# Visual Novel

Build a visual novel: a branching script, character and background display, a text box...

- Repository: https://github.com/gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills (6445 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: Apache-2.0
- Last updated: 2026-10-28
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills --skill visual-novel -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills --skill visual-novel -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills --skill visual-novel -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills --skill visual-novel -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills`

## Description

Build a visual novel: a branching script, character and background display, a text box with choices, save/load, backlog, and skip/auto. Use for a VN, dating sim, or branching story game.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# 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

The rest: https://github.com/gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/genres/visual-novel/SKILL.md