making a single-player experience with little mechanics to balance and polish (aka a visual novel), are taking that long on a demo, I am going to assume the game is not coming out. There are some games I have seen out here that have been in "working on the demo" phase where I haven't seen a single ounce of what the project will look like.
What should I put in my demo? The purpose of a demo is to showcase the mechanics and the vibes and the mechanics of your game. It's a demonstration. In my last post, I pointed to the Dead Space 2 demo that was showcased at E3 (RIP), that takes place about 2 hours into the story and shows how enemies are defeated, some animations, bits of the story, etc. Usually, because it's less about mechanics and more about vibes, visual novel demos showcase a certain percentage of the full thing (5-10%.) Can you showcase the vibe of the game here and what players should expect? If not, show off another portion.
How long should I work on my demo? Before, I said 3-4 months. That can be true, that can also not be true. Think about how long the demo takes you in proportion to how long the actual game should take you. Don't put too much effort. The demo is to showcase the vibe. It's to see how much the public and fans may enjoy the game.
My game is 18+, what should I do? Make a splash screen when the game is downloaded to let players know your game is 18+. If it's going to contain sexual content, you can hide it with itch.io's adult content filter. Write it on the page itself that your game is for adults only. Don't put your demo behind a paywall. This is genuinely ridiculous. The purpose of a demo is to showcase what a game is like before a player purchases it. That defeats the point of a demo. I've seen this happen, and it discourages players from approaching, especially because most demos never make it past the demo phase. So...I'm paying you $10 for 2-3k words of a game that may never come out?
Should I make a social media for my game? YES! Go for it. These anchors are how people will find your game. Make a Tumblr and open that ask box. Make a Twitter. Go to BluSky. Advertising is not bad. Some YouTubers even take e-mail suggestions from developers. Feel free to shoot your shot. The worst they can do is not respond.
HOW TO SET UP YOUR ITCH.IO PAGE:
Getting your itch.io to a presentable state can be very challenging! There's many ways to do it. I highly recommend using this page image guide for learning how to size your images to make your page pop!
Itch.io themselves has suggested to not publish a page until the game or demo is released. You can make the page and keep it as a draft, but do not publish it until you're ready!
Your cover image is the image that will appear in the search of the website, on any front pages, in collections, and on your profile. What have I seen that works? Key art of one of the characters up close and the title of the game! If you can make it a .GIF, do it! Bitches love .GIFs!
Itch.io recommends 3-5 screenshots on your page. I recommend 1 of these 5 be a .GIF that shows how gameplay feels. This is effective, even for visual novels!
Write a 3-5 sentence summary about your game for the description. What is your story about? What is the draw?
DO NOT BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO IS GOING TO SAY "This is not like other visual novels. It doesn't have that cheesy this or that or-" No one cares. Genuinely. You're putting down other games in your genre and elevating yourself to the pompous level.
TAG YOUR GAME! itch.io gives you a list of tags to choose from when you go to tag. DON'T USE THIS! Try to go for more specific tags. Arimia has a very good guide on how to use itch.io's tagging system to your advantage.
GENERAL GAME MAKING ADVICE
SCOPE KNIFE IS SUPER USEFUL! Everyone makes games that are way over their workload. It's okay to cut out features and add them later. Prioritize making a finished game before hitting those stretch goals.
PLAN, PLAN, PLAN! Writing outlines is super helpful. I use Twine for my outlines, because you can connect your passages together and make really well-thought webs.
IT'S OKAY TO ASK FOR HELP! Whether it's from friends, professionals, or anything in-between. They can help with assets, editing, etc.
HONE YOUR SKILLS OUTSIDE OF GAMES! Write some poetry. Do some sketches everyday. Improve on your craft to improve your games
MUSIC IS HARD. THERE ARE RESOURCES. Most of us aren't musicians. That's okay. Make sure the music you get for your game is allowed to be used. You can use anything non-commercial if your game will not cost money or donations. I try to do songs in the public domain or free to use overall with credit if I don't have a musician. Consult the Creative Commons website if you're unsure how you're supposed to use a certain piece of music. If you don't use the right stuff, not only can it put you in legal trouble, but it can put streamers in hot water if they play your game and they can't upload the video because music is copyrighted.
