Made game now what?

[Emmalena]

I have made my game and it is free of errors with the new Ren'Py software, however I don't know how to do the readme, icons, or make the file an exe so I can play it or send it to friends to play.

Please help by emailing me at:
emmalenaellis@yahoo.co.uk

[Twar3Draconis]

You chose the distribution item from the tools menu on your launcher. Linux and Windows, I haven't used the mac one, so not sure.

[Adorya]

Taken from the thread "How to finalize a game" :

Please playtest your game first and correct all syntax errors in your scripts.

NOTE: PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOUR GAME ACTUALLY LAUNCHES BEFORE DOING ANY OF THESE STEPS.

1.) Create readme.txt, presplash images
2.) Edit icons
3.) Pack resources into RPA archive
4.) Build distributions
5.) Final Testing

-----------------------

Let's go into more detail
1.) The readme.txt (or call it any file you want) summarizes the license you give for your game, installation instructions or how to play instructions. You place this file just outside the /game directory. For example, C:\renpy-6.3.2\MyGame\README.txt

The presplash image is optional, it's just a presplash.png image that loads before everything else. You have to separate it from other .png images such as sprites while you are packing the resources into RPA archive, because otherwise it won't work. See step 3.)

2.) There are two types of icons... one that is part of the game window, and one that launches your game. Both are optional -- the game will work regardless.

For the first icon that is part of the game window, you create a small 16x16 .png image and place it in the game directory. You declare it in a single line on your script, usually in options.rpy:

Code:
init -1:
python hide:

config.developer = False

config.screen_width = 800
config.screen_height = 600

config.window_title = u"My Game"

config.window_icon = "MyGame_icon.png"


The second icon is the actual .exe that launches your game. You use a third party icon editor to do that, by editing the properties of the renpy.exe before building your distributions. If someone can make a step-by-step tutorial for that, I'd appreciate it, since I've never been able to get this icon-changing to work.

3.) This selection is done automatically as part of the Launcher. I usually choose *.png and *.jpg. Don't forget to separate out the presplash.png so it doesn't get packed in while creating the RPA file. Just place it back into the directory afterwards. The unpacked resources will go to a separate Archive directory.

During this point, it starts to get messy, so I advise making multiple directories of your game before packing them. Multiple backups can help as long as you keep track of them.

4.) Now the tricky part. Make sure the game runs well on the final versions of your game scripts. Go inside the game directory and delete the saves folder. Also, if you don't plan to open-source your game, now is also the time to delete the original .rpy files, leaving only the .rpyc executables.

Then use the Launcher to build your distributions. If you're using Windows, don't touch the Mac and Linux, but extract the Windows build to test it. Check to make sure that your README.txt, and all scripts and resources are inside the correct directories. You will also notice a new script_version.rpy which was added by the Launcher -- you can leave that it.

5.) After final playtesting, if it's all okay and you don't have to redo any steps 1-4, then your game is ready to distribute!

I would just add : you can upload all your versions (WIN, MAC, LINUX) on the forum at once in your release thread.

Recently someone posted a free icon editor, link here:

I suggest also once zipping done to test again your game by unzipping and playing it like a 1st time.

[DaFool]

Couple of concerns somewhat in this topic.

1. When do .rpy.bak files start appearing? Was it when I set config.developer to False? Is it still safe to keep editing files and saving them, assured that the .bak files will never clobber the original rpy?

2. Is the rpyb file generated at the same time as the rpycs? If so, if the size of the rpys are smaller than the size of the rpyc + rpyb, then can I delete the latter to save space?

3. Is the Add Call From function something which you must do only at the very end before distribution, or can one safely work after adding them assuming that no new call functions are coded in?

4. Can I find a truetype font smaller than 500kb and replace the DejaVuSans in /common. As long as the font works with the launcher and the game, it will be hacked into the /common of the distributed build.

[PyTom]

1. When do .rpy.bak files start appearing? Was it when I set config.developer to False? Is it still safe to keep editing files and saving them, assured that the .bak files will never clobber the original rpy?

The .rpyb file stores the compiled bytecodes from all of the .rpy files (including those in the game directory). Having it makes starting the game faster, as if it's missing all of the python scripts need to be compiled again. On the other hand, having it missing is fine as well, as it will just be recreated.

2. Is the rpyb file generated at the same time as the rpycs? If so, if the size of the rpys are smaller than the size of the rpyc + rpyb, then can I delete the latter to save space?

The .rpyb file is generated whenever it is missing or out of date.

Basically, for each source file foo.rpy, it's okay to have in your distribution foo.rpy, foo.rpyc, or both. (In which case, the .rpyc file is used unless the .rpy file has changed, in which case the .rpyc file is automatically recreated.) The .rpyc files are generally faster than .rpy files, as text parsing is fairly expensive.

The .rpyb file is then recreated if it is missing, and updated if it is out of date.

All this is done the first time the game is run. The second time the game is run, the .rpyc and .rpyb files will exist, so it will run as fast as it would have if they had been shipped with the game.

3. Is the Add Call From function something which you must do only at the very end before distribution, or can one safely work after adding them assuming that no new call functions are coded in?

Yes, you can safely work provided no new call functions are added.

4. Can I find a truetype font smaller than 500kb and replace the DejaVuSans in /common. As long as the font works with the launcher and the game, it will be hacked into the /common of the distributed build.

Yes, you can do that. I recommend Vera sans, which is identical to DejaVuSans except it only supports English (and maybe western europe).