Best Way to Visualize Branches in Ren'Py Without Using External Tools?

[ClaricePy]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently working on a visual novel using Ren'Py, and I've started to accumulate a significant amount of branching logic (flags, conditionals, variable-driven scenes, etc.).

I know that tools like Twine are great for mapping out story flow, but the issue is that they don’t integrate well with Ren'Py's actual codebase, especially when it comes to conditional branches. In Twine, I would have to redefine or manually track all in-game variables to get an accurate representation, which ends up being more work than it's worth.

So my question is:
Is there a workflow, tool, or plugin that allows you to visualize branching paths (dialogue and scene flow) within Ren'Py or using the existing .rpy scripts without having to mirror logic externally?

Ideally, I’d like something that can:

• Map story flow based on labels, jumps, and conditionals
• Allow for at least some annotation of flags/variables
• Be updated automatically (or semi-automatically) as the script grows

If you’ve found a good way to manage this or have any recommendations for tools, plugins, or even clean Ren'Py conventions for keeping branching manageable, I’d love to hear it.


Thanks!

 

[anne O'nymous]

So my question is:
Is there a workflow, tool, or plugin that allows you to visualize branching paths (dialogue and scene flow) within Ren'Py or using the existing .rpy scripts without having to mirror logic externally?

Short answer: No.

Long answer:

Strictly speaking it should be possible to make such tool, but it would be extremely limited in regard of Ren'Py's capabilities.

There's 7 different way to do branching:

• Implicit (a label end without branching);
• call script statement;
• jump script statement;
• Call() screen action;
• Jump() screen action;
• renpy.call() Python equivalent;
• renpy.jump() Python equivalent.

All except the first one can be dynamic, branching to a label that is undefined before Ren'Py reach that point.
call expression "girlRoom" + girlName and the jump equivalent.
Call( "girlRoom" + girlName ) and the Jump() equivalent.
renpy.call( "girlRoom" + girlName ) and the renpy.jump() equivalent.

Just taking count of the screen actions would be difficult, some games having complex screens path that would have to be traced. And obviously the Python equivalents need that you parse the code yourself, especially if they come from ".py" files.
But even without this, the dynamism would need that you manually enter all the possible values for the used variable.

And, as if it wasn't enough, branching do not necessarily imply routes. It's not infrequent that a given route propose two alternate scenes that change the action, but not the route itself.
This while it's also not infrequent that a label is common to different routes, the content being split and discriminated through if structures.

Then, cherry on the cake, there's those games that try to port event to Ren'Py, fully breaking its linearity with a central event handler that will do the branching accordingly to complex mechanisms. Those would be totally impossible to map correctly.

 

[osanaiko]

If you're willing to consider tools outside of renpy, there is a whole ecosystem of modern tools for writers to plan and organize their stories, including some that explicitly support "interactive fiction".

Of course it would be a manual process to translate what you've got so far... but it would potentially help you map out your game logic in the ways that you want.

I can't explicitly recommend any as I am not a user myself, but there's multiple threads on Lemmasoft forum creative section talking about this specific thing.

 

[ClaricePy]

Short answer: No.

Long answer:

Strictly speaking it should be possible to make such tool, but it would be extremely limited in regard of Ren'Py's capabilities.

There's 7 different way to do branching:

• Implicit (a label end without branching);
• call script statement;
• jump script statement;
• Call() screen action;
• Jump() screen action;
• renpy.call() Python equivalent;
• renpy.jump() Python equivalent.

All except the first one can be dynamic, branching to a label that is undefined before Ren'Py reach that point.
call expression "girlRoom" + girlName and the jump equivalent.
Call( "girlRoom" + girlName ) and the Jump() equivalent.
renpy.call( "girlRoom" + girlName ) and the renpy.jump() equivalent.

Just taking count of the screen actions would be difficult, some games having complex screens path that would have to be traced. And obviously the Python equivalents need that you parse the code yourself, especially if they come from ".py" files.
But even without this, the dynamism would need that you manually enter all the possible values for the used variable.

And, as if it wasn't enough, branching do not necessarily imply routes. It's not infrequent that a given route propose two alternate scenes that change the action, but not the route itself.
This while it's also not infrequent that a label is common to different routes, the content being split and discriminated through if structures.

Then, cherry on the cake, there's those games that try to port event to Ren'Py, fully breaking its linearity with a central event handler that will do the branching accordingly to complex mechanisms. Those would be totally impossible to map correctly.

Thank you a lot for the detailed answer. I actually didn't think about parsing the code and it is a very good idea. Since at the moment the story is not that complex it may work.

 

[jamdan]

This may be what you want.

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Itch is down right now, here is the same thing on Github.

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There are quite a lot of Renpy addons/plugins on Itch, so it may be worth searching more on there too.

 

[Turning Tricks]

For my current projects, I was just using Excel to make spreadsheets where I listed storylines and variables, etc. It has worked pretty good, but after 2.5 years of development, it's honestly a hot mess right now. I do better just scanning old code to figure shit out.

For my next project, I plan on using

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to do the planning and writing. I've only scratched the surface on it, but it seems perfect for what I need.