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VisualInk

@VisualInk.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy

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The official news and updates account for the VisualInk project. Learn to create your own visual novels, and then share them with friends. 🌉 bridged from ⁂ bonfire.mavnn.eu/pub/actors/VisualI…, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact

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Michael Newton @mavnn.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 07/10/2026

I'm currently running online sessions on how to create your own 2D art assets for teens, and leading to the following exchange: Student: "Everyone who didn't sign up for this course is missing out on greatness!" Me: _looks silently at the greatness_

Blobby half complete animation of a pixelated stickman not quite walking

VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 06/10/2026

Another fun session teaching Ink yesterday, having a look at the two mirrored twins of short cut syntax: threads (for reusing the same choices in lots of places) and gathers (for quickly adding choices that will only ever be used in one place). One of the students is looking to build a […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2026

Did you know you can publish your #VisualNovel from VisualInk to be played on Itch, allowing you to build a community or submit it to a game jam? No? That's probably because until now you couldn't. But now you can. We have instructions and everything. #GameDev #InteractiveFiction #GameJam

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Visual Ink | Visual Ink

VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2026

Did you know you can publish your #VisualNovel from VisualInk to be played on Itch, allowing you to build a community or submit it to a game jam? No? That's probably because until now you couldn't. But now you can. We have instructions and everything. #GameDev #InteractiveFiction #GameJam

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Visual Ink | Visual Ink

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

This week in our #VisualNovel course we looked at using LISTs in #Ink to keep track of what is going on in our game. If you're curious, you can both playthrough and view the Ink script for the example we were working through, using lists to keep track of things like which spells the player has […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026

This week in our #VisualNovel course we looked at using LISTs in #Ink to keep track of what is going on in our game. If you're curious, you can both playthrough and view the Ink script for the example we were working through, using lists to keep track of things like which spells the player has […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 28/09/2026

Distributed computing strikes again; we've had to temporarily disable shared editing on VisualInk because under certain conditions the host (which included sessions with just one user, i.e. normal editing) could end up deleting some of their own work in a race condition. Ironically, updates from […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026

The fun thing about running the same course more than once is that you get to see how differently the same ideas turn out based on questions asked, how quickly people work, delays from technical issues, skills growing... So now we have multiple orcs and […] [Original post on bonfire.mavnn.eu]

A screenshot of a visual novel with an orc standing in a corridor, a torch lit corridor behind him.

Also a screenshot of a visual novel with an orc standing in a corridor; the corridor is less detailed but the orc has a bit more expression, and better shading

Reposted by VisualInk

VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026

New term, new Bob the orc! He's a little surprised a human has come into his cafe, but that's not going to stop him offering a professional service. First lesson of our #gamedev courses for teenagers (regardless of which skillset they focus on): start with […] [Original post on bonfire.mavnn.eu]

Bob the whacked together orc asks the player what they want to order.

VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 16/09/2026

New term, new Bob the orc! He's a little surprised a human has come into his cafe, but that's not going to stop him offering a professional service. First lesson of our #gamedev courses for teenagers (regardless of which skillset they focus on): start with […] [Original post on bonfire.mavnn.eu]

Bob the whacked together orc asks the player what they want to order.

Reposted by VisualInk

Michael Newton @mavnn.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 11/09/2026

Okay folks! Next week I'm starting online 5 week courses for 11+ year olds on writing #InteractiveFiction and creating 2D art assets for #GameDev. These courses are good! They are not expensive! I've run them a few times now, so they're reasonably polished! I've just had a generous offer […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 10/09/2026

Sneak peak for a new feature that doesn't have full instructions and UI yet: publish your VisualInk #VisualNovel to itch.io so that you can share it, take part in game jams, and build a community (with visualink.mavnn.eu/ doing all the hosting work for you). It looks a bit like this […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 09/09/2026

Just released a massive set of changes to VisualInk (a straight forward online #VisualNovel builder) which... you shouldn't really notice at all? The site should feel faster, but mostly these changes contain some security updates and make it much easier to add new features and do maintenance […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 08/09/2026

What's this? Faster performance while learning how to write your own #VisualNovel? Sounds good to us! Course details at thinkersmeetup.com/scholars/... bonfire.mavnn.eu/pub/objects...

thinkersmeetup.com

Michael Newton | thinkersmeetup

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2026

Good news! The school term is starting, and that means more opportunities for 11+ year olds to take our paired narrative game creation courses: one to learn how to write #InteractiveFiction in the form of a #VisualNovel, and the other to create artwork and sound effects for 2D #GameDev […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 01/09/2026

