Characters, portraits, branching dialogue, player choices, music, and multiple endings — built visually, with no coding. Play it in any browser and export it as a single file you own.
EscapeMaker is built for escape games first — but a visual novel is the same point-and-click DNA: scenes, characters, dialogue, and branching logic. It’s all already here.
Start building — it’s freeBuilt by Selfdefiant, creator of 2,000+ browser games played by millions on Coolmath, Newgrounds, and beyond.
You don’t script an engine. You write the story and wire the choices — the dialogue system, character portraits, and branching logic come ready to use.
A built-in dialogue system shows a speaker’s name, their portrait, and click-to-continue text. Portraits can be face-cropped from any piece of art, with adjustable position, scale, and flip.
Define a character once — name and portrait — then reference it from any line. Edit the character, and every line they speak updates. No copy-pasting portrait settings.
Build choice menus from clickable text or buttons. Each option can set a variable, jump to a different scene, or trigger any event — so the story forks the way you wrote it.
A full variable system remembers what the player chose. Increment points, set flags, and check them with conditions (equals, greater-than, and more) to unlock routes and gate scenes.
Send the player to different ending scenes — or trigger a win screen with its own message — based on the variables they built up across the story. As many endings as you want.
Each scene is a backdrop you upload. Swap character frames or images for expressions, animate sprites in with effects like fade, float, and typewriter text, and move between scenes with fade, slide, iris, or pixelate transitions.
Play looping background music, swap tracks per scene, and trigger sound effects or voice clips on any line. Stop and change audio as the mood shifts.
Publish to the EscapeMaker Portal in one click, or (on paid plans) export the whole novel as one self-contained HTML file — host it on your site, itch.io, or anywhere.
Nothing here is a “coming soon.” These are the same tools that ship thousands of escape games — pointed at storytelling.
Bring the story. The engine is already written.
Yes. You write dialogue, place characters, and wire choices with a visual event system — triggers, conditions, and actions. There’s no scripting language to learn.
Yes. Choices set variables, conditions check them, and events branch the player to different scenes and endings. Build as many routes and endings as you like.
Define a character once with a portrait, then reference it from any line of dialogue. Change expressions by swapping the character’s frame or image, and use face-crop to turn any artwork into a clean portrait.
Yes. Play looping background music, change tracks per scene, and trigger sound effects or voice clips on any line.
It is — and that’s the point. A visual novel is point-and-click storytelling, which is exactly what the engine already does: scenes, characters, dialogue, branching logic, and audio. You’re using a focused tool, not a blank general-purpose engine.
On Builder and Studio plans you can export the whole game as a single self-contained HTML file and host it anywhere. On every plan, including the free one, you can publish to the EscapeMaker Portal.
Sign up free — no code, browser-based, ready in minutes.
Start building — it’s free