List of visual novel development resources/Narrative
| Creator | Link | Price/ License |
Design | Writing | Resources | Guide | Tool | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n/a | Diagrams.net | Free | Yes | Free flowchart program (formerly known as draw.io). | ||||
| Visual Novel Design | Youtube | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Videos that cover all the basics of Visual Novel Development. | |
| n/a | TimeAndDate | Free | Yes | Lets you personalize list of real time across the world (also weather and sun/moon calculator). | ||||
| Emily Short | WordPress | Free | Yes | Yes | Emily Short's blog post about how to improve as a narrative designer. | |||
| Emily Short | WordPress | Free | Yes | Yes | Emily Short's blog post about types of player relationships with stories. | |||
| Jon Ingold | Google Drive | Free | Yes | Yes | Notes on (with link to) an AdvX 2018 talk about writing dynamic dialogue. | |||
| Sam Kabo Ashwell | WordPress | Free | Yes | Yes | Sam Kabo Ashwell's blog post about types of player agency in game narrative. | |||
| n/a | Windirstat.net | Free | Yes | Windows Directory Statistics Cleanup Tool | ||||
| Ahoy | Youtube | Free | Yes | Video essay about The Secret of Monkey Island and the history of text adventure games. | ||||
| Alex Forsythe | Google Drive | Free | Yes | Open source add-on that allows for correctly formatted code and syntax highlighting in Google Docs. | ||||
| n/a | Cultural Atlas | Free | Yes | Yes | In depth cultural differences of several dozen countries (of Austrailia's largest migrant populations) compared to an Austrailian standard. | |||
| n/a | Toggl | Free/Paid | Yes | Time tracking with reporting to help balance what you're doing too much/too little of. | ||||
| Brandon Sanderson | Youtube | Free | Yes | Yes | Brandon Sanderson's writing lectures on how to write a good story, plot, characters, and style. | |||
| n/a | ShareX | Free | Yes | Open source screen recorder for Windows with customizable settings. | ||||
| n/a | Notion | Free/Paid | Yes | Project management workspace for individual or team use. | ||||
| Hello Future Me | Youtube | Free | Yes | Yes | Hello Future Me's video offering advice on place names by analyzing the etymology of real and fictional places. | |||
| Cass Phillipps | Youtube | Free | Yes | Yes | GDC talk about designing effective narrative branches and player choices. | |||
| Radmatt | Itch | Paid | Yes | Multi-engine tool to design branching dialogue. | ||||
| Trans Student Educational Resources | TSER | Free | Yes | A glossary of LGBTQ+ terminology from Trans Student Educational Resources. | ||||
| John H Young | Dropbox | Free | Yes | Dropbox pdf of meanings of flowers and precious stones. Sourced from an 1881 American etiquette guide (Our Deportment - John H Young). | ||||
| Minute | Itch | Free | Yes | Yes | Ren'Edit is a tool to log notes/corrections while in game and automatically export them in a txt file. | |||
| ? | Google Drive | Free | Yes | Yes | A simple game design doc template for visual novels. | |||
| Entertain the Elk | Youtube | Free | Yes | Yes | Entertain the Elk's "Speilberg: How to Introduce Characters", a short video on how to establish characters. | |||
| Innuendo Studio | Youtube | Free | Yes | Yes | Innuendo Studio's four part video essay on storytelling in video games. | |||
| Katy133 | Youtube | Free | Yes | Yes | Katy133's "How to Make a Story Grid", a short video on how to plan your VN's plot, character arcs, pacing, and themes. | |||
| ? | bookarchitecture.com | Free | Yes | Yes | An example of a story grid for Catch-22, a satirical war novel by Joseph Heller. | |||
| Innuendo Studio | Youtube | Free | Yes | Yes | Innuendo Studio's "The Artist is Absent: Davey Wreden and The Beginner's Guide", a video essay on "Death of the Author" theory and interpreting canon through the game The Beginner's Guide. | |||
| Errant Signal | Youtube | Free | Yes | Yes | Errant Signal's "What Does It Mean To Player Character?", a video essay on types of player characters and how they're designed. | |||
| n/a | Coggle.it | Free/Paid | Yes | Yes | Coggle is a flowchart/branching tool that allows for real-time collaboration. | |||
| n/a | Simplenote | Free | Yes | Yes | Simplenote is cross platform notetaking app with a tag system, backups, and markdown support. | |||
| Game Makers Toolkit | Youtube | Free | Yes | Yes | Game Maker's Toolkit's "What Makes a Good Detective Game?", a video essay on how various detective games engage their players in the mystery. | |||
| Firgof | Itch | Free/Paid | Yes | Yes | Firgof's "The NPC With a Thousand Faces", a DevTalk+ exclusive free pdf on how to quickly create a complex NPC. Password is "notagoose". | |||
| Ebbigal | Google Drive | Free | Yes | Yes | A Google Doc collection of resources on how to storyboard on a budget. | |||
| Mikhail Panko | Expresso | Free | Yes | Yes | Expresso is a browser app that analyzes your writing and provides metrics about your writing style. | |||
| Emma Coats (@lawnrocket) | Imgur | Free | Yes | Yes | .@lawnrocket aka (Ex-Pixar) Emma Coats' 22 Rules of Storytelling. | |||
| Inkle | Soundcloud | Free | Yes | Yes | "All About Fail States", an episode from Inkle Studio's narrative games podcast about fail states in mystery games. | |||
| Kate Chironis | Free | Yes | Yes | Kate Chironis' Twitter thread on how to write barks for a game writing portfolio. | ||||
| Writing With Color | Tumblr | Free | Yes | Yes | Writing With Color's blog index containing guides on avoiding cultural/racial stereotypes. | |||
| Jesse Schell | DeckofLenses | Free | Yes | Yes | Jesse Schell's game design flashcard game. Contains 100+ design principles and ideas. | |||
| n/a | GameDevNexus | Free/Paid | Yes | Yes | Game Dev Nexus hosts a collection of game design and business resources (formerly GameDevelop.io). | |||
| Hai Nguyen | Mechvibes | Free | Yes | Yes | Play mechanical keyboard sounds as you type on your own keyboard. | |||
| n/a | HacknPlan | Free/Paid | Yes | Yes | Project management for game development | |||
| Articy | articy:draft 3 Homepage articy:draft 3 Steam |
Free/Paid | Yes | Yes | Yes | Project management for game development. For teams and solo. Has student license option. |