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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:39 pm 
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Location: Creche Alpha, Treasure Island
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As part of the whole "going to Fanime and promoting Bliss Stage" thing, my game studio Perpetual Motion is hosting a panel on How (Not) To Make Your Game In Ren'py, with examples from our own work.

We'll be hosting the panel on Sunday the 27th, from 1pm-2pm in SJCC Room C.

I hope to see you there, and was also wondering: What do you want discussed? What are the hardest parts of getting started for you guys, or common mistakes for new Ren'Py programmers that you'd like addressed? I'd like to know so i can improve the panel and hold something truly informative and entertaining.

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She's sun and rain: She's fire and ice. A little crazy, but it's nice.
Bliss Stage: Love is your weapon! A sci-fi visual novel about child soldiers coming of age. Kickstarter prerelease here. WIP thread here. Fan thread here. Beta demo here.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:45 pm 
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Location: [DATA REDACTED]
Completed: My Beautiful AI (GUI), Death Rule: Fear Complex, Amity: One Tale
Projects: Amity: White Package Edition, Death Rule:lost code, Aeternam Conquest: Dual-Chain Rhapsody
Organization: MESI Games (Team Repeated Fear, Team Dead Samurai)
Some nice points to adress:
1) Don't try and get a group together until you have something to show for.
Nobody is going to work for you if all you have is an idea. Show us that you truly are working on your game.

2) Always explore new concepts; don't always go for what sounds easier or appears to be more popular.
More personal than aything. People really can get tired of playing the same thing over and over again. You'll also have a harder time trying to stand out as well.

3) Make sure you are investing your time in something you will definately finish.
It's depressing to see so many abandoned projects.

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Hijiri's Law: There will always be a body count.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:36 pm 
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Oh wow! This sounds like it would be a great panel and I'm sad I won't be able to see it. Perhaps you could talk about avoiding over used cliches/stereotypes/that sort of thing, or at least trying to find a way to breathe new life into them? That might be something worth mentioning, at least in passing.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 10:47 pm 
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Completed: Cute Knight, Fatal Hearts, Date Warp, Magical Diary, Long Live The Queen, The Royal Trap
Projects: Black Closet
Organization: Hanako Games
Let us know if you want us to demo any of the fancier coding stuff. We're terrible introverts and will need warning to prepare anything more meaningful than "er yes, you can make RPGs too *runs away*"

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 11:34 pm 
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Projects: Eternal Memories, plot bunnies that won't die.
Organization: HellPanda Studios
Another is "Execution Matters"

It takes more than a "good" idea to make something "good." There have been instances of unoriginal or "boring" ideas that have been successful because of the execution. Quality of work is incredibly important. (I think of it as the most important thing, personally.)

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For up to date info on my VN projects: HellPanda Studios Blog.
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My new policy: All my games will have a redhead. Period.

Not really checking the forums any more due to time constraints, so if you want to contact me, PM. I'll get a notification and log in. :mrgreen:
Also, I've been hit and run posting, which means I don't see many replies. If you want to respond to something I've said, also feel free to PM me.


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PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2012 11:34 pm 
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Will look forward to reports on how the panel goes.

(I say this because I'm already planning to attend Anime Central in my hometown, and I can only afford so many cons per year...)


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 4:48 am 
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Location: Creche Alpha, Treasure Island
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papillon wrote:
Let us know if you want us to demo any of the fancier coding stuff. We're terrible introverts and will need warning to prepare anything more meaningful than "er yes, you can make RPGs too *runs away*"


If you're going to be in the area, absolutely. Shoot me a PM.

_________________
She's sun and rain: She's fire and ice. A little crazy, but it's nice.
Bliss Stage: Love is your weapon! A sci-fi visual novel about child soldiers coming of age. Kickstarter prerelease here. WIP thread here. Fan thread here. Beta demo here.


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:28 am 
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I think it's a better idea to drop the (Not). Highlight the positive sides and how to DO make a Visual Novel in contrast to highlighting the mistakes and pitfalls. I think it's far more valuable to know what you can do right and how to do it, than to be told how you can do wrong and to not do that.


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:28 am 
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Location: The treacherous Brazilian Rainforest
Projects: Valentine Square (writer) Spiral Destiny (programmer)
How about planning? First-timers don't have any idea how much time it takes to make a simple, 30-minute visual novel.

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It allows you to share files with your team, keeps backups of previous versions, and is ridiculously easy to use.


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 11:03 am 
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Applegate wrote:
I think it's a better idea to drop the (Not). Highlight the positive sides and how to DO make a Visual Novel in contrast to highlighting the mistakes and pitfalls. I think it's far more valuable to know what you can do right and how to do it, than to be told how you can do wrong and to not do that.

Why not have a little bit of both? Spend most of the time showing how not to do things, and then at the end show some ways to do it right. You learn more from your mistakes than you do your successes, and this could be somewhat of a substitution for that for new vn makers? Showing off bad examples sounds like it would be a more interesting panel to attend anyway (at least to me!).


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:04 pm 
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Location: Among the people, and Cajuns
Completed: No games, just books. :)
Projects: Murder Mystery 1
Organization: Arcato Publishing
One of my favorite books on how to write fiction is 78 reasons why your book may never be published & 14 reasons why it just might.

So having both is interesting. :) But even learning how not to do something can help you to skip flaws.

Like for example (taking tips from the book mentioned above):

Number 6: You assume writing (or coding! or doing art!) is easy.
Number 19: You do not know grammar.
Number 23: You have a tin ear for dialogue.
Number 25: You do not trust your audience.

Etc. :)

Hopefully someone will record the panel and share with us folks who can't be there? (hint, hint!)


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:24 pm 
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Calissa Leigh wrote:
Hopefully someone will record the panel and share with us folks who can't be there? (hint, hint!)

Ooh yes! If it is possible it would be awesome to have someone record it. :D


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:48 pm 
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Calissa Leigh wrote:
Hopefully someone will record the panel and share with us folks who can't be there? (hint, hint!)

I third this (that sounds ridiculous, but someone already seconded this)!


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:20 am 
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Location: DC
Projects: Kangaroo, Terminal Love
There's a high chance I will be going to Fanime. I don't know what days yet, but I would be interested in helping out with this if I can.


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PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2012 4:49 pm 
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Location: Creche Alpha, Treasure Island
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To clarify: the (not) part is to inject a little humor into the subject. With all the mistakes I made, I'm frankly astounded that BSVN and Transformation Sequence are anywhere near done, let alone polished, and I figured a good way to get people interested is to tell them about my more colorful fuck-ups.

Calissa Leigh wrote:
Hopefully someone will record the panel and share with us folks who can't be there? (hint, hint!)


I'll definitely see what I can do to get this recorded and YouTube it.

_________________
She's sun and rain: She's fire and ice. A little crazy, but it's nice.
Bliss Stage: Love is your weapon! A sci-fi visual novel about child soldiers coming of age. Kickstarter prerelease here. WIP thread here. Fan thread here. Beta demo here.


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