Visual Styling

Visual Novel Creator starts with useful defaults because styling should not block writing. Once the story path works, Properties gives you project-wide controls for the menu, dialog UI, sprite slots, and runtime presentation.

The safest way to style a project is to start broad, then override only where a scene needs something special.

Use Assets & Importing when a style field needs an image or sound, and use the Node Reference when a one-scene effect belongs in a node instead of project defaults.

Common customization points

Dialog UI

Preset, dialog box colors, text colors, name plate behavior, continue arrow, typewriter speed, and advance behavior.

Runtime menu

Title, optional subtitle, menu background image, menu music, button sounds, settings, save/load, log, and chapter select.

Sprites

Sprite assets, poses, slots, position modes, transitions, emphasis, and one-shot effects.

Scene presentation

Image backgrounds, parallax backgrounds, audio tracks, SFX, title cards, overlays, waits, jumps, and transition timing.

Presets

Presets are starting points. After applying a preset, use individual properties to tune the result for your project.

The dialog preset field in Properties exposes SVNE, Episode, and Custom. Per-line Dialog nodes can inherit the project style or override to the same choices.

If a preset gets you most of the way there, keep it. Then adjust the few properties that make the story feel like yours.

Editor appearance

Choose an editor appearance from File > Settings, the View menu, or the command palette. VNC remembers the choice for the next Studio session.

Appearance	Character
Studio	Follow Roblox Studio’s current light or dark theme.
Light	Use VNC’s light palette.
Dark	Use VNC’s dark palette.
Sakura	Use a soft cherry-blossom daylight palette.
Sakura Dark	Use a deep plum and cherry-blossom palette.
Ultra green	Use dark neutral surfaces with a vivid green accent.

Editor appearance changes affect the authoring UI, not the player-facing runtime style.

Dialog UI fields

Project-level dialog styling includes:

Area	Fields
Global behavior	Dialog Mode, Chapter Title Cards, Typewriter Speed, No-Input Dialog Delay
Dialog box	Background color, transparency, border color, border thickness, outline transparency, corner radius, text color, text size
Name plate	Side, background, border, border thickness, outline transparency, corner radius, text color, text size
Choices	Background, transparency, border, border thickness, outline transparency, corner radius, text color, text size
Continue arrow	Show or hide

Important ranges come from the editor fields:

• Project Typewriter Speed uses 0.5 to 2 in 0.05 steps.
• Transparency fields use 0 to 1.
• Dialog, name plate, and choice border thickness use 0 to 8 pixels.
• Dialog, name plate, and choice corner radius use 0 to 40 pixels.
• Dialog and choice text size use 12 to 48; name plate text size uses 12 to 56.

Runtime menu fields

The runtime menu has text, media, sound, and color fields. Menu Title defaults to the story title when set, otherwise Visual Novel. Menu Subtitle defaults to Choose how to continue.

Media and sound fields accept a Roblox content ID or a StoryAssets key:

A Roblox content ID points directly at a Roblox asset. A StoryAssets key points at an asset you imported through VNC and later install with the runtime.

• Background Image defaults to SVNEMenuBackground.
• Menu Music defaults to SVNEMenuTheme.
• Button Hover SFX defaults to sfx/gui/buttonHover.
• Button Down SFX defaults to sfx/gui/buttonDown.
• Button Up SFX defaults to sfx/gui/buttonUp.
• Button Click SFX defaults to sfx/gui/buttonConfirm.

For button sounds, use none when you deliberately want silence.

Menu colors include backdrop, panel, panel border, accent, text, muted text, button, button text, and danger color. If a color is blank or invalid, the runtime normalizes it back to a safe hex color.

Sprite and stage fields

The stage uses a 1280 x 720 logical canvas and letterboxes evenly into the available screen space. Project sprite slots give you repeatable placement across that canvas.

New projects start with these slots:

Slot	X scale	Y scale	Width scale	Height scale
left	0.16	1.03	0.236	0.764
center	0.5	1.03	0.309	0.91
right	0.84	1.03	0.236	0.764

Sprite nodes can use slot, auto, or custom position mode. Use slots for consistent character blocking, auto placement for simple multi-sprite scenes, and custom coordinates only when a shot needs manual composition.

Suggested styling workflow

1. Choose a dialog UI preset.
2. Set project-wide menu, dialog, sprite slot, and audio defaults.
3. Preview one representative scene.
4. Adjust the global settings until the default look feels right.
5. Override individual nodes only when a scene needs a specific effect.

Keep customization intentional

Use project-wide settings for consistent behavior. Node-level overrides are best for moments that should stand out.

When the defaults carry most scenes, the special moments are easier to notice. Start with the shared style, then spend your detail work where the story actually changes mood.