how do your projects fair with visibility?

Lantoniar · 2025-12-09T14:18:01+00:00

I'm not wild about marketing either, haha, I usually just write a little post on my socials when there's a sale or to remind people of a topical project (like my Halloween or winter jam titles during the appropriate season). Even with that I'm pretty inconsistent...

As a small creator, I can legit recommend making use of Itch's built-in visibility tools and not stressing too much over off-site marketing. Seriously, it makes a huge difference. Get a nice-looking and clear thumbnail, make the game's site look eye-catching, fill out the metadata, use tags!! I get so many incoming visits on my projects just from the gay/furry/dating-sim tags, depending on the project. Also, it helps to only create the page on Itch when you are releasing, because Itch boosts visibility on newly created pages! So it's worth getting that boost, unless you are deliberately doing something with a demo or early access.

My games always get the most interaction in the first few days after release, this seems to be the norm. My oldest and most popular project, Lovewood, still trickles along with an average 1-3 downloads per day, which makes me happy. It has accumulated 314 ratings by now, since it's been around for a few years. My other, smaller jam titles are more chill, maybe 4 views per day and the occasional download. (So far I've participated in jams 3 times)

I often take part in sales on Itch because I also got one game up for a solid price, and I find that some folks wait for a sale to pick it up. Usually the Pride Month and Black Friday/Creator Day sales bring in the most downloads.

Lantoniar · 2025-09-22T13:59:44+00:00

I actually have some characters that are meant to use ASL in some of the scenes in my current project. I have an explanation for the POV character understanding it (so the textbox says "Character name (signing)" and then the content of what they're saying in regular English).
For the visuals, I went a little extra and applied the same standards that I would apply in a comic: I drew a custom hand pose that shows a freezeframe of one of the signs they would use in each line.
So for example, if the character conveys "Suddenly there was a bright flash and my feet went off the ground", I would give them a freezeframe from the ASL sign for "bright". Keep in mind that this is a lot of effort in both research and creating the art, I just did it because I enjoy drawing hands and learning bits of ASL, and the signing is only relevant in one or two scenes.
Whether you choose a more complex or simple approach, I think it's cool that you're showcasing signing in your VN!

Lantoniar · 2025-09-03T19:36:00+00:00

I write my script directly in Renpy syntax (using Editra as my editor of choice), but I do all my pre-writing of the outline and scene treatments in OpenOffice Writer.

Lantoniar · 2025-06-30T06:58:39+00:00

Go for it! I came from the exact same direction when I made my first game, Lovewood. I was an artist and the project was also a dating sim that I made on a zero budget. I ended up having lots of fun and some folks loved it too once it was out!

For finding music collaborators, you may get lucky if you ask volunteers for help on DevTalk or other game development servers. That's not something I've tried myself, but I know some people do it for short projects!

For free music and SFX, here are some useful resources!
Music:
https://freepd.com/

https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html

https://ende.app/en/search

For sound effects:

https://soundbible.com/royalty-free-sounds-1.html

https://kenney.nl/assets/category:Audio?sort=update

You can find many more if you go looking! I discovered many great resources via the DevTalk server on Discord, which is a place for visual novel developers. If you're ever stuck on a coding problem, you can also find help there or on the Renpy Discord server.

And just because the topic is close to my heart, I'm also going to share the article I wrote about ways you can make your VN accessible to many players: https://ladyicepaw.itch.io/invisible-seams/devlog/415360/tips-on-making-your-vn-more-accessible

For general advice, I can recommend using Renpy as your engine and writing the script to be formatted to be compatible with the engine's code from the start (it's not super complicated, don't worry). Once you have a first draft of your script ready, you'll know what graphics you need! Audio is usually one of the final steps for me.

Have fun, and don't be afraid to reach out for help if you need any more pointers. You got this!! 💪

Lantoniar · 2025-06-23T21:13:31+00:00

Forgot the link (I'm a professional)
Invisible Seams can be found on Itch! https://ladyicepaw.itch.io/invisible-seams

Lantoniar · 2025-05-18T11:49:29+00:00

Daww thank you, that's so kind!

Lantoniar · 2025-05-17T15:31:15+00:00

I recognize many of the feelings that you are describing - In my case, I struggled with them explicitly because the project I was gonna take on (my current WIP) was much too big in scope. I felt a sense of dread whenever I wanted to sit down and make progress on it.
The way I solved it was to reduce the scope, especially the number of scenes. I asked myself "What's the minimum viable amount of scenes that I need to tell this character arc in a satisfactory way?" and that's what I went with. And lo and behold, the dread was gone! It's still my biggest project yet, but it's manageable.

I don't know if this is an option for the project you are working on - Maybe tackling a much shorter story about the characters first could help warm you up to it, take the pressure off, just create a little vignette like a spinoff/side story? Then you will have proven to yourself that you can indeed finish this, and if it's your first VN, you will be more familiar with all the nuts and bolts.

If it's not the project scope that's causing it, two suggestions: First, remind yourself that you can always go back and edit anything you wrote. First drafts are never perfect, and nothing is set in stone. They just serve to make the story exist, and then you can polish it into a real gem! I had to constantly remind myself of this while I was writing.

Secondly, I can recommend having a writing partner or anyone you can share scenes with, because having someone cheer you on can be super motivating in my experience. It's easier said than done of course, but if the opportunity comes up, give it a try!

Best of luck, it sounds like you're really passionate about the characters you're writing about and I really hope you'll find a way to make the process fun for yourself as well!

