Visual Development of a Visual Novel

The visual novel is an interactive video game genre that is based on heavy narrative style gameplay. Gameplay mainly involves the reading of a fictional story that is delivered through a text box, with static character sprites in the background. What separates visual novels from other game genres is an emphasis on storytelling. The objective of this thesis was to explore and research the visual development process in the production of a visual novel. It mainly focused on the fundamental visual elements that are used to deliver a story for this genre; this included the creation of character art, background art, user interface, necessary in-game assets, full-screen images and overall layout of the game. The thesis delved into the theories behind how these elements are used to tell a story within the genre. The product of this thesis is a game made in collaboration with two other game designers. The author of this thesis was responsible for the creation of all the artworks, while the others developed the gameplay, story and user-interface. The primary objective of the designers was to produce a game that is entertaining and immersive in its storytelling. The process of collaboration was documented, and the process of designing visual elements that is based on a script was also explored. The theories and techniques used in visual storytelling media that were researched are then applied to the game. The success of the game was then judged by the performance of the gameplay and how well the storyline played out. Due to the time constraints, other possible techniques such as animation effects could not be included in the game, despite being researched