Visual Novel

A playbook for visual novels, the branching script, the presentation (text box, characters, backgrounds), choices, and the quality-of-life systems players expect (save anywhere, backlog, skip, auto). This is a compositional skill: it drives a dialogue engine and a UI layer. It does not re-teach the dialogue engine or UI nodes; it defines the script model and the player conveniences that make a VN pleasant to read.

When to use

• Use when the game is mostly reading branching text with character art and backgrounds: visual novel, dating sim, branching interactive fiction, story-choice game.
• Use when designing a choice/route structure, story flags, or VN conveniences (backlog, skip, auto-advance, save-anywhere).

When not to use: dialogue as one feature inside a larger game → rpg consuming dialogue-systems. Card/board play → other genres. For the branching-script engine itself, use dialogue-systems (Ink / Yarn Spinner).

If the project is Ren'Py (current stable 8.5.3): the engine already ships save-anywhere, rollback, a history (backlog) screen, skip that stops at unseen text by default (preferences.skip_unseen = False), auto-forward and a text-speed preference. Use and restyle those through its screens and preferences; apply this skill's design guidance (routes, flags, reactivity) rather than rebuilding the systems in Patterns 2, 3.

Core loop

Read a line → advance → (at a branch) make a choice → the story branches on flags/choices → read on → reach an ending. The "game" is the shape of the branching and whether choices feel consequential; everything else is presentation and convenience.

Must-have systems