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Stella @ MakeVisualNovels

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A member registered Apr 10, 2017 · View creator page →

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Alright, thanks for confirming.  I'll try to spin up my test project and test and debug soon.

I'd need to take a look to know for certain but my initial thought is your perspective being disabled.  Is your perspective enabled on your camera? 

The calculations are balanced with perspective in mind, but if that isn't on then the front and back wouldn't actually change the distancing and the offsets would shoot them in whichever direction if you tried to use them.

My second thought is I goofed up the transforms somewhere.   It's entirely possible that I goofed up one of the transform coordinates and no ones ever caught it.

Yep, super heroes fit into both supernatural and fantasy, depending.

We'll be hosting a live team building event called Meet & Greet in our Discord on the 20th at 8 AM Eastern!  If you are looking for a team or team mates, be sure to join us.  Voice participation is encouraged, but not required.  These events are the best way to quickly find a team or additional team members, so don't miss out!


You can join our discord here!

Dug into it.  So either your fonts folder is empty or doesn't exist.

If you unzip the fonts zip into your \game\fonts folder, it should fix that, alternatively if you put your preferred fonts into that folder, it should work too.  It just needs something there to display.

Take your time, I'll see if I can just grab the latest one and test it against it in the mean time.   Feel free to hit me up on our Discord too if you want more real time back and forth troubleshooting.

Sorry for the delay on getting back to you, can you tell me which version of RenPy you're using so I can try to reproduce it?

Generally we prefer submissions that were made explicitly for the competition, but as long as it fits the themes and otherwise follows the rules, it's fine.

As long as your submission follows the rules and is within the ballpark of a visual novel or other narrative game, it's fine.

If you open up MVNActionFXTemplates.rpy, you'll see a list of transform definitions. 

https://www.renpy.org/doc/html/transforms.html#transforms

I your script, you can apply these transforms to various displayable and images in your scene to produce the effects. The guide on the page here should help you figure out how to set each one up. 

If you know which effect you'd like to use, I can give more specific instructions on how to use them, too, just hollar and let me know.

Yep.  If you're going into it from a completely fresh project, redownload the MVNBubbleControls.rpy and try again.

I missed a bit during testing where if the bubble.json file doesn't exist or the ID is completely unassigned, it would throw an error.  That should be fixed now.  My B.

Thanks!  Could you tell me which of the glow shaders it was?  I actually addressed that exact issue in a previous update and I thought I pushed the update for them all.

So using the smart barks pack, I associated all of the bubble's speakers with the pop sound effect, and made the matching keyword and empty string, eg: ""  

So every time any of them would speak, it would play the pop sound effect.

This is how the definitions are laid out in MVNSmartBarks.rpy:

character_voice_lines = {
    "Anonymous User": {
        "": ["sfx/pop.ogg"]
    },
     "PurplePyroGirl": {
        "": ["sfx/pop.ogg"]
    },
    "Sparkle69": {
        "": ["sfx/pop.ogg"]
    },
    "Licklad": {
        "": ["sfx/pop.ogg"]
    },
    "Fan": {
        "": ["sfx/pop.ogg"]
    },
    "": {
        "": ["sfx/pop.ogg"]
    }

Web builds should be fine-- the majority of the issues with WebGL stem from WebGL not liking variable loops or implicit casting.  I used the burning text effect on my web build of Mint Condition over here: https://makevisualnovels.itch.io/mint-condition

I don't have specific issue reports from Android builds.  If you run into any issues with an Android build, feel free to reply here or find me in Discord and show me the error and I should be able to resolve it.  I'd be surprised if they run into significant performance issues on Android, but there are likely some optimizations I could do for the platform or alternative methods I could recommend failing that.

Attribution isn't required but is appreciated.   The best way to do is include either...

