Ren'Py Hi! I need advice. I want to add battles and rpg elements to the game but I am not sure that Renpy is right engine for it.

[Nomine sine]

Hello!

I am a developer of a game named Ashes. Currently, it is mostly "choose your own adventure" type of game. But I want to add a battle system (including inventory, skills and etc.) ala RPG maker at least (I would prefer Darkest Dungeon but beggars are not choosers). The problem here is that I don't have any idea of how time-consuming this endeavor can be. That is why I humbly ask for your advice.

1, Is it even possible to add an RPG maker battle system to Renpy? Wouldn't it lead to memory leakage?
2. How much would it cost (approximately) to hire a programmer for this task?
3. is there any tutorial that even an amateur like me can use to add a battle system to Renpy?

Thank you.

 

[TessaXYZ]

Hello!

I am a developer of a game named Ashes. Currently, it is mostly "choose your own adventure" type of game. But I want to add a battle system (including inventory, skills and etc.) ala RPG maker at least (I would prefer Darkest Dungeon but beggars are not choosers). The problem here is that I don't have any idea of how time-consuming this endeavor can be. That is why I humbly ask for your advice.

1, Is it even possible to add an RPG maker battle system to Renpy? Wouldn't it lead to memory leakage?
2. How much would it cost (approximately) to hire a programmer for this task?
3. is there any tutorial that even an amateur like me can use to add a battle system to Renpy?

Thank you.

1. Yes it is. Seen it done multiple times. Ultimately, Renpy can do a lot more than the basic VN features, it's just a huge pain in the ass compared to other engines that are purpose built for it.
2. No clue
3. Yes, there are tutorials. Just google "Renpy combat system"

 

[Nomine sine]

1. Yes it is. Seen it done multiple times.
2. No clue
3. Yes, there are tutorials. Just google "Renpy combat system"

Thank you for your answer.

About the first one. Can you please name some of these games?

 

[TessaXYZ]

Thank you for your answer.

About the first one. Can you please name some of these games?

If you go to Latest Updates, you can filter games with the combat tag.

 

[Saki_Sliz]

You can look here and talk to programmers to get a feeling for #2
different programmers and their preferred engine will also describe different ranges of difficulty and time.

 

[Nomine sine]

You can look here and talk to programmers to get a feeling for #2
different programmers and their preferred engine will also describe different ranges of difficulty and time.

Thank you

 

[anne O'nymous]

1, Is it even possible to add an RPG maker battle system to Renpy? Wouldn't it lead to memory leakage?

Yes it's possible, under many different forms. Sakura Dungeon have one JRPG style, Planet Stronghold 2 too, with in top some basic map exploration. Damsels and Dungeons have a more basic/textual one, while Lust Hunter use a card based system, while having a more advanced map exploration. There's even a game that mimic RPG Maker combat system, but I forgot its name ; mostly because it's not a really good game.
And those are just the example that come to my mind right now. Globally speaking it's not really Ren'Py that would limit you here, but more your (or your programmer) knowledge. As long as you don't want it to be full real time 3D, Ren'Py can do it.

2. How much would it cost (approximately) to hire a programmer for this task?

From near to nothing to a lot. All depend on the complexity of the system you effectively want, and how good is the programmer. Obviously, the more complex is the system, and the better is the programmer, the more it will cost you.

3. is there any tutorial that even an amateur like me can use to add a battle system to Renpy?

Tutorial I don't think, but there's few front end that can add it. I don't really know how good they are, and they are probably out dated now, but it's one way to learn how to do it yourself.

 

[Nomine sine]

Yes it's possible, under many different forms. Sakura Dungeon have one JRPG style, Planet Stronghold 2 too, with in top some basic map exploration. Damsels and Dungeons have a more basic/textual one, while Lust Hunter use a card based system, while having a more advanced map exploration. There's even a game that mimic RPG Maker combat system, but I forgot its name ; mostly because it's not a really good game.
And those are just the example that come to my mind right now. Globally speaking it's not really Ren'Py that would limit you here, but more your (or your programmer) knowledge. As long as you don't want it to be full real time 3D, Ren'Py can do it.




From near to nothing to a lot. All depend on the complexity of the system you effectively want, and how good is the programmer. Obviously, the more complex is the system, and the better is the programmer, the more it will cost you.




Tutorial I don't think, but there's few front end that can add it. I don't really know how good they are, and they are probably out dated now, but it's one way to learn how to do it yourself.

Thank you for the game names. It helps a lot.

Hope I will find a programmer with affordable prices. Or copy-paste some scripts from these games ) Hope I won't need to make everything from scratch myself because time between updates will be astronomical.

 

[FromOtherSpace]

Hope I will find a programmer with affordable prices. Or copy-paste some scripts from these games ) Hope I won't need to make everything from scratch myself because time between updates will be astronomical.

Unless you change everything, everytime, your combat system should be done "forever".

To add a character, you only need to add his/her data and your system run. Same thing for a spell or an attack : its sprites, its damage value, done.

Adding a new mechanic could be a big task, but it's not something you are gonna do for each update.