Update 2/23/2019 Let's talk about games (Patreon)

Ok, to get it out of the way at the top, sorry about the lack of updates lately, don't worry about it, I'm still working hard on the next update, it's just that the work is mostly boring to talk about, adapting existing systems to work for Laura and adding new dialog options for her, yada-yada. The next release will hopefully be in the few weeks, it will include Laura's chat menu, several new clothing options, flirting, shower stuff, sleepovers, studying, fondling, handies, dancing, and a few other things, probably about 60% of what the other girls have so far. The rest would be targeted at the release after that, mostly due to art limitations. I'm mostly done the code I need to get done for this release, but have a bit more to do, and then I need to finish up the last few graphics I need to get done. One of my support artists dropped out, so I'm still on the look out for any high quality artists that would be interested in the project, but I can handle the current goals.

Ok, that out of the way, I was talking to a fellow Patreon creator, Z-Wave. He'd contacted me about this Power Rangers game he was making, it's a cute one if you're looking for something to try out, and he was looking for some feedback, which turned into some tech support, and he recommended I offer you guys some tips I picked up in Renpy coding. The way I figure it, the more games out there, the better, that's more for everyone to play and enjoy, so if I can inspire anyone or help them through a stumbling block, that's just great for everyone.

I'm not great at programming or anything, I got started at the beginning of this project and basically figured out what I was doing along the way. I have learned some things through trial and error though that may not be obvious to novice coders. A lot of my early stuff was basically copying and adapting portions of tutorial code without really understanding how or why I was getting the results I was getting, just that it worked. As I've played with the systems, I learned why things worked the way they do. So I'll give some simple pointers here, and then ask any questions you might have. If they're simple, I might answer them in the comments, otherwise, I might make a full post about it. And of course we have some people in the community who are better at general programming than I am, so feel free to add insights to anything I bring up.


The basics one would want to know getting started is that Renpy is a free and very simple to use engine where almost anyone can pump out VN-style games very easily, although more complex games require more complicated coding. It uses the language "Python" as a basis, so any online resources you can find on how to code in Python will likely come in handy. The official Renpy page has plenty of documentation and is an invaluable resource.

A Renpy game will involve four basic types of coding, there is "Renpy" code, which handles most dialog, simple if/then type stuff, basically you can create a VN using mostly just basic Renpy coding. Raw Python is used for "creating" new things, like changing variables, or going outside the rules that Renpy handles. Any Python line needs to either start with a $, or be inside a block flagged "python:" Then there are two other things, "screen language," which handles a lot of things like UI and buttons and the underlying text display systems, and "ATL language," which handles animations. A lot of the "Renpy code" stuff is just a simplified way of using screen and ATL, so you need to start getting into those systems if you want to expand your options.

I want to start off with some simple ATL discussion, but this is already getting too long, so I'll just get into that next time.