VN Questions Regarding Programs

[ThousandMasks]

Hello, everyone.

So! This is potentially going to be a stupid question to many people, but I wanted to toss it out there because I'm somewhat new to game design (outside of goofing in RPG Maker), and am beginning to work in earnest on several projects (lewd and non-lewd).

The goal is going to be for a Visual Novel (hence the tag), and I was wondering if there were opinions on Ren'Py v. TyranoBuilder, and what formed them? I'm not looking to start a debate, just get a feel for which one people think is more user friendly to a beginner, and better at design.

I ask, mainly, because I see a majority of developers using Ren'Py, but poking at Tyrano it has more of a WYSIWYG philosophy, so was wondering if there was a reason people favored one over the other?

And in honesty, I'm also looking at Twine and Quest, but Twine makes my brain turn to mush, and Quest feels... off somehow (can't really explain beyond that at the moment).

Thanks to anyone who replies, and looking forward to trying to be a part of the community (I'm predisposed to lurking and avoiding interaction online).

~TM

 

[Deleted member 167032]

I started off with Tyranobuilder. It's very easy to use and works... to a point.

Trust me if you want the full monty then use Ren'Py or even Unity etc... That is if you want to customize almost everything.
If you just want to have a bg image and sprites over it then Tyranobuilder is way to go really.
I started to run into problems with Tyranobuilder as my game got bigger and bigger.

Also when you publish your game i believe RenPy will have more options than Tyranobuilder

 

[ThousandMasks]

I started off with Tyranobuilder. It's very easy to use and works... to a point.

Trust me if you want the full monty then use Ren'Py or even Unity etc... That is if you want to customize almost everything.
If you just want to have a bg image and sprites over it then Tyranobuilder is way to go really.
I started to run into problems with Tyranobuilder as my game got bigger and bigger.

Also when you publish your game i believe RenPy will have more options than Tyranobuilder

Thank you! That's exactly the kind of info I'm looking for!

 

[Deleted member 167032]

I had similar questions not too long ago as you have... glad to help

If I may be so bold, start building your Name/Brand for your game already. Get a Patreon page going and design a logo for yourself. Get some character images and get yourself an avatar here on F95Zone etc... Even if you far off getting the buzz going or letting people know who you are is a very easy and good tool to use.

 

[Rich]

I have no experience with Tyranobuilder. What I've heard echos what @MrKnobb says - it's very easy to get started with, but isn't as full-featured as Ren'py. That being said, Ren'py is pretty easy to use if you're doing VN's, because that's what it's designed for. You can do a LOT more with it, but that begins to take some programming expertise. I suspect part of the reason that Ren'py gets more attention is simply that it's been around a lot longer.

Unity, out of the box, isn't designed specifically for VN work. It's an extremely flexible game environment, but, as such, it tends to provide you a core set of building blocks and requires you to do the rest yourself. For a VN, you'd have to do a lot of work. (I know, I built a VN-type engine inside Unity, but I'm a hard-core programmer-type.)

If you've done any programming at all, I think you'd find Ren'py pretty easy to pick up. Otherwise, maybe start with TB, get some experience in game structure itself, and then transfer to Ren'py if you hit a point where TB won't do what you want. Your choice.

 

[Deleted member 167032]

Well said brah...

I have no experience with Tyranobuilder. What I've heard echos what @MrKnobb says - it's very easy to get started with, but isn't as full-featured as Ren'py. That being said, Ren'py is pretty easy to use if you're doing VN's, because that's what it's designed for. You can do a LOT more with it, but that begins to take some programming expertise. I suspect part of the reason that Ren'py gets more attention is simply that it's been around a lot longer.

Unity, out of the box, isn't designed specifically for VN work. It's an extremely flexible game environment, but, as such, it tends to provide you a core set of building blocks and requires you to do the rest yourself. For a VN, you'd have to do a lot of work. (I know, I built a VN-type engine inside Unity, but I'm a hard-core programmer-type.)

