Ren'Py Once I have a playable first version for my game, what are some important things to know?

[Earliestbird]

I have a the first playable version of an RPG game in RenPy completed with a lot of systems and things going on in the background.

A few things I've been wondering about that I haven't seen on any guides or forums:

- Is there anything in particular I need to know about updating my game in the future, like save compatibility? I still have a LOT of systems to develop in my game, so maybe I shouldn't worry about this yet.

- Is it possible that the GUI will get messed up for some players? The base resolution for my game is 1400 x 1050 (the usual 4:9 aspect ratio for VNs), and I have several UI elements that I adjusted to be pixel perfect. Most gamers use 1080p monitors which is large enough, but I'd still like to ask if there's anything I need to know regarding this.

I would also like to ask if you have any pointers in general. Thank you in advance!

 

[anne O'nymous]

- Is there anything in particular I need to know about updating my game in the future, like save compatibility? I still have a LOT of systems to develop in my game, so maybe I shouldn't worry about this yet.

You should worry about the save compatibility before you even release the first update ; especially if, like you said, it's a RPG game with a lot of things going in the background. It's not everyone that will be ready to restart your game every single time you release a new update, due to the incompatibility with the save files.
Take a look at my signature and follow the second link.

The "things" going in the background also make me wonder if you ensured that everything is saved correctly ? Did they also reset correctly if the player just decide to start a new game by just going back to the main menu ?

- Is it possible that the GUI will get messed up for some players? The base resolution for my game is 1400 x 1050 (the usual 4:9 aspect ratio for VNs),

I was ready to answer "no" to your question, when I realized that 1400x1050 is absolutely not 4:9. It's a 4:3 ratio, there's not this many people who still have a computer screen with such ratio. By itself it's not a problem, since it will fit correctly into the 1920x1080 of the average screen resolution, but the error by itself is not really reassuring.

and I have several UI elements that I adjusted to be pixel perfect.

By itself it's something that don't matter with Ren'Py. The engine draw the screen at it's expected resolution, then scale it to the effective size of the game window. But of course the result will not be as perfect as you expect it, due to this scaling.
Be also noted that when you effectively adjust everything to be "pixel perfect", it generally mean that the said UI is readable when displayed at its original size. Therefore it can be hard to understand/read when scaled at a lower size. And it will be scaled down since the image height (1050) + the title height and the taskbar height (50) is greater than the height of the screen (1080).
When you design an UI for Ren'Py, you should follow the same approach than when you design the UI for a website, therefore works with relative values and percents. This way, and with the help of Ren'Py automatic scaling, the UI will looks great, and stay mostly understandable and readable, whatever the effective size of the game window.

Most gamers use 1080p monitors which is large enough,

1080 is the height of the screen, not its width ; therefore it's high enough, not large enough. It's the second error regarding the screen size, and it make me really worry about the "lot of systems" in your game.
Two errors in your logic process for something relatively basic and obvious, it's not really a great omen regarding the logic you applied to code those systems. Therefore, you should also redo a series of test of your code, a long one that don't limits to "does it seem to works".

 

[Earliestbird]

You should worry about the save compatibility before you even release the first update ; especially if, like you said, it's a RPG game with a lot of things going in the background. It's not everyone that will be ready to restart your game every single time you release a new update, due to the incompatibility with the save files.
Take a look at my signature and follow the second link.

The "things" going in the background also make me wonder if you ensured that everything is saved correctly ? Did they also reset correctly if the player just decide to start a new game by just going back to the main menu ?




I was ready to answer "no" to your question, when I realized that 1400x1050 is absolutely not 4:9. It's a 4:3 ratio, there's not this many people who still have a computer screen with such ratio. By itself it's not a problem, since it will fit correctly into the 1920x1080 of the average screen resolution, but the error by itself is not really reassuring.




By itself it's something that don't matter with Ren'Py. The engine draw the screen at it's expected resolution, then scale it to the effective size of the game window. But of course the result will not be as perfect as you expect it, due to this scaling.
Be also noted that when you effectively adjust everything to be "pixel perfect", it generally mean that the said UI is readable when displayed at its original size. Therefore it can be hard to understand/read when scaled at a lower size. And it will be scaled down since the image height (1050) + the title height and the taskbar height (50) is greater than the height of the screen (1080).
When you design an UI for Ren'Py, you should follow the same approach than when you design the UI for a website, therefore works with relative values and percents. This way, and with the help of Ren'Py automatic scaling, the UI will looks great, and stay mostly understandable and readable, whatever the effective size of the game window.




1080 is the height of the screen, not its width ; therefore it's high enough, not large enough. It's the second error regarding the screen size, and it make me really worry about the "lot of systems" in your game.
Two errors in your logic process for something relatively basic and obvious, it's not really a great omen regarding the logic you applied to code those systems. Therefore, you should also redo a series of test of your code, a long one that don't limits to "does it seem to works".

Sorry, dumb mistype on my part with the aspect ratio, I was somewhat distracted while writing this post, I'm aware 1400x1050 is 4:3. I also know that 1080p does not mean height, when saying "large enough" I meant that 1400x1050 should fit inside 1080p (1920×1080).

I have tested the RPG systems as much as possible, including that everything saves correctly. I'm both using init functions (called on game start) and some default statements. Nothing overtly complex; inventories, many hidden variables, resources and buildings that unlock mechanics, etc. It's just the update save compatibility that I don't have figured out yet.

I'd like to apologize again, even if English is my second language I really should pay attention and get myself across better, considering I'm writing a story-driven game as we speak.