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A visual novel is a story-driven game built around text, character art, backgrounds, music, and player choices. You make one by writing the script, preparing art and audio, scripting the scenes in a visual novel engine, then publishing to web or app stores. The engine you pick decides how much code you touch: Ren'Py and TyranoScript suit traditional downloadable games, while Monogatari targets browser play with a simple writing syntax.

What defines a visual novel

Most visual novels share a small set of mechanics:

• Text-first storytelling — dialogue and narration carry the game, usually with a text box over a background.
• Character sprites and backgrounds — static or lightly animated art sets each scene.
• Branching or linear paths — choices may change endings, or the story may run on rails.
• Multimedia layers — music, sound effects, and sometimes video set the mood.
• Save and load — players expect to stop mid-scene and resume later.

Not every visual novel uses all of these, but they describe what players look for when they open one.

The basic production flow

1. Write the script. Decide whether it branches. A branching script needs a map of choices and endings before you write dialogue, or the paths will tangle.
2. Prepare assets. Backgrounds, character sprites (often with several expressions), music, and sound effects. Keep a naming convention from day one — mismatched filenames are the most common early blocker.
3. Script the scenes. In the engine, you convert the script into scene commands: show this background, place this sprite, play this track, display this line, offer these choices.
4. Test the flow. Play every branch, check that saves load correctly, and confirm audio and images appear where you expect.
5. Publish. Export to your target platforms or host the web build.

Choosing an engine

The three engines named on Monogatari's site differ mainly in language, platform focus, and how much programming you need.

Monogatari describes itself as free, open source, and MIT-licensed, so commercial and non-commercial use are both allowed. Its site lists Ren'Py and TyranoScript as alternatives rather than competitors, which is a fair way to frame the choice: pick the engine whose output format matches where your players are.

What Monogatari offers specifically

According to its site, Monogatari is built for the modern web and includes:

• Simple syntax — the site states you don't need to be a developer and can "write your story naturally."
• Multimedia support — images, video, music, and sound effects.
• Multi-language — built-in translation support.
• Feature-complete runtime — save and load, animations, rewind, auto-play, and text skipping out of the box.
• Customizable and responsive — the site frames the game as a website, so anything achievable on the web is in reach, and it adapts to any screen.
• Progressive Web App — installable and playable offline.
• Multi-platform export — web, plus builds for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS.
• MIT License — free for any use, commercial or not.

The current download listed on the page is Monogatari v2.8.0. The site also points to Discord, Twitter, and GitHub for community and support, and accepts sponsorship through GitHub Sponsors, PayPal, Patreon, and Ko-fi.

Publishing your novel

Where you publish follows from the engine:

• Web — host the build as a static site. Monogatari's PWA support means players can install it and play offline.
• Desktop — package for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• Mobile — build for Android and iOS.

If you choose Ren'Py or TyranoScript, check each engine's own export documentation, since the target list and packaging steps differ.

Common problems and how to approach them

• Assets not showing. Usually a path or filename mismatch. Confirm the file exists at the exact path your script references, including case sensitivity on Linux and web hosts.
• Saves not loading. Save systems often tie to a version or slot structure. Test saves after every significant script change, not just at the end.
• Translation gaps. If you use built-in multi-language support, keep all player-facing strings in the translation layer rather than hardcoding them in scene logic.
• Cross-device layout. Responsive design handles most cases, but test on a narrow phone screen and a wide desktop window — text boxes and sprites scale differently.
• Audio format issues. Browsers and packaged apps don't always accept the same formats. Provide a common format like MP3 or OGG and verify playback on each target.

If you're starting fresh and want your novel playable in a browser with minimal setup, Monogatari's writing-first syntax and PWA support are the strongest reasons to pick it. If you want the largest existing community and a long track record of released commercial games, Ren'Py is the safer default.

A search engine is software that finds and ranks web pages in response to a query. It works in four stages: crawling (discovering pages), indexing (storing and organizing what was found), ranking (ordering results by relevance and quality), and serving (displaying the results page). You use one by typing a query into a search box and refining it based on what comes back. General engines like Google or Bing index the whole web; specialized engines focus on a niche — Ecosia, for example, is a general search engine that directs its profits toward tree planting and renewable energy projects.

