A visual novel is an illustrated story where the player reads dialogues and makes choices that change what happens next. With Yop2D, everything is done with your finger, without writing a script, and without importing anything: the library already has a ready-made character (Hana, with several emotions) and watercolor backgrounds. You don't even need to place anything in the scene: the nodes show the background, the characters and the text box by themselves.
You need:
- Yop2D 0.1.1062 or newer;
- a new empty project (an empty scene is enough).
👉 In Yop2D, the built-in guide “My first story” (home screen, guides card) does steps 1 and 2 with you in 5 minutes: a yellow frame shows where to tap, even inside windows. To see everything you can do, download the Firefly Night example in the Examples tab.
Step 1: a background and a first line
- Open the scene's Blueprint.
- Add the “On Start” event.
- Add “Change the background” and pick an image, for example the meadow.
- Add “Say a line”. Tap Who speaks, then ＋ New character…, then ⭐ Ready-made character, and pick Hana. Next time, Hana will be right in the list.
- Tap The line and write what she says, for example: “Hello! Did you just arrive here?”. You can also pick her Emotion.
- Link the three nodes in order, then play: the background appears, Hana comes in and talks, letter by letter.
On Start
→
Change the backgroundmeadow
→
Say a lineHana · “Hello!”
Step 2: ask a choice
- Add “Ask a choice” and link it after Hana's line.
- Write Answer 1: “Yes!” and Answer 2: “No thanks”. You can have up to 4 answers.
- The node has one output per answer. Link the “Answer 1” output to a new “Say a line” (happy Hana: “Great! Come, I'll show you the village.”), and the “Answer 2” output to another one (sad Hana: “Oh… too bad.”).
- Play and try both answers: the story branches like a tree.
Say a line“Hello!”
→
Ask a choiceYes! · No thanks
Answer 1 →
Say a line“Great!”
While playing, the player can tap ◀ Back to go back to the previous line, even before a choice, to try the other answer. The History, Auto, Skip, saves and settings buttons fold into a single ☰ menu.
Step 3: endings and a title screen
- At the end of each branch, add “End the story”. Give it an ending name, for example “The village tour” or “Alone on the road”.
- Add “Story title screen” right after “On Start”, write your story's title, and link its “New game” output to “Change the background”.
- Link each “End the story” to “Story title screen”: after an ending, the player goes back to the title screen.
- Play: the title screen offers “New game”, then “Continue” (the story saves itself at every line) and “Endings and gallery” (the endings found, with a souvenir picture, and the backgrounds already seen).
On Start
→
Story title screen“The village”
New game →
Change the background
→
…
→
End the story“The village tour”
Step 4: friendship hearts that change the ending
- After a kind answer, add “Friendship (hearts)”: Who? Hana, Hearts to add (−1 to remove) 1. Hearts appear at the top left and a “+1 ❤” floats up.
- Before the ending, add “If the friendship…”: Hana, at least 2 hearts.
- Link the “True” output to the happy ending, and the “False” output to a sadder one. The hearts are kept in the save, and ◀ Back puts them back as they were.
Friendship (hearts)Hana +1
→
…
→
If the friendship…Hana ≥ 2
True →
End the story“Friends forever”
Going further
- “Show / hide a character” brings a character in or out without talking; each character can have its place on screen (left, middle, right).
- “Ask the player for a text (name…)” asks the player's name: in the lines,
{prenom}shows it. - “Atmosphere (rain, snow, night…)” adds rain, storm, snow, petals, fireflies or night, with their sounds; “Screen transition (circle, star…)” and “Zoom the screen” add rhythm.
- In Who speaks, 🎨 Dialogue style… changes the text box: character portrait in the box, ☰ menu, hearts shown or not, lines read aloud.
- Each answer of “Ask a choice” can have a picture (advanced settings): the answers become big illustrated cards. An answer can also require a condition, and a timer adds the “Time's up” output.
- The 🗺 button of the Blueprint opens the story map: all branches, choices and endings at a glance; tapping a box takes you to the right node.
- Each line can be written in 9 languages: the game shows the player's language.
If it doesn't work
- Nothing shows up: check that “On Start” is linked to the first node, and that each node is linked to the next.
- The line shows without a character: Who speaks is empty, or it's the narrator. Pick Hana in the list.
- “Continue” doesn't appear: there is no saved game yet. Start a “New game” and read at least one line.
- An ending doesn't count in “Endings and gallery”: give it an ending name in “End the story”.
- The player is stuck after an ending: link “End the story” to “Story title screen”, or to another scene.