Visual Novel

Hey, I'm working on a cyberpunk visual novel. Is this art good enough or should I go back to drawing from reference? Also is there somebody who is good at JavaScript? I wrote a visual novel engine in JavaScript, but the save-load system is still broken and I have trouble to find the bug that is causing it.

Post the code in github (or gitlab, or codeberg, or whenever) and link it here.

>>5155 How about I post it here directly? Here's the code

>>5153 >Is this art good enough or should I go back to drawing from reference? I think the art style is very charming, but I feel that some of the people you drew lack arms (no I'm not talking about the last one), more specifically the two from the middle. But I'm not very good at drawing and judging drawings, so take that with a grain of salt.

I'd say the art is perfectly fine. And I hope the story will be interesting, not some uninspired soykaf. Good luck.

>>5153 >Is this art good enough or should I go back to drawing from reference? This doesn't make any sense, drawing from reference means exactly that - reference. Besides those 1:1 copies of photographs (bleh), references and reality should serve as an inspiration to be modified to suit the artist's vision and the artwork's effect and message. Even the best realistic still life studies don't slavishly follow 100% of reality like a camera lens does, and photographers obviously often tastefully modify their photos as well. And with some reference, the end result is often much more convincing, especially if someone is a beginner. Keep grinding from reference. Studies of varied references are always useful, in order to build up not just technical skills but also a "visual library" of anatomical parts, lighting, colors, textures, architecture, etc., all of which can then be imaginatively combined in novel ways, often with no reference needed.

Do you know about RenPy?

>>5164 I do, but I prefer using my own engine. It is much more light-weight and it's made directly for the web, which is what I'm aiming for. >>5160 > Keep grinding from reference. I do sometimes, but I don't have much time for that. I'm working 12 hour shifts, so I don't have that much time for hobbies. I also want to make the VN as fast as possible. My parents consider the option to kick me out of the house, so I might become a homeless any day without warining and then I won't be able to finish the VN.

>>5153 I love the art style, you'll definitely have to announce when you publish your novel!

>>5167 >My parents consider the option to kick me out of the house, so I might become a homeless Sorry to hear that lain. 12 hours shifts sound like you don't get paid a lot. How hard would it be to rent a flat/room somewhare on the outskirts of the city and survive for the paycheck you get? Maybe you know somebody that you could split the rent bill? Hope you going to be OK. About the art style, it's definitely orginal and I like it very much. Keep up the good work. If you will accept some criticism then I have some truble recognize the eyes on the second drawing from the left ( I think that the face is a little to messy and that is causing the problem ).

I don't know if you guys are being ironic or not when you say that the art is good, but let's say that I believe you. I think I was able to fix most of the bugs in my engine... I hope... Well, the VN seems to work more or less now. Anyway... I have published a tech demo on itch.io https://qrayz.itch.io/g277-visual-novel-tech-demo Right now it has pretty much zero content though, there is nothing to see there right now, it's mostly just for testing purposes. Can somebody tell me if your browser plays the music automatically or not? My Firefox behaves really strangely when it comes to audio being played via JavaScript object. Sometimes it plays automatically no problem and sometimes it gets blocked and I have to manually allow the page to play audio. >>5184 > How hard would it be to rent a flat/room somewhare on the outskirts of the city and survive for the paycheck you get? Pretty much zero.

Also here is the updated engine, so you are not looking for bugs in the old version

The art look soulful, anon, and I'll think it'll work well for a cyberpunk VN. >>5190 Music is working fine for me and played automatically (Firefox).

>>5190 u have a long way to go yeah but it is cute, distinctive n well-detailed. rly easy to tell characters apart which is important for a vn. music worked for me also, runs surprisingly well on mobile

>>5153 >>5190 The characters' faces are expressive, which takes a bit of imagination and talent. Some people can't do it at all. With practice, your art might be really good.

It's fine enough. At times, the faces you draw lack visual clarity and proper proportion; but they're serviceable as is. You obviously won't get a lot of attention from beauty, however you can supplement it with quantity, story, and presentation. In all honesty, story is what you should be worrying about most. If that's in the bag, then you should be fine. My advice is thar you should get a rough draft done, then worry about graphics. You should run with the motivation you have right, or else you will burn out during pre-planning.

