Hire a programmer, or learn to code?

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DeathSummoner
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Hire a programmer, or learn to code?

#1 Post by DeathSummoner »

Hi i looked and read everyone's comments and feedback. I think i fell for DragoonHP....lol
However i am in a bit of a problem myself. Never thought coding will give me this much of a trouble then making art works and story writing. Now its either 2 option i have at hand either to learn coding from top to bottom or to hire someone who knows programming. But here's the thing though; if i learn programming myself then i need to start from scratch and a person who have to tutor me which i dont think anyone would do and secondly if i decide to hire a programmer...welll.... i dont have any money to hire a programmer but if a programmer is willing to take a risk and decide to help me then i will surely pay for his hard work after i make some profit from my game. But good news is that programmer don't need to spent a lot of time on my project becz its a long term project and that i will release alpha versions of my game to crowd-funding websites like patreon. So any tips or any help....like any thing would help cuz i am in a crisis now and i am almost done with backgrounds and character creations but stuck with programming.
This thread has been split off another thread in which it would have been off-topic. - Taleweaver
Last edited by DeathSummoner on Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Hire a programmer, or learn to code?

#2 Post by Empish »

Hey, if you don't have money to pay a programmer, I'd recommend trying to learn yourself. It's easier to learn Ren'Py than most programming languages, especially if the mechanics you want are pretty simple. I have a youtube channel that has many free tutorials for programming in Ren'Py and you can find it here https://www.youtube.com/c/ElaineDoesCoding

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Re: Hire a programmer, or learn to code?

#3 Post by poorlyformed »

I don't know anything about coding, but found that programming in Ren'Py was easier than I'd expected. There are a lot of tutorials and posts that cover pretty much everything, depending on how complex your game is. The tricky part is finding it all (and hoping that the info isn't outdated.)
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Re: Hire a programmer, or learn to code?

#4 Post by VimislikArt »

I'm a first time programmer on my own project as well - Ren'Py is super simple as long as you keep it simple. If you're sticking pretty close to how the example projects are formatted, you don't even have to touch python.

There's also a TON of support available here on this forum; if you're having any trouble figuring out how to do or fix something, there is a solution for you here on the forums!

For example, I'm messing around with a lot of the stuff from the Ren'py Cookbook forum here for stuff like RPG battle screens, hidden picture games, simple puzzles, card games, etc. That stuff can get a bit more complicated, but most of the actual programming is solved for you. You just need to change some numbers and filenames here and there.
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Re: Hire a programmer, or learn to code?

#5 Post by AsHLeX »

Basic usage of ren'py is actually not that hard to learn. I know it seems intimidating at first, but you don't need to know much programming knowledge (if any) to get ren'py to do what you want it to do. I started off in 2012 with relatively simple branching games and now i'm able to make more sophisticated stat-raising dating sims. Keep in mind that I never actively intended to learn programming - I had a very sporadic way of learning. I only learn what I needed to know for my project at that time. So for my first project I just started off with learning how to program stats and route branches, and started gathering my knowledge from there.
I suppose my advice would be to learn what you feel comfortable with (and simple things like how affection points, menu branching and things like that work). And then from there you could either learn how to use the more complicated template codes that are already available in the ren'py cookbook or seek help from someone to program the more complicated aspects of your game. Keep in mind that there are some people out there who are willing to work for free, so if you don't have money to hire people, I would recommend giving that a shot.
Edit: I've looked through some of your posts and I think that you're probably pretty much on the right track already, so I take my advice to be void at this point.
All the best with your future projects! Just know that if you ever have a problem with programming and all that, the lemmasoft forums are full of supportive people who are always willing to help :D
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Re: Hire a programmer, or learn to code?

#6 Post by DeathSummoner »

Thanks for all your advises and suggestions. Yeah i am starting to learn from basics and got an awesome programmer willing to help me and he is called "Bartulisica". Hope to make a good visual novel

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Re: Hire a programmer, or learn to code?

#7 Post by arosia »

Coding is so much fun, in my opinion.

I didn't know anything besides basic html 2 years ago, and now I can code just about anything I want. It's probably a lot easier and a lot more fun than you'd expect.

The biggest thing you'll have to do is devote time to learning. The benefit is that you'll save money and learn an awesome, new skill!

Good luck, love!

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Re: Hire a programmer, or learn to code?

#8 Post by verysunshine »

Learning to code in Ren'Py and Python will help you to speed up problem-solving and debugging. It can be confusing, but it's worth it.

Build the basics first, then add all the fun bits.

Please check out my games on my itch.io page!

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Re: Hire a programmer, or learn to code?

#9 Post by banannasquid »

Learn to code, even if you dont use it in your games, its an important skill to have in todays day. Python isn't a very hard language to learn compared to other more complex ones from what I've heard, so its a perfect way to get your feet wet.
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