  • Stella @ Make Visual Novels! 
  • Remort Studios, LLC

Followed by a link to the asset you used: e.g:

Stella @ Make Visual Novels! Text & Shader Effects Pack: https://makevisualnovels.itch.io/text-pack 

If you use more than one of my packs, you can just link my main itch.io page like this rather than credit each one:

Stella @ Make Visual Novels! Assets:  https://makevisualnovels.itch.io/

Support is available through comments here, or you can reach out to me via the DevTalk discord here: https://discord.gg/devtalk

💖💖💖💖💖

I just hit the old record store with Penny, really digging it thus far.   It's given me some ideas, even.

Ayy came here to see T4T and saw you got use out of my stuff, lets f'n goooo

Sorry for the wait, I figured out what was going on.  

Early on when I started working on this pack, Bokeh originally was only going to move in one dimension, so speed was expressed as a float originally.  Before I released, I made speed an expression of vec2 so that it could have two dimensional speed.  I completely forgot that I did that, so I even included in the instructions to make it a float.

I've updated the templates to use the correct ones.  You can replace your MVNRomFXTemplates.rpy and it should straighten it out.

Perfect.  I'll get to work on it and have it sorted soon.

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Thanks for the error report, I'll dig into it and figure out what's going on.  Someone in the Discord was also talking about it and I think something goofy might be happening with it.  I might have used an older version of my test code for it instead of the tested one I had ready.  I gotta look at it to be sure.

Do you happen to know which version of RenPy this was in?  I doubt it's an issue with RenPy, but it helps me reproduce it.

I'd let it through.

It would most certainly count as separate assets, as you'd need to render it closed and open.  Depending on what you have on the pages themselves, that could also constitute multiple assets.

This would probably violate the bit about composite backgrounds not having multiple overlapping elements, sorry.

Live2D should be fine, just try to avoid anything that would significantly alter the pose.  Head shifts/turns, eye movement, tils and such of body parts are fine, but if you need to replace body parts(e.g, swapping arms) in order to create a pose you wish to use, it would likely violate the one asset rule.

Use your best judgement on non-human characters.  I won't likely be overly critical as long as the spirit of the jam was attempted.     

Hey there!  The ability to use shaders on text wasn't put into RenPy until 8.3, I believe.  If you move your project to the latest version, that part should start working.

For displayables in the UI, you can apply these to them.  For text itself, no, but I have another pack that works with text.


https://makevisualnovels.itch.io/text-pack

The reason it's cut off on the edges like that is because the shader can only draw within the rendered area.  If you want to get effects like that, you're better off compositing a screen together to include elements that could exist behind the text.  Since the parameters are tooled so high, there isn't much reason to make it adhere directly to the text displayable area.

Also I have a sprite/entity version that's in the works.  Vimi's been working on something that's got me working towards another pack released, and these type of effects for characters would be included.

If you're curious, the reason this is happening is because I forgot to re-add a .a on a line at some point during testing.  The original intent for the effect was, when it got dark, was this, with proper alpha sampling vs entire color sampling:


And I missed it because my test area was using white text. Whoops.

The method you posted uses Mix to completely strip the effect off of where the text is visible, using the original text's alpha value as the blending value.  I had intended to come back to the pack for content update in a few months, which was going to include a hollow version of this one, as well as a mix version like the one you posted. 

The transforms in MVNRomFXTemplates are intended to be copied and changed to customize the effects without having to dive into the shader code itself.

Here's a few quick ones I did, but you can tool with the numbers yourself and produce whatever variations you'd like:

transform MVNVignettePink:
    mesh True
    shader "MakeVisualNovels.LPVingette"
    u_vin_radius (0.5)
    u_vin_softness (0.3)
    u_vin_strength (0.5)
    u_vin_center (0.5, 0.5)
    u_vin_tint (1.0, 0.4, 0.6)

transform MVNVignetteWarm:     mesh True     shader "MakeVisualNovels.LPVingette"     u_vin_radius (0.5)     u_vin_softness (0.3)     u_vin_strength (0.5)     u_vin_center (0.5, 0.5)     u_vin_tint (1.0, 0.3, 0.0) transform MVNVignetteCool:     mesh True     shader "MakeVisualNovels.LPVingette"     u_vin_radius (0.5)     u_vin_softness (0.3)     u_vin_strength (0.5)     u_vin_center (0.5, 0.5)     u_vin_tint (0.2, 0.4, 1.0) transform MVNVignetteDream:     mesh True     shader "MakeVisualNovels.LPVingette"     u_vin_radius (0.5)     u_vin_softness (0.3)     u_vin_strength (0.5)     u_vin_center (0.5, 0.5)     u_vin_tint (0.2, 0.9, 0.4)

Nah, I think I found it.  The fact that it was still there after you grabbed it told me what I needed to know. I'll have a correction out for it in a bit.

