M22 - A Modern Visual Novel Framework

Abstract

This paper presents a modern, open-source game engine/framework for the visual novel genre of interactive narrative. It takes the insights from the engines of visual novel games and the products made with them to produce a free engine that contains all the features and components required of a standard visual novel, and demonstrates its capabilities with a demo artefact. Visual novels provide authors with a powerful way of presenting their fiction and narratives, yet they are often considered less viable due to the costs required against the profit in sales, or because of their technical requirements to use. The M22 engine aims to address both these issues.