Online Comic

[DecaK]

Hi everyone, i have couple questions. I want to make a online comic and I consider RenPy as one of good tehnology to do it, but not sure if RenPy can be run on web? In some scenes, we consider to give people option to click on some thing or choose way to go, that's why I think that RenPy is good for this but not sure is there way to do it. I also know Python if needed for RenPy development.

[Imperf3kt]

Its possible but very difficult to run Ren'Py through a browser.

Why not use something more suited to the task such as VN Canvas. This uses html5 elements to create a visual novel like experience directly in your web browser.

[PyTom]

Its possible but very difficult to run Ren'Py through a browser.

No, it's not. Why would you say this?

[kalesco]

PyTom, I appreciate the sentiment that Ren'Py VNs are easy to port to web - but can you please tell us how you would do this? Which of the web engines, if any, would you use?
I'm having the same issue of trying to get it to the web (once a stable game is finished in Ren'Py) - there seem to be a bunch of engines out there, but Sandbox is not answering (I might try again) and Monogatari looks promising, but with some work and naturally lots of JS (adding lots and lots of json and commas and reformatting).

Thank you!

[philat]

I believe what PyTom meant is that Ren'py DOESN'T run on browsers -- well, officially. (See: viewtopic.php?t=44500)

[kalesco]

Ah, I was too optimistic.

But maybe the engines I mentioned can help the thread starter.

[Imperf3kt]

Its possible but very difficult to run Ren'Py through a browser.

No, it's not. Why would you say this?

Ah, sorry. Perhaps I misworded myself?
I was referring to the thread highlighted by philat:

I believe what PyTom meant is that Ren'py DOESN'T run on browsers -- well, officially. (See: viewtopic.php?t=44500)

As I understand it, unity also works in a web browser (this I can 100% confirm).
Though, from what I've read about it, Unity isn't particularly suited to 2D graphics such as Visual Novels and interactive web comics.

[kalesco]

Unity is a beast to create VNs in my opinion. I started with ink and went to ink/Unity, but as I am a web dev / scripter I was overwhelmed by Unity's features and C#. (that's why I am happy I found Ren'Py)
It's certainly possible, but I would choose a specialized SDK.

[Remix]

Hi everyone, i have couple questions. I want to make a online comic and I consider RenPy as one of good tehnology to do it, but not sure if RenPy can be run on web? In some scenes, we consider to give people option to click on some thing or choose way to go, that's why I think that RenPy is good for this but not sure is there way to do it. I also know Python if needed for RenPy development.

... pretty much ignoring the above replies (you might have gathered that few if any developers actually run Ren'py through a browser interface), let me just outline a few points pertinent to the original question:

Ren'py basically creates executables for multiple platforms that people download and run on their devices. Whether it be windows pc, linux, mac or mobile devices, Ren'py bundles together the game components and creates an application that can run on the chosen device (note: ios and android may take a few steps more work).

In most cases, developers will basically create a full game or 'part game' demo and bundle that up for download.

Ren'py can though be told to communicate with a web server to automatically look for updates to the game. This allows a savvy developer to create a framework for their VN/game then just (using the same framework) use the updater to install extra chapters/episodes/regions/whatever to the core game.

Depending upon your requirements for your 'Online Comic' I think Ren'py should be able to do what you want (and likely a lot more besides).

I would actually suggest (as a step toward learning and to maybe start getting a 'framework' built) you start by making a short standalone Comic Style VN in Ren'py to see how it goes.

Feel free to ask more questions here (perhaps in new threads) if you need any advice.

[PyTom]

Yeah, sorry if I wasn't clear. The web platform doesn't have some of the basic technologies Ren'Py relies on, like threads. Until it improves, there's not going to be a web browser version of Ren'Py.

[pastblasters]

What about WebWorkers?

[PyTom]

What about WebWorkers?

They don't support a shared memory space. Something like SharedArrayBuffer would be the bare minimum I'd need.