My Game Dev

I started doing creative projects around 2016, seriously began this process in 2018-19, slowly building my understanding of design and entertainment. I've made several image, video, and document projects, but game design was always part of my larger goals. I've been working up to this for a long time, let's see if it turns out well.

The most important console to me is the DS, first device I owned. I really enjoyed many of them, but Hotel Dusk and Last Window, with it's themes around people, connection and art made gaming seem more touching and inviting. That game really inspired me to try text based, visual novel style games.

I started with Twine and am now using Godot. Very confusing, let's see if I can learn some real code. This seems like useful advice, thanks for writing the article.

2026.06.29 - Intro

Hello there. Lately, I've been starting to write notes and make a sort of blog, so I should try to put it here to share progress with y'all. This is my attempt at a devlog for a visual novel/interactive story/adventure project. This is my second game project, and first serious attempt at it.

At this moment I'm at the early stages of writing things and making scribbles, doing character designs. There is no playable game yet, this is the beginnings of the foundations of what this project will be. Hopefully I can show other stages of this work in progress. I am an absolute beginner, but I study design and know some HTML and CSS from wiki editing.

After messing around and asking about posting, this second post is for real. Thanks for the help and advice bradley and Eel in Denial, deleting the first one. Not going to, but I'll keep in mind that I'll need to be at the "vertical slice" stage to ask for team support.

I started actively conceptualizing about a VN game 6 months ago, and I made a character and goal that I can build a story around. Tried hundreds of itch games since then, which was interesting. Doing this in between other tasks. I am expecting to make the game entirely solo, but I hope to learn how to collaborate and change plans if the chance comes. 

2026.06.29 - Game and Scope

Really need to be careful about screwing myself with a scope that's too big here, first serious game project and all. I've seen plenty of games that were incomplete and messy. This would be massive as a solo project, so I'm trying make it approachable.

What I'm trying to fix is the static and flat feeling of Visual Novels, but I have to keep a small scope. I must cut this down to be able to finish.

Currently writing a script about a gal trying to use the train to get to a destination, but there some starting clues and a series of tasks that she needs to do beforehand on the train/in different towns. The game can be ended at anytime at the final stop for different endings. 

The protagonist is currently a child in a snail costume, and she is travelling around to find people to love, and places to stay. I've made character descriptions and profiles, and have written some story drafts. This is the part that is being worked on.

There could be multiple characters to interact with, so I've got like a chart going. Trying to make a puzzle game about several conversations. Ideally with timed events. That could be too complicated to balance, but that would add stakes and make the world seem like it's moving on it's own.

The games that I understand are story and point and click games, involving trains and puzzle solving. Shouldn't be too complicated mechanically, but writing a layered story would be very challenging. I'll edit this as I go, all of this is up in the air.

This is inconclusive, but I'm trying to imitate other games to have goals for completion. There are some games examples with multiple converging characters, and some using conversation and time mechanics in text based adventure games. 

2026.06.09

I am a complete beginner to game dev, so I've been sketching stuff and taking notes on game genres. Played a hundred or so Itch games to get some ideas, and tried using Twine. It was interesting. 

I know a tiny bit of HTML and CSS by making wiki pages and graphics, so I started with this tool, and interactive fiction. I managed to get some words working, a typewriter effect for appearing words, and some music. I'm quite excited from making this small thing. 

https://itch.io/t/1659440/psa-beware-the-try-my-game-scam

2026.06.11

Here are some of my notes. I've progressed past this since, and will combine this with my own notes soon. I'm just looking into how these things tend to be, this is not a readable article but a placeholder.


Some notes. After trying Twine and seeing other text games, I know about the scope. 

There are common engine recommends, like Ren'Py and Godot. Unity seems too complicated.

I've watched a whole Ren'Py tutorial series, and it looks very limited. Seems awful for animations, barely any support. Slay the princess is in that engine, but it mostly static images.

I'm going to follow Godot tutorials in my spare time, the Dialogic plugin looks very useful in being user friendly with a graphical interface, and there is much les coding.

