Ren'Py Launcher Free Background Project
Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 12:17 am
Original backgrounds are an important - but often underrepresented - part of the visual novel making process. While we have had many community-reusable sprites, we don't have as many backgrounds. So I've come up with the idea of the Ren'Py Launcher Free Background Project, in which free original backgrounds are featured in the Ren'Py 6.14 launcher. The project has the following goals:
* To promote background artists who work on visual novels.
* To provide an archive of original backgrounds that can be freely used by creators.
* To make the 6.14 Ren'Py launcher more visually interesting.
Ren'Py 6.14 will feature a new launcher. One idea I've had for the launcher is to use a muted visual novel-style background as the background of the workspace - my hope is that this will add some color and visual interest to an otherwise mostly text-based launcher. Generally, the background will be muted by overlaying a translucent color (probably white) on top of them, so the user can easily see the interface, without the background interfering.
Each time the launcher starts up, it will display the unmuted background for a short amount of time before fading in the interface. Although I haven't worked out all the details, portions of the unmuted background may be displayed for a short amount of time when changing screens. An option to display the launcher background will be part of the launcher interface.
The artist of the launcher background will be credited, and their website will be linked. This will be done in a prominent place, generally the first screen a creator will see.
As Ren'Py is an open source project distributed as part of several Linux distributions, all of the background images we distribute must be free enough. This generally means that they'll have to be licensed under the MIT, CC-BY, or CC-BY-SA licenses. Backgrounds created for this project will also be archived on the Ren'Py website, so we slowly get an archive of backgrounds that can be used on other projects.
Depending on response, I would expect that background art would be featured as part of a few versions of Ren'Py - figure for 6+ months.
As part of the goal is to to stimulate the creation of high-quality art that otherwise wouldn't have existed, I'm going to ask that all such art be original to the project, and not shown - in final form - before a Ren'Py release. I'd also like to promote 2D-style art, rather than obvious 3d renders or filtered photos. The art should be suitable for re-use as backgrounds of a visual novel.
A few rules:
1) I will decide which backgrounds are distributed with Ren'Py, and to make decisions on quality and suitability. If you have any questions about a planned work, please ask me before you throw a lot of time into a project - I'd really feel bad if your effort was wasted.
2) The image will be displayed at 800x600. Larger art and widescreen art is welcome, and the launcher will have the ability to crop and scale images.
3) Links from the Ren'Py launcher should go to a page that doesn't directly show adult content. Something like a deviantart page - where you need to register to see the naughty stuff - is fine, I just don't want people to be surprised when they click a link in the launcher.
4) Artists will retain the copyright to their work, provided it is licensed as described above.
5) The backgrounds should be suitable for use in a visual novel. That generally means that they shouldn't be overly distracting, and shouldn't contain foreground objects that would conflict with foreground sprites. Please ask if this
6) There will be a rolling deadline, in which images submitted while a particular Ren'Py major version is being developed will be considered for inclusion in that version. (The cutoff will likely occur sometime in the pre-release process.)
7) The backgrounds shouldn't contain controversial content. They should avoid the use of existing brands, logos, and political emblems. They should avoid the use of recognizable characters or people. Please don't include yourself in the background.
Some ideas for backgrounds: bedroom, classroom, park, fair, road, storefront, office, bathroom, kitchen, castle, spaceship ... but other ideas are also welcome, provided they're reusable enough.
* To promote background artists who work on visual novels.
* To provide an archive of original backgrounds that can be freely used by creators.
* To make the 6.14 Ren'Py launcher more visually interesting.
Ren'Py 6.14 will feature a new launcher. One idea I've had for the launcher is to use a muted visual novel-style background as the background of the workspace - my hope is that this will add some color and visual interest to an otherwise mostly text-based launcher. Generally, the background will be muted by overlaying a translucent color (probably white) on top of them, so the user can easily see the interface, without the background interfering.
Each time the launcher starts up, it will display the unmuted background for a short amount of time before fading in the interface. Although I haven't worked out all the details, portions of the unmuted background may be displayed for a short amount of time when changing screens. An option to display the launcher background will be part of the launcher interface.
The artist of the launcher background will be credited, and their website will be linked. This will be done in a prominent place, generally the first screen a creator will see.
As Ren'Py is an open source project distributed as part of several Linux distributions, all of the background images we distribute must be free enough. This generally means that they'll have to be licensed under the MIT, CC-BY, or CC-BY-SA licenses. Backgrounds created for this project will also be archived on the Ren'Py website, so we slowly get an archive of backgrounds that can be used on other projects.
Depending on response, I would expect that background art would be featured as part of a few versions of Ren'Py - figure for 6+ months.
As part of the goal is to to stimulate the creation of high-quality art that otherwise wouldn't have existed, I'm going to ask that all such art be original to the project, and not shown - in final form - before a Ren'Py release. I'd also like to promote 2D-style art, rather than obvious 3d renders or filtered photos. The art should be suitable for re-use as backgrounds of a visual novel.
A few rules:
1) I will decide which backgrounds are distributed with Ren'Py, and to make decisions on quality and suitability. If you have any questions about a planned work, please ask me before you throw a lot of time into a project - I'd really feel bad if your effort was wasted.
2) The image will be displayed at 800x600. Larger art and widescreen art is welcome, and the launcher will have the ability to crop and scale images.
3) Links from the Ren'Py launcher should go to a page that doesn't directly show adult content. Something like a deviantart page - where you need to register to see the naughty stuff - is fine, I just don't want people to be surprised when they click a link in the launcher.
4) Artists will retain the copyright to their work, provided it is licensed as described above.
5) The backgrounds should be suitable for use in a visual novel. That generally means that they shouldn't be overly distracting, and shouldn't contain foreground objects that would conflict with foreground sprites. Please ask if this
6) There will be a rolling deadline, in which images submitted while a particular Ren'Py major version is being developed will be considered for inclusion in that version. (The cutoff will likely occur sometime in the pre-release process.)
7) The backgrounds shouldn't contain controversial content. They should avoid the use of existing brands, logos, and political emblems. They should avoid the use of recognizable characters or people. Please don't include yourself in the background.
Some ideas for backgrounds: bedroom, classroom, park, fair, road, storefront, office, bathroom, kitchen, castle, spaceship ... but other ideas are also welcome, provided they're reusable enough.
(jk)