Everyone Should Try Pacing Around Your Home Infodumping About Something While Pretending You're On A

✧･ﾟ: Customize your highlight color! :･ﾟ✧

I recently came across a blog where when I went to highlight some text I noticed it was a unique color!!! (」°ロ°)」

AND IT'S SO SIMPLE TO DO

all you do is go to your css file and add this:

::selection { background: <hexcolor> }

Enjoy!! ♡⸜(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)⸝♡

i saw a post on here the other day saying it should be a crime or whatever, that skyrim still costs 60 dollars.

and i was like. HUH? it doesnt though. i got it on sale for like five bucks a few years ago.

and today i fucking found out this is probably because bethesda is trying to hide the original $20 release of the game, to force you to buy the $60 HD release.

so for anyone who wants skyrim, you can still access the page at its link, even though its not possible to find on the store page naturally.

store.steampowered.com

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on Steam

EPIC FANTASY REBORN The next chapter in the highly anticipated Elder Scrolls saga arrives from the makers of the 2006 and 2008 Games of the

this seems fucking insane to me, by the way, considering old skyrim runs fine with amazing graphics on most modern pcs, while HD is unplayable on anything less than a high end gaming PC.

ngl this is the funniest procedural thing ive made in a while i saw https://genders.wtf/gauntlet/ and realized that the only way it could be better is if it went forever

kinda curious to see what ppl get

sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four

"I want to make a visual novel but don't know how"

visual novels are one of the most diverse and varied mediums out there and can be so much fun to make. if you've ever wanted to make one, it's pretty easy to get started!!

Overall Guide

this is a lengthy guide I made going over different parts of visual novels and how people make them! now let's go over some parts~

arimia

How to Make Visual Novels, a guide by arimia

A quick overview on how to make visual novels including terms, engines, communities and more. You can get started making your own visual nov

What Are Visual Novels?

Visual novels are a medium of video games focused on storytelling through the use of static or low-gameplay mechanics. Most can be considered a subsection of interactive fiction. A lot of visual novels have no gameplay or minigames, but some do feature light gameplay. The important aspect is that the gameplay in visual novels is never the focus, and instead the game focuses on a story delivered through dialogue & narration in textboxes on the screen.

Some visual novels are romance, some are fantasy, some are mystery, some are NSFW, some are cutesy, some are kiddie. Visual novels come in all shapes and sizes.

Visual Novel Misconceptions

Visual novels have been around for several decades now, but parts of them are still misunderstood by wider audiences. Here’s some frequent misconceptions about visual novels.

"Every visual novel has sexual content."

Visual novels come in all shapes and sizes, which includes content. Not every visual novel has sexual content, nor is it required to sell well. Visual novels are a medium for storytelling rather than a genre, so they can be anything you want them to be.

"Every visual novel is a dating sim."

Similar to the last one, some people think every visual novel is a romance game or a dating sim. Not every visual novel has romance in it, nor is it required to sell well.

"Every visual novel has choices and multiple endings."

Some of the most popular visual novels out there like Umineko When they Cry don’t have choices. Choices and multiple endings aren’t required to make a visual novel—completely linear experiences are fine.

"Visual novels need to be long."

Some of the top visual novels on itch.io right now are under 25k words, which puts them under 2 hours of playtime. Visual novels don’t have to be a certain length—they can be as long or as short as the story needs them to be. There’s even an annual visual novel jam, O2A2, that focuses on making a visual novel under 1k words with limited assets.

"Visual novels don’t sell well."

This is very much your mileage may vary. Some visual novels sell very, very well, such as how the recent Our Life: Now and Forever Kickstarter gained almost $300k. Marketing is an entire field just like art and writing and isn’t something you can skimp on or push to the end.

"Visual novel players hate reading."

A vast, vast majority of visual novel readers want a visual novel—they want a game that is light on gameplay and heavy on reading. You don’t have to add gameplay to a visual novel to keep people interested. Rather, minigames added at random can deter players. Visual novel players want an engaging story—if you’re worried of losing their attention, then focus on a tighter script or cinematography.

"Visual novels need to be anime style."

Visual novels originated in Japan and most do have an anime style, but visual novels do not need an anime style to sell well. The art style for a game will change the audience for the game—players who want something anime style probably won’t be interested in a semi-realistic style, but other people will be. It’s all about finding the right style for your story and finding the audience who responds well to it.