If you've done any programming at all, I think you'd find Ren'py pretty easy to pick up. Otherwise, maybe start with TB, get some experience in game structure itself, and then transfer to Ren'py if you hit a point where TB won't do what you want. Your choice.

 

[Deleted member 167032]

I have noticed one thing about RenPy that is soooo familiar.

I am going back to the early 90's here when i was still designing websites.

You had to create your index/home page design then cut it up in Photoshop and then import that into Dreamweaver. Then you would make it fit, add your text etc... Add ASP Classic or Javascript to it.
The onLoad / UnLoad buttons as in Renpy were same as what we had to do in Dreamveaver. So a lot of RenPy is familiar to me. Pity i'm not such a good coder.

 

[ThousandMasks]

Thanks again for all the responses!

If you've done any programming at all, I think you'd find Ren'py pretty easy to pick up. Otherwise, maybe start with TB, get some experience in game structure itself, and then transfer to Ren'py if you hit a point where TB won't do what you want. Your choice.

See, here's the rub on that. I've only ever done any kind of programming in RPG Maker, and that was mostly fiddling with the built-in functions (switching and variables, mainly).

[Edit] Oh, and making Excel sheets for work that did most of my job for me.

You had to create your index/home page design then cut it up in Photoshop and then import that into Dreamweaver. Then you would make it fit, add your text etc... Add ASP Classic or Javascript to it.
The onLoad / UnLoad buttons as in Renpy were same as what we had to do in Dreamveaver. So a lot of RenPy is familiar to me. Pity i'm not such a good coder.

This.. this is basically Greek to me at points. Whenever I did anything with website building, I tended to use Geocities poorly.


This all began as a project with a friend who is better (or at least more familiar) with coding/computers than I am. He ended up being unreliable at best, and unable to count on, but I became enamored with the idea of trying to do a kind of interactive story (I have longstanding aspirations of being a writer) in the format. So, here we are.

 

[ThousandMasks]

If I may be so bold, start building your Name/Brand for your game already. Get a Patreon page going and design a logo for yourself. Get some character images and get yourself an avatar here on F95Zone etc... Even if you far off getting the buzz going or letting people know who you are is a very easy and good tool to use.

Ironically, that's where I started. Already have a logo (trying to find it amidst the mess of my organization schema, and have had a Patreon set up for a while waiting for this to get started. Just deciding to Carpe Diem and get it done myself.

 

[Studio Errilhl]

There is one thing (that might also be a thing with Tyrannobuilder, I dunno, I've never used it), and that is the

You must be registered to see the links

server. Also, the

You must be registered to see the links

(Lemmasoft.renai.us) - there are plenty of helpful people, tutorials, resources etc. You will of course need a little bit of programming knowledge to do mostly anything beyond the very basic, but for plain VNs (dialogue, sprites and backgrounds, choices etc.) you don't need much knowledge at all. And the people are helpful, as long as you make an effort.

Personally, I would go for Renpy - I can't stand the GUI-builders, it just feels wrong to me. Pretty much as it feels wrong to design a webpage in Photoshop and use Dreamweaver to code it...

 

[ThousandMasks]

Thanks again to everyone responding; it's very helpful to get an idea of what's going to be easier/harder to work with in the long run, rather than what is simpler to understand in the short term.

 

[Droid Productions]

Just deciding to Carpe Diem and get it done myself.

That's pretty good advice for the next stage as well, honestly. Go with RenPy; it's got a much broader support base on this forum, so lots of people who can give you advice in forum on discord. Make some renders, get them in-game, tackle each problem as you encounter it.. pretty soon you'll have something that at least plays a few pics and dialog, some branching and a main menu.

Then you can take a step back, re-look your story and dreams based on what you've learnt, and start an actual project from scratch, planning ahead and building stuff cleanly. But the first step on that road involves lifting your foot and putting it down on the road

Good luck!