This looks pretty sweet, good job anon. I will be following your career with great interest

I was trying to find a semi-professional artist that would make bunch of low quality sketches for cheap or at least fixed my own, but even the cringiest "art" streamers on Twitch want me to pay absolutely insane amounts of money just for few simple pictures. Who the hell pays these people that they can afford to have prices so high? >>5196 I'm not exactly sure what do you mean by a "draft". I have the story in my head, so I don't need a draft. Or maybe you meant that I should make like the whole thing without graphics first and then add graphics later?

>>5153 Do you have any direct inspirations from other visual novels in this work?

>>5190 Yup, music works (Also Firefox)

>>5198 The latter.Is what I meant.

Do you guys want to be able to choose your main character's name, or should I go with a predetermined one? >>5201 I see. I'll think abou it. >>5199 Well, other visual novels inspired me for certain in some aspects, but I would not call it a "direct" inspiration. Story-wise there is no such direct inspiration I think.

Alright, I've quickly put together a small story update, just to give you guys an idea what the story should be about. There might be typos and mistakes in the branching dialogue tree (I was getting little bit lost in it), but it should work more or less. Also the art is far from finished obviously, it's pretty much all placeholder, especially that stuff you see in the police station. Anyway, any thoughts on the story? I know it's just more like a glimpse of a story so far, but I'm sure some of you might have something to say about it. I've just uploaded it to itch ---> >>5190

Also I've made quite a lot of changes in the engine. This is the latest version of it.

Also here is a "debug version" of the engine that I'm using for debugging purposes if anybody is interested...

>>5206 Unrefined but looks pretty decent more less stylewise, obviously its hard to tell from just these two pics.

>>5158 >>5168 >>5192 >>5194 >>5193 >>5197 >>5210 Thanks guys. I have question for you: How dark can the story get? Can I go really really dark, or would you prefer something lighter?

I'm really digging the visuals. Gives me somewhat comfy feeling. Keep going anon.

>>5211 Darker. As dark as you want. I would be all for it, granted you do it right.

>>5212 Thanks >>5213 Alright. I'm not sure I can do anything right, but I'll try

Damn, I just found a serious bug. I'm such an idiot, how did I not notice... Anyway, I'll try to take few more days off the work to finish this, but I can't promise anything. My boss in usually not very cooperative.

I realized that making the BACK function to work properly will be quite a challenge. Unfortunately I don't have time for this right now.

Alright, the story got a tiny update again. Since I had to change few things in the engine, I'll post its latest version again, even though it's obious that it's far from being the final one.

>>5204 Mostly saying because visual novels play some cool stuff with their engines, like kajiri kamui kagura, subahibi, Muramasa, Demonbane etc. Lots of unexplored stuff in terms of english literature as opposed to what japanese people were able to do with the language.

>>5219 I see. I don't know anything about any of this stuff, so I'm not even sure what kind of "cool and unexplored stuff" you have in mind.

>>5220 Mostly regarding fun epic syntax and citing 7th century writing stuff. When i get home I'll show what i mean xp

I think the biggest problem of my art is the inconsistent quality of it. Because my "technique" is so random, the results tend to be random too and vary wildly in terms of quality. I always have hard time deciding which pieces I should keep and which pieces should go into the trash. But I realized that I can ask you guys, since you will be much less biased in this than I could ever be. So tell me lainons, which of these should I keep and which should I redraw.

I'm still waiting for any thoughts on the story from anybody...

>>5223 Hope this info will help you improve the game: >thoughts on the story There isn't a lot of the story yet so it's hard to say. Currently the scenes feel random as I don't know what is the original case about. Why are we talking to Amana and here sister in the beginning. OK I know to get some information, but how did the protoganist found here. Maybe add some intro text explaining who you are and what are you working on. This could be done by a conversation with your partner for example. Also after the "15 years earlier" screen who are you playing as exactly? Are you still that detective or is this some kind of flash back to explain the story and you see the memories of someone else? Maybe use names more so the player will know as who is he playing. One more thing. Are you planning to add more dialog options then two? It feels kinda basic because of it (I don't play visual novels so I'm not sure is this a norm or not).

>>5222 Your style at its best has a nostalgic feel to it, like the illustrations in a kids book. At its worst it has an uncanny AI-like quality. Maybe you should draw in pencil so you can fix mistakes. I would move spoiler 1's nose & mouth up a bit, the same with drug addict. Hobo & Prostitute appear to have 2 mouths. Security guard's head looks too small for his face & body. Spoiler 2's nose & mouth are too far to the left. VR kid's cheek might protrude too much? Those are my initial impressions.

