Method of making games

[Tokkie]

Hi!

I am new to this genre of games, and I am hooked! Also a very nice community you have here!

I am keen on making my own VN/dating game, but my programming knowledge is at an absolute zero. I believe even the Ren'py engine you have here is somewhat above my level.

Is there another method, or an even simpler tool for making such games (similiar to something like RPG Maker?) I guess if all else fails I could use MS Powerpoint, but I am sure many of you are cringing at the tought (with me!).

Thanks!

[JQuartz]

Actually Renpy isn't that hard it's just that it got no graphical user interface, a problem (or rather a feature) that appears in most VN makers.
This page should have links to other VN makers. http://renpy.org/wiki/community/Resource_Links

[papillon]

Also, there are a lot of people here who are happy to help.

If you write out a script, without doing any programming - just who says what when, what pictures show, what choices are available, and so on - I'm pretty sure someone here will happily code it for you.

[Fawkes - Feathered Melody]

If you can use RPG Maker, you can easily use Ren'py.

http://renpy.org/wiki/renpy/doc/tutorials/Quickstart

Start here with the quickstart tutorial. Renpy's syntax (the specific way the code is put together) is very much human readable, so follow that tutorial.

[monele]

The big difference with RPG Maker, I suppose, is that you'll click buttons among a huge list to add "actions". In Ren'Py, you'll have to type it with the keyboard. But in both case, it's scripting

[M12]

Yep, learning a new language would be nice. However, I don't have a problem with reading on Powerpoint, or whatever program. After all, aren't visual novels about minimalism? A VN done in PP actually sounds refreshing to me, if done right.

[Tokkie]

Gee, thanks a lot guys!

I guess I will spend the next couple of days contemplating my options.

Some problems with getting other people to help: I like doing things such as this on my own, not sure why, maybe because it gives a greater sense of achievement?

Well thank, guys. I will definetaly be sticking around!

ps. thinking about powerpoint, using that you could make a VN that looks identical to many of the ones I've seen here.

[Vatina]

Actually I also want to add that if you can use rpgmaker, it shouldn't be too hard to adjust to renpy (unless you want to make some advanced coding of course).
At least that's what I found, since they both have variables and such anyway It looks harder than it is.

[M12]

No problem, Tokkie. I like doing things on my own, too. It's like, "I made this". But I always need help with music, because I'm hopeless with that ^_^;.

[Showsni]

Ah, Powerpoint... back when I was in Year Seven or so, everyone at school would spend their time making "stop motion" movies in Powerpoint, with Clipart. Some were really detailed... Shame I don't have any of them now. I shouldn't think my old username and password still work, even if I could get into my old school...

[Mirena]

I'd suggest using RenPy. A powerpoint file might become hard to keep track of.

Renpy doesn't seem too hard to me, and I don't have a lot of programming knowledge either. I haven't used it for long, but there are some good tutorials on the site, very helpful. Just grab some pictures and open the basic tutorials, you'll most likely learn fast!