Most likely, yes, as long as there is no significant changes to the pose.  Multiple characters are allowed in the text, so it wouldn't be much different from having an unseen character saying something, asset wise.

I'd let that in, personally, but only one distinct voice.  You can pitch/shift the voice like they do in , but no unique tones, or variations per (person) character.

You may have snagged the test version I mistakenly uploaded initially when I was putting in the webGL fixes, which had a version of the fire shaders that inherited color from the text itself.  Try pulling the latest version and try again.

There’s a little more than 60 days until Spooktober 2025.  Year after year, the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam has experienced meteoric growth in terms of participants and submissions. To date, the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam 2024 has had the most submissions out of any other visual novel jam, and Spooktober as a whole has contributed to the creation of over 800 visual novels.  That’s huge, and I’d like to thank all of you for helping make this happen.

This year, we anticipate breaking our submission record again.

I wish I could say this is a universally good thing.

While the participation and submissions in the jam grow significantly year after year, our ability to manage the jam does not.  Last year, we had 7 judges responsible for judging and eventually ranking 272 submissions in less than 30 days.  On average, a judge had to review 70 entries in around 21 days each to maintain the standard of quality and review that we’ve kept for the past 6 years.   Ask any of them.  It’s a staggering and taxing task despite the joy it brings us.

Recruiting new judges has been met with significant difficulty, since many people we would consider experts in this simply are not available to take on the tremendous workload at hand, and without more judges we cannot promise a lighter quantity of work per judge.  This creates a bit of a catch 22 when recruiting.

I prefer to do good business when I can.  I don’t take sponsorship money from people I don’t think a sponsorship with us could actually help.  Similarly, I can’t keep asking the judges, who have been loyal and enduring despite the hardships, to continue at the rate they’re going.  We are fully expecting to only have 5-7 judges this year, and the jam is trending towards 300 submissions this year.  Worst case scenario, we're looking at judges needing to review somewhere near 120-150 entries each to maintain our standards.  We need a method of allowing Spooktober to grow and continue to be the event that inspires and drives developers to do their best while mitigating the administrative strain the event causes.

That’s why this year we’re introducing a judging pass.

Here’s how it’s changed:

  • Everyone is still able to participate and compete in Spooktober 2025.
  • Special categories will be nominations based, with public vote ranking taken into consideration in addition to community and judge nominations.  Judges will continue to review the nominations and select winners there. (Roughly 6~ entries per category.)
  • The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes require a Judge Pass to qualify a team for consideration.
  • Judge passes also entitle participants to pitch and present in a special competitive Meet & Greet, focused on helping people find teams and team members seeking to compete for the grand prizes.  This Meet & Greet is scheduled August 16th, and purchase of a Judge Pass is required BEFORE that date in order to present.
  • Judge passes are available now via the Patreon shop for $10 USD.  We will stop selling these passes September 15th.  Your order number is your Judge Pass number, so make note of it.
  • The goal of this pass is to reduce the total number of entries the judges need to review from 250-300 to 100 or less.  This would amount to each judge only needing to review 30-40 entries each and permit us to continue judging at the quality we want to maintain.

Proceeds from the passes will be given to the judges to thank them for their time or given back to the community at their discretion.

The pass is available here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/2025-spooktober-131500676

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Thanks for expressing interest in our sponsorship packages!  In order to become an official Spooktober Visual Novel Jam 2025 sponsor, a cash sponsorship must be made of a minimum of $250.  Sponsorships of digital goods, services and other non-cash contributions must be accompanied by a cash contribution equal to or greater than the value of the digital goods being offered.

