I'd also posted about this in the Writing forum, but thought that I'd bring it up here as it's relevant.
A little while back, someone brought this program Ren'Py to my attention. It's essentially an engine to be used for creating digital books with pictures. Here's a link (browse through at your own risk and all that -- there may be some adult type content in some of the games on the page, but I'm not sure): http://www.renpy.org/wiki/renpy/Home_Page
What has me posting about it in the Fan Games and Programs forum, however, is that you're able to make games of sort with it, in that you're able to make your novels interactive, with a little bit of scripting/programming. In other words, you can make stories with graphics (backgrounds, more or less), and have parts of the story that branch according to some decision made by the player.
There's a short demonstration video on the site showing how making a VERY basic "visual novel" with it would be pretty straightforward and easy, so long as you have the graphics made already. They seem to have instructions on the site as well for the thing's functionality, as well as tutorials and mini-tutorials (what they call "cookbooks"), which I'm imagining probably go a long way to help you figure out how to make your "visual novel" into more of a game by making it more interactive.
Just as important as any of that, they seem to have at least some dedication to the program at the site, given that there's multi-platform versions, including one that'll work for Vista. That kind of effort can't be a terrible sign, right? Moreover (not to sound like I'm blatantly advertising for them), they have forums which seem to be at least SOMEwhat active, which means that if you're having trouble figuring things out with it, that it may be a place to find some answers.
Do note that at a very quick glance, the site's creative content (games) seems to contain a lot of "dating sim" type games, and an awful lot of Anime style influences. That's great and all, and if people are looking to make those kinds of games, then this may be perfect for you. But I really don't think that anyone who uses the program need be constrained by the limitations of making a "dating sim" or using an Anime type style. I really do think that such a program poses some interesting possibilities for any game-maker who would be interested moreso in the storytelling side of game-making, with some graphics and decisions thrown in.
Though I generally wouldn't encourage this sort of thing, it also seems like it could be used as a quick and (relatively) easy way to put a game together if you're not terribly graphically inclined and want to make something without having much more than a story. In other words, for budding game-makers who have an idea, but aren't willing to in put all the time required to make things like animating sprites, tilesets, maps, music, etc, etc, this may be a good way to go.
I do hope to put something together with this program myself eventually, if nothing else as a small demonstration of what one can do with basically nothing.
SO, to open discussion, what do people think of this program? Has anyone here used it before? Is there anything similar but better and/or even EASIER to use out there? And besides interactive stories, any idea how it might be used a bit more creatively?
A little while back, someone brought this program Ren'Py to my attention. It's essentially an engine to be used for creating digital books with pictures. Here's a link (browse through at your own risk and all that -- there may be some adult type content in some of the games on the page, but I'm not sure): http://www.renpy.org/wiki/renpy/Home_Page
What has me posting about it in the Fan Games and Programs forum, however, is that you're able to make games of sort with it, in that you're able to make your novels interactive, with a little bit of scripting/programming. In other words, you can make stories with graphics (backgrounds, more or less), and have parts of the story that branch according to some decision made by the player.
There's a short demonstration video on the site showing how making a VERY basic "visual novel" with it would be pretty straightforward and easy, so long as you have the graphics made already. They seem to have instructions on the site as well for the thing's functionality, as well as tutorials and mini-tutorials (what they call "cookbooks"), which I'm imagining probably go a long way to help you figure out how to make your "visual novel" into more of a game by making it more interactive.
Just as important as any of that, they seem to have at least some dedication to the program at the site, given that there's multi-platform versions, including one that'll work for Vista. That kind of effort can't be a terrible sign, right? Moreover (not to sound like I'm blatantly advertising for them), they have forums which seem to be at least SOMEwhat active, which means that if you're having trouble figuring things out with it, that it may be a place to find some answers.
Do note that at a very quick glance, the site's creative content (games) seems to contain a lot of "dating sim" type games, and an awful lot of Anime style influences. That's great and all, and if people are looking to make those kinds of games, then this may be perfect for you. But I really don't think that anyone who uses the program need be constrained by the limitations of making a "dating sim" or using an Anime type style. I really do think that such a program poses some interesting possibilities for any game-maker who would be interested moreso in the storytelling side of game-making, with some graphics and decisions thrown in.
Though I generally wouldn't encourage this sort of thing, it also seems like it could be used as a quick and (relatively) easy way to put a game together if you're not terribly graphically inclined and want to make something without having much more than a story. In other words, for budding game-makers who have an idea, but aren't willing to in put all the time required to make things like animating sprites, tilesets, maps, music, etc, etc, this may be a good way to go.
I do hope to put something together with this program myself eventually, if nothing else as a small demonstration of what one can do with basically nothing.
SO, to open discussion, what do people think of this program? Has anyone here used it before? Is there anything similar but better and/or even EASIER to use out there? And besides interactive stories, any idea how it might be used a bit more creatively?
