I love Ren'Py because it's so easy. It takes only minutes to learn how to set up a visual novel if you're just going by text and choices, which is an ideal way to make something interactive for someone as code-illiterate as myself. The aforementioned Juniper's Knot is definitely worth checking out, it's one of the most…
A friend of mine is interested in doing this little project and I agreed to help her with the drawings, but neither of us have any experience making a Visual Novel, so we're sorta just looking at popular ones and see what they used to make theirs. Currently we're looking at Ren'Py (http://www.renpy.org/), I have no idea…
Cinders by Tom Grochowiak and Gracjana Zielinska looks interesting. It's coming out soon. I think they might have used Game Maker, not 100% sure on that though.