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Ren'Py Want to start out in Ren'Py

sora21345

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Oct 28, 2017
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Hey am a person who have a shit ton of free time on there hands who want's to learn on how to use ren'py and thought that someone from here could help tutor or teach me how to learn this I also would want to let you know am a bit of a slow learner so I hope this won't frustrate anybody who want to help me

Discord: sora21345#0750
 

Flecc

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Quite a lot of info on Renpy website, I also believe it has a built in tutorial

 
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Penfold Mole

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do i have to learn all of it?
LOL
Usually most people learn by doing and as much as they need at the moment.
You start with the 'Getting Started' chapter and progress from there if and when you need it. You can skip the stuff you don't need for your first project. And you don't need much for VN type games.

When you run into a problem that requires additional info, you just open Ren'Py documentation and learn a bit more.
You can also google for a solution, you just have to be careful about old outdated script examples that you will most likely find that way.
 
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sora21345

Member
Oct 28, 2017
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LOL
Usually most people learn by doing and as much as they need at the moment.
You start with the 'Getting Started' chapter and progress from there if and when you need it. You can skip the stuff you don't need for your first project. And you don't need much for VN type games.

When you run into a problem that requires additional info, you just open Ren'Py documentation and learn a bit more.
You can also google for a solution, you just have to be careful about old outdated script examples that you will most likely find that way.
not gonna lie with so much stuff here am a little intimidated by it
 

Penfold Mole

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Better to have documentation about the features you don't need than not having documentation about the things you need or at all.
 

sora21345

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Oct 28, 2017
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Better to have documentation about the features you don't need than not having documentation about the things you need or at all.
since am a slow learner i have a notebook to write in and i wanted to ask but is there notes that i should write down?
 

Penfold Mole

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IDK. I'm just keeping my browser with Ren'Py documentation open when I'm dealing with something new or something I've forgotten. And I do forget everything that I'm not using often enough. I think that this is normal for most people.

You can't learn a progamming or scripting language by reading a manual or documentation and writing notes on paper. Not well anyway.
You have to try to write something, some program or script to learn by doing what you're reading about.

It's not like the time I was taught programming basics any more. We had a very limited access to computers, so most of the work had to be done on paper and ready for input for when we had access, that was like 2x45 minutes once or twice a week in the beginning.
It's so much easier to try everything you learn right away in practice on a computer and have the documentation or tutorial open right there.
 
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sora21345

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Oct 28, 2017
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IDK. I'm just keeping my browser with Ren'Py documentation open when I'm dealing with something new or something I've forgotten. And I do forget everything that I'm not using often enough. I think that this is normal for most people.

You can't learn a progamming or scripting language by reading a manual or documentation and writing notes on paper. Not well anyway.
You have to try to write something, some program or script to learn by doing what you're reading about.

It's not like the time I was taught programming basics any more. We had a very limited access to computers, so most of the work had to be done on paper and ready for input for when we had access, that was like 2x45 minutes once or twice a week in the beginning.
It's so much easier to try everything you learn right away in practice on a computer and have the documentation or tutorial open right there.
i have no idea what your talking about right now?
 

anne O'nymous

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IDK. I'm just keeping my browser with Ren'Py documentation open when I'm dealing with something new or something I've forgotten. And I do forget everything that I'm not using often enough. I think that this is normal for most people.
Personally I even have a browser dedicated for this, with at least the starting page of most documentations (previously crawled if needed) that I can need to use. And there's part, even for Ren'py (I know, shocking :) ) that I have never read because I have absolutely no use to what they explain.


You can't learn a progamming or scripting language by reading a manual or documentation and writing notes on paper. Not well anyway.
You have to try to write something, some program or script to learn by doing what you're reading about.
Totally agree. Keeping note can help to imprint the information into your memory. But it will never help you to understand them, while it's what matter the most. For this, the only way to do is to experiment, and to fail, a lot. It can seem weird, but when it come to something technical, what include coding, knowing what a thing isn't, or can't be, is as important as knowing what it is.
 
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sora21345

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Oct 28, 2017
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Personally I even have a browser dedicated for this, with at least the starting page of most documentations (previously crawled if needed) that I can need to use. And there's part, even for Ren'py (I know, shocking :) ) that I have never read because I have absolutely no use to what they explain.




Totally agree. Keeping note can help to imprint the information into your memory. But it will never help you to understand them, while it's what matter the most. For this, the only way to do is to experiment, and to fail, a lot. It can seem weird, but when it come to something technical, what include coding, knowing what a thing isn't, or can't be, is as important as knowing what it is.
if i wanted to make a sandbox in ren'py will the tutorial help with that or do i have to figure that out by myself?
 

