This is a thread of resources you can use to make your game! Please note the individual licenses on each item, as they may vary.

Engines

• Ren'Py (Free, Open Source, Dedicated VN Engine) [Win, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, HTML5 Possible*, Consoles Possible*]
• NVList (Free, Dedicated VN Engine) [Win, Mac, Linux, Android]
• Godot  (Free, Open Source, 2D/3D Engine) [Win, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, HTML5, Consoles Possible*]
• Novelty (Free, Dedicated VN Engine) [Win]
• Omega VNE (Free, Dedicated VN Engine) [Win, Mac, Linux, Android]
• RenJS (Free, Dedicated VN Engine) [HTML5, Win, Linux]
• SEEVN (Free, Dedicated VN Engine) [Win, Mac, Linux]
• Tuesday JS (Free, Dedicated VN Engine) [HTML5]
• VNMaker (Paid, Dedicated VN Engine) [Win, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, HTML5]
• TyranoBuilder (Paid, Dedicated VN Engine) [Win, Mac, HTML5, Android, iOS]
• GameMaker + VNgen (Paid, 2D Engine) [Win, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, HTML5, Consoles Possible*]
• Unity + Naninovel (Free/Paid, 2D/3D Engine) [Win, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, HTML5, Consoles Possible*]
• Unreal Engine + Visual Novel Framework (Free/Paid, 2D/3D Engine) [Win, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, HTML5, Consoles Possible*]

* Indicates that support for these platforms may involve more work

Art Programs

• FireAlpaca (Free, Drawing) [Win, Mac]
• Krita (Free, Drawing) [Win, Mac, Linux]
• MediBang Paint Pro (Free, Drawing) [Win, Mac, iOS, Android]
• Paint Tool SAI (Paid, Drawing) [Win]
• Corel Painter (Free, Drawing) [Win, Mac]
• Inkscape (Free, Vector Graphics)  [Win, Mac, Linux]
• Clip Studio Paint (Paid, Drawing) [Win, Mac]
• GIMP (Free, Drawing, Graphic Design) [Win, Mac, Linux]
• Adobe Photoshop (Paid, Drawing, Graphic Design) [Win]
• Sweet Home 3D (Free, 3D Interior Design) [Win,Mac, Linux]
• SketchUp (Free/Paid, 3D Interior/Exterior Design [Web, Win, Mac]

Audio Programs

• Audacity (Free, Audio Recorder and Editor) [Win, Mac, Linux]
• Bosca Ceoil (Free, Music Composition) [Win, Mac, Linux]
• GarageBand (Free, Music Composition) [Mac]
• Image to Music (Free, Music Toy) [Win]
• LabChirp (Free, SFX Generator)  [Win, Linux]
• LMMS (Free, Music Composition) [Win, Mac, Linux]
• MuseScore (Free, Music Composition [Win]

Writing Programs

• FocusWriter (Free) [Win, Mac, Linux]
• LibreOffice (Free)  [Win, Mac, Linux]
• Google Docs (Free) [Web]
• Manuskript (Free)  [Win, Mac, Linux]
• Scrivener (Paid) [Win, Mac]
• The Guide (Free, Information Organizer) [Win]
• Write or Die (Free) [Web]
• Written? Kitten! (Free) [Web]

Code Editors

• Notepad++ (Free)  [Win]
• Atom (Free) [Win, Mac, Linux]
• jEdit (Free) [Win, Mac, Linux]
• Editra (Free) [Win, Mac, Linux]
• Sublime Text (Paid) [Win]

Fonts (Please check individual licenses!)

• GoogleFonts (Commercial Use OK)
• Google Noto (Commercial Use OK)
• FontSquirrel (Commercial Use OK)
• itch.io fonts (Check individual licenses)
• FontMeme (Commercial Use OK for fonts in this category)
• 1001Fonts (Commercial Use OK for fonts in this category)

Pre-Made/Creative Commons/Generator Assets

lunaterra's collection of VN Assets, Tutorials, and Tools should be your first stop to finding CC resources! She adds resources that others have uploaded to itch in this collection, so you'll find a variety of visual & audio assets, as well as code templates and tutorials!

The VisuStella Emporium has Weapon, Potion, and Plant icons you can use! The Stella Character Generator can also be used to create sprites.