Good news! The school term is starting, and that means more opportunities for 11+ year olds to take our paired narrative game creation courses: one to learn how to write #InteractiveFiction in the form of a #VisualNovel, and the other to create artwork and sound effects for 2D #GameDev […]

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Michael Newton @mavnn.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 12/08/2026

Last week, I worked with a small group of 9-14 year olds to build a game almost, but not totally, unlike space invaders. youtu.be/l7-sgNSvW9c It is quite silly. And the week of first time #gamedev was great fun. If you're looking for a silly and simple #godot project, the code is at […]

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Michael Newton @mavnn.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 11/08/2026

I was teaching some 11-14 year olds to write choice based #interactivefiction this year, and at one point in the course I ask if there are any #ttrpg players (answer: always yes so far). Then I propose that choice based fiction has a lot in common with with #ttrpg but one huge difference that […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 17/07/2026

After some technical hitches, and can now find all the VisualInk courses coming up in the future at thinkersmeetup.com/scholars/... With a couple of bonus extra #GameDev courses that aren't VisualInk specific. #VisualNovel #InteractiveFiction

thinkersmeetup.com

Michael Newton | thinkersmeetup

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Michael Newton @mavnn.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 16/07/2026

I'm going to be running a week long, online, introduction to #GameDev at the beginning of August using #Godot for 12-16 year olds. Details below! The Arcade Games of the Future Games don't need to be complicated to be fun to play, and back when computers had less resources to work with game […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 16/07/2026

And we're live! This year, ThinkersMeetup and VisualInk are teaming up to mentor one (or more!) team(s) of under 18s through the week long InkJAM 2026. Find out all the details in the course description, and spread the world if you know anyone who'd be interested in taking part a narrative game […]

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Michael Newton @mavnn.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 08/07/2026

Final session of my "Making 2D Game Assets" course today where we talked about recording sound for your game which is always great fun. The final wrap up had some fun resources so I thought I might as well share it here as well! Remember: the secret sauce of audio is always the same! Get as […]

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Michael Newton @mavnn.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 05/07/2026

Using Ink in a #godot game? I built myself an Ink highlighter for Godot's script editor, and if you're feeling brave you can give it a try and help it get to a state where it can be published in the asset store (which would require at a minimum at least one Windows user telling me it works) […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 21/06/2026

Shhh! It's (kind of) secret. I'm running an online course for teens creating assets for visual novels, and last week one person couldn't make it. So if you're curious about some beginner tips on creating game characters with varying expressions and nice environments in Krita without running out […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 21/06/2026

Shhh! It's (kind of) secret. I'm running an online course for teens creating assets for visual novels, and last week one person couldn't make it. So if you're curious about some beginner tips on creating game characters with varying expressions and nice environments in Krita without running out […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 17/06/2026

Teaching early teens how to create their own game assets for #VisualNovels (and #GameDev in general) and today we were talking about using layers to speed up art creation (alpha locking, filters on layer groups), to give characters different expressions, or […] [Original post on bonfire.mavnn.eu]

VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 17/06/2026

Not too surprisingly, we're huge fans here of Inkle studios (headed up by @joethephish@mastodon.gamedev.place and @joningold@mastodon.gamedev.place) which is part of why we chose to use their scripting language to power VisualInk. We are mentioning this because currently their whole back […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 09/06/2026

> Omg I showed that PR to our writer just last week ... . Even envisioned switching our ink_compiler to see what's what, but figured I'd wait a bit to see if it was merged in the main repo. I couldn't find an update to WritingWithInk but happy to be able to read more in that blogpost! Awesome […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 09/06/2026

* Physics based game play? Check * Stack programming based magic system? Check * Ink plugged in for narrative? Check * ... * Profit? Probably not. Fun though! #GameDev #godot #inkle #ConcatenativeProgramming

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 07/06/2026

Want a reusable combat loop in #ink? This really deserves a blog post, but given I was sharing in response to a question anyway I thought I'd post it up. This script shows you how to create a `fight` knot which you can then reuse multiple times throughout your story just by setting up a few […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 07/06/2026

Want a reusable combat loop in #ink? This really deserves a blog post, but given I was sharing in response to a question anyway I thought I'd post it up. This script shows you how to create a `fight` knot which you can then reuse multiple times throughout your story just by setting up a few […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 01/06/2026

I needed to write recently about how VisualInk is different from other #visualnovel software in being designed primarily for teaching, and I think this paragraph captures most of it. > Many of these tools also suffer from being too powerful! For example, Ren'py gives you the full power of […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 01/06/2026

I needed to write recently about how VisualInk is different from other #visualnovel software in being designed primarily for teaching, and I think this paragraph captures most of it. > Many of these tools also suffer from being too powerful! For example, Ren'py gives you the full power of […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 25/05/2026