These packages are flexible and can be further customized to meet your specific requirements and preferences.

If you have any questions, special requests, or wish to sponsor the competition feel free to reach out via email to Stella@SpooktoberVNJam.com or Stella on DevTalk's Discord!

Basic Package - $250:

  • Shout-Outs: Verbal acknowledgement and appreciation during the event opening and closing ceremonies.
  • Sponsor Recognition: Your logo featured in the sponsor section of the jam page.

Bronze Package - $500:

All benefits from the Basic Package, plus:

  • Logo Placement: Your company logo prominently displayed on our event website, promotional materials, and social media platforms.
  • Shout-Outs: Verbal acknowledgement and appreciation during the event opening and closing ceremonies.
  • Social Media Exposure: One dedicated social media post on our official channels highlighting your sponsorship and promoting your brand.
  • Event Summary and Post-Mortem: You will receive a summary and post mortem from the judging team containing information about the jam’s running, participants, entries, and final conclusions, including basic contact information should you wish to reach out to them for talent searching or feedback.

Silver Package - $1,000:

All benefits from the Bronze Package, plus:

  • Mascot Skit: Our Message of the Day rotation in DevTalk will include a skit of our four main mascots (Lime, Lemon, Plum, and Cherry) delivering your brand message and offerings until September 1st, 2026. (Approximately once every 8-12 days) Rotation starts after contribution is received and skit is approved by your organization.
  • Extended Logo Exposure: Your logo featured on live event banners, including our live online Team Building events and official streams.
  • Judge Opportunity: One representative from your company is invited to participate as a guest judge in the evaluation process, providing industry expertise and insights for a specific category.  Part of your contribution will be used to fund the prizes for the chosen category.

Gold Package - $2,500:

All benefits from the Bronze and Silver Packages, plus:

  • Mascot Skit: As in Silver, but includes either a second skit for rotation, or a serialized/story skit lasting 15 days starting at the date of your choice.
  • Prime Logo Placement: Your logo prominently featured on the event's main graphic at the top of the event page, and will be highlighted in all live events.
  • Panel or Workshop: An opportunity to host a panel discussion or workshop during the event, allowing you to share your expertise, showcase your products/services, and engage directly with our community.
  • Exclusive Sponsor Spotlight: A dedicated section on our event website featuring your company profile and additional promotional materials.
  • Swag Inclusion: If you have discount codes, brochures, or other potential give-aways, we will distribute them through our participant e-mail system, allowing you to directly reach the participants with your offerings.

Platinum Package - $4,000:

All benefits from the Bronze, Silver and Gold Packages, plus:

  • Mascot Skit: As in Gold, additionally your mascot or a personification of your brand may be included as an actor in the skits.
  • Supporter Role:  1 year access to our community’s supporter area for up to 2 members of your organization.  Valid until the beginning of August 2026, beginning at the time of contribution confirmation..
  • Judge Opportunity: One representative from your company is invited to participate as a guest judge in the evaluation process and is permitted to submit feedback directly to submitting participants.

 We value your support and are open to discussing any additional ideas or benefits you may have in mind!  

All contributions made through this sponsorship system are added to the community's yearly budget and will be used to finance the prizes for Spooktober 2025, at the following amounts.

  • 1st Place: $1,000 USD
  • 2nd Place: $750 USD
  • 3rd Place: $500 USD
  • Special Categories $100 (Up to 5, TBD)
  • Sponsor Categories, up to a negotiated amount, 1 per sponsor maximum.

Our target contribution is $2,750 for 2025.  Any amount in this excess will be split between the community's yearly budget for special events,  programs, and next year's competition!

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Welcome to the jam! Once you've read the rules on the main page, here are some more specific cases to give you an idea of what you can work with.

If you can't find your specific case or situation, feel free to ask below!

