Visual;Conference

A banner showing the VNConf logo.

Visual;Conference, also known as VNConf, is an annual, day long web gathering of visual novel developers and those related to visual novel development where selected speakers give talks on subjects important to the visual novel industry. The talks range widely in topic, including narrative design, visual arts, localization, business, and other areas.

VNConf is hosted Aginyan. It uses a combination of webinar software and the Sekai Project Discord. Recorded videos can be accessed from its Youtube Channel.

2017 Talks & Speakers

YouTube Link to the 2017 Playlist.

No.	Title	Speaker(s)
2	The VN Industry, Today and Tomorrow	Randy Au
3	Getting that Grant Money	Justin Kuiper
4	The Logo Design Process	Jake Bowkett
5	Game Engines for OELVN Development	John Doran
6	Visual Novel with Unity3D	KG Tan
7	Narrative Techniques in Ladykiller in a Bind	Christine Love
8	What's New with Ren'Py	PyTom
9	Editing: What is it, and why do you need it?	Fred The Barber
10	The Importance of Project Management	Tabby
12	Pitfalls and Getting Out	Echofrost & Tristan "Wolf" Barber
13	How do we use music to our advantage to draw out emotions?	Mads Andersen
14	Environmental Design Using 3D Software	Nick Green
15	Supporting Your Release and Post Release	Nicholas Johnson
16	Experimental Marketing	Nai
17	Visual Novels in the Age of Mobile	Lawrence Brenner
19	Nukige from Scratch	Ryechu
20	Localization Teams circa 2010	Tinfoil

2018 Talks & Speakers

YouTube Link to the 2018 Playlist.

No.	Title	Speaker(s)
2	Directing	Nachi Kio
3	Scenario writing	Ryoichi Watanabe
4	Handling the workflow with an artist	Alphaprospector
5	Analyzing trends in the VN market	Bunny Advocate
6	Visual Novel, Inc	JP The Third
9	Animating your visual novel	John Doran
10	Fundamentals principles of architecture	Nick Green
11	Visual novel UI design 101	Sasquatchii
12	Critiquing criticism, giving, receiving, good vs bad	Cipher
13	Do a bit of everything!	Peppertsuki
14	Marketing a VN - what Steam Greenlight taught me	Quilly
15	The Player-Character Relationship	Brandon Carbaugh
16	VNs vs 160 Characters	Echofrost & Tristan "Wolf" Barber
17	Business models for visual novels on mobile	Frank Zhang
18	What the heck is an Otome?	Tabby
19	Voice acting in visual novels	Sake-bento
20	Starting on the right foot	Tutty the Fruity
21	N-n-nukige with plot?!	Ryechu

2019 Talks & Speakers

YouTube Link to the 2019 Playlist.

No.	Title	Speaker(s)
2	Writing for Mobile Visual Novels	Xiang Xiang
3	Choice Design	Steamgirl
4	How to effectively deploy text	Florencia Minuzzzi
5	Objectivity and Music	Tim Reichert
6	Writing for a studio vs writing for yourself	JD
7	Giving your story a voice	Tutty the Fruity
8	How to make a Story Grid	Katy133
10	When the kickstarter stops	Nai
11	EVN Kickstarter Analysis	Pentagonbuddy
12	Surviving 2 years at PAX	Justin Kuiper
13	The Visual Novel Reading room	Ayu
14	Insanity: The Story of Watercress' NaNoRenO2018	Tristan "Wolf" Barber
15	Player Feedback & Embracing Negative Reviews	Katie
16	How to organize an online gamedev conference	Agilis
17	VN development pipeline	Quilly
19	Tips for more "Natural" writing	Cipher
20	Writing for Fast Forwarding	Ruqiyah
21	H-scenes for Dummies	Ryechu

2020 Talks & Speakers

YouTube Link to the 2020 Playlist.

No.	Title	Speaker(s)
1	Pitching Anime Games to Entrepreneurs	Arimia
2	The Art of UI Design	Sasquatchii
3	What's an audio director and why might you need one?	Tim Reichert
4	Using animation to bring life to your visual novel	Lucy Blundell
5	Writing a story to be solved	Gary Kings
7	VNs as a Canvas	ds-sans
8	What's a VNRPG And Why Should I Make One?	Els White
9	Capturing Subtle Emotions Using Choice Mechanics	Florencia Minuzzi
10	Ways of generating dialogue in Ren'Py	Quilly
11	Simple Trick To Make Choices Feel AAAAH!	Steamgirl
12	Managing Your Editing Workflow	Cipher
13	Creative Commons Feat. Hatsune Miku	BaiYu
14	What novel? NaniNovel! An Intro to a New Engine for VN Creators	Nai
15	Real-time Immersive 3D Architectural Visualization	Nick
16	Generating & Refining Concepts without Divine Inspiration	Empish
18	Talking to Artists for People who aren’t Artists	Ayu
19	One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: A Post-Mortem	Tristan "Wolf" Barber & Alch
20	Teaching players how to play your visual novel	Ruqiyah

2021 Talks & Speakers

YouTube Link to the 2021 Playlist.

