Selling Games

Discuss how to use the Ren'Py engine to create visual novels and story-based games. New releases are announced in this section.
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PyTom
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Re: My 2 cents on an old thread $$ for Ren'Py

#16 Post by PyTom »

Hmm... donations are a hard issue, frankly.

For one thing, Ren'Py is no longer a single person project. I now get contributions from other people, and that complicates things. On the other hand, having some extra cash to throw around could possibly help Ren'Py, especially in the area of hardware support.

If no one minds, I'll accept donations directly for now. In the future, I'd like to set up some sort of Ren'Py foundation for this... well, maybe that's more trouble then it's worth.

I don't like the idea of giving a "suggested donation". It think that's because in my mind, "suggested donation" == "mandatory fee for people who aren't jerks", and I don't want to pressure people. People should donate because they want to, not because they have to.
nspired wrote: Additionally, I would like to see an official "Developed with Ren'Py" or a
"5-Star Ren'PY Developer" icon that a donater could use on products and websites. Now, I know this next thing I'm going to say smacks of SEO, but hey that is the sandbox we are playing in on the net. The aforementioned icon could link back to Ren'PY.
Banners and buttons would be nice, if someone wants to contribute them. But I'm not sure we want to limit them to paying people. Maybe having a special button for people who contribute to Ren'Py (either monetarily or in-kind) would be okay.
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Re: My 2 cents on an old thread $$ for Ren'Py

#17 Post by mikey »

nspired wrote:First, my first commercial game based on Ren'Py is out. I'll be posting more about this in a week or so when I have some other ducks-in-a-row.
Now you do realize that's just making people curious and... googling "nspired game"... :wink:

As for donations and money, personally I liked the old motto that the engine is freeware if you provide the games/whatever for free, and vice versa. Though on the other side, if it was me, it would be too much hassle to differentiate between commercial and free and set up payment models or other things, and so I'd make the engine free and probably not expect money either, just because it makes things simple and I can actually work and not worry about administering an organization/fund. On the third side, if you spend all your time making it better and providing so much support for free and then people just make money from it's normal to feel that it's not fair. It's a tough question.

In any case, donations for PyTom are fine, as he's doing so much to single-handedly support the community and I would certainly trust him to put the money to good use as well.

But I'm definitely opposed to anything, even the smallest detail that will differentiate people who use Ren'Py for free and those who donate/pay. It's just not right, not with this project.

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Dangit!

#18 Post by nspired »

:? Dang it mikey...

The cat is out of the bag... Now I'll have to explain myself a bit before I was really ready...

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#19 Post by PyTom »

mikey>>> I make Ren'Py because I enjoy making it, so the commercial/noncommercial thing doesn't really factor into it. I'd rather people make the VNs* with Ren'Py, because I think that will make the games better then if the games were made with other engines.

I like to think my paintbrushes are better then the other guys. If you use my paintbrushes to paint a mural on the side of your house, that's great. If you use them to make a painting that sells for a million dollars, more power to you.

I'm pretty comfortable with the amount I spend per year on my hobby. I mean, I spend $10 for a manga that lasts me an hour. How many hours have I spent with Ren'Py? It's cheap in comparison.

While I won't turn down donations, I also won't actively solicit them. I have been asking for help finding deals on old hardware, which would help Ren'Py. That's largely because I'm a cheapskate.

Then there's the fact that I'm fairly well off. I have a job (research assistant) that pays well enough, and gives prospects of a very good job once I graduate. So I explicitly don't want to take money from people who need it more then I do.

* This game isn't a VN, and so it's unclear to me how suited Ren'Py is for it. That's up to nspired to judge.
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#20 Post by Counter Arts »

Suitablity for ren'py? Almost any game that is close to turn-based can be made with it. Heck, you could probably make a turn-based strategy game with it if you make an engine for it.

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#21 Post by PyTom »

Counter Arts wrote:Suitablity for ren'py? Almost any game that is close to turn-based can be made with it. Heck, you could probably make a turn-based strategy game with it if you make an engine for it.
And with Minigame, many 2D arcade games are possible.

The question isn't one of possibility, it's one of suitability. What does Ren'Py bring to the table? Does rollback help your game, or are you fighting it? Ren'Py is optimized for visual novels and dating sims, and the more you leave that territory, the less suitable it is.
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#22 Post by Counter Arts »

PyTom wrote:
Counter Arts wrote:Suitablity for ren'py? Almost any game that is close to turn-based can be made with it. Heck, you could probably make a turn-based strategy game with it if you make an engine for it.
And with Minigame, many 2D arcade games are possible.

The question isn't one of possibility, it's one of suitability. What does Ren'Py bring to the table? Does rollback help your game, or are you fighting it? Ren'Py is optimized for visual novels and dating sims, and the more you leave that territory, the less suitable it is.
Hmm... true. But it really does shine in hybrid games I think.

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#23 Post by DaFool »

Counter Arts wrote: Hmm... true. But it really does shine in hybrid games I think.
Yay! Awesome to hear the Ultimate Philosophy spoken of again! (besides Blue Lemma)

You'll also see it in the English localization scene...hybrid games are hot!