>>5222 Redo the hobo, drug addict, and security guard.

>>5225 This is exactly what I needed to know, thanks Lainon. >>5226 Alright. >>5224 > Are you planning to add more dialog options then two? It feels kinda basic because of it There are few screens with more than just 2 dialog options, but yeah, it's mostly just 2. The problem with adding more than 2 options is that, the complexity of the dialogue tree grows exponentially and also I often can't come up with more things to say which would make sense in that situation. But I'll think about it and try to come up with something.

>>5224 > Also after the "15 years earlier" screen who are you playing as exactly? Are you still that detective or is this some kind of flash back to explain the story and you see the memories of someone else? You are supposed to figure that out from the dialogue.

>>5228 I think i didn't get the screen you posted. After 3 or 4 responses I got "..." as the answer. Not sure did I choose a difrent dialog subtree road and rached the end or was it a bug but it seamed there ware no more content to play. And I figured out that your talking to the person that died but I don't know as who are you talking as. That wasn't clear to me. And sure finding out things by yourself is fun but you need to make sure that the player will want to invest the time in the first place. Look on banner saga 1. The game forcess you to switch betwean 2 characters but it does it in the way there is no problem as who are you playing as. Thay do it by the map that switches it location and by the fact that you always see your hero portrait.

I don't have much time to work on the VN right now. My boss won't let me to take any days off work any time soon. But I still work on it a little bit from time to time. Just letting you know...

Btw. what is your opinion on fail-states? Do you think the visual novel should contain routs that would result in game over? I assume that most people will be against it and I don't plan to add fail states myself, but I want to hear your opinion.

And what about a light RPG system, meaning that at the end of each chapter you would be given a choice to "level up" one of your skills and then you would be able to use it in certain situations in the next chapters. Would you want that?

>>5251 Fail state in a sense of game over? I would be against it. It wouldn't be fun to play the same section of dialog after you fail and load the game from the last save. Also it would cause some people to save after every dialog to minimalize the amount of game they need to repeat. Fail state in a sense of not accomplishing some goals but the games continues? That could be fun. Think Heavy Rain (if you played that). In that game it was hard to kill the character (still doable) but failing some segment ment you didn't get some part of clue/item/info. The lack of those things could have a negative outcome on the game ending. So fail to many of those tests and you going to get a bad ending. Also think Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 where doing or not doing some quests ment that you would listen to a different ending for that region after finishing the game. >>5253 Might be tricky to pull of correctly. Would it be possible to create a character that is useless and will fail every dialog test because you allocated the points wrong? Would you be punished by this in getting the bad ending because of this? Would there be only one right way to create you character? Would the system allow you to play in a really different way and in doing this would increase the replayability or it wouldn't really matter what you picket? Try answering those questions and think if you want to go this road.

>>5254 > Might be tricky to pull of correctly. Would it be possible to create a character that is useless and will fail every dialog test because you allocated the points wrong? Would you be punished by this in getting the bad ending because of this? Would there be only one right way to create you character? No, no and no. > Would the system allow you to play in a really different way and in doing this would increase the replayability or it wouldn't really matter what you picket? I don't know yet... depends how much time I'm willing to sacrifice to writing all these branching dialogue paths.

The art is good enough, but I don't like visual novels because they're a waste of time. Luckily you'll do fine if you appeal to waifu/husbando geeds well enough. Schway.

>>5251 Instead of an instant game over screen, I'd prefer a fallback route, maybe even a mundane one, but one that gives me a way to recover from my bad decisions. Of course, whether that's suitable or not depends on a particular game, but really, game over screens in VNs are silly in my opinion.

>>5153 This art is good enough.