PLEASE, DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR UI. Wanna know an easy way to get your game to look more professional? Edit the damn UI for your game. Make a new textbox, even if it's just a black box. Change the font. Eventually, players recognize the defaults and patterns of games made in certain engines and may attribute a lack of UI changes to a developer being lazy. It doesn't take very long to change the colors around and move text! Please do it to add a little pop to your game.
DEADLINES ARE AWESOME. Not everyone works well under pressure, but if you give yourself an infinite amount of time to make something, it'll never get done. Set goals for yourself for how much you can work on something.
IF YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP, GIVE UP. Making things is hard, especially long-term. Emergencies happen, jobs happen, life happens. Let your fans know that a project isn't happening anymore. Don't leave them in the dark. You don't need to tell strangers your medical history or anything, but transparency + honesty are really hot traits. You should use those in your creative work. This is one reason why I advocate for not publishing or advertising things until you know it's stable.
SHOWCASING YOUR CONTENT
People love to see WIPs for games! This is what the devlog is good for! A devlog is a post where a developer talks about and showcases some things happening in the game? What can you add to your dev log?
PERCENTAGES! How much of the artwork is done? How much of this character's route is done?
SNEAK PEEKS AT ARTWORK AND SPRITES!
GIFS! GIRLS LOVE GIFS!
Anything else to showcase your game's content! Posting consistent updates retains and even gains a fan's attention for your work.
RUNNING YOUR TUMBLR
You've joined us, and you've made a Tumblr for your blog! Link it on the itch.io page, so people can come find you after playing your awesome demo!
Do I have to respond to every ask? No. It's your blog. Delete whatever asks you want.
I got a hate comment! What do I do? Delete it and move on. I have a more detailed section on hate below.
I want to interact with [blog]! How do I do that? Reach out to the devs for silly little collabs. If you come onto a developer slightly headstrong, they might feel you are being abrasive or using them for content.
If people make fan content, interact with it! Encourage it! Reblog it. Show your love.
OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS
PROFESSIONALISM IS KEY. These may be pet projects, but you want to appear some level of professional on your actual itch.io page.
Being dismissive of player and fan complaints or criticisms will make you appear childish.
If your game is broken, fix it. I have been told by some amateur developers to ignore game-breaking bugs. It does not make me, a player, want to engage with your content. It seems messy and unfinished.
With the above point, it's 100% okay to have bugs and errors upon release. Every developer and their brood mother has. To decrease these issues, get playtesters. Friends can play your games, spot any errors, and help you point out things that can be improved upon. I recommend having playtesters at every stage of development.
Make sure your game runs before you publish it. Please.
You can still be silly and giddy! There's no reason to not be, especially when you get positive comments! The point of this is to not be outright rude to potential players and fans.
IGNORE HATE COMMENTS. In this case, a hate comment is a statement that contains no constructive criticism and are only here to be insulting or malicious. People are going to leave you with actual piles of dog shit in your ask box. They are trying to provoke you. Giving hate comments any attention, even if you're there to "clap back" proves that they got to you, even if you don't take the hate to heart. They will continue to pester you. Delete any hate comments and ignore them completely. Laugh about them with friends in a private setting, sure.
THINK BEFORE YOU REFERENCE! I know one big thing in this community is adding references to other games in yours, such as plushies of other characters or putting them on posters. The best thing you can do it ask the developer before adding this. How would you feel if some random person you've never met put your character in a video game? Most of us would feel weird and potentially violated. Open communication with devs is awesome. I am usually okay with it as long as someone asks for permission.
As a complete aside, I prefer more tasteful references to other games as opposed to 523482346 plushies and posters. These have been slightly overdone. Why not theme a candy after another game's character? Maybe your characters know each other.
OTHER RESOURCES I RECOMMEND
Devtalk is a server dedicated to independent visual novel creators. You can find jobs, resources, advice, talks, and, like, everything there! Devtalk is super useful. Everyone in there is so cool. They have a really great and comprehensive list of resources that I could not even begin to cover.
Visual Novel Design is a great YouTuber. No other words, check the guy out!
Ren'py and whatever other engine you're using has documentation that's super useful to follow.