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Re: Selling Games

#24 Post by Ukio »

Well... returning to the original topic... :)
Lily-Rose wrote:Is it possible for anyone who has made a game on Ren'Py or RPGMXP etc to sell the games. My friends said you could, but i thought it would lead to copyright issues as you are making money from a program someone else created.
Ren'Py is not like RPGMakerXP!!!!!
RPGMakerXP is a commercial program to make RPGs that you can find cracked on the Net... AND THAT IS ILLEGAL!!!!!!! If you sell a game made it with RPGMakerXP, you will need to purchase the tool from the official website...
Some people make games with this, but don't have a license... and rip graphics from commercial games to make that games...!
There are some cracked versions of this and other game making tools on Net but (I repeat...) IT'S ILLEGAL
And, when you have a tool like Ren'py... why you want other tool? :wink:
Some people call me stupid, but I prefer to use legal tools to make my games...
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Re: Selling Games

#25 Post by monele »

Ren'Py is free and it's legal to make games with it and sell them.
RPGMaker XP is not free and it's legal to make games with it and sell them.

Both are valid options, really. Of course, one of them will have to be bought and in both cases, you should not use copyrighted material within the games you create... in particular if you're planning to sell them ^^;...

So, why not use Ren'Py? Because Ren'Py doesn't make RPGs ;). I don't think you can really compare both in that regard :)

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Re: Selling Games

#26 Post by rioka »

It may not have been set to make RPGs but it can be if you can code it like Chronoluminaire did with Elven Relations. From a commercial POV, I'd pick Ren'Py over RPGMaker since it can cross multiple platforms.

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Re: Selling Games

#27 Post by Cybeat »

Sorry for asking my question here, but it kinda does have to do with selling games. When I burn a ren'py game to a CD and try it on my laptop, it wouldn't say something like "This will install (NameofGame) on your computer" or set up anything. How will I make the CD do this? I thought about selling my games to some people or, whenever I get the chance, sell it at a convention.
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Re: Selling Games

#28 Post by PyTom »

This is two things. First, you want to make an installer using the Nullsoft install system (NSIS). I actually have a file that makes this fairly easy... when I get a couple of round tuits, I'll dig it out and post it on the Ren'Py wiki.

The other thing you want to do is to make an autorun.inf file. I've actually had terrible luck getting these to work. Hopefully, someone with more Windows experience can chime in. (This is turning into a theme.)
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Re: Selling Games

#29 Post by Jake »

PyTom wrote:The other thing you want to do is to make an autorun.inf file. I've actually had terrible luck getting these to work. Hopefully, someone with more Windows experience can chime in. (This is turning into a theme.)
Hm. I think half the problem here is just that there are a million and one things which can stop Autoplay from working - most power users will just turn it off as soon as they set a computer up, for example. Some drives (mostly stuff like floppy drives, though) don't send the insert notification which the OS needs to know what to do. Some software will break the config. the upshot is that you should always give your autoplaying-application a sensible name so that if it doesn't work on someone's system, they can still find the file they're supposed to be running.

I believe all you need for an autorun.inf is to create a text file with exactly that name (ensure that you're not accidentally calling it "autorun.inf.txt" for example, which can easily happen if you use notepad-which-hates-users or if you don't have file extensions shown) and put something like this in it:

Code: Select all

[autorun]
open=setup.exe
If you want a particular icon to show as the icon of that drive when you have the CD in it (and as the "Autoplay" action in some versions of Windows - Vista at least will do this) then add another line at the bottom reading:

Code: Select all

icon=icon.ico
Changing 'setup.exe' and 'icon.ico' to whatever your installer and your icon file are called.


That said, I don't like Autoplay myself, so I've only had cause to try this a couple of times. But it worked for me! I'm sure there's more things you can do in there, but I believe that's all you should need for a simple install-on-insert...
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Re: Selling Games

#30 Post by Ukio »

monele wrote:Ren'Py is free and it's legal to make games with it and sell them.
RPGMaker XP is not free and it's legal to make games with it and sell them.

Both are valid options, really. Of course, one of them will have to be bought and in both cases, you should not use copyrighted material within the games you create... in particular if you're planning to sell them ^^;...

So, why not use Ren'Py? Because Ren'Py doesn't make RPGs ;). I don't think you can really compare both in that regard :)
Yes, Ren'Py and RPGMXP are diferent tools... but I'm talking about the legality of the use of cracked programs... and yes... both are valid options... if you pay for one of them... :P
If you can buy RPGMXP, you can sell the games you made with that tool... but if you have a cracked version... it's other history...

I'm thinking... why so many people are trying to make RPGs with Ren'py?
One day, I found some info about Ren'Py in search engines and in the Wikipedia... so, this is how I meet the tool for first time... I was trying to make VNs or Dating Sims... If I want to make RPGs... welll... I will need other tool I think... sorry if this is off the topic... (maybe a new post...)

PD: one more time... sorry about my english... :oops: (I will put this as my signature... LOL )
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