The four core jobs of any search engine

Every engine, from a global one to a site-specific search box, performs the same basic pipeline:

The key takeaway: ranking only happens over pages that were crawled and indexed. If a page is missing from results, the problem is usually earlier in the pipeline, not the ranking step.

What happens between your query and the results page

1. You type a query. The engine parses it into terms and intent signals — is this a question, a navigational request, or a comparison?
2. It matches against the index. Candidate pages are pulled from the stored index rather than from the live web, which is why results reflect the index's snapshot.
3. It ranks the candidates. Ranking blends relevance (does the page match the words and intent?) with quality signals (links, freshness, usability, and more).
4. It builds the results page. Each result gets a title, URL, and snippet; extra elements like ads, knowledge panels, and filters are layered on top.
5. You refine. Most searches are iterative — you adjust wording, add qualifiers, or use filters until the results are useful.

General vs. specialized vs. eco-focused engines

• General engines index broadly and aim to answer almost any query. Google, Bing, and Ecosia fall here.
• Specialized engines narrow the index to a domain — academic papers, code, shopping, or a single website's content.
• Eco-focused engines are general engines with a distinct business model. Ecosia describes itself as a search engine and AI that uses 100% of its profits for the planet, supporting tree planting and renewable energy projects. The search experience is familiar; the difference is where the revenue goes.

If your goal is simply the best answer, a general engine is usually the right tool. If you want your search activity to fund environmental projects, an eco-focused general engine like Ecosia is a direct substitute — same workflow, different destination for profits.

Reading a results page: what each element tells you

• Snippets — the short excerpt under each title. They preview how the page matches your query, but they're generated, not always verbatim.
• Ads — paid placements, typically labeled. They can be relevant, but their position reflects payment as well as quality.
• Knowledge panels — summarized facts pulled from structured sources, useful for quick lookups but worth verifying on the source page.
• Filters and tabs — tools to narrow by type (images, news, maps), date, or region. They change which slice of the index you're searching.

Practical tips for better queries and results

• Be specific. "best budget mirrorless camera 2024" beats "camera."
• Use the engine's operators. Quotation marks for exact phrases, minus signs to exclude terms, and site: to restrict to one domain.
• Check the source, not just the snippet. Snippets can strip context; open the page before trusting a claim.
• Iterate deliberately. If the first page misses, change one variable at a time — wording, filters, or scope — so you learn what worked.
• Match the engine to the task. Use a specialized engine when your query lives in one domain, and a general or eco-focused engine for everything else.

The practical test for any engine is the same: does it return pages that answer your question, and can you tell why each result is there? Once you understand crawling, indexing, ranking, and serving, you can judge results instead of just consuming them.

SQL (Structured Query Language) is the standard language for querying, manipulating, and transforming data stored in a relational database. It's used by both technical and non-technical people, and because of its simplicity, SQL databases power the storage behind millions of websites and mobile applications. If you want to read, filter, combine, or change structured data, SQL is the tool you'll reach for.

What a relational database actually is

Before the syntax makes sense, you need a mental model. A relational database is a collection of related two-dimensional tables. Each table looks a lot like an Excel spreadsheet:

• A fixed number of named columns (the attributes or properties of the table)
• Any number of rows of data

For example, a Department of Motor Vehicles database might have a Vehicles table storing the make/model, number of wheels, number of doors, and type of every registered vehicle:

The "relational" part means tables can be linked to each other, which is what makes it possible to pull related data together in a single query.

What SQL lets you do

SQL covers the full lifecycle of working with data, not just reading it. The main categories of tasks are:

• Query rows from one or more tables
• Filter and sort results with constraints
• Aggregate data (counts, sums, averages) and use expressions
• Join multiple tables, including outer joins
• Insert, update, and delete rows
• Create, alter, and drop tables and other structures

A simple starting point is the SELECT query, which retrieves data. From there you layer on constraints, sorting, joins, and aggregates.

