r/RenPy

I want to make the game consisting of three parts both by the plot and by the gameplay. I'm going to use a persistent variable to go from one part to another, it's already in use for main menu's background and for the label to start when the game is starting, but I'm afraid that save system might break if some player go from 3 to 1, for example. Is there a way to make certain save slots uninteractable (when you at 2, you can't go to 3 without progress or 1 without reset) or make three save lists to switch between them safely (each new part starting with forced save at the end of previous one)? Or maybe I heavily overthinking it and there's another option that isn't that critical to whole system?

Edit: Also I would appreciate any advice about autoupdate buttons on the main menu, because background do change while in game, but buttons require to reload T-T

​hi ren'py community! my name is asia, and i am very new to this subreddit and gamedev in general.  i am working on a visual novel on ren'py right now and i need advice for how my plot will advance. here's what i did so far:

video of the progress so far​

the story revolves around an old man whose death is close, and meets his younger self in an abstract, immaterial space. he goes on a journey from where he's first anxious; so paranoid about his fate that he starts overthinking about all the ways his life could end, which puts him through psychological torment; to finally a point where he accepts death with open arms. he gets to progressively know more and more about his younger self through contacts they make in his realm from time to time, and ends up reconciling with it.

please let me know how you find it and any type of help is welcome!

Hey guys,

I'm currently making my first VN completely solo in Ren'Py, and I intend to finish it that way. However, I've also started writing the script for a second VN, and I've become much more invested in it than I expected.

During my holidays I went through a pretty intense writing burst and produced 50k+ words in a very short time. I was completely in the zone: sometimes crying because I was so immersed in the characters, other times laughing by myself at their interactions. A lot of their dynamics are inspired by real friendships and experiences, which probably helps.

The problem is that I don't think I can realistically make this one alone.

I can draw and already have visual concepts for the characters, but I don't have the versatility or time to produce sprites, poses, CGs, backgrounds, etc. at the level and consistency I'd want. The whole project has an anime aesthetic, and while I know roughly what I want visually, I'm absolutely open to an artist suggesting something better.

Right now there are six main characters, several important secondary characters, and already quite a few locations (home, city streets, karaoke, izakaya, trains, Miyajima, ryokan, shrines, onsen, day/night scenes, etc.).

I'm also finishing my PhD soon, so my available time is going to become much more limited.

So I'd mainly like advice on two things:

1. When should I actually start looking for artists/a team?

Should I finish most of the script first, make a vertical slice with placeholders, or commission the main character designs early and build from there?

2. How realistic is revenue share for a project like this?

I'm not asking anyone to work for free, but paying for the entire audiovisual side upfront could get very expensive. Is revenue share, upfront payment + revenue share, or some other hybrid arrangement realistic?

I'd be handling the story, writing, programming, direction and implementation, while mainly needing help with art and eventually other audiovisual work.

Would having a strong vertical slice, a mostly finished script, character concept sketches, and eventually my first VN released make this kind of collaboration more realistic?

For anyone who has gone from solo VN development to working with artists or a small team: when did you make that transition, and how did you structure payment/revenue share?

Hi! For some context, I am very much disabled. Physically and also potentially mentally to an extent. I have brain fog and get lost in/overwhelmed by dense visual information incredibly easily, occasionally to the point of migraines. I am developing a game that may end up being quite large in terms of code, so I'm asking if there's any tools/plugins/etc etc for Ren'Py that can help section off the code into more manageable visual "chunks" so I can program easier without potentially harming myself in the process. Thank you!

Hello! I’ve been working on a game heavily relying on an inventory system for the past year or 2, and just when I thought I finally had everything in order, there’s one more glitch plaguing it. 

This glitch involves a flag called the AltArrow. Essentially, the AltArrow determines the behaviour of the inventory system’s cancel button. If you cancel with AltArrow off, the game just returns to where you were. If you cancel with AltArrow on, the game sends you to what I call The TimeRoom, where a bunch of flags determine where you should jump to next based on what other flags or variables are active. It's a situational flag, but it works for what I need it for.

screen hud():
    modal False


    imagebutton auto "bg_hud_thoughtinventory_%s.png":
        focus_mask True 
        hovered SetVariable("screen_tooltip", "Thought_Inventory")
        unhovered SetVariable("screen_tooltip", "")
        action Show("thought_inventory"), Hide("hud"), SetVariable("quick_menu", False)
           
screen thought_inventory():
    default hovered_thought = None
    add "bg_thoughtinventory":
        align (0.5, 1.0)
    modal True
    frame:
        #(This is just some debug stuff I have in here just in case)
        vbox:
            xalign 0.895 yalign 0.20
            xysize 0.06,0.05
            if AltArrow == True:
                text "AltArrow is On"
            else:
                text "AltArrow Is Off"
        vbox:
            xalign 0.895 yalign 0.40
            xysize 0.06,0.05
            if player.is_alone:
                text "You're Alone"
            else:
                text "Someone's Here"
        align (0.2, 0.6)
        xysize (800,700)
        viewport:
            scrollbars "vertical"
            mousewheel True
            draggable True
            side_yfill True
            vbox:
                for thought in thought_inventory.thoughts:
                    button:
                        text "[thought.name]\n" style "button_text"
                        if player.is_alone:
                            action Function(player.show_thought, thought) pos 0.1, 0.5
                            hovered SetScreenVariable("hovered_thought", thought)
                        else: 
                            action SetVariable("quick_menu", True), Function(player.show_thought, thought) pos 0.1, 0.5
                            hovered SetScreenVariable("hovered_thought", thought)
                        
    if hovered_thought:
        frame:
            align (0.845, 0.944)
            xysize (550, 535)
            text "{size=*0.80}[hovered_thought.description]{/size}"
            add hovered_thought.icon pos -0.0054, -0.5927
            
    imagebutton auto "thoughtinventoryscreen_return_%s.png":
        focus_mask True
        hovered SetVariable("screen_tooltip", "Return")
        unhovered SetVariable("screen_tooltip", "")
        #THIS IS WHERE THE PROBLEM ACTUALLY STARTS.
        if AltArrow == True:
            action SetVariable("quick_menu", True), Hide("thought_inventory"), Jump("TimeRoom"), Show("hud"), Return()
        else:
            action SetVariable("quick_menu", True), Hide("thought_inventory"), Show("hud")

