List of visual novel development resources/Business
| Creator | Link | Price/ License |
Production | Business | Marketing | Guide | Tool | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Everest Pipkin | Google Drive | Free | Yes | Spreadsheet of over 400 open calls, residencies, grants, galleries, etc. for creative endeavors | ||||
| Quiet Days | Tumblr | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Dev blog listing processes about targeting an audience, developing the story, project management, game design, and marketing. | |
| Tom Francis | Pentadact | Free | Yes | Yes | Short advice for Steam best practices. | |||
| Belgerum | Free | Yes | Yes | Long advice on how to make a good Steam page. | ||||
| ? | mentionlytics | Free/Paid | Yes | Yes | Service that monitors social media mentions. | |||
| Stavros Pilatis | Game Developer | Free | Yes | Yes | How to use Youtube to market your games. | |||
| Game Maker's Toolkit | Youtube | Free | Yes | Yes | Short video "How to Make an Indie Game Trailer" | |||
| Adrian (@DragonSoldier2k) | Google Drive | Free | Yes | Yes | Short guide on how to market games on Imgur. | |||
| Burak Tezateser | Game Developer | Free | Yes | Yes | Long guide on pre-release Steam marketing. | |||
| Chris Zukowski | HowToMarketAGame | Free | Yes | Detailed guide on different stages of marketing. | ||||
| Chris Zukowski | Youtube | Free | Yes | Yes | GDC talk about using email lists to create a dedicated fanclub. | |||
| Chris Zukowski | HowToMarketAGame | Free | Yes | Pdf file of the GDC fanclub talk's presentation. | ||||
| Chris Zukowski | HowToMarketAGame | Free | Yes | Analysis of Boyfriend Dungeon's email marketing strategy. | ||||
| Chris Zukowski | HowToMarketAGame | Free | Yes | Paul McCartney's marketing lets fans text him. | ||||
| Ross Manthorp | Games Industry | Free | Yes | Yes | Article on how to run a Kickstarter campaign. | |||
| onisuu | DeviantArt | Free | Yes | Yes | Detailed guide on how to send a PayPal invoice. | |||
| ? | Hubspot Academy | Free | Yes | Yes | Free online marketing courses. | |||
| Matt Brown | Shopify | Free | Yes | Article on what to include in a freelance contract. | ||||
| Represent Me | Represent Me | Paid | Yes | Yes | Not-for-profit Represent Me maintains a list of nonbinary inclusive localizers. | |||
| Sam Coster | gdcvault.com | Free | Yes | GDC talk about how to market your game. | ||||
| GCAP | Youtube | Free | Yes | GCAP talk about how to market games on Steam. | ||||
| Mark Ramsey | WordPress | Free | Yes | Yes | How to use IFFF to automate posting tweets in discord. | |||
| Ulyana Chernyak | Game Developer | Free | Yes | Breakdown of what time of year is good to release a game. | ||||
| Victoria Tran | Free | Yes | Victoria Tran's thread about indie social media metrics. | |||||
| Philomena Schwab | Google Drive | Free | Yes | Philomena Schwab's Master's thesis "Community Building for Indie Game Developers" that gives an in depth analysis of the subject. | ||||
| Gracebruxner | Medium | Free | Yes | Gracebruxner's article on when/why/how to make merch for your indie game. | ||||
| Extra Credits | Youtube | Free | Yes | Extra Credit's video on how to make a game dev portfolio. | ||||
| Victoria Tran | Medium | Free | Yes | Yes | Victoria Tran's guide to "$0" marketing budgets. | |||
| Elizabeth Arens | Sprout Social | Free | Yes | Yes | "Always Up-To-Date" guide to media image sizes for several social networks. | |||
| ? | Clickup | Free/Paid | Yes | Yes | Project management tool with a lot of features to customize. | |||
| Laura Roeder | Social Media Examiner | Free | Yes | How to make your Twitter photos stand out. References old Twitter dimensions. | ||||
