Lemma Soft Forums

Name: Anna

Location: M-dot, aka the 'Sauga - Canannada. North side, respect.

Website: The whole Internet is mine. ALL your base are belong to me.

Comments: i am full of comments. i can comment on anything you like me to comment on, even i have absosmurfly no idea what the hell i'm talking about. It's a neat skill, actually - it got me through college.

Mushrooms: They're magically delicious. See what i did there? See what i did there? i'm so freaking hilarious!

Undies: Not at the moment. But i'll keep you posted.

Okay: 4

Cute guy: i know i have at least one, probably a couple, around here somewhere. Why, you wanna borrow one of mine?

Cute girl: i might even have a couple of those.

Other stuff: Yes, i have other stuff, too.

i've never actually played this ToL game (which is Tales of Lemma?), but i have played a couple Ren'Py games. My personal favourite so far: Starlight: Episode Zero - it's really short, but i lurved it.

i've actually made a complete Ren'Py game already - well, complete except i couldn't get the *&^%$#@ custom-made music to work (not Ren'Py's fault, Ubuntu's), but everything else worked perfectly - it was a sample for my roleplaying group to show them what we could possibly do with Ren'Py. It took me 4 days to make it from start to finish - although i wasted a day on the *&^%$#@ music, and i had to spend the first day learning how to draw before i could actually make any of the graphics... so i guess technically it took me 2 days? Anyway, it was really short, but it impressed the hell out of them, so we might get together and make a full and complete game as a group. So, here i am, to soak up lots of Ren'Py knowledge and tricks and other tips about making visual novels in preparation for our combined effort.

My background is mostly top secret, hush-hush, double-0 status, if-i-tell-you-i'd-have-to-kill-you government work, although most of that is probably in my head. i do, however, have a ton of programming experience in all different kinds of programming languages, like almost every programming language ever made. Unfortunately, not Python, which is irritatingly ironic. Eh, but Python looks so easy a half-drunk slow-learner monkey could probly figure it out over a weekend, and anyway Ren'Py script doesn't require you to know Python. So i'm sure i'll manage.

Oh, but hey, while my posse of peeps (not the marshmallow kind) ponders over what kind of game they'd like to make and the script and all that, i'd happily apply my talents to helpin out someone else's project. i'm a badass programmer, awesome writer, mediocre graphic artist and skilled ninja... i just can't get the *&^%$#@ music to work yet, but otherwise, all systems are go.

That's all i'm gonna say for now because there is a 60000 character limit on posts. i don't know how many characters i've typed so far, but it looks like a ton, so maybe it's gettin close to 60000. i'd rather stop before i get there, because i just hate it when i get cut off suddenl

Dusty wrote: 1) Java makes python harder to learn. I got so used to Java in my APCS class (got a 5, whee) that when I came over to Python I started freaking out because there as no structure and that made me all nervous and stuffs.

So the moral of the story is that Java sucks for Python and it doesn't matter if you remember it at all. >_>

Hmm. This doesn't seem to be an uncommon feeling, and I tend to disagree totally.

Firstly, the single hardest thing about teaching people [imperative] programming is getting them to understand the following concepts:
- the compiler/interpreter requires absolutely correct syntax or it can't work; it's not capable of human interpretation of what it thinks you probably mean, it can only work with what you actually tell it.
- the program will run starting at the defined entry point, executing one command at a time in sequence until it runs out of commands.
- you store values that you're interested in as named 'variables', and these are treated exactly the same as values you return from functions or pass in as parameters.

Learning any language will teach you those things, whether your variables are named like in C-style languages or simply registers as in assembly; this is the most important step to learning to code, in general. (Ignoring functional programming for the simple and pragmatic reason that barely anyone uses it anyway.) So for this reason, the most important knowledge gained in Java is easily transferrable to coding in Python.

(And secondly, it's unfair to say that Python doesn't have structure - it has just as much structure as something like Java, really. The main difference is that it doesn't force you to make absolutely everything a class, but you can still write functions and classes and so on in Python just fine. What Python really has is a completely different syntax - for example, it uses indentation to denote blocks instead of curly braces, forcing a particular code layout - and it's true that learning Java's syntax won't help you that much with Python's.)


It's true that learning something like Java as a first language and only programming in one language will set you up with habits which make it more-difficult to learn a second language, but really - it's not Java in particular which isn't so good for Python, the hard thing is getting over the language-specific habits and learning any second language. I guess it would be easier to move from Java to another C-style language, but really; once you've coded in more than one language you start to recognise those elements which are shared by all of them, and how similar they all are really anyway.

But really, the most important thing of all to bear in mind is that you really don't need to use or even understand Python itself to write Ren'Py games in the first place; it's possible to write a perfectly good title without a line of Python code. Python programming is really an advanced feature in Ren'Py anyway.

Jake wrote: (And secondly, it's unfair to say that Python doesn't have structure - it has just as much structure as something like Java, really. The main difference is that it doesn't force you to make absolutely everything a class, but you can still write functions and classes and so on in Python just fine. What Python really has is a completely different syntax - for example, it uses indentation to denote blocks instead of curly braces, forcing a particular code layout - and it's true that learning Java's syntax won't help you that much with Python's.)


