Like Ren' Py freezes a lot I find
That's werid because I've found unity breaks the least. Like I might click the next button in Ren' Py and the game pulls up the error screen or freezes on me. It doesn't happen all the time but when it happens it's annoying. This is not an issue I encounter in unity.
I've never had RenPy freeze on me. Out of the dozens of RenPy games I've played, I've had a few pop up with an error screen, but that's always been a coding mistake by the dev, and not something actually going wrong with the engine. If all RenPy games are having an issue for you, it would seem like something is wrong with your system. On the whole, RenPy games are much more stable that games from other engines. Very few engines will let you BACK UP from an error screen and continue playing or using the software.
People use RenPy because it is lightweight, easy to code for, and includes dialogue support, saving and loading support, and menu support immediately out of the box. Those aren't small things. Try coding dialogue and saving and loading from scratch in an engine like Unity and you'll find it's a non-trivial task.
A few other reasons for RenPy:
- It lets a dev easily create Windows, Mac, AND Linux builds of their game without rewriting code.
- It has a ton of support and tutorials specifically for making adult games, because it was developed from the start to make "Renai" (Love) games. That's where the Ren in RenPy comes from.
- It is feature complete from the start for visual novels, but because it is written in Python it is also easy to extend and code advanced features into. Python is (arguably, but most will agree) the easiest programming language to learn too.
- Making a game in RenPy makes it easy to mod for the end users. You'll notice that almost every game on F95 that has a fan made patch or addon is a RenPy game.
- RenPy is made to run on some truly ancient (in computer terms) hardware. Obviously this depends on the developer and what they do with the engine, but if they are just using the basic features of RenPy the games should run on anything made in the last decade. And there has been a real focus lately on making it possible to run in a browser too.
- RenPy is free. Like totally free. No fees. No licenses. No revenue sharing. And the creator is very available. When RenPy devs have an issue they can usually get word back or a fix from the dev (PyTom) in less than a day. Again, for free. It's nuts.
As for Unity, it can be great in the hands of a skilled developer, but for beginners it is often overkill and easy for them to screw up. You need to either use plugins or code a lot of features from scratch, C# is not as easy for new programmers to learn as Python, and often there is NO REASON to use Unity for a game.
If the dev's game is a traditional VN that is going to use the normal talking sprites over backgrounds with dialogue and animations . . . using Unity for that is like killing a fly using a cannon rather than a flyswatter. You're expending more effort, energy, and resources for the same result in the end.
Also, can someone explain the hate for RPGM. I've played a few RPGM games and thoroughly enjoyed them?
I've enjoyed some RPGM games, but I tend to avoid them for the most part, for a few reasons:
- Resolution and performance issues. I play games on a 1440p monitor and with most RPGM games I have to do one of two things - either squint at the tiny game window to try to make out the text and details of a game a dev thought it was okay to release an 800x600 version of in the second decade of the 21st century - or go fullscreen and deal with the blurry mess and inexplicable tanking of performance and screen tearing.
The RPG Maker devs just NOW, in 2022, have provided a native 1080p resolution support. A majority of PC gamers since at least 2010 were using 1080p as their primary screen resolution, but I guess the RPG Maker devs are only a decade and a quarter late.
- The poor game design the engine encourages. RPG Maker is made for making RPGs, and that means devs trying to make adult games out of it often don't do enough to change their games for adult gaming. They'll make sexier sprites, or enemies, but neglect to actually give a valid reason for roaming an entire game world to do sex stuff in. And they'll make that game world too larger and too empty, so the player is running from place to place having to hunt down sexy content, rather than making that the focus of the game.
It turns the RPGM games into walking simulators half the time, which wouldn't be bad in itself if interesting things were happening on those walks, but there rarely is.
- If I want an adult-themed RPG, RenPy devs often do that better anyway. They boil down the experience to the essentials - click on the map to go where you want. Sexy scene after sexy scene, no walking between NPCs. Look at Sakura Dungeon - that's a dungeon crawler done entirely in RenPy and it does RPGing better than any RPG Maker game.