>>5198 >I'm not exactly sure what do you mean by a "draft". I have the story in my head, so I don't need a draft. A draft is an early version not suitable for release. It has to be edited. It is impossible to reliably generate good writing on a first attempt. Instead, professional writers will spit out a crude first draft and edit the draft until it's ready for publication. Authors avoid concerning themselves with individual words and sentences. Instead, the first draft works at the level of paragraphs. For example, "This is the first chapter, so I want to introduce two of the main characters and the setting. My first character is an agoraphobic loner hacker, so to introduce them I will start the story with them looking out their window and waiting for the streets to clear so they can sneak down to the konbini for some food. As the hacker is waiting, I can have them describe the people and the street outside. This will allow me to explain the setting. The hacker can also day dream about the food. This is another setting detail. I want to introduce the second character, but they're no important yet. Maybe I'll foreshadow their introduction by having them appear in the konbini." So then you have the following paragraphs (or scenes) to write: >Description of character poking their head out the curtains/blinds. >Character complaining about other people while describing them. >Character day dreaming about food. >Description of character's outfit when they get ready to leave. >Description of immediate neighborhood (apartment complex, courtyard, etc.) when they leave. >Another description of the street while they're walking. >Cameo of other character (They knock hacker's food out of their hands or maybe they're doing something else that demonstrates what kind of person they are?) >Character returning to apartment. (Foreshadow next chapter somehow.) With this rough plan, you can vomit eight scenes out. Then, once the draft exists, you can edit them until you're happy. Note that every scene exists to *show* what a character is like, *show* what the setting is, or foreshadow future events. Finally, you need to implement the scenes into the game engine. You can, of course, code them in as you go. You can, of course, edit as you draft. It's just harder to do every step at the same time.

Oh god, I got seriously lost in the branching dialogue tree. I don't even remember what connects to what anymore. Fug. My brain hurts. >>5259 I agree with you. >>5261 I see. Hmm... Sounds ineteresting. I guess I could make something like that. But it's probably too late for that at this point. Or maybe not.. maybe I could make something like that for the following chapters. I will think about it.

Guys, I got completely lost in the dialogue tree. My brain can't take this. This will take hours to fix.

Guys, I can't fix this. This is unfixable. I don't even remember how it was supposed to connect

>>5264 >>5265 >>5263 Dialog trees are a PITA. Since it's a state diagram, you probably want to make a flow chart.

>>5266 What's a flow chart and what does PITA mean?

>>5267 Not the lainon you're replying to but PITA = Pain In The Ass.

>>5268 I see. Thanks. I probably need to calm down a little. I think that working on this for several hours straight caused some kind of stack overflow in my brain.

Alright. I have updated the VN on Itch. Not as large update as I wanted, but this little one has to do for now. I still didn't manage to put there everything I wanted and I had to reduce the complexity a lot (at least for now). I'm open to constructive criticism. Btw. don't choose the Lore skill. It doesn't do anything yet. As I said, the complexity got reduced for now.

Here's the full code in case that anybody wants to hunt for bugs.

Interesting facts about the game: Right now the whole game is about 26 MB The music takes about 19 MB The art is about 7 MB All the code + all the dialogue is only 61 kB I was thinking about compressing the music track down, but the license said that no alterations are allowed and I'm not sure if compressing counts as an alteration.

kek, I tried to promote my VN on plebbit and my post got immediately deleted because I broke the very important rule of "make sure topic title has Visual Novel name"

>>5153 You need to make the story darker than harlem if you wanna occupy a different niche to what VA-11H411-A does. Since that's already occupying the cyberpunk "cute girls doing cute things" niche. Just look at Lisa the Painful and Dungeoneer: Beautiful Escape for ideas on how to make your story a few shades blacker.

>>5272 Compess the music if you want no one's gonna come knocking on your door for whether it's altered or not. No one's going to check because unlike you, most gamers are technologically inept sheep that still don't know 7zip exists. Take a look at the avg redditor and that'll be your target audience if you're looking for sweet, sweet customers. Perhaps have a game-over where you get raped by a 7 foot tall bald and black man of the name "Donovan" in exchange for 3 silver coins. That'd probably get some 'tubers to do videos on your game too. All is within the currents of internet-thought.

>>5264 I don't know JavaScript but after reading your post I took a look into the source code. I'm saying this to help you and not shame you but your "screen" variable is a mess! No wonder you got lost writing this. A array isn't a good way to store this. A better solution would be a equivalent of C++ map structure or Python dictonary (not sure what that would be in JavaScript) where you have a connection Key:Value. So something like this in Python screen = { 'Dialog_1': 'Text 1', 'Dialog_2': 'Text 2' } # usage: screen['Dialog_1'] So you use a string as a way to referance the text and not a index number. This would greatly improve readability and maybe save you some truble in the future. The usage of "num" variable that you use to pick the screen also isn't great. Either compare it to somekind of variable constatns like chapter_1_sceen_1_dialog_1 or better automate creating the whole IF by some function that reads all the important data. In C/C++ this could be done with macros, in JavaScript I don't know as I don't write in this language.