No.	Title	Speaker(s)
2	Your game is too loud!	Tim Reichert
3	Why Graphic Design Matters More Than You Think	ds-sans
4	Avoiding burnout as a solo dev!	Maxi Molina
5	Building the World of Your Visual Novel	Ashe Thurman
6	Staging a play together, apart	Manuela Malasaña
7	Finding Good Quality Voice Actors for a Reasonable Price	Cryshulvo
9	Finding a publisher for your VN: What to know first!	Quilly
10	Publishing with Sekai Project, Abridged Edition	Chris Ling
11	Your Game’s Audience is not Everyone	Arimia
12	Accessibility in Game Design and Development	Tristan "Wolf" Barber
14	Press-kits: What, Why, and How	Jaime Scribbles
15	So You’re Working With Random Strangers Online	MAHO! Cody
17	What's New with Ren'Py?	PyTom
18	How I Hosted a VN Game Jam	Katy133
19	Well, That Didn't Work	sake-bento

2022 Talks & Speakers

YouTube Link to the 2022 Playlist.

No.	Title	Speaker(s)
1	Power Emotions with Character Arcs	Nina Roussakoff
2	Directing the Director: get the performance you wrote inside your head!	Maxi Molina
3	How to design interesting choices in VN	Ayael
4	Audio formats for VNs	Tim Reichert
5	How to Approach Press/Content Creators for VN Devs	Nook
7	The Intrigue in Ambiguity	Katy133
8	Visual Novel Cinematography and Interactive Design	Vimi
9	Using Unity and the application NaniNovel to create visual novels	Miss Tabby Tales
10	Breaking Ren’Py: How our Pseudo-OS pushes Ren’Py even further beyond!	Tristan "Wolf" Barber
11	Author to Game Producer – Changes and Challenges	Anjell
13	Making a VN in 4 Months VS 4 Years (a double postmortem)	Arimia
14	Releasing 8+ games (ft. game jams) and when to take a break	Shino
16	Ship more polished games with half the time	Quilly
17	Finish Your Game	sake-bento

2023 Talks & Speakers

YouTube Link to the 2023 Playlist.

No.	Title	Speaker(s)
1	From Vision to Visuals: Art Direction and Execution in Visual Novels	ingthing
2	UI Design Basics	Ayael
3	Voice Direction 101	Maxi
4	Adaptive Audio in Visual Novels – Mycorrhiza as a Case Study	Tim Reichert
5	More than a Pretty Face: Art Direction for Visual Novels	Pentagonbuddy
7	Working With Voice Actors	sake-bento
8	Polishing your Release: the Little Features that Could	Shino
9	How to grow a visual novel game studio	Quilly
10	How to Write Triggering Scenes without Triggering Players	Alanna
11	Enriching a player's experience with RNG	Ekkoberry
13	[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm3JDH-Efzg Sprite Right!	Mado
14	So You Want to be a Solo Dev	Toast
16	Twitter is dead but your game isn't	Arimia
17	Live2D For Ren'py	Vimi
18	What's New with Ren'Py	PyTom

2024 Talks & Speakers

YouTube Link to the 2024 Playlist.

No.	Title	Speaker(s)
--	Realistic Ambitions & Releases	Moka
--	Dynamic Characters	Suede
1	Dynamic Audio Implementation With Ren’Py	AlfredPros
2	Marketing: How to never run out of content for your social media	Ayael
3	Break 1
4	10 or so post-production techniques to make your visual novel look more cinematic	Justinn
5	Effect animation is real, but it can’t hurt you: Crashing into After Effects for anybody with an anybody	Nai
7	The Art of Asset Reduction: Make More With Less	Shino
8	Twenty Years of Ren’Py – And Then Some	PyTom
9	Why People Want to Work with YOU	Vimi
11	Read! Your! Contract! – A Crash Course In Freelance Commerce	MAHO! Cody
12	Ready, Set, Research!	Penta
14	Mystery Visual Novels: From Clueless To Creator	Kinjo Goldbar
15	Choices in Visual Novels – What Makes Them Meaningful?	Alaric
16	Character Customization 101	Feniks
17	Plot unblocking! Spoiling my own VNs for this talk [Promise, Progress, and Payoffs]	Jaqui (littlemissleestories)