------------------------------------------------------------------- 

GENERAL CLARIFICATIONS

You can:

  • have more than a single choice or fork in your VN/story
  • use your existing universe so long as the player does not need prior context to understand your entry
  • have unlimited solid color backgrounds in menus and in-game generated by the engine, alongside your illustrated BG
  • use Text-To-Speech without impact on any audio limits
  • use any freely available asset (paid, Creative Commons, and others)
  • provide additional information on the VN's website including separate character drawings, backstory info, banners and cover images, provided they don't make diminish the VN-only experience
  • use your own existing assets not specifically made for a VN/game (e.g. vacation photos, childhood drawings, old poem)
  • use previously created custom menu styles/GUI, even if they appeared in other games before
  • submit NSFW/R18 work, provided it's tagged/flagged appropriately
  • create additional simple shapes by code (e.g. squares, circles, etc.)
  • draw an image by code, but only when the results are equivalent to having a single sprite and single BG
  • prepare code for basic VN functions (e.g, skip, auto-forward, text history, save/load, etc.) in your engine of choice
  • use any engine to create a game that is considered a VN first and foremost (e.g. due to the required assets needed, an engine such as any version of RPGMaker would not be allowed)
  • update your game after the jam is complete (we highly recommend making it available as a separate download for posterity's sake, but this is not necessary)

You cannot:

  • use sprites, backgrounds, scripts or other assets made or commissioned for a different VN/game project before (even if it's unfinished or unreleased)
  • Use generative AI in any aspect of your production or pre-production.

------------------------------------------------------------------- 

ONE SPRITE

It is within the rules to:

  • have many facial expressions for the sprite by changing eyes, nose, eyebrows and mouth
  • have many off-screen actors / characters, so long as only one is visually represented by a sprite
  • have a character sprite that includes a separate auxiliary character that does not feature in interactions (e.g, a woman holding a baby, a pirate with a parrot, blind person with dog)
  • have multiple "characters" associated with one sprite, as long as those are all a part of that singular entity (e.g, a medusa with talking snake hairs, a person playing with sock puppets on their hands, etc.)
  • have a "suggestion" of another character represented by a shadow or a reflection with very vague detail (see Illustration/CG rules)
  • have an "extra item" which is a single non-central element that will be hidden (man loses a hat, child's balloon flies away) or appears. 
  • have a single alternate movement of a single body part that is drawn differently (head, single arm) so long as it doesn't change the pose, and so long as the VN does not also use the allowed "extra item"
  • use the single sprite for twins, clones, ghosts, swarms, etc.
  • mirror and otherwise transform the sprite in game
  • show only a portion of a sprite, including cut-outs or zooms.
  • have an inanimate object as the sprite (e.g. UFO, a portal, a robot)
  • having multiple small ambient objects as the sprite (e.g. adding traffic to the city, searchlights to prison)
  • fully or partially assemble a sliced up sprite in game, and apply effects to individual elements (e.g. a snowman's head)
  • animate parts of the sprite to achieve effects of breathing, bobbing their head, or other idle animation (this includes the usage of programs such as EmoFuri, Live2D, or Spline which do not require drawing new frames)
  • create minor frame-by-frame animations involving features of the face, such as blinking or mouth movement

You may not do the following:

  • have multiple changes of clothes for the sprite, or any other separate layers that overlap with their non-transparent parts
  • use a sprite overlay to vastly transform the background (e.g. pre- and post-war city)
  • create extensive frame-by-frame animations of the sprite outside of parts of the face (e.g. snapping fingers, turning a hand around, etc.)
  • change the sprite's pose significantly (e.g. move the torso)
  • drawing alternate forms of hair or shaded clothes for any movement

Illustrations (CGs) can:

  • be used instead of a separate sprite and background
  • feature a character with expression changes and other alterations analog to sprites
  • feature simple crowd silhouettes, or suggestions of people without identifying details

Illustrations (CGs) cannot:

  • show multiple people in high detail
  • show a silhouette next to a fully shown character

-------------------------------------------------------------------

ONE BACKGROUND

It is within the rules to:

  • use the engine's built-in functions, code, or scripting to alter the background (e.g. blur, night filter, mirroring) 
  • have a small looping animation (e.g. inside of train with passing scenery, waterfall)
  • use zooming, panning and cutting around a larger image
  • reveal previously obscured information or areas through pans, zooms and cuts
  • use layers to show a sliced up an image as a single background (no opaque parts of layers can overlap)
  • use custom particle effects, so long as there is only one type of particle being used (e.g, cherry blossom petals, fire, etc.)

