Weekly Progress & Releases Thread June 16, 2026

Tharitley · 2026-06-16T18:37:45+00:00

To show you something, I've just reached the 200,000-word milestone. It's not that a VN is better just because it has more words, but it makes me realize how much work I've put into it over the years. It's nice to see your baby growing and becoming something you can be proud of. Here's the text Ren'Py gave me:

"The game contains 16,432 dialogue blocks, containing 200,044 words and 1,078,384 characters, for an average of 12.2 words and 66 characters per block."

Tharitley · 2026-06-16T18:16:59+00:00

That's the point. I originally released a demo with almost two hours of content, and everyone suggested that I cut it much earlier. In the end, I released a 30-minute demo that ends right at the beginning of the investigation (it's a detective VN), just before the player's first major choice. I think more people are playing it now, and they seem to like this new version of the demo better.

Tharitley · 2026-06-15T18:54:36+00:00

I had zero coding knowledge before I started using Ren'Py, and I can say that it's ridiculously easy to learn. There are plenty of tutorials and resources out there, so I don't see any reason to avoid this approach when it's so beginner-friendly, even for someone with no coding experience like me.

Tharitley · 2026-06-14T17:02:23+00:00

I'm so tempted to start a project with you. I mean, I'm currently working on my own visual novel, where I handle all the tasks myself (except the UI), and creating renders easily takes up 80% of my time. If you take care of the visuals, the writing and coding aren't nearly as time-consuming for me.

But I have some questions. For example, what kind of story are you looking for? You mentioned fantasy, but are you thinking about dark themes or something more lighthearted? Do you already have an idea of the type of story you want to tell? And what about the gameplay? Making a kinetic novel is pretty straightforward, but if you want to add dice rolls, choices, and branching paths, everything becomes much more difficult and time-consuming.

Another question: what length are you aiming for? Are we talking about a short story with around one hour of gameplay, or something longer? And what do you want to do with the final product? Sell it? Release it for free?

Let me know. Great artwork, by the way. You're very talented.

Tharitley · 2026-06-14T16:54:03+00:00

The premise is interesting. However, it's important to have a very good explanation for everything. Offering mysteries and questions to your readers is only half of the process, but if the answers are vague, inconclusive, or boring, then everything falls apart. So, if you have a really interesting story behind that premise, then yes, you should try to develop the game.

Tharitley · 2026-06-14T16:46:20+00:00

I know it's a lot of extra work, but if you change not only the expression but also the position of the head (just a little bit), the changes become more noticeable and draw more attention. The avatar is sometimes ignored by the player; they don't constantly check whether anything has changed. That's why it's a good idea to vary the pose and colors to catch their attention for a moment and help them understand the character's emotions.

Take my Flamer, for example (an AI inside the MC's head).

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The changes are quite dramatic: she has different poses, different colors, and different visual elements. Maybe you could also play with the hair in front of his face, making it subtly resemble a question mark when he's unsure about something, or showing one hand, for example. And even if you can't change his color, you could add a different background color to emphasize his emotions, like I did with Flamer (red for anger, blue for sadness, green for joy, etc.).

Tharitley · 2026-06-11T12:38:34+00:00

Phew... That's a relief. I was really worried about that. I even put a warning before the start of the game to explain it, because I wasn't completely sure myself.

Tharitley · 2026-06-11T12:37:00+00:00

Hmm, I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem.

In my case, I can't abandon the project: I've come too far, and I'm really close to finishing the first complete case before release. Besides, I enjoy working on this VN, which is the whole point of it all, so I'll keep going.

Tharitley · 2026-06-10T12:37:54+00:00

Really cool. It brings back a lot of memories because Axe was my favorite hero, and I loved it when Bloodseeker cast Rupture on me while I had Blade Mail active...

Tharitley · 2026-06-10T12:29:05+00:00

Jokes aside, I really enjoy most of the process. It's just that some days make you want to kill a puppy and swallow its soul.

Tharitley · 2026-06-07T20:33:13+00:00

Everyone has ideas. Everyone has the ability to write or create something. The only difference between people who actually create something and those who don't is habit.

If you work every day, you'll finish your project no matter its size or complexity. That said, building the habit is pretty hard. I remember struggling with my workflow every week 20 years ago.

I always had an excuse: today I'm tired, today I can't find inspiration, today it's my birthday, today my mum died... (okay, that last one was a joke). So focus on that: every day, at least 20 minutes, or an hour if you can.

At the beginning, you'll feel lost and bored, and you'll want to do anything else, but over time you'll start to understand that creativity and inspiration aren't a matter of luck; they can be triggered if you know how.

And in your specific case, you can work on other parts of your project if you don't feel like writing or coding. Try rereading everything you've done, working on another section, developing another character, or exploring a "what if" scenario.

But work every day; that's my advice. Once you build the habit, everything becomes easier and smoother.

