Engine of choice

[AndWhy]

For quite some time now I've been wanting to make a game.
I have the idea/concept already thought out.
What game engine should I use?

Note that I have little to no experience with programming.
I've opened the lid on html, prodded unity with a stick and laughed nervously at rags.
For context, my idea goes in a similar line as Slavemaker, No Haven and Fort of Chains but focusing less on quantity and more on quality.

Would like to include:
-Text
-Images
-Gifs/video (audio not necessary)
-Stats (strength, charm, gold, etc.)
-Locations (camp, tavern, dungeon, etc.)
-Characters (NPC's that can react differently to the state of PC)
-Events (missions with success rate, timed events and events based on the state of PC)

What game engine is recommended for something like this?
Which engine is the most beginner friendly? (least amount of coding)

I've personally enjoyed html games the most and rpgm games the least but I'm not closing any doors.

 

[lop333]

Honestly the easiest?
Rpg maker.
When you need something and cant code there is a plugin to help you with that.
No need to diss rpg maker its super easy to use and do exactly what you want here.
and you can make game html if you want.

 

[Nunu312]

With the right architecture this is pretty easy to do in Renpy (I've been playing around with the relevant key systems for something like this recently and got them all working). That doesn't make it the best, the only reason I suggest it is because Renpy will let you easily do new user interfaces so you can have the game look how you want and it handles the worst of the complicated programming for you.

So it would be the most versatile system, but as with many things like this, you pay for that versatility in having to do some code.

 

[Droid Productions]

Likely RenPy. Skip the GIFs and use WebM, but otherwise it's an extremely robust and well-designed framework that people usually enjoy. It's not purely visual, but its syntax is pretty trivial, and it's tutorial is actually a game. Not to mention, a lot of stuff that you KNOW you'll need is already prepared for you (saves, rollbacks, etc0.

 

[Glib_Gentleman]

Likely RenPy. Skip the GIFs and use WebM, but otherwise it's an extremely robust and well-designed framework that people usually enjoy. It's not purely visual, but its syntax is pretty trivial, and it's tutorial is actually a game. Not to mention, a lot of stuff that you KNOW you'll need is already prepared for you (saves, rollbacks, etc0.

I have to second (third?) this recommendation for RenpPy.

In addition to all the reasons already listed, it's highly portable to different systems - PC, Mac, Android - and has a huge amount of resources and tutorials to get you going and a large community to answer any questions that will inevitably arise during game development.

Learn just a little bit of Python and you can do just about whatever you want with it. I wouldn't count myself as a programmer, and I've done some incredibly complex things with it.

Look at Summertime Saga - RenPy.
Not a porn game, but

You must be registered to see the links

. that shows you can do a very complex RPG in RenPy.

The only reason not to use RenPy, in my opinion, is if you want to make a walking simulator, where it is important to you that players move around in real time. If you just want players to click on a map to move from location to location and encounter different events, RenPy is the winner, hands down.

 

[Nunu312]

I have to second (third?) this recommendation for RenpPy.

In addition to all the reasons already listed, it's highly portable to different systems - PC, Mac, Android - and has a huge amount of resources and tutorials to get you going and a large community to answer any questions that will inevitably arise during game development.

Learn just a little bit of Python and you can do just about whatever you want with it. I wouldn't count myself as a programmer, and I've done some incredibly complex things with it.

Look at Summertime Saga - RenPy.
Not a porn game, but

You must be registered to see the links

. that shows you can do a very complex RPG in RenPy.

The only reason not to use RenPy, in my opinion, is if you want to make a walking simulator, where it is important to you that players move around in real time. If you just want players to click on a map to move from location to location and encounter different events, RenPy is the winner, hands down.

I don't disagree at all, but in my time I've seen people who just don't have the mindset of a coder before. If OP is one of them, then they will need a more lightweight solution. After all, renpy can really screw up your variables if you don't use it just right.

RPG Maker will be harder, and more work, but it might also make it possible. At the end of the day it depends on the ability to architect a good program vs the willingness to kludge up the skill gaps.

 

[AndWhy]

Thanks for the input!
Regarding rpgmaker, I'm sure that it's possible but from what I've seen it (almost always) have the same format which I'm not sure would be compatible. Just trying to picture something like fort of chains in an rpgmaker format is hard.
How is rpgmaker when it comes to using custom media (images, sound & video), is it easy to import or are the templates very rigid?
My main gripe with rpgmaker games is the overwhelming amount of grind>content, though that is more the fault of the dev rather than the engine i suppose.

Renpy does seem to be very intuitive, especially for visual novels, but how does it behave if you want to diverge from a VN? Like I said, I have little to no experience programming. Most coding languages I've come across feel very confusing. Are there ways to assist/help or minimize the need for raw code in renpy?

I've tried to look into QSP as well but a lot of that community seem to be in russian, do anyone have experience using it?

 

[Meaning Less]

I said, I have little to no experience programming. Most coding languages I've come across feel very confusing. Are there ways to assist/help or minimize the need for raw code in renpy?

That's the main point really, and why rpgm is a good rec for you. With RPGM you have a full software interface to help you build the world and program events without having to write actual code.

Renpy is very simple also and most of the stuff is straightforward, but every step you steer away from a standard vn will require more and more coding, up to a point where you could be using python more than renpy itself.

So in the end it really depends on what kind of game you are planning to create to know what kind of engine will be best. I'd recomend you download both and create a few sample projects to know which one will work best for your planned game.

 

[Nunu312]

Thanks for the input!
Regarding rpgmaker, I'm sure that it's possible but from what I've seen it (almost always) have the same format which I'm not sure would be compatible. Just trying to picture something like fort of chains in an rpgmaker format is hard.
How is rpgmaker when it comes to using custom media (images, sound & video), is it easy to import or are the templates very rigid?
My main gripe with rpgmaker games is the overwhelming amount of grind>content, though that is more the fault of the dev rather than the engine i suppose.

Renpy does seem to be very intuitive, especially for visual novels, but how does it behave if you want to diverge from a VN? Like I said, I have little to no experience programming. Most coding languages I've come across feel very confusing. Are there ways to assist/help or minimize the need for raw code in renpy?

I've tried to look into QSP as well but a lot of that community seem to be in russian, do anyone have experience using it?

I think if this is your first real experience with coding, jumping in to make a full game is probably a mistake. Not necessarily because you can't do it... just you will make so many mistakes that your project will be saddled with for the rest of it's life.

Aim to make a small proof of concept first. Find the smallest individual nugget of what you want to make that proves to yourself that you can build something larger.

Absolutely include images and smut in it, these things will make you feel good and like you've achieved something, which you will have, but you'll feel it a lot more when you can see it. You can even release this and get feedback from the public about it, people joke that you'll get drowned out in trolls and grief, but in general I've found people to be kind considerate and helpful. At the end of the day, they have more combined brain meat than you and will be able to solve some complicated issues and make your game better.

Then, start over with your newfound knowledge from scratch and make the game you always wanted too.

 

[Rafster]

I've personally enjoyed html games

Why you don't you try Twine then? it's the the tool that most devs use nowadays for HTML games.