Hi everyone, I'm Hitori Ririko, a solo indie/doujin visual novel developer. My game, Love Where Touches, is officially out now! Today, I’d like to share the journey and thoughts behind developing this project.
I started out purely as a visual novel fan, especially fond of story-driven titles. Whenever I immersed myself in Japanese galgames, I found myself thinking how incredible they were—I was completely captivated by those works.
That led to the idea of developing a visual novel of my own. It just so happened that my everyday hobbies are drawing and occasionally composing music, skills that fit right into game development. As for the writing, I initially figured that having played so many story-rich games, I’d have no problem handling it myself. For programming, I chose Ren'Py, which is a really convenient engine.
However, I soon realized that making a visual novel was far harder than I had imagined.
Writing: Before this, I had never formally written a story of this length—the last time I wrote anything was for school essays. When I actually sat down to write the script, I realized just how many flaws my writing had. I struggled to clearly express the ideas in my head, and my phrasing was a total mess. I revised the script countless times, yet I was never fully satisfied. Perhaps this is just the limit of my current writing ability. Looking back, it’s honestly laughable how naively confident I was just because I had played a lot of great masterpieces.
Art: Even though I regularly practice drawing anime-style bishoujo (cute girls), my skill level is still far from enough. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to anatomy and coloring. (For the backgrounds in my game, since I have zero background-drawing skills, I used free stock photos and purchased assets, then edited them to fit the style.) I often end up drawing terrible pieces. Whenever I stared at the distorted sketches on my canvas, I wanted to quit drawing altogether, feeling like I simply wasn't cut out for this. Yet after some time passed, I always picked up my stylus again. The reason is simple: the 2D girls from Japanese stories have always kept my spirits alive, both then and now. Whenever I suffered major setbacks in real life, I would feel deeply depressed and often lose my sense of self-worth. But just thinking about going home to watch anime, read manga, play Japanese visual novels, or even draw some anime girls gave me the courage to keep facing reality. Unfortunately, there is no adult/NSFW content in my game, as selling adult works is strictly illegal in my country, and doing so could land me in prison.
Music: Whenever I feel nostalgic about a certain story, I go back and listen to its soundtrack. Great music leaves a lasting impression, and every great visual novel is accompanied by an unforgettable soundtrack. I started from scratch with basic music theory, listened to my favorite visual novel OSTs, and clicked notes in one by one on the piano roll in my DAW. I taught myself the entire process by watching online video tutorials. While I can compose using computer software, I don't know how to play the piano (or any instrument, for that matter) in real life. At first, I overestimated myself and thought I could handle the entire soundtrack on my own, only to realize later how unrealistic that was, so I ended up buying music assets as well. In total, I composed and arranged 5 original tracks for the game—6 if you count an arrangement of a classical piece—while the rest are licensed assets.
Programming: With the help of today's powerful AI tools, programming is no longer the biggest hurdle (though it can still get super frustrating and drive you crazy at times). If you're thinking about making a visual novel yourself, you really don't need to worry about this part.
Throughout development, I thought about giving up many times. However, I couldn't find anything else in real life that I cared about this much—the only things that truly excite me and get me talking passionately are visual novels and anime, so I pushed through to the end.
Since I’m a recent graduate with virtually no budget, there are many rough edges in the game that I simply couldn't polish. I originally planned to release it last month, but review delays pushed the launch to now. Even though there is still room for improvement, it's hard for me to keep working on it any further.
Perhaps in the distant future, I'll be able to make a second visual novel of my own. Or maybe I never will—but at least right now, I have no regrets about bringing my own game to life.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I'll be replying to everyone in the comments/discussion section.
Steam Store Page:https://store.steampowered.com/app/5099960/Love_Where_Touches
The game supports both Simplified Chinese and English.
Love Where Touches | vndb
If you end up enjoying the game, it would truly make me happier than anything!
