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This is a list of visual novel engines.
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This is a list of visual novel engines.
Digital Novel Markup Language (DNML) is one of the first scripting language game engines for creating visual novels, also known as interactive fiction games. DNML was developed using C++ by a Japanese programmer known by their Internet name, Karin. The initial release was in 1998. The programming structure is similar to HTML, which made it easy to produce dōjin games. DNML was succeeded by software like NScripter, KiriKiri and Ren'Py. [1]
There have been various attempts to create a more modern DNML interpreter. However the only known successful project is DNML Midori, [2] a full reimplantation of DNML that has several features of its own. While it is free to use, it is not open source. As of 2021, it was last updated in 2019 and development seems to be concluded.
| Developer(s) | W.Dee |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1998 |
| Stable release | 2.32 rev.2 / October 26, 2010 [3] |
| Operating system | Windows |
| Available in | C++ |
| Type | Game engine (visual novel) |
| License | GPL |
KiriKiri ( 吉里吉里 ) is a scripting engine [4] [5] by Japanese developer "w.dee", initially released in 1998. It is almost exclusively used with the KAG (KiriKiri Adventure Game System) framework as a visual novel engine. [6] Usually, the package of the two components is regarded as the whole engine, and referenced with major version numbers. Thus, the current version is called KiriKiri2/KAG3. It is available under the GNU General Public License, though commercial licenses can be acquired if somebody wishes to expand the software without disclosing the changes.
KiriKiri is often used as a more modern and expandable replacement of the older NScripter engine.[ citation needed ][ citation needed ] [5] It has been used in both dōjin and commercial visual novels, the most well known of which are TYPE-MOON's Fate/stay night and Fate/hollow ataraxia . Another notable visual novel that is known to be implemented using this engine is 1999 Christmas Eve (1999クリスマスイブ). The Nekopara game series, available on Steam, also uses a modified version of Kirikiri. [7]
For KiriKiri2 and Kirikiri Z's implementation of KAG there is a module called 鱧天 (Hamotem). [8] which provides a myriad of plugins and a ready made template to build games on. As TyranoBuilder is to TyranoScript, there are several programs which create a graphical editor on top of the KAG script. The most well known of these is NVLMaker, [9] which also has a cloud platform. [10]
Due to a lack of updates since October 2010, from 2013 onward the code has been forked and continued as Kirikiri Z (吉里吉里Z). [11]
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (August 2021)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
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| Developer(s) | Naoki Takahashi |
|---|---|
| Initial release | September 6, 1999 [12] |
| Final release | final version / February 23, 2018 [13] |
| Operating system | Windows |
| Type | Game engine (visual novel) |
| License | Freeware |
| Website | nscripter |
NScripter is a visual novel engine [4] written by Naoki Takahashi. Due to its simplicity and its liberal license (while it is not open-source software, royalty-free commercial use is permitted), it quickly became popular in Japan, and was used for a number of high-profile commercial and dōjin titles, such as HaniHani and Tsukihime .[ citation needed ]NScripter is closed-source and only available for Windows.
| Original author(s) | Ogapee |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Studio O.G.A. |
| Initial release | February 6, 2002 |
| Stable release | 20191022 / October 22, 2019 |
| Written in | C++ |
| Engine | Simple DirectMedia Layer |
| Operating system | Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS |
| Platform | x86, ARM, Zaurus |
| Type | Game engine (visual novel) |
| License | GPL-2.0-or-later |
| Website | onscripter |
A number of cross-platform clones have been written, the best-known being ONScripter, [14] an example of free and open-source software implementation. Its popularity among the visual novel localisation community is attributed to the ease of modifying the engine to support languages other than Japanese. [14] It strives to maintain compatibility with visual novels designed for NScripter. [15] ONScripter is based on the Simple Directmedia Layer (SDL) library, and can thus be used to run NScripter games on platforms supported by SDL, such as OS X, Linux, PSP and the iPod.