Visual Novel Terms

Here’s a list of terms you might encounter in visual novel and game dev communities.

EVN / OELVN – stands for English Visual Novel and Original English Language Visual Novel. Two terms used for describing Western VNs that are made in English, although EVN is used more frequently nowadays. An EVN/OELVN is specifically a visual novel made in English first, not a visual novel that has an English translation (and was made in a different language first). There are several variations of this, such as JVN meaning Japanese Visual Novel and RVN meaning Russian Visual Novel.

Kinetic novel – a visual novel that’s linear with few or no choices. Has only one ending. Also called a linear visual novel, linear game, etc.

Game jams – an event where developers have a set amount of time to make a game, ranging from a weekend to several months. Some jams have themes that the games must follow as well as other restrictions while others are more freeform. Nowadays, most jams are hosted on itchio. You can find a list of visual novel game jams here.

Game engine – a piece of software used for developing video games. The most popular ones for making indie VNs in English-speaking areas are Ren’Py and Unity, though Tyranobuilder is very popular in Japan for indies.

Text/code editor – when programming, you’ll need another piece of software to edit and write code that works with the game engine. Some popular text editors are Visual Studio Code, Sublime, Atom, Notepad, and more.

Character sprite – the individual character art that changes expressions and can move around the screen. Can include multiple outfits, pose changes, and more.

CGs – although it typically stands for Computer Generated, CGs in visual novels typically means the cut scene art where no sprites are shown (unless there's a side sprite on the textbox). CGs are usually reserved for special scenes and are the type of artwork you’d see in a CG Gallery or as promotional artwork.

UI / GUI – the User Interface / Graphical User Interface. This is what the player interacts with such as the textbox, main menu, save / load screen, settings, and more.

ADV mode – the standard reading mode for visual novels, short for Adventure mode. The textbox is located at the bottom of the screen. Popular examples of this are Steins;Gate, AI: The Somnium Files, and Amnesia.

NVL mode – a different reading mode for visual novels, short for Novel mode. The textbox covers most of the screen. Popular examples of this are Fate/stay night, Tsukihime, and Umineko When they Cry.

Dating simulator – dating sims are some of the oldest forms of visual novels and are essentially stat raisers where you spend time with various characters with the goal being to romance them by getting your stats high enough. In Western spheres dating sim has become synonymous with a romance game, where stat raising is not involved, but it’s important to note that dating sims refer to stat raisers a lot of the time. Unlike otome, a dating sim doesn’t refer to a specific sexual orientation.

Otome / Otoge – roughly translates to “maiden’s love” and is used to describe games with a female demographic, usually dating sims & romance games which feature male love interests and a female protagonist. Some otome games feature female and other gendered LIs, but male LIs are still the primary focus.

Eroge – an erotic game. If a game has sexual content in it, it’s an eroge. The original Fate/stay night (not the remastered version on Steam) is a popular example of an eroge.

Resources

And now, let's look at some tools and links for actually making visual novels.

Engines & Programming

Ren’Py – free visual novel engine

Twine – free text-based game engine (usually used for interactive fiction)

Naninovel – Unity-based tool for making Unity VNs

tiny tools – collection of various game dev tools

Ren’Edit Add-On – Ren’Py script editing & feedback tool

Ren’Py Accessibility Add-On

Feniks Ren’Py resources – various add-ons and tutorials by Feniks

Game Jam & Short Dev Advice

Game Jam Survival Guide - Essential Tips and Tricks

Releasing 8+ games (ft. game jams) and when to take a break

making game development backup plans

Advice for Leading VN Game Jam Teams

How to Make a Visual Novel Solo

How to Finish Your Visual Novel

Design

How to Make Visual Novels

Visual Novel Conference Talks

Visual Novel Cinematography & Design

Art Direction & Execution in Visual Novels

Making Impactful, Impressive Character Sprites

Post-production Techniques for VNs

Vimi’s Visual Novel Design

Writing

Writing Interactive – guides for narrative games writers

Visual Novel Conference Talks

Writing Mystery Visual Novels

How to Design Interesting Choices in VNs

The Intrigue of Ambiguity

Artwork

Clip Studio Paint

Krita

FireAlpaca

Medibang

GIMP

FastStone Photo Resizer – batch photo resizer and editor

FotoSketcher – various settings to apply artistic filters to photos

Marketing

How to Market Visual Novels

Marketing Visual Novels FAQ

Marketing Fundamentals for Indie Game Developers

Marketing your first indie game – What we learned from releasing the same game twice

The stairstep approach to indie game marketing

Marketing your Visual Novel for Kickstarter

Visual Novel Press-Kits

Audio

Eric Matyas music & SFX

Vita-chi SFX & graphics

Free Music Archive

Free Sound

dova-syndrome

Misc.