>>5263 >But it's probably too late for that at this point. So, you're just going to make things up as you go along? Keep in mind that it will only get harder to redo something once you change your. mind. A general outline is at least important, so you don't end up doing more work than needed. A script for example is easier to change than code, however I suppose you're just trying get it out of the way in time - in which case story is secondary. I'm not going to fault you for that. You don't have to make a masterpiece right out the gate, and the experience of making this will probably pave the way for something better anyways.

>>5266 A lot of stuff like this can be done simply on pen and paper, OP. You could write out branches and dialogue during transit or a lunch break.

>>5271 105 is orphaned and 92 loops endlessly. >>5277 That doesn't solve the problem of visualizing the flow. It's just kicking the problem down the beach. I've made a picture of the dialog graph and it's pretty easy to see the story structure at a glance.

>>5291 :O How did you do this? I need to know. Is there some kind of software for this? >>5279 Yeah, I would need a big piece of paper though. Or a series of smaller papers, but then I would probably got lost in that too in time when I would not be able to put them in the right order anymore. >>5278 You are right. I should definitely do the draft first. >>5277 > A array isn't a good way to store this. A better solution would be a equivalent of C++ map structure or Python dictonary Yeah, if only I knew how to do something like this in JavaScript. There might be something like that though. I simply need to learn more than just basics I guess. >>5274 Yeah, I wanted to make the story quite dark, but I have to come up with some dark themes first. It's actually harder than I thought to come up with something. The only storyline that I have so far is the main one, which gets only darker towards the end. >>5275 > Compess the music if you want no one's gonna come knocking on your door for whether it's altered or not. No one's going to check because unlike you, most gamers are technologically inept sheep that still don't know 7zip exists. Take a look at the avg redditor and that'll be your target audience if you're looking for sweet, sweet customers. You are right. I should have done that from the beginning. > Perhaps have a game-over where you get raped by a 7 foot tall bald and black man of the name "Donovan" in exchange for 3 silver coins. That'd probably get some 'tubers to do videos on your game too. All is within the currents of internet-thought. Ugh... thanks for the advice I guess.

>>5291 Thank you so much for this. It was really helpful. 92 was supposed to connect to 105. Fixed.

>>5292 >Yeah, if only I knew how to do something like this in JavaScript. There might be something like that though. I simply need to learn more than just basics I guess. stuff = {a: 1, b: 2}; stuff["a"]; stuff["c"] = 3; for (key in stuff) { console.log(key + ":" + stuff[key]); }

>>5292 Not the Lain that made the image, but it's clearly a dot graph It's pretty easy to make, you create a text file in the form of digraph G{ 1->2 1->3 2->3 } And then call dot -Tpng myGraph.dot > myGraph.png Lain probably made a script to grab scenes and where they pointed to, and rendered the resulting graph

>>5253 Sometime I really struggle to put the nose and the mouth into the right position in relation to the eyes. I really have to work on my face proportions and stuff. >>5295 Interesting. Thanks. >>5294 I see. Great. Thank you.

>>5153 this is so fuaaarking refreshing, I would help you because you seem so nice but I don't know soykaf about JS but please I beg you to continue. picrel is something my brain instantly came up with when i first saw your VN, it should be some kind of art about mind-body-machine pan-connection but i can't remember the artist

>>5297 Thanks. > picrel is something my brain instantly came up with when i first saw your VN, it should be some kind of art about mind-body-machine pan-connection but i can't remember the artist Oh, that reminds me that I didn't delve down into the whole body augmentation stuff in my VN yet. But right now I have a different problem. Since the whole second chapter is supposed to take place inside of a virtual reality environemt, I have to design what it's going to look like in there and right now I have no original ideas whatsoever.

>>5298 atm i'm GMing a Cyberpunk RED campaign and all I can think of is a netrunner-type of net architecture, but i think it's too cliche in "our" niche, isn't it?

>>5292 >Yeah, I would need a big piece of paper though. Or a series of smaller papers, but then I would probably got lost in that too in time when I would not be able to put them in the right order anymore How about a notebook?

I should probably reduce the complexity of the dialogue trees in the future. I'm currently writing the script for the Chapter 2 and I'm getting lost in it, even though I'm not even in half of the whole thing. The attached file has some serious spoilers in it, so avoid reading it if you mind spoilers. >>5305 I can try that, yeah. >>5299 > netrunner-type of net architecture I don't even know what that is. I have to loo it up.