You may not do the following:

  • create secondary versions (via multiple separate files) of the background image (e.g. blur, night version)
  • use masks (via multiple separate files) to create secondary versions of the background image on screen
  • use an image which is created in such a way that focusing on segments effectively changes scenes
  • remove parts of a background to create a new scene, even if parts of it were seen in the original (e.g. there is a wall a window with a view outside, and then that wall is removed so the scene is now outside completely)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

ONE THOUSAND WORDS

When in doubt, pure words counted by Google Documents are to be taken as standard. 

Counts against the 1.000 word limit:

  • foreword / afterword / author's notes
  • text of all the VN's branches combined
  • text of choices
  • images of letters or longer-form text
  • any additional parallel language / translation
  • custom menu items like "Start your adventure" instead of "Start"
  • emoji-only statements (count as a single word)
  • emoji made of words (count as the amount of words in the emoji)
  • ellipses (a freestanding ... is considered a word by most word processors)

Does not count against the 1.000 word limit:

  • minigame using words if it's purely a game mechanic (does not advance story)
  • chapter names, even if displayed on screen
  • signs, posters, even if they relate to the story
  • short factual glossary, if explanation cannot be reasonably provided in game
  • in-game content warnings
  • credits, help / controls
  • user input text
  • emoji used to only accompany and reiterate a word or statement
  • repeats of blocks of text achieved by scripting (e.g. common route, recurring dream)
  • surplus text generated from a base text that is within the word count limit (e.g. chat bot, AI generator)
  • name tags, so long as they are not directly conveying narrative
  • image captions intended to describe visuals to players with low vision conditions for accessibility

Concerning the last point, please utilize an engine's accessibility features and do not abuse image captions to add to the narration in a way that moves it forward. We trust that participants will consider making their games more accessible to low vision readers in good faith.

If you are using Ren'Py, we suggest npckc's Caption Tool in order to add image captions to your game.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

ONE MUSIC TRACK OR ONE AMBIENT BACKGROUND NOISE

It is within the rules to:

  • use a looped sound effect acting as ambient background noise (e.g. rain)
  • use a track with multiple melodies / styles, if it existed prior to the jam, and only a single segment is looped, with another segment looped only for a special short segment / occasion.
  • alter the pitch or speed of audio via code

If an ambient audio file you create or find has multiple sources of different audio (e.g. a storm may have wind, rain, and thunder) and you do not control the timing of the other recorded audio, this all counts as one ambient track. If you do control the timing of other sounds, this counts as your sound effect.

You may not do the following:

  • create or use a track by combining composed music and ambient sounds
  • use a mash-up or mix of multiple songs with timed transitions (megamix, medley)
  • have additional menu music that loops (if the VN also has in-game music/ambient noise)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

ONE SOUND EFFECT

The single sound effect...

  • can be used multiple times
  • cannot be looped continuously (if yes, it counts as background noise per the last section)
  • can be made by a person different from the voice actor (we consider this to be a foley sound)
  • can bed altered via code

This limit does not apply to interface sounds, which are considered part of the GUI. Having different sounds assigned to button hover, activation, etc. could be an accessibility feature for low-vision players, as that's audio feedback for different actions.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

ONE VOICE ACTOR

Your entry's single voice actor...

  • can use use variations of voices
  • can have their voice modulated and processed to create completely different sounding voices
  • can be replaced by sound effects / beeps processed to act as voices (this does not count as the sound effect)
  • can speak lines not part of the VN's text, provided they don't go over 1.000 words combined

Regarding usage of voice beeps in lieu of voice acting: you may create different beeps per character as long as it remains consistent to that character.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

SPLASH SCREEN / MAIN MENU / GAME MENU ART / GUI 

The main menu / title screen background is now considered part of the GUI and thus is not beholden to many of the previous year's restrictions.

