JanX2 / VisualNovel

Simple SwiftUI based Visual Novel engine (using Ink)

VisualNovel

Simple SwiftUI based Visual Novel engine (using Ink)

Features

• Interpret an Ink file and run it as a Visual Novel;
• Control graphics and audio using tags in Ink;
• Multiplatform project: can run on tvOS, macOS and iOS;
• Example 'logo' that can be used as a tvOS icon.

Where to put assets

• Platform independant assets should be placed in the VN Shared group;
• Put your Ink json file in Data. Make sure to use drag and drop to Xcode to add it to the project and thus the bundle. Set the Ink filename (without .json) in VN Shared/Constants.swift using the INK_FILE_NAME constant;
• Put sprites and backgrounds in Assets.xassets;
• Put sound files in subsequent subfolders in Audio. Make sure to use drag and drop to Xcode to add it to the project and thus the bundle.

Writing Ink for the engine

• You can take any ink story and it will just run;
• To make it an actual Visual Novel, use tags:
  • # bg: image - Change the background image to 'image';
  • # portraitLeft: sprite - Show a sprite named 'sprite' on the left part of the screen;
  • # portraitRight: sprite - Similar on the right part of the screen;
  • # bgMusic: some.m4a - Play some.m4a as background music (loops);
  • # ambiance: another.m4a - Play background sound effects to add atmosphere. Think like the calm rustling of leafs in the woords (loops);
  • # sfx: bigExplosion.m4a - Play a sound effect (one shot).
• Also, for Ink lines such as: Anna: What were you thinking - will be interpreted with Anna as the 'speaker'.

Missing features:

• removing sprites/backgrounds from screen (for now you can only change them);
• stopping music/audio playback (for looping sounds, they can only be replaced);
• save/loading of state.

Known issues

• I'm currently experiencing a bug with my Xcode that prevents me from running any SwiftUI application on macOS. Probably because I'm using the beta versions of Xcode and Big Sur. filed a bug with Apple: FB8805106;
• This project requires iOS14, tvOS14 and macOS 11 (Big Sur).

Licensed components

• This project uses the Ink language by inkle Ltd. and InkJS runtime by Yannick Lohse. Both licensed under the MIT license.
• Art assets:
  • Male example sprite: "Male Student C" by "Elzee" licensed CC BY-NC-SA. https://cloudnovel.net/DAX/character/male-student-c
  • Female example sprite: "Female Student 2" by "Elzee" licensed CC BY-NC-SA. https://cloudnovel.net/DAX/character/female-student-2
  • Background: "Fantasy Forest 2" by Konett licensed CC-BY-3.0. https://cloudnovel.net/konett/background/fantasy-forest-2
  • Background music: "BWV.m4a" first three bars of Bachs Prelude no.1 in C Major BWV 846 in a loop hacked together in Garageband by me. Intentially crappy. Licensed CC0.
  • Ambiance example: "Forest.m4a" by VKProduktion licensed CC0. https://freesound.org/people/VKProduktion/sounds/231537/
  • SFX example: "forest footsteps" by nathanmanaker licensed CC0. https://freesound.org/people/nathanmanaker/sounds/486953/