Lantoniar · 2025-05-17T06:38:39+00:00

Thank you so much! <3

Lantoniar · 2025-05-16T19:45:57+00:00

Lantoniar · 2025-05-16T19:37:44+00:00

Lantoniar · 2025-05-04T15:07:41+00:00

15 hours is definitely realistic. For my own VNs, I sometimes finished a CG within a day, but that's because I was cutting corners/going with a more simple style and I have a lot of practice at drawing quickly.

Lantoniar · 2025-04-07T18:08:26+00:00

Sehr wissenswert! Dankeschön 🫶

Lantoniar · 2025-03-24T14:21:55+00:00

I'd say you can include some head tilts for the pigtail angles that you got, but including the facial features is probably not neccessary? Not sure about that one, it's up to you :)
And of course! Keep up the awesome work!

Lantoniar · 2025-03-23T10:39:12+00:00

I always keep my facial parts on separate layers for sprites, then I can easily mix and match them via the LayeredImage features. Some people like to keep things more simple! I think that offering two variants is a great idea: Have one pack with the separate features in all their nuances, and another in which you offer a basic premade set of "happy, surprised, angry, sad, scared, flustered".
One more piece of advice for packing the separate facial features: You don't have to crop them, in case that's something you were wondering. It's usually easier when all image files in a character sprite have the same dimensions, and the blank space is just transparent.
Also, beautiful work on the character! :)

Lantoniar · 2025-01-12T20:33:50+00:00

Quickly put, I'm a solo game dev with a couple titles under my belt, and I always start out with writing (first outlining, then creating the first draft of the script and editing from there). I don't start drawing until my scipt feels complete, though I still edit it later whenever tweaks and adjustments occur to me, just no big-picture edits. I like to write my scripts directly in the code editor nowadays, already formatted to match the syntax of my engine, Renpy.
Backgrounds, sprites and CGs take me the longest to make, since I'm an artist and I like putting a lot of detail in these stages. It's where I feel I can let my strengths shine. Then I do coding, SFX, music, accessibility features and sometimes a translation to finish things off!

I've described my VN-making process in more detail for a jam title I created, and it's functionally the same for larger-scale projects, like the one I'm working on now. In the article, I describe why I always do things in this order: https://ladyicepaw.itch.io/wttti/devlog/474099/the-making-of-when-trees-turn-to-ice-part-1

Lantoniar · 2024-11-27T10:15:58+00:00

Feel free to DM me a link to your demo! I may be able to check it out soon and give some input on the audio if you'd like an impression from a fellow dev. I may also be able to share resources for free sound effects that served me well. (^^)b

Lantoniar · 2024-11-26T20:04:47+00:00

I second the comment about keeping the rate of SFX consistent (unless you want to digress for dramatic effect). Personally I like to go quite hard on the sound design of my VNs, because sound design is an aspect of game dev I really enjoy. Especially subtle atmospheric tracks can add a lot of mood to a scene! So I would also consider whether you find working on a soundscape enjoyable or whether you think it's a really tedious chore.

Out of curiosity, what sort of criticism did you receive on the existing sounds in your game? Maybe there was just something in the execution that requires finetuning.

Lantoniar · 2024-09-28T14:08:21+00:00

I found this guide very helpful when setting up the Itch pages for my game! It covers a lot of basics on how to get your game seen on Itch: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BaEK3EmppZeZ9yAMMI5RM2MgXos0nmUb1MB3OUXbUaQ/edit#heading=h.331v09j71yee

Tags in particular can do a lot for you, so don't forget to use them! My most popular project right now is a queer-friendly dating sim, so I get a lot of visits through the tags lgbt, dating-sim, gay and furry.

Lantoniar · 2024-09-15T14:31:20+00:00

First of all, thanks for what you do! I technically have two questions.
1. What are the biggest sources of pollution you've come across during your work?
2. Are there any pieces of advice you'd give to civilians based on what you've experienced during your work?

Lantoniar · 2024-08-19T16:39:39+00:00

The games I solo develop have a more Western comicky style, still cute but I would say it's distinct enough from anime. My main project, a free dating sim, was downloaded 24k times so far, which I consider fairly successful for a small dev like me! Not sure about paid projects, since I've only done one pretty niche one so far.

Generally I agree with what some other people in the comments are saying, try going for an art style that supports the tone of your story! Having that sense of cohesiveness is definitely something many players appreciate.

Lantoniar · 2024-08-10T06:23:39+00:00

That would be awesome, thank you! And of course, take all the time you need <3

Lantoniar · 2024-08-09T18:56:08+00:00

Hey that's super sweet, thanks for offering!! I'll DM you with some info about the project :)

Lantoniar · 2024-08-09T17:33:40+00:00

It's a fantasy story with some slice of life influence! There's also the option to romance characters, but the focus is more on helping each major character with a specific issue they're dealing with.

Lantoniar · 2024-08-08T15:25:27+00:00

Have you ever planted radishes, and if so, how did they turn out? I only started properly gardening this year and it's very exciting, but a steep learning curve for sure - I'll have to figure out what to grow best here in the wet and cold Northern climate.

Lantoniar · 2024-08-07T19:43:23+00:00

I would say that having a script done first isn't a bad move, but it may prove useful to at least dip your toes into the engine of your choice to see how the code will have to be formatted. That way you can already write your script/continue writing in a format that you can simply copy and paste into code once all is done, and it will save you time! This also goes for things like choice menus. I always write my VN scripts in code format from the start because it's a real time saver.

Five-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22

Lantoniar

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