One language, many databases

There are many popular SQL databases, including SQLite, MySQL, Postgres, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server. All of them support the common SQL language standard, so the core syntax you learn transfers between them. Each implementation can differ in the additional features and storage types it supports, so vendor-specific behavior is worth checking when you move to a new system.

How to start learning

A practical path is to begin with SELECT and build up in this order:

1. SELECT queries (retrieving columns from a table)
2. Queries with constraints (WHERE filtering)
3. Filtering and sorting results
4. Multi-table queries with JOINs, then OUTER JOINs
5. A note on NULLs
6. Queries with expressions
7. Queries with aggregates
8. Order of execution of a query
9. Inserting, updating, and deleting rows
10. Creating, altering, and dropping tables

SQLBolt is one option for this: it provides a set of interactive lessons and exercises you run directly in your browser, starting with an introduction to SQL and SELECT queries and progressing through joins, aggregates, and table operations.

When SQL is the right fit

Choose SQL when your data is structured and relational — records with consistent attributes that need to be queried, filtered, combined across tables, or modified reliably. It's a strong fit for application backends, reporting, and analysis over tabular data. If your data has no fixed schema or you only need to store and retrieve whole documents by key, a relational database may be more structure than you need.

MESON is a free, online database of chess problems and endgame studies hosted on the BDS Website (bstephen.me.uk), run by Brian Stephenson. According to the site, it has been free and online since 2006 and currently contains more than 256,000 items. It is the right resource if you want to look up composed problems, search for a specific composer's work, or study endgame studies — rather than browse casual tactics puzzles.

What MESON actually contains

MESON is a chess problem database, not a game database. That distinction matters:

• Chess problems are composed positions with a stipulated task (for example, "mate in 2" or "mate in 3"), usually with a unique solution the composer designed.
• Endgame studies are composed endgame positions where the task is normally to win or draw, again with a constructed, often surprising solution.

The site describes MESON as containing "more than 256,000 items," covering this kind of composed material. It does not claim to be a record of played games, so don't expect opening statistics or tournament results here.

How to access it

Access is through the BDS Website's navigation menu:

1. Go to the BDS Website (bstephen.me.uk).
2. Select the MESON menu item.
3. You land in the database itself, where you can search and browse.

The site states MESON has been free and online since 2006. No pricing, account, or login requirement is mentioned in the available site information, so treat access as open browsing unless the site itself tells you otherwise when you arrive.

How to search for problems and studies

The site's own description does not spell out the search fields, so the practical approach is to work from what a problem database of this kind is built to answer. Typical ways to use it:

• By composer — if you already know whose problems you want (for example, work by a specific problemist), a composer search is the fastest route.
• By problem type or stipulation — mate-in-2, mate-in-3, helpmate, selfmate, study, and similar categories let you narrow to the genre you care about.
• By position — entering the pieces or a diagram position lets you find whether a given setting already exists, which is useful if you are checking a composition or studying a theme.

Because the exact field names and menu labels are not documented in the source material, verify them on the MESON search page itself rather than assuming a fixed layout. The database is implemented with MySQL and Perl (with CGI::Simple, HTML::Template and XML::LibXML) and a jQuery/Bootstrap/DataTables front end, which is consistent with a searchable, table-driven interface.

What else is on the BDS Website

MESON is one part of a larger site, and the surrounding sections are useful if you want context or related material:

If your interest is specifically endgame studies, the Endgame Studies menu and MESON together cover both the articles and the underlying positions.

Practical tips

• Start narrow. With 256,000+ items, searching by composer or stipulation first will get you to relevant material faster than browsing.
• Use the Ladder problems for practice. The BDS Ladder is closed as a competition, but the site keeps its problems available if you want solving practice.
• Check the composer's own page for context. Stephenson has composed and published problems since 1977, and his Chess Problems section is a small, curated complement to the much larger MESON collection.
• Contact route. The site points to the BCPS Website contact page, where Stephenson is listed as magazine curator, if you need to reach him.

