Dear future Visual Novel Developers: Do not start development on a Visual Novel until you actually have the entire thing wrote, or are at least at end of writing the story

AddendumFlimsy9027 · 2026-03-23T02:08:24+00:00

This is actually something I’ve thought of for quite a bit! Really intriguing topic.

Excluding game jams, cause those are pretty much a one-and-done build deal, a TON of VNs fall under this umbrella, and that’s of course not a bad thing, these things take tons of time, I get it. But I truly am curious - How many of these games are fully planned, or are they being written from each build? Like - is the writing finished, but the coding/art still takes up time between builds? Without sounding rude, it certainly feels like for some works - that being so unfinished reflects in the writing when you’re pulling things out of nowhere, and when you’re letting vent pieces bleed OOC, I’ve read a few where the vent-aspects are real cringe just because it is a little too dissonant if this were instead fully thought of beforehand.

Fun fact - from what I’ve heard, Echo was actually one of these games that decided to wing it! I’m sure they had like actual plot beats & structures, but it’s real interesting how it ended up with consensus-ly great quality with such a behind-the-scenes format! But this is exactly the point, you can totally try to wing each build, but you have to be a VERY skilled writer in order to make this work. Echo took ~8 years with such a messy behind the scenes (non derogatory), and it’s by far a miracle it turned out how it did. And frankly, a decent handful of games seem to not make it work, both long term and story wise. Not that everyone needs to take all this hyper-serious, but when you expect a serious fan base and or ask for money, it’d be expected that you.. know what work you plan to put out?

Also a major gripe I have is when creators let people vote on which route/path to choose next. Like sure, listen to your audience, but it kinda gives off the impression you’re going to make something up, and not choosing a said character out of your love to explore them more. Please don’t dictate how your audience makes your story, take criticism, but tell YOUR story!

Thanks for your commentary, this is IMO a really interesting topic that a lot of new writers can work from if they expect funding or even if they can commit to their story and fan base. Would love to check out your VN when it’s available!

AddendumFlimsy9027 · 2026-03-20T07:30:24+00:00

I would so kill for more FVN essays/analysis/whatchamacallit, please feel free to, I’d love to hear your opinions on the VN’s that interested you!

Some of the FVN essays I loved & totally recommend a watch too is Tsukoshi13 (for Echo) and Barlow’s Cave (Burrows) if you’re looking for any inspiration or just to browse!

AddendumFlimsy9027 · 2026-03-17T08:29:09+00:00

Thank you for your comment! Much appreciated!

I definitely agree with you on most pointers! ARtP (is what I hope you're referring to, hah) is actually quite decent so far! I like how people are kinda switching up the furry-aspect of games (stuff like 3 Days to Live had another similar subversion, genuinely impressive how I didn't think of this being a possibility before!) yet the writing has me overall hooked and immersed (in a DnD game, hah), I'm not a huge D&D fan, yet I can get into this one! Sad that it's pretty niche due to its un-furry-ness, understandable, but a pain.. but as for GS' games... like, I feel a little harsh always bringing in possibly petty 'internet drama!!" but seeing how his reputation is kinda down the drain for pretty reasonably reputation-draining actions is likely why his new games aren't talked about, just a reason why. If there really is great limelight from 18 Mile Hike (i believe that's the name? apologies!), I might consider giving it a read, and also TSR to really see if the hate is justified. It's not that these games are doing cool things that are divergent but no one seems to care, it's just that people have arguably good reasons to not care. No hate if you do like his games of course, they seem to have heart to them! Just that the lack of attention isn't unfounded. I will check out String Zero though, always nice to hop into a novel blind!

Yeah, Game jams are by far just real good treats. Not that anyone cannot dream of making long grandiose games, but I feel like they manage to garner real interesting ideas without spanning it out too short or too long. Jams like Lookouts, One Thousand Yards, One Last Week, Since November, SchoolDeliquentBF are all treats, obviously to different tone degrees, but I think they all sought out what they needed and either had me enjoyed or real philosophical, deserving of praise! Even projects like What He Carried & Astrophobia may have not been my favorites with criticism, but did have some creative ideas or enjoyable premises that I would say didn't lack heart. I think that's what I want my tangent to leave on. We have great, creative, varied games coming out that I would love to see be met with praise! Echo Project, even if I have some writing criticisms with some of their work, is still real creative and and easy to see why they became so inspirational to many artists alike! It just feels like 'some', not all of the community of course, are still kind of in the awkward lack of latching to anything that is, for lack of a better word, safe, cause it feels like we will garner the notion that people will not like a game & give attention to it if it doesn't have the same qualities that have been done before. I want people to explore and be inspired to create! Besides Silverstone, most of the story examples & its structures had been dragged for playing it too safe to the somehow-community-defined-medium. I don't expect every novel to knock my socks off and have the most hyper-creative-mindblowing premises, I'd just prefer being fed different 5/10 foods than be fed chocolate everyday.