Godot 4 Visual Novel Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC4nc6Sp68WKOP1IVPj6Wv_HlBGvFBnWi

This software is the one I will stick to, I've checked the engines and tested them for weeks. Some resources I am looking at:

https://dialogic.pro/ 

Many game examples by the plugin on their website

https://docs.dialogic.pro/introduction.html 

The documentation, many instructions

https://docs.godotengine.org/en/3.6/tutorials/export/exporting_basics.html

Compatibility and controls? Godot has many templates for this, all the usual platforms and controllers are supported. 

Game Digital Web Platforms

https://www.kongregate.com/en/visual-novel-games 

There are only 6 visual novel games on Kongregate. Mixed Messages, Angela he is in both tags and Itch.io site too. She uses Unity.

https://www.kongregate.com/en/interactive-fiction-games 

177 Interactive fiction games, all different gameplay styles. Some text only, some with gameplay. Very few people care about text games or play, let's play them, but there are exceptions that have voice acting.

Crazy games seems like a good platform too. 74 or so story games.

https://www.crazygames.com/t/story

https://developer.crazygames.com/

https://blog.kongregate.com/hc/en-us/articles/44395849259661-SUBMISSION-How-do-I-submit-a-game-to-Kongregate-It-s-Easy

Kongregate is a nice site to upload games. Money? Patreon and the SDT, API maybe.

2026.06.19

https://blog.free-online-games.app/interactive-storytelling-vs-traditional-adventure-games/ 

Player Engagement

Interactive storytelling games engage players by offering them control over the narrative. Each choice can significantly alter the storyline, keeping players invested as they see the consequences of their actions unfold. This creates a highly personalized gaming experience that can lead to multiple playthroughs to explore different outcomes.

In contrast, traditional adventure games engage players through a well-crafted story and immersive world-building. The emphasis is on exploring detailed environments and solving puzzles, which can be deeply satisfying for players who prefer narrative consistency and structured gameplay.

Tutorials

I'm going to follow Godot tutorials in my spare time, the Dialogic plugin looks very useful in being user friendly with a graphical interface, and there is much les coding.

Godot 4 Visual Novel, Dialogic Tutorial https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC4nc6Sp68WKOP1IVPj6Wv_HlBGvFBnWi (edited)Thursday, 11 June 2026 9:18 PM

How to Make an In-Game Time System in Godot https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMQtM2GgbPEUsLNqlyHb_qFC8wZr5w7FW&si=1KxbEemDvRA-NIax 

6/07/2026/07/06

I'm leaning to do this in Godot. I'm learning how to use game engines while making the game, so I'm expecting things to change a lot as I try out many things. My current goal is to create a Disco style dialogue UI, but I'll improvise and figure out the game. I will edit this as I go.

This is are the videos I am currently referencing:

### Dialogue

* [Applying Level Design to Dialogue in Subsurface Circular](https://youtu.be/vcYcivQmrAo)

### Godot

* [The 4 Essential Building Blocks of Every Godot Game](https://youtu.be/lGZ4RaC4O2w)

* [First Look at Godot's Editor Interface, in 5 Minutes](https://youtu.be/F53qTyIiZDc)

### Dialogue Manager

* [Custom dialogue balloons in Godot (Dialogue Manager)](https://youtu.be/Rd4bZEX2RCg)

* [Dialogue balloons with portraits in Godot 4](https://youtu.be/X0e-n7dbff8)

* [Dialogue balloons with talk sounds in Godot 4](https://youtu.be/DfdcyHwqXdo)

  * [Speech Sound Effect with Text Box | Let's Godot](https://youtu.be/QvkGnDNbLaQ)

* [Using Dialogue Manager in Godot 4](https://youtu.be/Ydzj1bT_pC8?si=AgT5SeDbS-5ZG9TM)

* [Beginner dialogue tutorial for Godot 4](https://youtu.be/UhPFk8FSbd8?si=bJHxpcMGJduf2l0C)

* [Make text FEEL ALIVE with BBCode in Godot!](https://youtu.be/KMqYeRae6rM)

### Disco

* [Implementing a "Disco Elysium" dialogue system](https://youtu.be/oimMfjTE5mM?si=TadFhofgpkIAzFkH)