It's true that learning something like Java as a first language and only programming in one language will set you up with habits which make it more-difficult to learn a second language, but really - it's not Java in particular which isn't so good for Python, the hard thing is getting over the language-specific habits and learning any second language. I guess it would be easier to move from Java to another C-style language, but really; once you've coded in more than one language you start to recognise those elements which are shared by all of them, and how similar they all are really anyway.

Well, when I say Python has less "structure" I mostly mean how each Java variable name has a predetermined type while Python variable names can refer to, say, a number at one time and a string at another. Makes no difference most of the time except with arrays vs. lists.

Also, Python functions are weirder than Java functions. "Hm? You can change what a function does halfway through the program?" and then I realized "Hm? You can pass in a function as a value in another function?" because Python functions are really another type of object. "Oh, that's useless," I thought, until I realized that it'd be perfect for programming D&D into Ren'Py if I ever decided to do that.

So it would probably be better to say that Python is more flexible than Java instead of saying that Python has less structure. But Java at least feels like it has more structure because of all the times when it gives you a compiling error when you forget a semicolon. And all the weirdness with strings which really irritates beginning programmers, "32% on the test?... What do you mean I can't write if (inputString == "cat" || inputString == "dog"){count++}?" Eh.

Semicolons are the bane of every single programmer's existence.

But, really, learning any language helps you with others, mostly because the basic concepts are the same. Plus, it teaches you logic ("if a, do b, else c," and stuff like that), which is something that's really important for any programming language.

HELLO CLEAVLAND!.........

oops wrong city anywho,ARE YOU READY TO ROCK,cause now that im here thats what ill be doing

Names Brian (ブライアン) AKA pentence almost everywhere else.I fancy myself an artist and engineer.I like long walks....er well truth be told im into everything,lifes to short to be stingy on knowledge soak it up where and why ya can.So from aeronautics to xenobiology im into it.

Anyway if anyones looking for an artist for any projects let me know some samples of my work are linked in my signature.

pentance wrote:ARE YOU READY TO ROCK

\o.o/

So, hello and welcome, pentence! Just remember not to forget your password, because then you'd have to register again as re-pentence! (Sorry, couldn't resist)

Aenakume wrote:Hi!

Forum members posting after her wrote:Blah blah programming blah

Well, I'm not going to let that stand. Hello and welcome to you too, Aenakume! I know you've made your presence known in a few other threads, so carry on, and I hope you'll soon be starting your own thread in the Completed Games forum

Speaking of, any chance we'll get to see that one-day game? For a bunch of people who think spending only one month on a game is a profound trial, a game finished in a day is ... rather impressive

Also, congrats on actually reading the first post.

pentance wrote:ARE YOU READY TO ROCK

*throws up the horns!* lml ^_^ lml

Mihel wrote:So, hello and welcome, pentence! Just remember not to forget your password, because then you'd have to register again as re-pentence! (Sorry, couldn't resist)

*groan*

Mihel wrote:

Aenakume wrote:Hi!

Forum members posting after her wrote:Blah blah programming blah

Well, I'm not going to let that stand. Hello and welcome to you too, Aenakume! I know you've made your presence known in a few other threads, so carry on, and I hope you'll soon be starting your own thread in the Completed Games forum

Thank you! ^_^

i am waiting on a group to get motivated and organize themselves. But i am slowly growing tempted to try something myself, on my own, separate from them.

Mihel wrote:Speaking of, any chance we'll get to see that one-day game? For a bunch of people who think spending only one month on a game is a profound trial, a game finished in a day is ... rather impressive

Four days, not one. i was tryin for under a week. The first day was a holiday, so i had the day off, so i spent all day learning to draw and drew the outline of Saria (the character in the game, based on a real-life friend) and scanned it in, and traced an arm or two in Inkscape. The second day was a work day, so i had only the evening, so i traced the other parts of Sa, then coloured her. The third day was another work day, and i spent almost all of it messin around with MusE trying to get the music making to work - but never did (but i figured it out now!) - and a little bit at the end messing around with Ren'Py... but i was finding a lot of stuff wasn't working. The fourth day i downloaded the most recent version of Ren'Py (i had been using the one that came in the Ubuntu repository, which was a bit older), wrote the script and everything else, compiled and packaged, and uploaded. i asked a couple suckerspeople to try it out, and they all told me it was fine. On the fifth day, i posted the announcement to the guild. On the sixth day, i rested. On the seventh day, i rested more... i'm such a lazy bum. ^_^

If you want to try it, no problem, but it's not a real game - it's just a sample of what we could do, along with some in-jokes for the guild (Saria wrote a story with a character based on me, turning me into a prissy dork, so i made her a character in my game-story... and had my way with her... MWAHAHAHA!!!).

Mihel wrote:Also, congrats on actually reading the first post.

What are you talking about? No-one reads the first post. ^_^; It just so happens by coincidence that i always mention mushrooms and my underwear when i'm introducing myself. It's really a great conversation starter.

