What platform do you prefer to play in?

[MrSandman69]

I always have preferred web based games. However I recently have tried many ren'py games and I'm not quite sure anymore, because I liked them.

The case is that I'm working in the plot of a game, and I want to start developing it. However, for passing from paper to computer I have a dilemma selecting the technology to use.

Let's considerate that this will be a kind of visual novel where your choices conditions the story. I'm going to make the art in Daz Studio, so it will have 3D models. For a web based game I would use something like Twine or Monogatari, and for a downloadable game I would considerate Ren'Py or Unity (but this last one would be like kill flies with a cannon).

I'm looking for some advice about it, in order to develop something that can reach the maximum amount of people. What do you recommend to me? Thank you!!

 

[DarthSeduction]

Well, as a Ren'Py dev I'm biased, but the first project I was a part of that got a release was Unity, and like you said, it was like shooting flies with a cannon. Personally I've never been a fan of web based. I much prefer to have the game on my PC. Ren'Py is very easy to use, with the level of python knowledge necessary to get started being incredibly simple. The platform is quite malleable as well, allowing you to do with it what you like. @anne O'nymous here on the forum has been pretty vocal about how we as developers rarely use all of Ren'Py's functionality and has a lot of knowledge, and is usually happy to help beginners. There are also plenty of other members with know-how and a willingness to lend a hand, so using Ren'Py is definitely a win-win for a first time developer.

 

[NandabaCanti]

I don't care much for web-based games, unless they are something like short flash games that you can finish in a single session of a few minutes to a few hours tops. It's fine for demos as well, and can be preferable in that case, as people can try out what you've got going on without having to download anything.

I generally always prefer something that I can download and play standalone, preferably without needing to install anything. I'm on Linux, and have been for over a decade now, so I always appreciate seeing ports available. But I can get most Windows games running through Wine without too much fuss when I need to.

 

[MrSandman69]

Well, as a Ren'Py dev I'm biased, but the first project I was a part of that got a release was Unity, and like you said, it was like shooting flies with a cannon. Personally I've never been a fan of web based. I much prefer to have the game on my PC. Ren'Py is very easy to use, with the level of python knowledge necessary to get started being incredibly simple. The platform is quite malleable as well, allowing you to do with it what you like. @anne O'nymous here on the forum has been pretty vocal about how we as developers rarely use all of Ren'Py's functionality and has a lot of knowledge, and is usually happy to help beginners. There are also plenty of other members with know-how and a willingness to lend a hand, so using Ren'Py is definitely a win-win for a first time developer.

Sure, I was reading Ren'Py documentation the other day and it doesn't look very complicated:

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On the other hand, "PC (Windows)" is winning with big difference, so this is another good reason to try it.

 

[MrSandman69]

I don't care much for web-based games, unless they are something like short flash games that you can finish in a single session of a few minutes to a few hours tops. It's fine for demos as well, and can be preferable in that case, as people can try out what you've got going on without having to download anything.

I generally always prefer something that I can download and play standalone, preferably without needing to install anything. I'm on Linux, and have been for over a decade now, so I always appreciate seeing ports available. But I can get most Windows games running through Wine without too much fuss when I need to.

That's a good point. I suppose that a downloaded game is easier for save it and continue playing later. I think that Ren'Py games are easy versionable for several operating systems, so it would not be a huge problem to make a GNU/Linux native version.

 

[NandabaCanti]

Ren'Py outputs Windows and Linux by default (possibly Mac as well). Most Ren'Py games on here leave the Linux files intact in the "PC" version, which usually means most of the Windows released Ren'Py games are out of the box playable on Linux, though sometimes I have to go in and flag a few files as executable in the Linux dirs to get them to run. Also Ren'Py is about the easiest engine out there for end users to port existing games for their own use. There are at least 3 ways to get the necessary Linux files to make a Ren'Py game run native, even if the dev stripped them out before archiving their game for distribution or intentionally unchecked the boxes for the Linux builds in their project.