• Mannequin (Paid, Character Generator) [Win, Mac, Linux]
• Spiral Atlas' Ren'Py Sprite Creator (Free, Character Generator) [Win, Mac, Linux]
• Red's Art Assets (Free, Character Sprites, Items)
• Konett's Art Assets (Free/Paid, Character Sprites, Backgrounds, Items)
• Deji's Art Assets (Free/paid, Character Sprites)
• mugenjohncel's 3D BGs (Free, Backgrounds)
• SoundImage (Free, Music, Textures, 2D images)
• LSF Resource Catalogue (Various)

Welcome to the jam! Once you've read the rules on the main page, here are some more specific cases to give you an idea of what you can work with.

If you can't find your specific case or situation, feel free to ask!

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GENERAL CLARIFICATIONS

You can:

• have more than a single choice or fork in your VN/story
• use your existing universe so long as the player does not need prior context to understand your entry
• have unlimited solid color backgrounds in menus and in-game
• use Text-To-Speech without impact on any audio limits
• use any freely available asset (paid, Creative Commons, and others)
• provide additional information on the VN's website including separate character drawings, backstory info, banners and cover images, provided they don't make diminish the VN-only experience
• use your own existing assets not made for a VN/game (e.g. vacation photos, childhood drawings, old poem)
• use previously created custom menu styles, even if they appeared in other games before.
• submit NSFW/R18 work, provided it's tagged/flagged appropriately
• draw by code, but only when the results are equivalent to having a single sprite and single BG

You cannot:

• use sprites, backgrounds, scripts or other assets made or commissioned for a different VN/game project before (even if it's unfinished)

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ONE SPRITE

It is within the rules to:

• have many facial expressions for the sprite by changing eyes, nose, eyebrows and mouth.
• have many off-screen actors / characters, so long as only one is visually represented by a sprite
• have a character sprite have an auxiliary character that does not feature in interactions (e.g, a woman holding a baby, a pirate with a parrot, blind person with dog)
• have an "extra item" which is a single non-central element that will be hidden (man loses a hat, child's balloon flies away) or appears. 
• use the single sprite for twins, clones, ghosts, swarms, etc.
• mirror and otherwise transform the sprite in game
• show only a portion of a sprite, including cut-outs or zooms.
• have an inanimate object as the sprite (e.g. UFO, a portal, a robot)
• having multiple small ambient objects as the sprite (e.g. adding traffic to the city, searchlights to prison)
• fully or partially assemble a sliced up sprite in game, and apply effects to individual elements (e.g. a snowman's head)
• animate parts of the sprite to achieve effects of breathing, bobbing their head, or other idle animation
• have a single alternate movement of a single body part (head, single arm) so long as it doesn't change the pose, and so long as the VN does not also use the allowed "extra item".

It is not allowed to:

• have multiple changes of clothes for the sprite, or any other separate layers that overlap with their non-transparent parts
• use a sprite overlay to vastly transform the background (e.g. pre- and post-war city)
• create animations of the sprite that use extra bits for transitioning from state to state
• change the sprite's pose (e.g. move the torso)
• drawing alternate forms of hair or shaded clothes for any movement

Illustrations (CGs) can:

• be used instead of a separate sprite and background
• feature a character with expression changes and other alterations analog to sprites
• feature simple crowd silhouettes, or suggestions of people

Illustrations (CGs) cannot:

• show multiple people
• show a silhouette next to a fully shown character

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ONE BACKGROUND

Allowed:

• using the engine's functions or scripting to alter the background (e.g. blur, night filter, mirroring) 
• small looping animation (e.g. inside of train with passing scenery, waterfall)
• zooming, panning and cutting around a larger image
• revealing previously obscured information or areas through pans, zooms and cuts
• using layers to show a sliced up an image as a single background (no opaque parts of layers can overlap)

Not allowed:

• creating secondary versions (multiple separate files) of the background image (e.g. blur, night version)
• using masks to create secondary versions of the background image on screen
• using an image which is created in such a way that focusing on segments effectively changes scenes
• achieving the background by overlapping fully or partially opaque layers, even if the in-game result appears as a single image

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ONE THOUSAND WORDS

When in doubt, pure words counted by Google Docs are to be taken as standard. 