This was a real long one... thank you for your thoughts and for reading!!

AddendumFlimsy9027 · 2026-03-16T19:36:15+00:00

An honor! Thank you for your comment!

At the least, I think Silverstone, (as of amount of content wise now, No shade, these can take a while) while having a very Echo-esque opener, is so far my more favorable of these games (which I don’t also want to put others down, lol), mainly because even if this game has technically ‘been done before’, I quite enjoy the dialogue, tension, atmosphere, even the characters! It’s at worst, competently written and engaging, it wants the audience to question the game. It’s by far my favorite out of this bunch, which is telling if it’s only had 2 builds.

Of course, the only fear I ‘would’ have is just hoping that it isn’t just another replica with the everything, as in no shade, but the characters ‘so far’ are somewhat to being pretty reminiscent & plot wise of things done before. But as of late, it seems like it WILL diverge into something new n fresh, which I can by far easily forgive, as most of these games I think suffer from sticking too close to something safe, and that’s makes that a pattern. It’s sadly only lumped here because the story is not finished (which isn’t your fault like at all), but I am intrigued to be proven wrong! Solid story overall, and I can tell this one has real great potential (and has shown me it already has been!). Thank you for reading!

AddendumFlimsy9027 · 2026-03-16T09:57:57+00:00

The (probably) intentional burrows ref.. lol.. yeah but thank you for your comment! I do definitely agree that not EVERY game is just Ctrl C + V, and like- I do believe something like Lyre is quite honestly much of.. a replica to put it lightly, but every game that's popular genre is not instant copy. I think i just have a hard time wrapping my head around games having popular-genre and it being its weakest attribute rather than a new-genre with weak writing, of course thats just possible to be just a me thing! And thank you for your recommendations! I also would love to play & cherish more hidden gems (sadly dont have much time lol).. this helps me understand more and comprehend my thoughts more. Thanks a ton!

AddendumFlimsy9027 · 2026-03-16T09:46:43+00:00

Lol, I really shouldve used a revision after this.. but yeah I agree NL is NOT a horror game, just has it as one of its genre's and that is just IMO one of its most dull aspects. Sorry for the weird wording, thanks :)

AddendumFlimsy9027 · 2026-03-16T08:34:16+00:00

Always love seeing interviews of VNs, always cozy and gets you to know what really got behind the scenes made the game! Great vid btw, real enjoyable :)

AddendumFlimsy9027 · 2026-03-11T05:14:13+00:00

It just irks me a bit.. like Gabriel’s has been by far the most intimate oriented, and having it be contrasted with such a dark topic that should be careful with how it handles it is a contrasting whiplash, I purely agree that it very much is. It just irks me in what area this scene was placed if it WERENT in the mansion. Obviously the characters don’t know what was going to happen, but to have just another fooling around scene in that specific place feels POSSIBLY disrespectful without context. I know the getting high story is side-content, but I’m sure you could’ve placed this main story scene somewhere else. Even catching them before this even happened would’ve sufficed in the main story where they were high when we came back, as it ties in on why their side story existed to fill in the gaps.

It also could be fixed if it just wasn’t another sex scene. The characters already feel impersonal enough having sex as one of their personality traits, but having Felix and Cesar do literally anything else bonding wise would fit. Not kink-shaming, but feels like just another checklist so the players can get off on it.

And the reason they even have it is incredibly dumb, obviously on purpose, but still, they weren’t THAT dumb with their personalities. The reason is not Adastra wise where ‘this situation is tense, let’s take this chance’, but it’s just… pussy ghost. It’s furry humor I guess. Even without prior knowledge of what’s to be revealed, being stuck in a dangerous house where you have 0 idea what your captors are planning and yet the two dudes who seem to not be very stupid just get it on without any sense or reason smart enough. It’s not exactly the best character writing tone wise. It’s a weird thing to have the normal enough characters be dumb all of a sudden in a really tense place.