Lemmasoft Creative Commons Forum

itch.io visual novel resources

Google Fonts – free fonts

Uncle Mugen backgrounds

Canva – browser & desktop graphic design tool

Unsplash – free photos

Wrapping Up

all in all, visual novels are a fun medium to explore and play around with. if you want to make something short as a test run, try joining a game jam! if you want to see how varied visual novels can be, try playing some indies from itchio! at the end of the day there's no bad way to start making your own visual novel. hit the ground running and go for it!!

I've been developing visual novels for over 10 years now, blogging about them on my own blog and releasing visual novels through my studio Crystal Game Works. I hope this guide helped shed light on how to get into the medium!

— Arimia

grabbed all of the ebook versions of the folger shakespeare library's annotated versions of shakespeare's plays (+sonnets and poems) and put them all in one place in case anyone is interested

ok but if bruce wayne somehow came upon zuko fresh out of banishment he would lose his mind.

black hair? check. bad parent(s)? check. trauma? double check.

bruce: how’d you get your scar?

zuko: my dad got mad at me for saying that killing people is wrong so he lit my face on fire and banished me.

bruce, vibrating with excitement, already pulling adoption papers from his utilility: that’s terrible. how do you feel about capes.

📂| ARROWFAMILY READING GUIDE

Want to start reading about the Arrowfamily but don't know where to begin? Here’s a helping hand to get you started! click the carrd link below for reading guides for every Arrowfam member!

https://arrowfam.carrd.co

» What does the reading guide contains?

The carrd includes reading guides for ALL Arrowfamily members, to make it easier for new readers I separated the members in three separated categories: "core arrowfamily", "extended arrowfamily" and "elseworlds arrowfamily", the list of characters included in the carrd link (at least for now) are:

⤷ Core Arrowfamily:

　• Oliver Queen/Green Arrow

　• Dinah Lance/Black Canary II

　• Roy Harper/Arsenal

　• Lian Harper/Cheshire Cat

　• Connor Hawke/Green Arrow II/Hawke

　• Mia Dearden/Speedy II

　• Emiko Queen/Red Arrow II

　• Sienna/Red Canary

⤷ Extended Arrowfamily:

　• Shado

　• Eddie Fyers

　• Jade Nguyen/Cheshire

　• Sin Lance

　• Cissie King-Jones/Arrowette

⤷ Other Supporting Cast:

　• Master Jansen

　• Robert Queen II

　• Sandra Hawke

　• Dodger

　• Galahad II

　• Naomi Singh

　• Jax

　• Henry Fyff

　• John Diggle

　• George, the Arrow Dog

⤷ Elseworlds Arrowfamily:

　• Olivia Queen/Black Canary III

　• Artemis Crock/Tigress II

　• Connor Lance-Queen/Green Canary

　• Laurel Lance-Queen/Black Arrow

» A few notes before you start:

• Please make sure to check the "info" section of the carrd so you can understand better how it works and have a better experience using it.

• The reading guides will be updated frequently as soon as the character gets a new *important* appearance, small cameos and the like will not be included.

INFO POST

Welcome to queereads-brackets, a tournament blog where queer books face-off by genre! May your to-read list expand to unwieldy levels

Full spreadsheet of all submitted books from all tournaments

The current tournament is: Queer adult SFF spotlight (click to vote in most-recent round polls)

Past winners:

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Prachett

Tournament categories are:

Queer fantasy

Queer adult SFF spotlight

Queer fiction free-for-all

Queer nonfiction

Queer historical fiction

Queer books from history

Submission guidelines and FAQ

Inspired by some other book poll blogs I really enjoy (check them out!) @haveyoureadthisqueerbook @haveyoureadthistransbook @queer-book-character-tournament @book--brackets

Following my redesign of Mal, here’s my take on Evie from Descendants! 👑 I wanted her look to be contrast Mal and be a lot more polished since she’s royalty. I also leaned more into prim and princess-like based on her personality in the movie, but still maintaining dark elements in her aesthetic. I gave her a little skull makeup bag as a nod to the skull in her mother’s dungeon from the original film!

--

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