Arimia not only has amazing VN resources, especially for marketing, but she also just has? Amazing games that you should check out?
And for a shameless self plug, I'm the lead of Sacred Veins, a collective of devs creating narrative games, whether it be horror, humor, romance, or everything in-between. Come hang out with us!
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Both the artwork and story in this game are top-tier quality.
#touchstarved#touchstarved game#touchstarvedgame#touchstarved spoilers#visual novels#on my shit again#over 1k notes
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Some damsel art! I updated her distant sprites (the old sprites were holdovers from demo #1 when the backgrounds for chapter 2 didn't change)
And a bonus unfinished sprite for ya!
Oh yeah and wishlist our game :3
#slay the princess#visual novels#video game art#i learned to draw manga style for her#middle school me would be so proud#tony is so excited to be able to share non-spoiler princess art that isn't tower and adversary lmao#as soon as these were done he was like “OKAY LET'S POST THEM I DON'T CARE THAT IT'S 9PM!!”
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Class of '09 is what Euphoria thinks it is
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TOXIC YURI 😱😱😱
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ahahah *sweat* maybe i got carried away because of a specific Ais line
#my art#touchstarved#ais#leander#fanart#illustration#redspringstudio#visual novels#my mind is full of them im in trouble#i cannot wait for the full game aaaaaaah#good luck red spring studio ! fighting!
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Val wants 2 kiss all of them on the mouth and you should let her do whatever she wants cause she is cute.
1 Like = 1 more kissy kiss for Val
✨Wishlist✨Demo✨
#magical warrior diamond heart#mwdh#magical girl#magical boy#mahou shoujo#visual novel#otome game#indie dev#game dev#visual novels#visual novel game#indie games#queer games#lgbt games
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Maho no Tenshi Creamy Mami: Futatsu no Sekai, PC-98
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so today in the visual novel sphere...
...apparently some journalists still want to perpetuate the "overnight indie success" myth by claiming that indies don't do any heavy-lifting whatsoever, or that a 100,000+ wishlist launch is "low-key".
keep in mind that the slay the princess team was reaching out to press and streamers, releasing updated demos, attending a lot of online festivals, sharing to tons of social media, cultivating a community around the game, and more for months.
(after looking at the full article I wouldn't be surprised if it was chat-gpt just to fill an article quota)
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90s cyberpunk VNs are like "how can we have this lady wear the largest possible amount of clothing while also wearing the smallest possible amount of clothing".
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Video Game Recommendations
Indie Visual Novels
Solipsism Reigns
Eat your heart Valentine!
My Darling
Home’s Embrace
Don’t Take This Risk
XOXO Blood Droplets
Y.A.N.A.
Infatuation
Yandere Love: Chains of Fate
Sweetest Valentine
Forgive My Sins, Father
You Are My Sunshine
Pulsato Cordis
Picture Perfect Boyfriend
Stuck in a Yandere Visual Novel...HELP!!
ITYH: A Horror Otome
Froot Basket Valentine
Invite Me In
What's Your Name?
Mistrick
Yandere Heaven
Love Me Not
Too Deep In Love
Love Company
Missing
Pocket Lover!
A Portrait of Feathers
Dr. Morgan's Counseling Session
Picture Perfect Romance
Tentador Leches
Colorful Mirai: Spooky Edition
Be My Muse
Froot Basket Dark Chocolate
The Science of Staying Awake
Eat Your Heart Valentine 2
Line 88
Please Don't Hate Christmas
Lucky Day!
House Check
Mushroom Oasis
Yanchat
Karamu
Gentle Fall
Sweet Dreams
Where Winter Crows Go
A Date with Denial
Kimbark Street
Past Hope
The Stranger from the Bus Stop
Love Me Dearly
Akahane Academy
Flowers of Evil
Bleeding Canvas
My Ange
Is it Wrong to want to be Locked up, Toyed with and Tortured by a Hot Guy?
Bittersweet Blythe
Klein v0.1
Rot with Me
Inclement Idee Fixe
Death by Fire
Loser
Dear Devere
RPG/ Other Types of Games
Devil's Gankuran
Saccharine
Desperate Love Feast
Desert Nightmare
Love, Sam
Doom Stones
PC
Ephemeral Fantasy on Dark
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