Wow, my lysdexia seems to have made me turn the "4" into a "1." I guess that's what I get for trying to read things before putting my glasses on...

Still, it's pretty impressive to me. I know I couldn't pull something like that together in 4 days, especially not if I were doing the art myself. Maybe that's because I'm a composer first and everything else second, or more like tenth (or because I'm so OCD that it'd take me 4 days just to write the first few lines of dialogue the way I wanted them...)

And still, we're looking forward to any contribution you can make, with or without a team Though I might take a while to play anything, as I'm trying to catch up on games I missed while I was away for a year >.>

And that is an interesting coincidence about the mushrooms and underwear. Though I'm not sure what kind of conversation you'd want to start with that ...

Mihel wrote:Still, it's pretty impressive to me. I know I couldn't pull something like that together in 4 days, especially not if I were doing the art myself. Maybe that's because I'm a composer first and everything else second, or more like tenth (or because I'm so OCD that it'd take me 4 days just to write the first few lines of dialogue the way I wanted them...)

Aw, it took you, what, 5 minutes to play through to get all 3 endings? ^_^; That's not even a game, it's a ga. It's only half a game. ^_^;

Mihel wrote:And still, we're looking forward to any contribution you can make, with or without a team Though I might take a while to play anything, as I'm trying to catch up on games I missed while I was away for a year >.>

Oh, i'm sure i'll contribute something. i have two neat ideas but they're just idea's now. The first is a murder mystery set on a spaceship, the second is... a little weird. ^_^

Mihel wrote:And that is an interesting coincidence about the mushrooms and underwear. Though I'm not sure what kind of conversation you'd want to start with that ...

There is no kind of conversation that you can't make more interesting by mentioning edible fungus or underwear (or edible underwear). i promise you that. ^_^;

Aenakume wrote:Aw, it took you, what, 5 minutes to play through to get all 3 endings? ^_^; That's not even a game, it's a ga. It's only half a game. ^_^;

It's still better than my attempts at five minute games

Aenakume wrote:There is no kind of conversation that you can't make more interesting by mentioning edible fungus or underwear (or edible underwear). i promise you that. ^_^;

True. For instance, we could begin talking about how mushrooms are delicious, while edible underwear is not (........or so I heard >.> ........)

Nah, scratch that, it's probably best if you mostly ignore me

Looooong time lurker here... I think I've been here for at least a year or two without making an account... -.-

Anyways, I've finally figured out what kind of visual novel I'm going to make (First game w00t! I WILL finish, I swear! At least, someday within the next year...), so I decided to create an account. I was writing a couple of VN plots/drabbles, until I realized I couldn't really move them to the VN/KN format... But inspiration struck and stuck, and here I am!

I'm a writer working on her (failing) drawing skills. Ren'py seems like its easy to work in (and there's a lot of help available here), so I hopefully won't have that much trouble.

No real website or anything (I think I have a random blog or two somewhere), but I frequently lurk the AnimeSuki and AnimeNewsNetwork forums.

Uhh... Yoroshiku, ne?

Hajimemashite, Failing Artist-san! It's about time some fresh meat sign the Guestbook. Most people usually sign up without actually doing anything... I guess Ren'Py scares them. :p

Well, anyway, don't be afraid to ask questions! And don't forget to check out the tutorials, Cookbook, Reference Manual (when you can handle some h4x0r speak :p) and the Community Wiki for tips and free resources. Though the Community Wiki needs work... (;-_-)

Hello!

*signs on guestbook*

I probably should get myself more familiar with Ren'py before posting on the forums, but I can't help myself from announcing my existence >.<

I'm a total noob when it comes to programming, so...it'll probably be a painful ride getting to use Ren'py. Ah but who cares, no pain no gain!

Don't worry, despite the ominous name, Ren'Py doesn't bite. S/he's (it's hard to tell with snakes) a friendly, domesticated python that likes people. Ren'Py's a vegetarian that eats all the evil pickles cucumbers and zucchini and mushrooms (which aren't vegetables but who cares?).

But be careful: don't feed it red peppers; it'll curry the dark goddess Sloth's favor and you'll never get a project done.

Oh, remember to read the tutorial if you haven't already at renpy.org/wiki

Name: VaanAshe. I'd prefer not to tell you my real name (no witty jokes like "Because I'd have to kill you if I did" or anything like that, I just don't feel like it - besides, it's not hard to figure out my name =P).

Location: I live in that magically land known as England. In a part of it known as Nottingham.

Website: http://vaanashe.livejournal.com is my LiveJournal account. It's a Friends-Only account, but feel free to add me if you have LiveJournal and I'll accept. =D I'm nice like that, y'know.

Comments: My knowledge of visual novels ain't great (I've played the first two games in Phoenix Wright, and I've watched a bit of someone playing Enzai, but got put off by the yaoi), but I'm interested in making one (because it's fun). So yeah, be prepared for me asking about seven hundred n00by questions. ^_^
Although, yeah, I've read the tutorial and gone through the demo, so I think I know some of the basic stuff...I think... ;_;