Ren'Py From Sword to Pen [Development Thread]

nonomo

Newbie
Game Developer
May 2, 2019
43
68
Hello and welcome to everyone of F95zone. We would like to present you the game that we've been working on for a few months now. It will be a sandbox game on ren'py :
From Sword to Pen

About us :
For now, we are only two working on this project:
- Myself, the coder and writer.
- LYIB the artist.
We're working hard on this project and hope you will like it !


The story :
You are a hero, or to better say it, you were a hero. The people that believed in you no longer do. Your friends are distant. Even your valued teamates are hesitant to talk to you. But why is this ? Simple : you failed. Running blindly to save people wasn't a good choice. You didn't talk to your partners because the time was tight. In result a full city got destroyed. You managed to save a lot, but some deaths were innevitable.
Now that everyone has lost trust in you, even yourself, you decided to stop beeing a hero. But your face was recognizable. A young 19 man who has been seen in many places... This world isn't for you anymore. That's why, you decided to travel to another. One where your name isn't said with a nasty face. Fortunately some people still vew you as a friend. With the help of a dear friend, you manage to make all the preparation required. The world you found is a world without magic. A world that you and me know very well. Our world.

Beginning a new life in an unknown place might be difficult, but you won't falter. Since you know nothing of this world, you decided to attend a school. Far behind everyone else, your studies might be your biggest ennemy. Now is also the time to make new friends and maybe more.
Alas, not everything will go your way. You are a known ex hero, people are bound to be looking for you. Let it be good intent or not. Will you be able to live a normal life ? Or will the ghosts of your past destroy what you're trying to build ?

Gameplay :
The gameplay will be a simple sandbox experience. But no, not so simple. I want to add some gameplay mechanics for this to feel like a real game and not just a click and read.
I'm thinking of adding some puzzle minigames and even some RPG elements.



The characters :
Each character will have their own story. It's up to you to chose to interact with them or not.
That said, two characters will be tightly linked to the main story let's look over them first :

Eina_pres.jpg 1694972982697.png 1694975667197.png

The MC :
The mc's past will have a lot of mysteries. You'll discover those by playing through the main story.

Eina:
Eina is a shy girl. She likes to study and to read. Well it's more like it's the only thing she does around people to not draw attention on her.

Kailey:
Kailey is most popular girl in the school. She likes to bully the weak. You beeing new around, she will not fail to notice you and torment you.

Like said above, those two will be linked to the main story. In result, they will take more time to develop your relationship with them.

Here are the other characters :

1694975604367.png 1694975631705.png 1694975847107.png

Melina:
The main teacher of your class. She's kind and pationate about her work. She will help you if you ask... But only if you've been a good student.

Jane:
Jane is a clumsy girl. She likes to break rules but is often taken in the act. She seems to be caught in some slight supernatural story...

Lily:
Lily is a popular girl in school. she likes to work out and hates studying. A bit childish sometimes, she hates when people disagree with her.

1694976180685.png 1694976202564.png


Evan:
Although he doesn't really look like it, Evan is a strong man. He's the main reason why people are scared of Kailey. Although it's not sure if they are together...

Mark:
Mark works in a phone shop. He's a calm and collected person. But it seems there is something more to him than just selling phones.

And that's all for the characters for now. Note that we will certainly add more when we will be further in development.


Backgrounds and setting:
The game will mainly take place in a college campus. There will be a lot more location in the future, let it be a fantasy place or a totally normal place.

Here are a few backgrounds :

1694978922720.png

1694978936620.png



TAGS:
Here are the tags. Of course that is what is planned, but there's always a chance that we add more.
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Final note:
While this game will have some lighthearted and funny moments, when serious things happen, it WILL BE serious.
I have pretty much done the main story entirely (only the really significant event). So we already know how the game will end. We're not closed to add things if we have new ideas.
Also, English is not our first language, so please bear with us if you find mistakes.
 
Last edited:

nonomo

Newbie
Game Developer
May 2, 2019
43
68
Hey everyone, nonomo here. It's been just a few days since I posted this first view of From Sword to Pen. First thing I want to address is - How long until a first release ?

For now it's a bit hard to say. Development is going smoothly and there's actually a few things already working. I'll say that we've been on the project for a few months already so it shouldn't take too long now.

Here are a few things that I've been working on for the past days :
First, placing character in the backgrounds. Reflection and shadows were a bit tricky in the beginning but I managed.
1695226776472.png 1695226866718.png

Next would be dialogs. Here's how it looks like for now :

1695227193952.png

There's still the classic ren'py dialog box. But I'm unsure if we're gonna change it for the first release.

Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your time !
 
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nonomo

Newbie
Game Developer
May 2, 2019
43
68
Hey everyone, I hope that you are all doing well !
I'm back to talk a bit more about the game. For today, I just want to make a small update about menus.

First let's look at the HUD when you walk around :
1695478778663.png
It's small and simple but it does the work.

There's three buttons : the map, the inventory and the phone.

Here's how the inventory looks like :
1695478892941.png
Again it's quite simple. Hovering an item with the mouse will display a descritpion of it in the bottom part.

Now the map :
1695479026859.png
Yes it's not really a map. You will be able to travel to different location through this screen.
What ? The drawing's are blurry and not good ? Well it's the main characters book. And he at least is not an artist.

Finally the phone. This one will mainly be there for hints. Everything will be there, so don't worry if you want to skip things or if you forgot where you needed to go for a specific quest :
1695479266062.png
The phone serves no other purposes for now.

Developement is going smoothly. The game is now well playable. There's still a few things missing but they'll come soon.
As for writting, I'm doing good progress and I think that I'm almost done for the first release.

That's all from me for today. Again, thanks for your time !
 

nonomo

Newbie
Game Developer
May 2, 2019
43
68
Hey everyone, guess what ? Yes, it's me again for a new update on the developpment of From Sword to Pen.

Today won't be as visual as last times.
I've been working on the script for a good while now. Although it's not 100% complete, the dialogs for the first version have been proofread by Saint Blackmoor. Many thanks to him ! Here's his thread for anyone curious : https://f95zone.to/threads/experienced-proofreader-i-can-help-you-with-your-game.155643/

I didn't want to just copy and paste his work. It took time to read his correction to learn my mistakes.
I can't say that I won't make them again but it at least helped a bit.
Music and sound effects have been added to liven up the game a bit !
I've also been busy setting up the patreon but it's not quite finished yet.


From LYIB's side, he's still doing a few backgrounds that are missing. art will be pretty much done for the 0.1 release after that.
And that's all for now, thanks a lot for reading !

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nonomo

Newbie
Game Developer
May 2, 2019
43
68
Hey everyone ! I'm glad to annonce that the first version [V0.1] of From Sword to Pen is out !

It's not been long since we created this thread. Mainly because we were a bit late on deciding to do devlogs.
Now the game is out and has it's own thread on the games forum ! (If you can't find it here look into game requests, it might still be there.)
From Sword to Pen thread

I don't think that this thread will be updated again as we will communicate on the game thread.
Anyway, we thank you again for you're time reading this. Nonomo and LYIB.