Which of these three songs should I use in the second chapter? https://youtu.be/jj2gHcSahKQ https://youtu.be/TI8j3T1do2Q https://youtu.be/005REPD8gGA

I fell like I'm losing my mind. There is probably a ton of bugs and I don't think I can possibly playtest all the options. If the person who made the dot graph is still here: I would be in your debt forever if you make another one for this. Thanks in advance.

I don't know if anybody still cares, but I have released the first preview bit of the second chapter on Itch. I know that the first chapter is still unfinished and I definitely want to get back to it in time, but right now my priority is to advance the story a little bit, which is exactly what this chapter is about. Even in this unfinished version there are already two major plot twists. I have released the second chapter on Itch as a separate game to reduce the loading times. When I tried to combine it with the first chapter, the loading time was unreasonably long. https://qrayz.itch.io/g277-part-2

I know, I know, the writing is cringe. I swear that it's because I'm overworked. Not everything I ever wrote is cringe. Believe me. And I do realize that the interaction with the characters is unimaginative, uninteresting and boring. The same reason. I'll fix it in time. Some people also complain because they feel that the art-style and story are not cyberpunk enough. And they are right. It was never really my intention to go full cyberpunk aesthetics. It was supposed to be more like a story with cyberpunk influence (cyberpunk-lite if you will) than a fully fledged cyberpunk experience. But I guess it's my fault for advertising it as a cyberpunk visual novel. But you are all right, I should put more thought into both making the story and advertising it, to avoid going full cringe in the future.

Any other complaints? Please give me some feedback. I beg you.

>>5336 I can read your something if I get some free time. Too tired now tho. What is it about? At first glance the dialogs from the screens you've posted look too synthetic.

Why the hell do I keep putting the eyes too far apart? Come on, it's not so hard. This is exactly what happens when you don't study the anatomy first I guess. >>5337 > synthetic What do you mean? You mean they don't speak like human beings? Is it too artificial sounding? Maybe I don't know what human beings talk like anymore. :D

I see that people's interest in this project of mine has diminished significantly recently. I assume the main factors behind that are: Cringy writing, limited and boring interactions, no innovative game mechanics, bad art (which gets even worse the more I make for some reason), the lack of cyberpunk aesthetics and thematic relatability, bad story - which is too uninteresting for most people (especially for this community). Anything else? I have noted all these problems, accepted their significance, and I'll try to come up with solutions to them. I might attempt to redo some of the released work to reduce such problems in it, but mainly I want to avoid making the same mistakes in the future releases. Fixing all the flaws (design flaws, technical flaws and artistic flaws) is probably going to be a serious challenge, but I have to at least give it a try. This project might be a failure, but it would be a much bigger failure if I didn't at least give it a thought and think about possible ways to overcome these obstacles. I will be grateful for any feedback you provide.

instead of storing data in functions: if(num == 23) { setImg('02.jpg'); dialogOn(); setText("* After a while you give up. *"); setUpper(''); setClick("goTo(24)"); } if(num == 24) { setImg('02.jpg'); dialogOn(); setText("* In that moment a massive digital stream surge surrounds you and immobilizes you completely. *"); setUpper(''); setClick("goTo(25)"); } if(num == 25) { setImg('02.jpg'); dialogOn(); setText("* Out of nowhere a person appears right next to you. *"); setUpper(''); setClick("goTo(56)"); } why not store them as objects and have them added and ordered into maps? //placeholder functions function setImg(img) { console.log("Image has been set to: %s", img); } function setUpper() {} //dialogue const diag23 = { img: "02.jpg", text: "* After a while you give up. *", upper: "", enabled: true, }; const diag24 = { img: "02.jpg", text: "* In that moment a massive digital stream surge surrounds you and immobilizes you completely. *", upper: "", enabled: true, }; const diag25 = { img: "02.jpg", text: "* Out of nowhere a person appears right next to you. *", upper: "", enabled: true, }; const dialogues = new Map(); dialogues.set("diag23", diag23) .set("diag24", diag24) .set("diag25", diag25); for (const iter of dialogues.values()) { setImg(iter.img); if (iter.enabled == true) { console.log(iter.text); } } either way this is still going to be a cluttered mess with all these separate dialog objects, such data should be in a separate file (ex. json) or database (ex. sqlite). because there's no easy way to import files in client-side javascript you really should switch over to python and use pygame and json (or sqlite) libraries, it would make your life much easier than this gimped hacky clientside js + html approach when drawing eyes especially when they're looking off to the side you should imagine (or lightly draw guidelines to later erase) rays of light from each pupil and have those rays of light converge at the point they're focused. otherwise you get lazy eyes.