Everything works out, except when you pass this point in the script:

label Mary_TalkSession1:
                $ AltArrow = True
                $ Session_Active = True
                show screen UnfinishedBar
                show screen hud
                show screen calender
                show mary neutral
                $ player.add_person(m_obj)
                if mm <= -30:
                    show mary sad
                menu:
                    "{i}{color=#2731c2}Ask Her A Question{/color}{/i}":
                        jump Mary_AskSession1
                    "{i}{color=#2731c2}Bring Up A Thought{/color}{/i}":
                        $ quick_menu = False
                        hide screen hud
                        call screen thought_inventory
                    "{i}{color=#2731c2}Think For A Bit{/color}{/i}":
                        jump Your_AskSession1
                    "{i}{color=#2731c2}End Session{/color}{/i}":
                        jump Mary_AreYouSure1

label Mary_AreYouSure1:
                    n "{i}{color=#9c2cdd}(...I think I have nothing left to ask.){/color}{/i}"
                    Qm "You sure?"
                    menu:
                        "Yeah.":
                            jump Concluding_Session1
                        "On second thought...":
                            jump NotDoneSession1


                            label NotDoneSession1:
                                n "On second thought, there is something I should ask."
                                jump Mary_TalkSession1

This is the set-up for the conversation menu, where you can control what you bring up with characters.

When the game passes this point, the HUD changes. Whenever you click the hud button, AltArrow is switched on automatically no matter what, and you can’t exit the menu without transporting to the timeroom, which softlocks the game. 

There is no part of any screen code which controls when AltArrow is switched on and off. It only detects when AltArrow is flicked on by the script itself.

And everything works perfectly before that point. AltArrow is getting shut off and staying off no matter how many times I open the inventory. Hell, if I put a shortcut that skips this section entirely, the code still works!

For clarification, I did once try to have AltArrow’s flag be triggered by the menu buttons, but that code is long gone. I don't even remember the details. I’ve recomplied since then, and even if it was still somehow being read, I can’t figure out why it would only activate after that point. I have tried putting hashtags in front of each line at the beginning, and the glitch still stays. 

I have absolutely no idea what’s going on. I’m hoping somebody else might. I don't know if it will help, but here's some additional relevant inventory code if you need that context.

init python:
    class Thought_Inventory():
        def __init__(self, thoughts=None):
            self.thoughts = thoughts if thoughts else []
            self.no_of_thoughts = len(self.thoughts)


        def add_thought(self, thought):
            if thought not in self.thoughts:
                self.thoughts.append(thought)
                self.no_of_thoughts += 1


        def remove_thought(self, thought):
            if thought in self.thoughts:
                self.thoughts.remove(thought)
                self.no_of_thoughts -= 1


    class Thought():
        def __init__(self, name, description, icon):
            self.name = name
            self.description = description
            self.icon = icon 


        def __str__(self):
                return self.name


        def __eq__(self, other):
            if isinstance(other, Thought):
                return self.name == other.name
            else:
                return False

init python:
    class Actor:
        def __init__(self, name, character, thoughts=[]):
            self.name = name
            self.character = character
            self.thoughts = thoughts


        def __str__(self):
            return self.name


        def react_on_thought(self, thought_name):
            for thought in self.thoughts:
                if thought[0] == thought_name:
                    return [self.character, thought[1]]
    
    class Player():
        def __init__(self, name):
            self.name = name
            self.is_with_list = []
 
        def __str__(self):
            return self.name
 
        u/property
        def is_alone(self):
            return not self.is_with_list
 
        def add_person(self, person):
            if person not in self.is_with_list:
                self.is_with_list.append(person)
 
        def remove_person(self, person):
            if person in self.is_with_list:
                self.is_with_list.remove(person)


        def show_thought(self, thought_name, label=False):
            reactions = []
            for char in self.is_with_list:
                character_reaction = char.react_on_thought(thought_name)
                if character_reaction:
                    if renpy.has_label(character_reaction[1]):
                        renpy.call(character_reaction[1])
                    else:
                        reactions.append(character_reaction)
            if reactions:
                renpy.show_screen("reaction_screen", reactions)

I'm in extremely early development of a game and i don't have any money to spend on it. I know how to code and i am currently writing all the script for it. My only problems are the art. I'm bad at drawing and I can't make music. I'm mostly making the game for my own enjoyment and to be able to enjoy my oc's visually. I have attempted to draw them but im not good. I really like the anime art style and im horrible for anatomy. I really need some help on what to do for it. I'm too nervous to commision people because i think i wont like it or it won't be right. i really don't know what to do😭

I have a character sprite that I want to show variants for, but they won't show up.

The sprite bases in question and their variants (The character's casual wear vs the pajamas)

The code I use to display the layered image. I define the variant name \"pj\" in the bottom line.

This is the result it gives, just \"unknown attributes\" error message.

I'm not sure what's going wrong here. Any assistance appreciated.

Update:

say stement that results in above image.

Simplified code.