The following comes from the eyes and mindset of a software engineer.

TyranoBuilder is a software that is extremely active and very engaging. It's easy to understand, and even if you're new to video games and the design or scripting process, it's very intuitive and the community is more than happy to help (in several languages). They have a VERY active support system, constantly coming to the rescue and explaining many aspects of the scripting and normal software that makes me feel more than comfortable going to them for help. I've even just found out that the raw source code for each project is available, so if you're like me and want to skip all the visual jazz and just program the whole dang thing, you actually can.

TyranoBuilder is a great way for people to get into scripting and programming. Every engine claims it's set up so that you don't require programming skills, but this is honestly a white lie, though in no way "bad". You ABSOLUTELY can make a game in TB without ANY programming. It is wonderfully simple and easy... But your game will be too.

When you go into TB, go in prepared to learn to script or program. If you want to create a romance sim, you're going to need variables, you're going to need branching scenes, and you're going to need to know how instantiating, declaring, and incramenting/decramenting works, especially if you want even a semblance of player interraction with your game. If you're looking to just make a visual book, you won't need scripting.

Their API (Tags Reference) for the built in language is fantastically simple to follow, if sometimes a little too simple. But in the end, if you just post a comment on steam inquiring about a tag you didn't understand, you will ALWAYS receive a kind and more-than-happy-to-assist response. The support is one of my favorite things about this. Another thing I love is their variables- they have temporary variable types that get deleted when the game is closed, game variables that are particular to each save, and system variables that stay with your computer and are independant of saves (that can be for such things as "you've gotten all the endings, have a super secret ending"). It was probably what sold the software to me in the first place.

THE BEST THING POSSIBLE about this game is that it has the ability to build the game for you for the best consoles. I'm talking Mobile, Linux, PC, Mac- the whole shebang. With a click of a button and a selection from a dropdown, it does it FOR YOU. I LITERALLY CANNOT EXPRESS how amazing that is. It might just be because trying to get UE4 to make a PC build was the death of me and an entire week/month, but this is literally the best part. SERIOUSLY CANNOT SAY I'M JUST SO HAPPY WITH THAT PART.

Overall, I like this software. For what it's worth and what you get, it's amazing and wonderful. You're not just paying for the software- you're paying also for the support, the people, the experiences, and even the game jams, which they do host.

TL;DR: If you aren't afraid of working hard, do it! But then again, that goes for anything in the game industry. Making games is NEVER the same as playing them.

TyranoBuilder Visual Novel Studio is a great visual novel creator!

It's fun, easy to use and the interface is easy to navigate.
If you want to get into making visual novels I would highly recommend you start off with this program. Even if you're a pro I would still recommend it.

The only problem I have is that it no longer supports .mp3 which makes finding music a little hard. It's understandable why they removed the ability to use .mp3 though. So this is only a minor complaint.


This is an amazing program so my overall score is 9/10.

Love this, makes it so easy to create VN without the struggle of ren'py

You have the option to code or just use the building blocks it also live 2d and accepts gifs

I'm so glad for this, it's cheap too..ren'py may be free but I feel like tyrano builder is worth the cost (only 15 dollars.)

Cloud Novel is free also but...I still prefer Tyrano Builder as I believe it has more freedom..

So yes I recommend this to coders, and people just starting out all you got to do is read some of the help guides which only takes about an hour to 30 mins tops and then you're on your way

I love everything about it. It's easy to use, easy to make choices, clickable areas, etc. The only problem I have with this is that you have to make your own art. But that would be expected from a novel studio maker. And why it is cheaper than RPG maker ETC and ComiPo. I would suggest to use ComiPo for the character creator, or have an artist (or yourself) to do it on photoshop or good art softwares.

So, this is definitely the easiest, fastest tool to create multi-platform visual novels!

Though, it's not quite as easy as drag-n-drop, and there's definitely a learning curve (but it's hardly as steep as other genre-specific game making tools like RPGMaker or what-have-you). You'll have to have at least a very short list of script commands handy. There are some functions that you won't intuitively understand. Luckily, the creators and the community are SUPER helpful, and the Steam Discussions page makes troubleshooting easy as pie. It wasn't effortless, but as someone whose most advanced programming experience is giving Neopets pages tile backgrounds and copyrighted music at age 12, it was much easier than I expected.

As of writing (12/8/2015), since this is new software, there are still a lot of kinks to be ironed out. Proper fullscreen support has only recently been added, as an example. Please check the Discussions page to see if there are must-have features for your VN available, unavaliable, or planning to be added soon.

However, updates are VERY frequent and the creators are very receptive to suggestions! So, I'd wholeheartedly recommend this software. Especially if you've ever had your spirit crushed by Ren'py.