also you really should store game/program states, you should not be directly modifying what's displayed with functions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_(computer_science) so instead of: function setImg(img) { img = 'url("' + img + '")'; document.getElementById("ui").style.backgroundImage = img; } setImg("test.jpg");} you could have const GameData = { // properties img: "", // methods setImg: function(img) { if (img != this.img) { this.img = 'url("' + img + '")'; document.getElementById("ui").style.backgroundImage = this.img; } }, }; GameData.setImg("test.jpg"); as you can see, the benefit of storing states is that you can compare what you currently have set with what you're attempting to set. so in this example, if you try to set the image to the same image twice, it will skip those two lines thus saving a few cpu cycles (it honestly doesn't matter in your case since it's not like your js vn has an application loop (ex. refreshing 60 times per second) like a real video game would, but it's still a good habit to get into). the other benefit of storing states is you can store the current level/stage/scene/text/whatever and come up with easier/simpler ways of game progression than your wacky "goTo" linked-list-like nonsense. storing states opens other possibilities like inventories, hp, in-game dates/time, etc. get rid of that changeVar and readVar crap in your code, i can see you're using those for storing some game states but you're just doing it an unconventional overcomplicated way. you really need to brush up on javascript objects, know what properties and methods are and how to write and use them.

on second thought i should warn you that you run the risk of designing a god object, which is considered an anti-pattern, if you make such object methods like above https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_object maybe decoupling it to use functions instead of methods so it's more C-style would be better: const GameData = { img: "", }; function setImg(img, gameData) { if (img != gameData.img) { gameData.img = 'url("' + img + '")'; document.getElementById("ui").style.backgroundImage = gameData.img; } } setImg("test.jpg", GameData);

>>5349 >>5350 >>5352 You're overthinking this. >>5349 is a decent idea, but the dialog objects should be immutable.

>>5353 >You're overthinking this. adding states to a game that is missing them is overthinking?

>>5357 The game already has states. It's just the representation isn't object-oriented.

>>5358 i just showed you he doesn't have to do strictly object-oriented, see >>5352 do you really consider this to be an acceptable way to store data and states? function defValNewGame(skill) { var load = '<data="curscreen" value="0"><data="remember" value="goTo(0)"><data="lastscreen" value="0"><data="charAhate" value="false"><data="charBhate" value="false"><data="charChate" value="false"><data="charDhate" value="false"><data="charEhate" value="false"><data="amandaSkip" value="false"><data="plNameSet" value="false"><data="lastChoice" value=""><data="skillA" value="0"><data="skillB" value="0"><data="skillC" value="0"><data="skillD" value="0"><data="mcname" value="John"><data="mcsurname" value="Anon">'; if(skill == "skillA") { var load = '<data="curscreen" value="0"><data="remember" value="goTo(0)"><data="lastscreen" value="0"><data="charAhate" value="false"><data="charBhate" value="false"><data="charChate" value="false"><data="charDhate" value="false"><data="charEhate" value="false"><data="amandaSkip" value="false"><data="plNameSet" value="false"><data="lastChoice" value=""><data="skillA" value="1"><data="skillB" value="0"><data="skillC" value="0"><data="skillD" value="0"><data="mcname" value="John"><data="mcsurname" value="Anon">'; } if(skill == "skillB") { var load = '<data="curscreen" value="0"><data="remember" value="goTo(0)"><data="lastscreen" value="0"><data="charAhate" value="false"><data="charBhate" value="false"><data="charChate" value="false"><data="charDhate" value="false"><data="charEhate" value="false"><data="amandaSkip" value="false"><data="plNameSet" value="false"><data="lastChoice" value=""><data="skillA" value="0"><data="skillB" value="1"><data="skillC" value="0"><data="skillD" value="0"><data="mcname" value="John"><data="mcsurname" value="Anon">'; } if(skill == "skillC") { var load = '<data="curscreen" value="0"><data="remember" value="goTo(0)"><data="lastscreen" value="0"><data="charAhate" value="false"><data="charBhate" value="false"><data="charChate" value="false"><data="charDhate" value="false"><data="charEhate" value="false"><data="amandaSkip" value="false"><data="plNameSet" value="false"><data="lastChoice" value=""><data="skillA" value="0"><data="skillB" value="0"><data="skillC" value="1"><data="skillD" value="0"><data="mcname" value="John"><data="mcsurname" value="Anon">'; } if(skill == "skillD") { var load = '<data="curscreen" value="0"><data="remember" value="goTo(0)"><data="lastscreen" value="0"><data="charAhate" value="false"><data="charBhate" value="false"><data="charChate" value="false"><data="charDhate" value="false"><data="charEhate" value="false"><data="amandaSkip" value="false"><data="plNameSet" value="false"><data="lastChoice" value=""><data="skillA" value="0"><data="skillB" value="0"><data="skillC" value="0"><data="skillD" value="1"><data="mcname" value="John"><data="mcsurname" value="Anon">'; } load = load.replace(/<data/g, '<input type="hidden" id'); document.getElementById("variables").innerHTML = load; var moveto = readVar("curscreen"); changeVar("remember", "goTo(1)"); goTo(moveto); delWindow(); }

