OrbitEngine

The next generation of Visual Novel engine

Tell your story. OrbitEngine takes care of the rest.

OrbitEngine is a free visual novel engine written in Rust, with a no-code editor, a built-in AI co-author, and one-click export to the Web, Windows and Linux. It is in alpha: everything below works today, and we build the rest in public with your feedback.

---

✅ Available now (alpha)

🧩 No-code editor

• Scene graph: see your whole story as blocks. You create scenes, choices, conditions and jumps by dragging links.
• Linear scene editor: write dialogue fast (Enter starts a new line), with drag and drop, copy and paste, and inline editing.
• Visual scene editor: drag characters on stage, then scale and flip them or snap them to named positions or a grid.
• Characters, expressions, variables and conditions: simple cases don't need any hand-written expressions.
• Asset browser: drag and drop images and audio, with thumbnails, audio preview, and checks for wrong file-name case and missing files.
• Live validation and global search: errors show up instantly, and you click one to jump to the problem.
• Safe by design: full undo/redo, autosave and crash recovery, a command palette (Ctrl+K), and light and dark themes.
• Extensible: every built-in tool is a plugin.

⚡ Live preview

• The real game runs inside the editor. Edit a line and the preview updates in about 0.1 s.
• Play from here: jump straight to any node. The engine finds the path there and restores the right state.

🤖 AI co-author (MCP)

• Connect Claude or any MCP client to the open editor. The AI creates scenes, dialogue and choices, sees the preview, and can export your game.
• Every AI action is a single undo and is logged in a dedicated panel, so you stay in control.
• The connection is local only, token-protected, and off by default.

🚀 One-click export

• Export to the Web, Windows and Linux from the editor, with export profiles and a local test server.
• The web build is lightweight (the engine is about 1.4 MB compressed) and loads assets progressively, which makes it a good fit for itch.io.

🎮 Complete VN player

• Main menu, pause, history, rollback, and skip and auto modes.
• Robust saves: multiple slots with thumbnails, autosave and quick save. Players' saves stay valid when you update your story. An incompatible save is greyed out and never causes a crash.
• Localization: live language switching, with the system language detected automatically.
• Backgrounds, characters with expressions, choices, music, fade and dissolve transitions, and fullscreen.

🧪Experimental features

These features are built and are being tested right now. Want early access? Join our Discord and message the admin to become a tester.

• 🎞️ 2D animation: a timeline with tracks, keys and scrubbing, an easing curve editor, shake, zoom and flash effects, parallax backgrounds, 2D particles, and animated expressions.
• 🦴 Built-in skeletal animation: bones, meshes generated from your images, weight painting and animation clips, all inside the editor. No Spine or Live2D licence is needed.
• 🧊 3D scenes: glTF import, PBR materials, lights, shadows, a skybox and fog, all in a 3D scene editor with gizmos. Your 2D characters and dialogue sit on top of the 3D scene, and it still runs in the browser.
• 🎨 UI editor: design your own menus, HUD, screens, themes and splash screens visually.
• 🧠 Optional scripting: sandboxed Rhai scripts for minigames and complex logic, and Rust plugins for custom nodes. You can still make a whole game without writing a single line of code.
• 📝 Text view: edit your story as plain text if you prefer typing.
• 📱 Android export (APK/AAB).
• 🌍 Localization tools: PO/CSV import and export, outdated-translation detection, and CJK and right-to-left text.
• ♿ Accessibility: text size, high contrast, reduced motion, gamepad support and screen reader support.
• And more: gallery and scene replay, project templates, a built-in manual (EN/FR), a performance profiler, and an even smaller web build.

🗺️ Roadmap

• 3D animation and camera moves
• Ren'Py .rpy import
• WASM / C# plugins
• WebGPU backend for the web

Vote for what you want first on our Discord.

Who is it for?

It's for writers and creators who want to publish a visual novel without fighting their tools, and for developers who want a fast, modern and extensible engine.

Try the alpha

1. Download the editor for Windows or Linux.
2. Open the demo project or start a new one.
3. Export to the web and share your game.
4. Tell us what blocks you or what you'd like next.

⚠️ This is an alpha, so expect rough edges. The Windows installer isn't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may show a warning. Your feedback shapes the roadmap.

Links

• Discord: discord.gg/bXgHegmz6U
• Devlog: follow this page to get notified

Made with Rust, wgpu, winit and egui.