Counts against the 1.000 word limit:

• foreword / afterword / author's notes
• text of all the VN's branches combined
• text of choices
• images of letters or longer-form text
• any additional parallel language / translation
• custom menu items like "Start your adventure" instead of "Start"
• emoji-only statements (count as a single word)
• emoji made of words (count as the amount of words in the emoji)

Does not count against the 1.000 word limit:

• minigame using words if it's purely a game mechanic (does not advance story)
• chapter names, even if displayed on screen
• signs, posters, even if they relate to the story
• short factual glossary, if explanation cannot be reasonably provided in game
• credits, help / controls
• emoji used to only accompany and reiterate a word or statement
• repeats of blocks of text achieved by scripting (e.g. common route, recurring dream)
• surplus text generated from a base text that is within the word count limit (e.g. chat bot, AI generator)
• name tags, so long as they are not directly conveying narrative

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ONE MUSIC TRACK OR ONE AMBIENT BACKGROUND NOISE

Allowed:

• a looped sound effect acting as ambient background noise (e.g. rain)
• a track with multiple melodies / styles, if it existed prior to the jam, and only a single segment is looped, with another segment looped only for a special short segment / occasion.

Not allowed:

• a track combining music and ambient sounds
• a mash-up or mix of multiple songs with timed transitions (megamix, medley)
• additional menu music (if the VN also has in-game music/ambient noise)

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ONE SOUND EFFECT

The single sound effect...

• can be used multiple times
• cannot be looped continuously (if yes, it counts as background noise)
• can be made by a person different to the voice actor
• limit does not apply to interface sounds

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ONE VOICE ACTOR

The O2A2's single voice actor...

• can use use variations of voices
• can have their voice modulated and processed to create completely different sounding voices
• can be replaced by sound effects / beeps processed to act as voices
• can speak lines not part of the VN's text, provided they don't go over 1.000 words combined.

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ONE PIECE OF MENU BACKGROUND

The main menu / title screen background...

• can be different to the in-game background. 
• can have separate versions of itself with menu location indicators
• can contain any version or portion of the in-game sprite, background or the CG (e.g. cropped, filtered, lineart).
• can contain a heavily stylized or abstract version of the single sprite character (e.g. logo, chibi, mascot)
• cannot contain a new character, or a new pose for the single sprite character.
• can be accompanied by an unlimited quantity of solid color backgrounds for any menu screen..

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ONE PROJECT

One person in the O2A2 jam...

• can only be the primary creative lead for a single project (e.g. producer, director, author)
• can additionally be a secondary creative contributor for someone else's project (e.g. draw a sprite)
• can further collaborate on other projects in a non-creative role (e.g. coordination, marketing)

Thank you! It wouldn’t have been possible without binksi. It blew everyone’s minds 😊

Menuda pasada y menudo curro te has pegado. Me ha parecido una historia muy interesante y muy bien organizada.

La única cosa que veo a mejorar post-jam sería reorganizar un poco la "interfaz" del juego, reorganizar algunos elementos visuales trasteando con el html y el css.

Enhorabuena por el currazo, qué maravilla.

Super cortito pero me ha encantado. Los elementos audiovisuales son muy MUY potentes y ayudan mucho a crear el tono paa este poema. Fantástico.

Me han gustado mucho los elementos hipermedia que le has puesto y me ha parecido super interesante que tu juego sea también en parte divulgativo.

Una historia cortita en clave de humor. Me ha recordado un poco a You'll Think of Something de Elliot Herriman y Olivia Wood, que tiene una temática parecida. Juego al que definitivamente os recomendaría echarle un ojo antes de terminar el éste, ya que os puede dar ideas de cómo dar una selección de opciones de manera dosificada al jugador.

Qué pena que el juego no esté terminado porque el arte se ve precioso.

En cuanto a cosas a mejorar, os comento dos. 

• Os recomendaría revisar la redacción del texto. He llegado a contar hasta 73 palabras en una misma frase (la ama de llaves, si mal no recuerdo), que sin duda son demasiadas. Creo que con frases más cortas la lectura se haría más facil.
• ¡He encontrado un error! Si nada más entrar al despacho eliges la opción de forzar el segundo cajón te aparece.

A pesar de todo esto, ¡buen trabajo por entregar algo y buena suerte terminando el juego!

https://princessinternetcafe.itch.io/running-back-to-you

I wish this game was real, it sounds so fun!!!

Absolutely gobsmacked by the cinematic quality of this.

Such an interesting concept. I loved how the game occurs in two different "planes". I didn't understand a few things, but I believe that didn't detract from the experience. The sprite work was rough but charming. Some of the rooms were absolutely stunning - specially the ones in the forest with all of the foliage. If you end up doing and update, please consider adding a looping track. I think it could enhance the experience.

I'm super glad you participated in the jam! This was good.

💖💖💖

HELL YEA

Well, colour me impressed! I had no idea you were interested in TTRPGs! Loving the concept, this is really cool.