| Minoh Workshop | Itch | Free | Yes | Itch devlog/pdf "How to Get Your Game Noticed: Search Engine Optimization for Itch" tailored for visual novels by the dev team for Minotaur Hotel. | ||||
| ? | Paid | Yes | Yes | A subreddit of freelance artists looking for work. | ||||
| JP3 | VNs Now | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | A checklist for important factors of commercial VN development. | |
| ? | Script reader pro | Free | Yes | 40 downloadable pitch bibles for TV shows of various genres. | ||||
| Tim Ruswick | Youtube | Free | Yes | "Hang Around People Better Than You", a short video about how to improve game dev skills. | ||||
| Katy133 | Youtube | Free | Yes | Yes | Katy133's tutorial on how to make DIY merch (shrink film pins and charms). | |||
| ? | Social Blade | Free | Yes | Yes | Social Blade is a public database of social media statistics of any user. Includes Youtube, Twitch, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, etc. | |||
| Adriaan de Jongh | Docontract | Free | Yes | Yes | Contract() is a template work for hire agreement tailored for game devs. | |||
| Howard Ho | Youtube | Free | Yes | Howard Ho's "How the Hamilfilm Trailer Works", a short video about how to use music in trailers. | ||||
| Derek Lieu | Youtube | Free | Yes | Short video on how long game trailers should be. | ||||
| AtokNiiro | Free | Yes | Twitter image aspect ratios. | |||||
| CoMiGo | Itch | Free | Yes | Yes | CoMiGo's "Better creator pages at itch.io", a guide to organizing your Itch profile. | |||
| x | Work With Indies | Free | Yes | Yes | Work With Indies is a job board focused on indie studios. | |||
| Victoria Tran | Google Drive | Free/Paid | Yes | Yes | Victoria Tran's collection of marketing and community resources spreadsheet. | |||
| Raw Fury | Raw Fury | Free | Yes | Yes | Publisher Raw Fury's template publishing agreements and legal, financial, marketing, and production documents. | |||
| Jannik Boysen | Itch | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Jannik Boysen's "Easy Releasy" provides templates to design Itch pages. | ||
| Arimia | Arimia Dev | Free | Yes | Arimia's list of "40+ Game Dev Social Media Post Ideas". | ||||
| Arimia | Arimia Dev | Free | Yes | Yes | Arimia's "2020 Social Media Calendar for Indie Games", a cheat sheet of what to post on what day. | |||
| Arimia | Arimia Dev | Free | Yes | Yes | Arimia's "Social Media Marketing for Indie Games – 2021 Guide", a detailed guide on how to market your game. | |||
| Arimia | Arimia Dev | Free | Yes | Yes | Arimia's "Game Development Checklist", a series of questions to ask yourself before/during/after game development. | |||
| vextera | Tumblr | Free | Yes | A tutorial on volume commissions for artists: cheap, fast work that is profitable by quantity over quality. | ||||
| Eldritch Crow | Itch | Free | Yes | Yes | Eldritch Crow's "Freelance Work General Contract Template" | |||
| Coda | Google Drive | Free | Yes | Yes | Coda's "Asset List & Budget" spreadsheet template to track assets, budget, and shortlist contractors. | |||
| ? | Milanote | Free | Yes | Yes | Workspace with built in templates for moodboards, game design documents, worldbuilding, level design, etc. | |||
| Atlassian | Trello | Free/Paid | Yes | Yes | Web-based Kanban board process management tool. | |||
| HelloBonsai | Bonsai Contract Maker | Free/Paid | Yes | Yes | Bonsai has general business management software for freelancers and small business, including a contract maker. | |||
| Rami Ismail | presskit() | Free | Yes | Yes | A toolkit to create press kits for games quickly and easily. | |||
| pentagonbuddy | Medium | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Analysis of English VN Kickstarter projects between 2011-2019. | ||
| Atlassian | Trello | Free/Paid | Yes | Yes | Web-based Kanban board process management tool. |