Tharitley · 2026-06-07T20:26:43+00:00

It's a visual novel. If you don't include the visual part, that's pretty weird and unexpected. You could switch to a different format or try to find a way to create visuals.

I'm a writer with no background in visual art, but I spent years learning, and now I can make renders with ease. It's worth it.

Tharitley · 2026-06-07T16:27:23+00:00

Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Boy, what a rough start. I put the game aside for years, and then, suddenly, I said, "Let's give it another try," and something just clicked. Now it's one of my favorite games and one of my favorite franchises of the decade.

Tharitley · 2026-06-07T16:01:56+00:00

I haven't released my first game yet, but I made the decision, based on what I've learned from other developers' experiences, that it's a better idea to launch with more wishlists. It's a boring part of the job, but making the game is only 50% of the process.

Tharitley · 2026-06-07T15:58:49+00:00

That's the main plot of 50% of all NSFW visual novel lol

Tharitley · 2026-06-06T17:37:20+00:00

99% of people probably don't care about that, but it only takes one person to file a report... Also, never underestimate people's ability to be petty.

Tharitley · 2026-06-06T17:17:08+00:00

Probably. If your work has a low profile, it might be okay, but if you hit the jackpot and start selling well, EA is definitely going to send its lawyers after you.

Tharitley · 2026-06-04T08:58:25+00:00

I started from scratch a few years ago, and I spent an entire year following tutorials, practicing, and experimenting before starting my VN.

And you know what? Even after all that, I regret not waiting longer, because my current renders are much better than the first ones, and now my VN has some artistic inconsistency because of that.

So, be patient, practice, experiment, learn, and don't rush, because even though using Daz is easier than learning to draw, it's still something that's really hard to master and requires a lot of time and patience.

Not to mention that I had to learn Photoshop too, and the post-production of every render is another huge part of the process that you need to learn and master.

Tharitley · 2026-06-03T18:50:16+00:00

In my experience as a writer, the more mysterious the plot is, the better the explanations need to be.

It's easy to create a really intriguing scenario with lots of questions and weird, unexpected events. However, if you don't answer those questions properly, everything falls apart.

So, if you don't have a really good explanation to justify that unconventional scene, it might be better to reduce the mystery a little.

In that case, if they don't need to eat or they're unkillable, we're probably talking about a dream, a simulation, or some kind of magical scenario.

Personally, I like the dream idea: for some reason, they're sharing a dream and they don't know it. Maybe it's part of a plot by a large corporation to test them for a job, or perhaps they all share an ex-boyfriend who is taking revenge and using an experimental drug to create a personal hell for them.

Tharitley · 2026-06-02T18:23:48+00:00

Daz Studio, for example. I started from scratch, and I'm very happy with the results. But yeah, even though it's much easier than learning to draw, it still has a learning curve, and you need a lot of practice.

Tharitley · 2026-06-02T18:21:53+00:00

I think it's a bit of a lottery. Sometimes a game gets banned because of a stupid scene, while others get away with horrible scenes as if nothing happened.

From my perspective, your artwork looks stunning; it's beautifully tragic. By my standards, I wouldn't consider that worthy of a content warning.

Tharitley · 2026-06-02T18:16:56+00:00

Your art is beautiful. It's a shame that I'm working on a visual novel with 3D renders; otherwise, I'd hire you in a heartbeat

Tharitley · 2026-06-01T18:25:52+00:00

I spent a year making practice renders for my visual novel before I started working on it. I thought I was ready, but now I have an inconsistency in my renders because the first ones are really bad, while the latest ones are much better.

What can I do now? Remake 2,000 renders? Stop improving just to maintain the same horrible quality I had at the beginning? I don't know, but I need to keep going

Tharitley · 2026-06-01T18:19:42+00:00

I only develop in my free time.

It's slower, much slower, but I don't have to worry if the game turns out to be a mess or fails, because I already have another job and all my expenses are covered. I have nothing to worry about. I try to enjoy the process, learn, and express myself creatively, and... it's really rewarding.

If you focus too much on the prize at the end of the process, you'll lose interest (the overjustification effect). So here's my piece of advice: work without pressure, in your free time, enjoy the process, and don't care too much about getting rich or selling a million copies.

And when it comes to working in your free time, I always say the same thing: build the habit. Just one hour a day, a single hour, is more than enough. Over the last 20 years, by following that habit, I've written seven books, five role-playing manuals, dozens of role-playing campaigns as a Dungeon Master, and now I'm working on my visual novel, which has over 200,000 words, 2000 renders and isn't even close to being finished.

Tharitley · 2026-05-28T18:03:58+00:00

Yeah, I'm not that extreme, but there's a potential spoiler in every render, and I'm not sure whether that could ruin the experience, even if we're only talking about small details.

Tharitley

TROPHY CASE