MESON is best understood as a specialist reference for composed chess problems and studies: free, long-running, and large enough that targeted searching beats casual browsing.

An XMPP/Jabber server is the piece of infrastructure that hosts your messaging account and routes messages between you and everyone else on the XMPP network. Jabbim is a free public XMPP/Jabber server you can register on, then connect to with any XMPP client you choose. You use it by creating an account, pointing a client at the server, and optionally adding gateways (transports) so you can also reach people on networks like Telegram, ICQ, or Facebook. This article explains how the server fits into the picture and walks through getting connected.

What an XMPP/Jabber server actually does

XMPP (the protocol formerly known as Jabber) is an open messaging standard. A server is the hub in that network:

• Hosts your account — your address looks like [email protected], where the part after the @ is the server.
• Routes messages — when you message someone on a different server, your server talks to theirs. This is why XMPP users on different providers can chat with each other.
• Stores your data — Jabbim offers up to 1GB of data storage per the site.
• Bridges to other networks — through transports/gateways, the server lets you reach contacts on non-XMPP services.

Because XMPP is an open protocol, the server and the client are separate choices. Jabbim's own pitch is exactly this: "Open protocol — choose your client yourself."

Why people pick a public server like Jabbim

The site lists several reasons users choose it:

Jabbim also states it uses encryption to protect messages and describes itself as among the world's most reliable XMPP/Jabber servers.

How to register and connect

1. Create an account. Go to the Jabbim site and use the Register option. You'll choose a username, which becomes your address ([email protected]).
2. Pick a client. The site offers a web client for browser-based use, plus downloads. It specifically points to Pidgin and Psi+ as clients — Psi+ is the one it recommends for the Tor setup below.
3. Log in. Enter your full Jabbim address and password in the client. The client connects to the Jabbim server and pulls your contact list.
4. Add contacts and chat. Add other XMPP addresses (on Jabbim or any other XMPP server) and start messaging.
5. Add gateways if you need them. In your client, use service discovery to find available transports, then register for the one you want. For example, to reach Telegram: in service discovery, register your phone number in international format at telegram.jabbim.com.

Expected result: after step 3 you're online and can message any XMPP user; after step 5 you can also message contacts on the bridged network.

Connecting over Tor (optional)

Jabbim supports connecting through Tor. The site gives this address and port:

• Onion host: mrbenqxl345o4u7yaln25ayzz5ut6ab3kteulzqusinjdx6oh7obdlad.onion, port 5222
• In your client, set a SOCKS5 proxy to 127.0.0.1 with port 9050 (Tor client) or 9150 (Tor Browser), and use the onion hostname above. Psi+ is recommended for this.

Common issues and troubleshooting

• Certificate validation errors. The site notes that from September 30, 2021 you may have had trouble validating its certificate, and the fix is to update your client software — it names Pidgin and Psi+.
• Gateway registration fails. Make sure you're entering your phone number (for Telegram) in international format, and that you're registering through service discovery rather than adding it as a normal contact.
• Tor connection won't start. Confirm the SOCKS5 proxy port matches your setup — 9050 for the Tor client, 9150 for Tor Browser — and that you're using the onion hostname, not the regular one.

Free vs. VIP

Jabbim states its services are free of charge. The site also has a VIP section with pages titled "How to become a sponsor?" and "What do I get in return?", and PayPal appears as a payment platform — so there is a sponsorship/VIP track alongside the free service. The site does not state VIP pricing on the pages referenced here, so check those pages directly if you want the current details.

Quick decision guide

• Choose Jabbim if you want a free public XMPP account, the freedom to pick your own client, and built-in gateways to networks like Telegram, ICQ, and Facebook.
• Look elsewhere if you need a provider with published uptime guarantees or you want a server outside the Czech/Polish/Slovak service focus — though the core XMPP chat itself is not region-limited.

To get started, register on the site, install Pidgin or Psi+, log in with your new @jabbim.com address, and add gateways through service discovery only if you need to reach other networks.