Visual Novel capabilities

[Duck Whitman]

Say someone wanted to make a game that was basically a Visual Novel, but with an RPG inventory/loot and battle/argument/conversation system?

I know how detailed RPG Maker is and how in depth it can go, but is something like this (where, you know, there would be no overworld and such) even possible?

[adobo]

I'm not sure if he's referring to a VN with RPG elements or an RPG with heavy storytelling?

[Duck Whitman]

Isn't that last one a bit repetitive? :P

[Cranky_Gamer]

Ren'Py may be a better choice:

http://www.renpy.org/

[Duck Whitman]

Yeah, but that one's not really suited to the RPG elements we're trying for.

[Binary Flame]

I think that it can make a visual novel fairly easily, however I think this may not be the best choice of software to make one. I'm not saying that you can't use rpg maker, you could do it, but there are better options out there. As Visual Novels often involve a complex background and large character portaits, it just makes it a little bit more difficult to make. If you are set on making a visual novel with RPG Maker, here are my suggestions:
1)Skip the tilesets and use parallax backgrounds. If you use tilesets, the novel will look cheap.
2)Create a "blank" starting character with no sprite, and set that as your default character for the game. Otherwise, when you start the game, the sprite will remain on the screen, or at least flash for a second when the game starts up. That never looks nice.
3) I would try to find a script or another method to have the character graphics all lined up for the differents emotions and whatnot for the character, as well as spacing if you are going to have multiple characters on the screen at the same time. For example, you need to make sure that your character graphics retain relative shape and size, so that the character's emotions line up properly in the face. If you are doing multiple characters onscreen at one time, you need to make sure that there is proper spacing between the characters, as well as making sure the characters don't move back and forth as it switches to different graphics.
4)The audio shouldn't be that big of a problem at all. The audio features are quite easy to implement, so you shouldn't have a problem with that. I would also recommend getting an advanced text script to work with.
5)As for the choices and the "game part of it, conditional branches should work just fine for you.
6)A battle system will be very easy to implement.

Summary: Backgrounds will be easy, audio will be easy, text input will be easy, battle system will be easy. The hardest part will probably be the character graphics.
Does that help at all?

[Duck Whitman]

Yeah, thanks.

[brosk Lesnar]

RPG Maker will is a wonderful choice for creating visual novels. As mentioned above, all you need is a knowledge of the "show picture" commands, and some basic understanding of switches, variables, and conditional branches. The tools are all there.

Ren'Py is more specifically targetted at Visual Novels, but pretty much all of the features are alaso available in RPG Maker. Plus, RPG Maker has even more. If you want to make a VN but might want to add additional gameplay elements, or maybe make a different type of game in the future, you can't go wrong with RMVXace.

[Waann]

To The Moon was made using RPG Maker XP, and Ib was designed in RPG Maker 2000. Both are visual novels with an inventory feature.

Honestly, visual novels could be made in pretty much any engine.