>>5346 >I see that people's interest in this project of mine has diminished significantly recently. People are just lurking. Don't take the lack of response personally. If you post something that elicits a response, you'll get it. It's a truism, but it's true.

>>5346 >>5366 I second this. I've got a bookmark I check every couple of days to see if there's anything interesting happening, but I rarely respond.

>>5366 >>5383 Thanks for the support guys. >>5349 >>5350 >>5352 >>5359 Whoa, there seems to be a indepth discussion about the technical side of things. I promise that I will read it and think about it when I find the time, but that is not now. >>5384 Jeez, calm down dude. I'm not really depressed. I just felt that I have disappointed you guys. --- Anyway, I needed to take a break from the VN project and so... I made another VN project. I mean... it's not actually a VN project, it's a turn-based strategy game of sorts that is only running on the visual novel engine of mine. I just had this ridiculous idea and I wanted to know if it will work. And it did. It only shows how flexible my engine is. Or maybe it just shows that my engine is not really a game engine, but much more of a UI API. It doesn't matter. I present to you a turn-based strategy game running entirely in the same engine that I originaly wrote for the visual novel. Isn't that crazy? https://qrayz.itch.io/homeland-must-prevail

>>5386 Make it so there's combat encounters you have to play chess against. Have the chess AI for the encounters all have a < 5000 ELO rating to filter out the fools. It will be very charged.

Sorry, no progress on the visual novel. I have been working on my dungeon crawler for a bit, so I didn't have time for the visual novel. My dungeon crawler: https://qrayz.itch.io/basic-dungeon I might have time to work on the visual novel next month tho

>>5339 >What do you mean? See below. >You mean they don't speak like human beings? Is it too artificial sounding? Yeah, probably this. I can't really tell you why but I feel that.

Believe it or not, I'm still working on this nonsense.

>>5527 Good luck, lainon! Follow your dreams.

>>5528 Thanks. I've just uploaded the Chapter 3. I promise that it is way more interesting to play this time, since I added jokes and edgy replies. https://qrayz.itch.io/g277-chapter-3

>>5536 Oh, there's a link. I'll read it once I stop studying math. Math is like kicking dead whales down the beach by the way.

>>5536 What's up with this drawing. He looks like he has two chins and mouths for some reason.

I recently came across Twine (https://twinery.org/). It looks like a good tool for this kind of game.

>>5705 Little late for that now innit considering he already got set up with the other VN engine. Though to be honest it'd probably be better than OP's homebrew engine written in j*vascript

>>5153 Keep going OP, I'm proud of you.

>>5253 It should offer more choices, not reduce them (or if it does reduce choices, then open up others). For example, one path is unfavorable toward a nerd character, so that path either becomes harder to achieve or impossible, but any path that might be favorable gives you more options now. RATHER than a point system, at certain intervals you could have the player select a trait, which makes it easier for you and more interesting for the player. Since more/less points might be difficult to simulate its impact on choices, certain traits the player selects could open/close doors. You might have the player pick one or two at the beginning (or none, if they want), and have them pick one at every major point. Thus a player might have four or five traits which give additional dialogue options, while not being difficult to simulate/manage, since rather than checking for the level of a trait, and having a unique thing for each level, you only need to check for the presence OR lack of a presence of a certain trait at these dialogue points. Just my thoughts, lainon.

>>5721 Or if the player picks multiple of the same type of choice, they get a trait, so continued choices within a certain mindset impact gameplay. Just a thought.

>>5706 There's always the next time OP makes a game. There's nothing wrong with learning to make a game, even if you use Javascr*pt.