It is within the rules to:

  • display multiple splashscreens before the start (e.g, for the jam, engine used, studio logo)
  • have multiple variations of the title screen / game menu background
  • show as many characters / objects as you'd like
  • show a different location from the one in the game
  • use a combination of the sprite and background or the one CG as the main menu
  • have multiple typefaces

You may not do the following:

  • show any part of the main menu in the flow of your script if it is different from the assets in the game

Regarding image buttons that appear to be objects: these buttons should only appear as a choice, and the images should not appear again in other parts of the game due to the fact that this can be abused to bypass the item/arm/head change limit.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

ONE THUMBNAIL ART 

The restrictions for the itch thumbnail for your game's preview have now been relaxed, as we recognize that it is an important aspect of marketing your game to potential players. It is within the rules to:

  • show as many characters as you'd like
  • show a different location from the one in the game
  • create any animation for it, even one with multiple frames of animation

-------------------------------------------------------------------

ONE PROJECT

One person in the O2A2 jam...

  • can only be the primary creative lead for a single project (e.g. producer, director, author)
  • can additionally be a secondary creative contributor for someone else's project (e.g. draw a sprite)
  • can further collaborate on other projects in a non-creative role (e.g. coordination, marketing)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

OFFERING WEB BUILDS OF YOUR ENTRY 

If you offer both a web and downloadable version of your game, you may optimize effects (e.g. video backgrounds) for the web build as long as the downloadable version follows the rules. You may want to note differences between versions if applicable. Please follow this rule in good faith.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

OMAKES AND FANDISC RULES 

An omake means "extra," as in extra/bonus content for source material that you own or have permission to develop for. Fandisc is another term for the same concept.

It is within the rules to:

  • reference assets from your main game to create new assets (e.g. redrawing a sprite or BG, making a remix of a song, etc.)
  • reuse code from your main project to expedite development (e.g. recycling animations, code for setting up images, etc.)
  • use the same GUI from your main project

You may not do the following:

  • directly reuse any non-GUI assets you have created for your main game

We highly suggest writing your omake in a way that those unfamiliar with the source material are able to enjoy it, but this is not a requirement.

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FANGAME AND DERIVATIVE WORK RULES 

Fangames or derivative works are generally unofficial works based on source material that you do not own or have express permission to develop for. The O2A2 Jam Hosts are not responsible for any cease and desist notices for individual entries should they occur.

It is within the rules to:

  • adapt an existing fanfic or other work you created or have permission to use into a visual novel format

You may not do the following:

  • directly reuse any assets from the official source material (this is piracy!)

We highly suggest writing your fangame in a way that those unfamiliar with the source material are able to enjoy it, but this is not a requirement. For your protection in the majority of cases, we also suggest turning donations and PWYW off for fangame entries.

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TRANSLATIONS/DIFFERENT LANGUAGES

In the case that you want to release a game in several languages: the restrictions on 1k words and the one VA would apply to each version.

It is within the rules to:

  • make a game with several languages, where the text of each version does not surpass 1000 words.
  • use a different VA for each language.

You may not do the following:

  • use more than one of any other asset that is not affected by having different languages in the game.

It can be be used in commercial projects.  The pack itself can be credited as Stella @ Make Visual Novels.  


The included 3 voices should have an attribution file in the zip.

Applying a transform to things overrides the existing settings.  You can combine transforms with different effects and settings to get the desired position, effects, etc.  

For example

show Sylvie at center, SunsetLighting

Will move the Slyvie image to the center of the screen and apply the shader effect from this pack called SunsetLighting.  Hopefully that helps!

Also, if you want a wide array of stage based position presets, check out my staging pack over here: https://makevisualnovels.itch.io/make-visual-novels-sep

It adds a number of new position and camera presets that takes advantage of RenPy's 3D stage, giving you a ton of options for composing your scenes