 

[Deleted member 167032]

Like i said, back in the 90's we use to do it that way. IT may sound cumbersome but like all things you get use to it and get good at it.
Today its coding that does most things. Online web design sites like WIX killed it for the local webdesigners.

There is one thing (that might also be a thing with Tyrannobuilder, I dunno, I've never used it), and that is the

You must be registered to see the links

server. Also, the

You must be registered to see the links

(Lemmasoft.renai.us) - there are plenty of helpful people, tutorials, resources etc. You will of course need a little bit of programming knowledge to do mostly anything beyond the very basic, but for plain VNs (dialogue, sprites and backgrounds, choices etc.) you don't need much knowledge at all. And the people are helpful, as long as you make an effort.

Personally, I would go for Renpy - I can't stand the GUI-builders, it just feels wrong to me. Pretty much as it feels wrong to design a webpage in Photoshop and use Dreamweaver to code it...

 

[Deleted member 167032]

You just missed an open door to give us your Patreon link ;0)

Ironically, that's where I started. Already have a logo (trying to find it amidst the mess of my organization schema, and have had a Patreon set up for a while waiting for this to get started. Just deciding to Carpe Diem and get it done myself.

 

[ThousandMasks]

Considered it, but not comfortable asking for money or patronnage until I have something to offer more than a promise of intent.

Began poking into Ren'Py and other programs a bit today. Should at least be interesting.

 

[Deleted member 167032]

Become friends with "Rich" here on F95, he's been helping me a lot wrt RenPy.
Basically it seems the whole DEV community here is very helpful.

Oh and you do not have to ask money at first.

Have a look at mine and you'l see what i mean. I do not have any sponsors yet but that is because ive not advertised the game yet, just my name.

You must be registered to see the links

Considered it, but not comfortable asking for money or patronnage until I have something to offer more than a promise of intent.

Began poking into Ren'Py and other programs a bit today. Should at least be interesting.

 

[ThousandMasks]

Become friends with "Rich" here on F95, he's been helping me a lot wrt RenPy.
Basically it seems the whole DEV community here is very helpful.

Oh and you do not have to ask money at first.

Have a look at mine and you'l see what i mean. I do not have any sponsors yet but that is because ive not advertised the game yet, just my name.

You must be registered to see the links

I've actually been talking to Brad a bit, and he's already been helpful in pointing out my issues in regards to the scope of my ideas for an initial project.

You make an excellent point, in regards to the Patreon. I'm still getting my feet wet with all of this "online community" business, if that's not obvious.

You must be registered to see the links

 

[Deleted member 167032]

Now you have one Follower on Patreon...

 

[Studio Errilhl]

Like i said, back in the 90's we use to do it that way. IT may sound cumbersome but like all things you get use to it and get good at it.
Today its coding that does most things. Online web design sites like WIX killed it for the local webdesigners.

Eh, no. I started making webpages in the mid-90s, and I've actually never, ever made a Photoshop mockup and butchered it into something vaguely usable with Frontpage or Dreamweaver. I've actually coded manually since I first started, and I used CSS from the beginning.

Granted, while it is possible, I've never seen an actual well-designed, well-working site made via PS / DW. Yes, it might look nice on first view (usually after about a minute or two of loading), but it rarely works flawlessly. But then, I'm a web-purist, and I prefer my sites to degrade gracefully, and be usable and viewable in things like lynx, if need be.

 

[Droid Productions]

Eh, no. I started making webpages in the mid-90s, and I've actually never, ever made a Photoshop mockup and butchered it into something vaguely usable with Frontpage or Dreamweaver. I've actually coded manually since I first started, and I used CSS from the beginning.

That's because you're a coder, and it's what coders do.

The bulk of websites are hacked up by a designer, smacked into a DW (or these days WordPress) template, and whoever just wanted a web-presence as cheap and easy as possible got it.