Next week is the start of our five week online courses courses for 11-16s; one on how to build a #visualnovel in VisualInk, and the other on how to produce your own assets for gaming projects (visual novel focussed, but we'll also be talking a bit about 2D sprite animation). Find out more at […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 25/05/2026

Next week is the start of our five week online courses courses for 11-16s; one on how to build a #visualnovel in VisualInk, and the other on how to produce your own assets for gaming projects (visual novel focussed, but we'll also be talking a bit about 2D sprite animation). Find out more at […]

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Michael Newton @mavnn.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 16/05/2026

Occurs to me that by using polls I could make a play through of a #visualnovel on @VisualInk an #ActivityPub actor such that the first person picking each option span off a new save game down the new path (or even each vote triggered a reply to the vote on the new path given the novels can […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 16/05/2026

New update pushed to VisualInk that cleans up both the UI and the underlying logic for handling art assets a fair bit. Most importantly, it is now trivial to create a copy of a character or scene with a new name - allowing reuse of assets between more than one #visualnovel without having to […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 14/05/2026

Fixing bugs by adding errors: previously VisualInk was hiding some of the runtime errors in your #visualnovel. Although Ink checks a lot of things as you're writing (and VisualInk prevents you running a broken script), some errors only occur when you're […] [Original post on bonfire.mavnn.eu]

VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 14/05/2026

So, what kind of things will be covered in our new "Making 2D Game Assets" course for 11-16 year olds? Example 1: Use layers and a simple art style (pixel art is great for this) to quickly create expressive characters in #krita. Is this just a prototype? Or […] [Original post on bonfire.mavnn.eu]

VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 12/05/2026

What's this? New courses? And being announced more than a week in advance? thinkersmeetup.com/scholars/... If you're interested in either writing or creating assets for a #visualnovel, we've got you covered. Five weeks on each as online sessions for 11-16 year olds in the European afternoon/US […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 10/05/2026

Random shout out to @scottmccloud.bsky.social@bsk... for his fantastic Understanding Comics book, which despite me having the drawing skills of a wet haddock is still one of the most practically useful introductions to visual communication I've ever read. Hugely recommended, I've been coming […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 01/05/2026

bonfire.mavnn.eu/pub/objects... Could these be... new features related to the new course draft? Yes. Yes they could. #visualnovel #gamedev

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News and community around mavnn.eu projects.

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 30/04/2026

Ideas for the new course starting to solidify, with the plan being a five week knee intro to creating #visualnovel assets of your own for under 18s with no budget (above and beyond having a computer) using tech you probably have around the house and open […] [Original post on bonfire.mavnn.eu]

Hand doodle of a course outline as described above

VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 30/04/2026

Ideas for the new course starting to solidify, with the plan being a five week knee intro to creating #visualnovel assets of your own for under 18s with no budget (above and beyond having a computer) using tech you probably have around the house and open […] [Original post on bonfire.mavnn.eu]

Hand doodle of a course outline as described above

VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 30/04/2026

Been a bit quiet on the VisualInk (visualink.mavnn.eu/) front for a few weeks, but a minor release went out today which allows scenes to have names with spaces in. Previously a bug meant that you could upload scene backgrounds and give them a name with a space, but they then wouldn't show up […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 18/04/2026

youtube.com/playlist?list=PL... We have some bite sized introduction to #ink posts for writing #interactivefiction / #visualnovels up on YouTube and I’m hoping to do a few more next week. I’ll definitely be doing a follow on about conditions (the different comparison operators and “switch” […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 17/04/2026

Rapid fire character with multiple emotes practice. #krita is looking a great tool for this kind of work, although its huge power and flexibility might make it hard to introduce to some of our younger #visualnovel authors.

Scribbled cartoony sketches of the same face with different mouths for different emotions

VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 09/04/2026

It's that time again! A new half term means a new round of "Coding Games with a Story", our 5 week live online course for under 18s on building a visual novel with Ink. What's a visual novel? Excellent question! It's the point where the novel (a text based story) intersects with the sceenplay […]

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VisualInk @visualink.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 09/04/2026

It's that time again! A new half term means a new round of "Coding Games with a Story", our 5 week live online course for under 18s on building a visual novel with Ink. What's a visual novel? Excellent question! It's the point where the novel (a text based story) intersects with the sceenplay […]

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Reposted by VisualInk

Michael Newton @mavnn.bonfire.mavnn.eu.ap.brid.gy · 28/03/2026

Short but sweet blog post today on tracking hidden consequences in #ink, responding to a question from my #visualnovel writing course. blog.mavnn.eu/2026/03/28/hid...

A screen shot of a visual novel where the reader is being asked "Is a wombat a wom, or a bat?"