Cryswar

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if i wanted to make a sandbox in ren'py will the tutorial help with that or do i have to figure that out by myself?
Define sandbox. Renpy can be as complex or simple as you want - just some basic label hopping or even a straight line, or as many complex RPG mechanics and systems as you want via screen language and Python, or anywhere in between. We can probably give better info if we know what you want to do.
 

sora21345

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Oct 28, 2017
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Define sandbox. Renpy can be as complex or simple as you want - just some basic label hopping or even a straight line, or as many complex RPG mechanics and systems as you want via screen language and Python, or anywhere in between. We can probably give better info if we know what you want to do.
well i haven't really thought that far ahead yet i'll wait till one of my friends help me come up with a story for the sandbox
 

sora21345

Member
Oct 28, 2017
412
94
Define sandbox. Renpy can be as complex or simple as you want - just some basic label hopping or even a straight line, or as many complex RPG mechanics and systems as you want via screen language and Python, or anywhere in between. We can probably give better info if we know what you want to do.
heeeeeeeeeeeeey am still alive I wanted to ask but is there a way to add stat screen for strength,agility,nature? making my first game a choice base one
 
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Cryswar

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May 31, 2019
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heeeeeeeeeeeeey am still alive I wanted to ask but is there a way to add stat screen for strength,agility,nature? making my first game a choice base one
Absolutely, pretty easy at that, though it takes a bit of knowledge of screen language. You can make it pretty simple and ugly (as I do LOL) or very complex with a beautiful UI.

In general, the basic idea is that you set up a screen with a vbox/hbox/whatever, then add a text or textbutton or imagebutton to display the thing.

Some examples of displaying stats as text;
textbutton "Vitality:" action NullAction() tooltip "Vitality offers 30% damage mitigation if equal to your level. Vitality is also used for feats of toughness in events." xsize 85 text_size 16
textbutton str(int(getTotalVitality(infoChar))) action NullAction() tooltip "Your total Vitality with all traits, equipment, buffs, etc." text_size 16
The former is very simple; the textbutton just says "Vitality", and if they mouse over it, it displays a tooltip (need to set that up elsewhere).

The latter is a bit more complex, it runs a Python function that calculates the character's combined Vitality and returns it as a float, but is encased in an int() function that turns it into an int, which is in turn encased in a str() function which turns that int into a string, so the screen can display it. Since those two buttons are in a hbox, it'll display the numerical value of the stat next to the "Vitality:" button.

You can definitely go much simpler, using text and not bothering with tooltips could do both things in a single item. For example,
text "Vitality: [playerVitality]"
would work if you had a variable named playerVitality. I think. If not, you could do something like
text "Vitality: " + playerVitality
String concatenation can be a VERY powerful tool if you're mixing a lot of words together regularly.

Depending on what you're doing it may be easier to just use variables rather than Python classes to store data or functions to calculate them, "playerStrength" is fine if you don't need to track anyone else's Strength stat, but if you need to track a bunch of them, or Juno-Seto forbid 6+ stats for dozens of characters, then classes can be a lifesaver. Functions are their own can of worms, very powerful and good to know, but you don't need to go crazy with them at the start.
 

sora21345

Member
Oct 28, 2017
412
94
Absolutely, pretty easy at that, though it takes a bit of knowledge of screen language. You can make it pretty simple and ugly (as I do LOL) or very complex with a beautiful UI.

In general, the basic idea is that you set up a screen with a vbox/hbox/whatever, then add a text or textbutton or imagebutton to display the thing.

Some examples of displaying stats as text;


The former is very simple; the textbutton just says "Vitality", and if they mouse over it, it displays a tooltip (need to set that up elsewhere).

The latter is a bit more complex, it runs a Python function that calculates the character's combined Vitality and returns it as a float, but is encased in an int() function that turns it into an int, which is in turn encased in a str() function which turns that int into a string, so the screen can display it. Since those two buttons are in a hbox, it'll display the numerical value of the stat next to the "Vitality:" button.

You can definitely go much simpler, using text and not bothering with tooltips could do both things in a single item. For example,
would work if you had a variable named playerVitality. I think. If not, you could do something like String concatenation can be a VERY powerful tool if you're mixing a lot of words together regularly.

Depending on what you're doing it may be easier to just use variables rather than Python classes to store data or functions to calculate them, "playerStrength" is fine if you don't need to track anyone else's Strength stat, but if you need to track a bunch of them, or Juno-Seto forbid 6+ stats for dozens of characters, then classes can be a lifesaver. Functions are their own can of worms, very powerful and good to know, but you don't need to go crazy with them at the start.
right now i just need to think about how to add the wildlife and i should be good to write out the story also the stats is mostly for the main protagonist and wish me luck
 
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Cryswar

The Profound Dorkness
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May 31, 2019
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right now i just need to think about how to add the wildlife and i should be good to write out the story also the stats is mostly for the main protagonist and wish me luck
Best of luck to ya!
 

Ghostboy031

Active Member
Jan 2, 2019
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Quick Question mate, as why didn't you go with RPG maker first ? As I'm currently in the process of making my own game but I'm having trouble deciding on what system to use
 

sora21345

Member
Oct 28, 2017
412
94
Quick Question mate, as why didn't you go with RPG maker first ? As I'm currently in the process of making my own game but I'm having trouble deciding on what system to use
not gonna lie i was gonna start making a game in rpg maker but i notice how much work there is to making it which it kinda itimidated me so i gave up on it but then i watch a video about how a person got rich selling diamonds to a shit ton of people and that gave me an inspiration on a new game that am working on now which made me remember renpy and how many people say it was easy to learn on making a visual novel for a beginner thats why i chose it