ONScripter-EN is a branch of ONScripter that is maintained separately by the English-language community, for convenience and for ease of introducing enhancements that are suited to the community. PONScripter (abbreviation for "Proportional-OnScripter") is a fork of ONScripter-EN. Its stated goal is to provide an easy porting target for translation projects, with emphasis on Western languages. [15] PONScripter has made heavy modifications to the ONScripter-EN base code, and is deliberately backwards-incompatible. PONScripter was originally maintained by Peter "Haeleth" Jolly. Since September 2009, it is maintained by Mion of Sonozaki Futago-tachi, the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni translation group. [16]
KScripter is a Flash-based scripting engine that was inspired by NScripter but uses ActionScript and SWF. [17] [18] [19]
Monogatari is an open source visual novel engine that focuses on running on Web platforms
NVList is an open source visual novel engine that runs on Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android, and even online (through an applet). It is coded in the Java language, even though the scripts are written in Lua. It is being updated to this day on GitHub. [20] It has all the functionality required for a Visual Novel, and more. It has support for resolution scaling and switching, along with pixel and vertex shaders. [21]
The Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine is a free software engine. Ren'Py is a portmanteau of ren'ai (恋愛), the Japanese word for 'love', a common element of games made using Ren'Py; and Python, the programming language that Ren'Py runs on. The easy to learn script language allows anyone to efficiently write large visual novels, while its Python scripting is enough for complex simulation games. Ren'Py has proved attractive to western hobbyists; over 4,000 games use the Ren'Py engine, nearly all in English. Visual novels, kinetic novels, role-playing games, simulation games, and many other games can be made with Ren'Py. [22] [23]
Narrat is a free and open source narrative RPG engine that can easily make visual novels. Narrat uses web technologies to output games that run on Web Platforms, as well as Desktop. [24] Narrat was inspired by games like Disco Elysium in its visual layout and presence of RPG mechanics, as well as dice-based tabletop role playing games style skill checks. [25] It features an easy to learn script language [26] that allows anyone to efficiently write large visual novels that can contain more advanced RPG mechanics like an inventory [27] and quests. [28] It has a system for customising UI based on CSS, which allows game developers to radically change the presentation of their games. [29] The engine has been particularly noticed in the Spanish speaking interactive fiction community. [30] Narrat has also been listed as one of the best free tools for narrative games by Game Developer. [31]
Suika2 is a free and open source visual novel engine. It is lightweight, compact, and portable by design. Games created with Suika2 can run on Desktop, Mobile and Web Platforms. [32] Having Japanese and International language options, it is one of the few Japanese Visual Novel Engines supporting multiple languages out of the box. Its simple command based syntax allows for easy creation of Visual Novels, while its GUI system provides the framework for a robust visual experience. [33] The provided Visual Debugger allows easy testing of scripts, and facilitates packaging of game files. Suika2 Kirara, a drag-and-drop development tool for Suika2, is being developed.
TyranoBuilder is a commercial visual novel engine. Projects created in this engine can be compiled for use on Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and browser-based web apps. [34] [35]
Geek & Sundry said it uses "a simple drag-and-drop system and the interface makes it easy to see how the scene will look as you change elements on the fly." [36] The GUI is similar to GameMaker, usually bypassing any need for scripting. [37] TyranoBuilder acts as an interface for TyranoScript, a web-focused engine created in Japanese language [38] (a partial English version exists). [39] TyranoBuilder and TyranoScript use a syntax similar to the scripting language of KiriKirki, although less flexible.[ citation needed ]
A unique feature of TyranoBuilder is its support for Live2D. [40] Robert Ciesla, author of Game Development with Ren’Py: Introduction to Visual Novel Games Using Ren’Py, TyranoBuilder, and Twine said, "TyranoBuilder one ups Ren’Py in the visual category, since it includes an impressive character animation system called Live2D. Said system may be implementable in Ren’Py, but probably not as easily." [41]
Asobu, an independent game development community and shared workspace, [42] hosted a TyranoBuilder Meetup in Japan in January 2020. A small group of developers (including the 'Tyrano Game Festival 2018' 2nd-place winner, [43] Takumi Kato) were in attendance, and the event corrdinator said there will be future events. [44] [45]
Magnetic Scrolls was a British video game developer active between 1984 and 1990. A pioneer of audiovisually elaborate text adventure games, it was one of the largest and most acclaimed interactive fiction developers of the 1980s, and one of the "Big Two" with Infocom according to some.
An eroge is a Japanese genre of erotic video game. The term encompasses a wide variety of Japanese games containing erotic content across multiple genres. The first eroge were created in the 1980s, and many well-known companies in the Japanese gaming industry originally produced and distributed them. Some eroge are primarily focused on erotic content, while others, such as Key's Kanon, only contain occasional scenes in an otherwise non-erotic work. Games in the latter category are often re-released with sexual content removed for general audiences. Throughout its history, the genre has faced controversy for its use of explicit sexual content, and as a result has been banned from several console platforms.
BBEdit is a proprietary text editor made by Bare Bones Software, originally developed for Macintosh System Software 6, and currently supporting macOS.
Touhou Project, also known simply as Touhou, is a bullet hell shoot 'em up video game series created by one-man independent Japanese doujin soft developer Team Shanghai Alice. Since 1995, the team's member, Jun'ya "ZUN" Ōta, has independently developed programming, graphics, writing, and music for the series, self-publishing 19 mainline games and 13 spin-offs as of October 2023. ZUN has also produced related print works and music albums, and collaborated with developer Twilight Frontier on seven additional official Touhou spin-offs, most being fighting games.