This just reminded me that the first time I saw daffodils in winter (not flowering), I thought they were wild onions and I almost plucked a few to make an omelette with them.

The controls are a bit finicky at the beginning, but once you get used to them this is actually really fun and exciting! My personal record is 22 points.

The Time Helper is a GREAT addition, btw.

Also, congratulations for being the first submission to Duo Jam! Hope you had a great time making this game :)

This made my heart race. The tension! The excitement! My reaction to the end was "OMGGGGGGG!!!". Well played.

The conversations felt  real and I loved the tropes, banter and all things MMO. 

PS: I actually thought the chatbox was nice in an ugly way???

Ah!!!!
If you ever feel like playing it again at some point, you need to continue through the cave entrance!

Glad you enjoyed it either way! Thank you for playing it! 💖

Hi Jim! I had no idea you had a profile on here!

I just wanted to let you know that I used Trapped In The Upside Down for one of my games, and I shall be using Far From Home for another one soon.

Thank you for putting your music out in the world <3

such a cool concept. also, ouch right in the feels...

I really enjoy seeing how it’s all coming together!

Very very atmospheric. I love the spritework.

Happy new year!!! And well done on such a huge milestone :)

Such a sweet story. The characters are super cute and I absolutely LOVE the visual style you went with for this.

Thank you for writing and sharing this, Stephen. It’s a very short story but it does pack a punch!

I do hope you continue this story and it ends with a happy ending, though.

All of them look adorable and good on Mozzy for fulfilling her fanfic musings IRL! LOL

Short and sweet. A really cool idea executed beautifully. Almost like a house built of many different elements but all of them placed in the right places.

Stupid little thing: I loved the animation of when the plates dropped in the background.

This was fantastic. Well done to you all!

I believe you have something truly special going on here with the mixed visual assets:
The sprites are beautiful with this charcoal/graphite aspect to it and the newspaper-like pictures for the backgrounds.

May I suggest a simple looping ambient noise audio clip for the "music"? I think it would enhance the atmosphere if you are considering to do a 1.1 version :)

Congrats on your first game!

I still remember seeing your message in the DevTalk discord server saying "I'm wondering if I should hop in this last week and make a small pixel art VN". I thought, this person is crazy LOL

I'm amazed at what you were able to achieve in a week: The art is gorgeous, the music is really good and you were able to do some world building as well, aside from writing the story. As some people have mentioned below, the ending does feel a bit rushed, but it doesn't detract much from the overall experience.

I'd be super keen to read more of this universe in a sequel/prequel.

Well done!

This was such a sweet story. Also, I can't believe you managed to write SO MUCH in a month. Very clever use of the isometric perspective, as opposed to first-person or third-person, which is a staple in the VN genre (especially taking into account this a Ren'Py game!).

I hope the cat gets a spin-off story or something...

Five starts from me. This was a great attempt for a first game. Well done!

Thank you for playing!!! I think I probably need to change the phrasing of certain pop up screen as it's apparently making people think there's more than one "real" ending!
And thank you for letting me know about the bug!  I only encountered it one time doing playtesting, but it seems like I didn't fully fix it!

HAHAHAHAHA, sorry about that! I'm planning on expanding the "endings" a little bit more for version 1.1, so thank you for the feedback! 💖

Also, may I suggest that once Spooktober is over you check Dream Team? You may find some answers there... haha

I love your art, Maricu. The cartoonish style fit well with the story, which was intriguing! You and Koncookie did a great job!

Thank you for putting the guide together as well!

This was adorable. Even more adorable than I had originally expected (which was A LOT).

So very very sweet, I loved it. Well done, you two :)

Thank you so much again! :)

The last scene always plays the same!

The different "endings" are how the previous scene resolves, although the outcome will always be the same (you hopefully know what I mean).

Congrats to both you and Orlon!

I really enjoyed the game! The little hints were placed from the very beginning(as they should), so I was already expecting the ending (I got ending #1). So confirming my suspicions made it even more enjoyable.

The setting was super original! I'm afraid I got all the puzzles wrong, but that 4th answer to the moral dilemma had me gagging LOL

Thank you so much for your kind words, Nina! (I’m assuming).

I’ve you’re ever interested, happy to spoil the ending over DMs on Twitter or something LOL

Stay safe!

This was so imaginative! Loved the story and the narration. As someone who actually studied linguistics this was a nice experience (no idea what the word is, though).

My favourite thing was the use of emojis as character portraits/tags. Really clever!