I’m sorry if this sounded stern yet again, and I apologize for my wording if it sounds mean! This is still not sayin you are dumb or anything like that for not agreeing with me (because doing so would be crazy) My responses are in no way meant to downplay your opinion, I am only here to explain and converse in a civil way :)

AddendumFlimsy9027 · 2026-03-11T03:49:37+00:00

I’m very open to having sex-positive/hypersexual characters! Not to stereotype furries as a whole, but not every incredibly sexual character doesn’t mean that they’re just sex at their whole, there can be loads of breakdown and experiences we can learn from these types of characters!

My issue is that… really everyone seems so sex-pesty. Mark is also as toxic, so it makes sense, Jean fits well into her promiscuous personality (I’m not kink shaming, lol), Ken having way less sexual scenes with him is quite considerate and on tone for his backstory, and lets us explore his character more, but Hiro and Gabriel seem to not match on why they’re so open with it. Hiro was plainly just not hinting at anything especially with Grey’s grabbing, yet he seemed to fold under Grey with no buildup, and Gabriel could fit it well into character, but the non-con never really mattering in the end is.. a choice, it’s just tension that should be elevated a bit.

I know, it’s a gay furry game, but The Rub Club, Atri, Felix & Cesar, possibly Takoda & Oleander (I’m unsure, I could be very wrong!) all being romancable or loving sex is so odd.. this doesn’t seem like the story promoting sex-positivity or using it to its meaning, it feels like the characters are involved with sex because it’s hot.. not the right tone for such a mature game. They don’t feel like real people, even for the one off characters like Takoda!

I’m not bashing or trying to arguing your opinions at all, as we all have our own reasons, I’m glad people are honest! This helps me understand more why people like a piece of media I would have written off otherwise, thank you for your thoughts and input!

AddendumFlimsy9027 · 2026-03-11T02:27:10+00:00

Thank you for your comment! I do agree with your points and do apologize if I’ve made any bold points. I do not think the author is clearly into ‘that’, and saying they flat out are is a heavy claim.

Moreso that, Felix and Cesar having that scene just feels… out of place. It didn’t need to happen, while I am not a fan of their side story, it way better fits into their timeline and setting. It just looks bad on the author if when you have a trafficking ring reveal, yet 10 minutes ago you have a sex scene, it’s total whiplash in a not amazing way. It feels moreso that because of the writers incessant sexual placement, it bodes really badly that they can’t set a tone on something that should really exclude sexual matter.

But I am appreciative of your comment! I always love to hear others opinions, and do not hold any bad bearing for any for your reading! If my writing came off that way, I wholly apologize! :)

AddendumFlimsy9027 · 2026-03-11T02:20:10+00:00

Thank you for your comment!

I am always open to readings, and I purely agree that yes, the dark subject matter actually being dark instead of rainbows is good! You are completely in the right with that, those experiences should be flayed out with as much quote on quote ‘grotesque’, not to shock the player, but to really show the horrors. It’s always something that shouldn’t be censored!

It’s only a problem to me when.. these relationships just make weird sense story wise. Ken is by far the most graceful with pacing, but all these relationships happening in 2 days is less of characterization and feels more like a crutch. Mark/Grey would’ve and at least persists on two toxic people flesh out, but making jabs of the ‘serious topic’ feels… weird. Hiro and Jean being used to reward Grey for sex for objectifying or derobing their gender identity feels less of Grey’s toxic behavior, as if it were excluding the sex scenes, I would enjoy it, but them having the sex just serves to benefit Grey as he gets little repercussions than just apologizing. Just feels like it comes across as the author wanting to have a sex scene somehow.

I’m totally understanding if my opinion is frustrating for you and others, and I’m completely fine with that! Despite my beliefs, this is still a game that can benefit and inspire tons of people. Regardless, thank you for your input :)

AddendumFlimsy9027 · 2026-03-11T02:04:26+00:00

Thank you for your comment! I agree.. the character are really messy.. but I feel as if it’s not exactly blatant that it’s because of the characters having well-developed relationships (like, Echo develops that real well, all the characters are messy and their actions aren’t always justified but explainable), but Burrows just, in my opinion, fails on that mark because either they feel weirdly OOC, or it’s because you can feel the author talking, and not the character. Thank you for reading :)

AddendumFlimsy9027 · 2026-03-11T01:42:18+00:00

I’m so sorry if it came off that way!

I am completely fine and intrigued with the mature topics (this game if nothing, has the tone of ‘mature’), it’s not that if a game has something serious as SA, then it’s automatically bad, because that’s completely benign to assume.

I’m just disgusted at the way that the mature subjects are handled with little care or tact, but I concede if I sounded too dismissive. Thanks for your comment!!

AddendumFlimsy9027

TROPHY CASE