NScripter, officially abbreviated as Nscr, also known under its production title Scripter4, is a game engine developed by Naoki Takahashi between 1999 and 2018 functioning with its own script language which facilitates the creation of both visual and sound novels. The SDK is only available for Windows. From version 2.82, NScripter supports both Japanese characters - these are two bytes long - and any single-byte character; before that, it only supported Japanese characters. This engine was very popular in Japan because of its simplicity and because it was free for amateur game makers. Additionally, there are forks available to extend NScripter's capabilities to display characters from another language, run a game on other platforms, etc.
Wintermute Engine (WME) is a set of software tools and a runtime interpreter primarily designed for creating and running graphical adventure games.
Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies, first announced and released in June 2005 at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a Mac OS X game engine. The engine has since been gradually extended to support a variety of desktop, mobile, console, augmented reality, and virtual reality platforms. It is particularly popular for iOS and Android mobile game development, is considered easy to use for beginner developers, and is popular for indie game development.
07th Expansion is a Japanese dōjin circle specialized in the creation of visual novels. They started out drawing for the trading card game Leaf Fight, but are better known for creating the game series When They Cry. The remake games on additional consoles for Higurashi When They Cry were produced by Alchemist.
RPG Maker, known in Japan as RPG Tsukūru, is a series of programs for the development of role-playing video games (RPGs) with story-driven elements, created by the Japanese group ASCII, succeeded by Enterbrain. The Japanese name, Tsukūru, is a pun mixing the Japanese word tsukuru (作る), means "make" or "create", with tsūru (ツール), the Japanese transliteration of the English word "tool".
Kirikiri may refer to:
MonoDevelop was an open-source integrated development environment for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its primary focus is development of projects that use Mono and .NET Framework. MonoDevelop integrates features similar to those of NetBeans and Microsoft Visual Studio, such as automatic code completion, source control, a graphical user interface (GUI), and Web designer. MonoDevelop integrates a Gtk# GUI designer called Stetic. It supports Boo, C, C++, C#, CIL, D, F#, Java, Oxygene, Vala, JavaScript, TypeScript, and Visual Basic.NET. Although there is no word from the developers that it has been discontinued, nonetheless, it hasn't been updated in 4 years and is no longer installable on major operating systems, such as Ubuntu 22.04 and above. Its parent Microsoft seems to have shifted focus to Visual Studio Code and the .NET Framework, which runs on many operating systems, including Linux.
An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. Because of their independence and freedom to develop, indie games often focus on innovation, experimental gameplay, and taking risks not usually afforded in AAA games. Indie games tend to be sold through digital distribution channels rather than at retail due to a lack of publisher support. The term is analogous to independent music or independent film in those respective mediums.
Yūto Tonokawa (pseudonym) is a Japanese scenario writer originally from Saitama, Japan. He had worked for the visual novel studio Key under VisualArt's. He began working with Key on their sixth game Little Busters! and wrote the scenarios for two of the main heroines: Komari Kamikita, and Yuiko Kurugaya. Tonokawa also wrote the scenario for Sasami Sasasegawa in Little Busters! Ecstasy. He provided the lyrics to one of the ending themes from the same game, "Alicemagic", as his first job as a lyricist. Tonokawa wrote the scenarios for Chihaya Ohtori and Sizuru Nakatsu in Key's ninth game Rewrite. Among Key's staff, Tonokawa updated the company's official blog the most often. Despite his accomplishments, Tonokawa has referred to himself as "only an incompetent writer." In July 2008, Tonokawa was living in the same apartment building in Osaka that Jun Maeda had once lived in, though he did not know this when he moved into the building. Tonokawa resigned from Key in 2015.
The Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine is a free software game engine which facilitates the creation of visual novels. Ren'Py is a portmanteau of ren'ai (恋愛), the Japanese word for 'romantic love', a common element of games made using Ren'Py; and Python, the programming language that Ren'Py runs on.
Domain-specific entertainment languages are a group of domain-specific languages that are used to describe computer games or environments, or potentially used for other entertainment such as video or music.
A game creation system (GCS) is a consumer-targeted game engine and a set of specialized design tools, and sometimes also a light scripting language, engineered for the rapid iteration of user-derived video games.
Science Adventure is a multimedia series consisting of interconnected science fiction stories, created mainly by Mages, Nitroplus, and Chiyomaru Studio. The main entries mostly take the form of visual novel video games, but side entries span across several different mediums.
Godot is a cross-platform, free and open-source game engine released under the permissive MIT license. It was initially developed by Argentine software developers Juan Linietsky and Ariel Manzur for several companies in Latin America prior to its public release in 2014. The development environment runs on many platforms, and can export to several more. It is designed to create both 2D and 3D games targeting PC, mobile, and web platforms and can also be used to develop non-game software, including editors.
The Visual Novel Database is an online database, wiki and Internet forum for visual novels. As of 2019, the VNDB had catalogued a total of 24,000 visual novels, and its forum had reached 14,300 users. According to Electronic Gaming Monthly, VNDB was responsible for helping bring visual novels to an international audience. The site's mascot is Lasty Farson from Angelic Serenade.