Seeking advise on if ambitious mobile project is doable for noob[tips on how][or rough pricing if not]

[xMichi]

Hello, first of all I'm sorry if I did not title it correctly I tried to make it understandable.

There will be a few questions however they all co-relate to the same two(or technically three) questions: Can this be done & where do I start if this can be done. Or if it cannot be done (by me) what budget should I expect to prepare (roughly) if I were to hire someone to do this for me?

It's a lot of text so I will try to write it as short and clear as possible!

To start of I am a coding noob. All I have been able to do in the past are the basic VN's (dialogue, assets, choices, heart systems, name input ("your name"), clickable maps/UI buttons, persistent variable in the settings, making NVL appear as a chat screen).
No mini games or anything. I have not yet dabbled into inventory/currency either.

I am willing to learn but sometimes get overwhelmed by information, however I do realise coding is a lot about thoroughly reading what everything does and then trial and error. I am aware it would take time for me to learn how to do these things and I am willing to put in the time, however I get overwhelmed and have a really hard time to determine what I should be looking for. Where to start. What functions/knowledge this requires etc. What keywords to type in etc.

I am currently planning a game that is basically a mixture between this game, this game and games like Choices/Chapters and the like. As well as the influence of popular dating/social media shows like Love is Blind, Are You The One and The Circle.

Quick rundown of what it is and the functions I envision (The blue text is what I don't know how to do at all. I hope this makes it easier to understand what I am stuck on.) :

What is it?
Set in a fantasy world it's basically closely related to the first game (picka) where you are on a dating show that lasts for 30 days. This will therefore require a messaging system where you can select choices from time to time, where I can add in pictures in the chat etc.
Different from the first game however is that I do want to implement actual sprites (so scenes where you are on the dates instead of commentary in the chatroom). Including an shop/inventory where you can buy items to give on dates.
All the "mini games" can be done through the text system, as well as how you earn the currency to buy anything so I don't need a game within a game on top of it.


If I go the mobile App route these are the functions I am looking for:
- When you open the app you're not directed to a "save file" but rather it remembers you and where you left of. (Looking into this)
- In the app you can switch between tabs/chats aka it saves all the chats you've had so far. (I only know I need persistent data but nothing beyond that)
- Next scenes could be locked by IRL time (like in picka sometimes you need to wait 24h for the next chapter OR you could unlock it now with currency).
- Microtransactions /currency that can be bought with real money
- As well as currency that you can earn through dates/completing the "mini games"
- Potentially then also a spin the wheel for free currency or watching ads to gain free currency
- The option to start from the beginning where it deletes your process and you can start the story again (for replay-ability. I assume I just need persistent data for this and redirecting someone to the first scene)
- And of course the messaging system in the first place. (Found Nighten's system)
- I also require the player to choose a character profile which would switch the storyline a little (but I assume that in both cases this can be done by using an image map and then using variables and if statements when this comes up in text?)
^ Although I would need to figure out how to change the MC's picture based on what they choose and I am unsure of how to do this.

I think I could maybe figure out the tabs, locking of scenes, starting over from the beginning etc. However I am at a loss for what to look into/where to start with the other things.

Question 1. Can this be done with Ren'py at all? (Answered! )
Question 1.a If yes, what do I need to look into for the functions mentioned above?
Question 1.b If no, with what could this be done? Where do I start?
Question 1.c How expensive would it roughly be to hire someone to do this for me? (I realise people price their work differently but what would be reasonable?)(Answered )

If the mobile app cannot be done (by me) I realise I need to switch gears completely and alter the entire thing in normal Ren'py VN style. In which case I would be looking for these functions:

- I would work with savefiles then but inside of your save file I still would want you to be able to switch between chats and have the system remember all the chats until now. I know I should probably use persistent data to some extend for the remembering part but I struggle figuring out what I need to look into to make the switching chats a possibility.
- This also means that new "scenes" could be added in the same tab. (example: Say scene 1 is done in a group chat, scene 2 in a private chat but scene 3 is in the group chat again. I would want it to resemble a true message system where you can still see everything from scene 1 but scene 3 now gets added underneath).
- inventory/ fake in game currency (I think I would be able to figure this out myself. If not I can always open a topic on it when I truly struggle)
- Here I also need my player to choose a character profile. (I would do this with an imagemap, variables and if statements. I think I can do this myself.)
- But! Here the same issue where I would need to figure out how to change the MC's picture based on what profile they picked.

Question 2. If I were to make this version would it be doable to let a professional programmer make an app out of it like the first example later on?
Question 2.a Would that price differ from if I would let that be done from the beginning?
Question 3. What should I look into for the above functions I cannot do atm?

I realise that this is an ambitious project and that the normal VN style would be much more doable for me, but I do prefer to make a mobile app so I am really curious if I somehow can make this happen.
If not I would like to know how much I need to roughly save up to make this happen through somebody else.

If you read all of this thank you for your patience. I hope you can help me.

[zmook]

All of those features are doable in Ren'py, I believe, but I would seriously not recommend that a noob try to bite them all off at once. Especially microtransactions, because if you have any bugs at all you will have people mad about real money, and in that case you can't just say "oh, it's just a game."

I don't know what contract programming costs these days, but I do know it's very expensive.

(a) do you *want* to be the coder? If so, I'd invest a couple years into learning to do it right. Start with a project that has two or three things you've never done before, that stretches you but isn't overwhelming.
(b) If not, find a partner who *does* know what they're doing.

I'd also suggest it might be worth taking a little time to think of two or three other ideas. Get them all to the point of writing a few pages of story summary/game mechanics, and draw a few mock screens. *THEN* pick which one is worth actually doing. It's a big commitment to make and actually finish a game that doesn't suck.

[Ocelot]

Depending on amount of work you are looking at least 4-figure price tag. Often you might be able to find someone willing to work at reduced rate or even free, if your project would interest them, but as you have a commercial project, this option is not for you. If you ever find someone willing to work on someone else's profit for free, I would question their experience and competence.

To answer some other points:
You do not need persistent data at all. In fact, you should not use persistent data here (except maybe storing some data which should persist between hard resets). Everything you want can be achieved by keeping single autosave which gets transparently loaded on game start.
A lot of other things you want are pretty trivial, and easily implemented by anyone who has experience with RenPy.

It looks too ambitious for a first serious project, if you want to do it in reasonable timeframe. A pet project in development for 3+ years? Possibly. A commercial project with a deadline in less than 2 years? Unlikely.
Do not forget, that you will have infrastructure outside your RenPy project to work with your game. Data for microtransactions should be stored somewhere on your side, you should check game for integrity online (otherwise you will have "everything paid unlocked instantly" pack avaliable on the internet next day after release).

[xMichi]

Depending on amount of work you are looking at least 4-figure price tag. Often you might be able to find someone willing to work at reduced rate or even free, if your project would interest them, but as you have a commercial project, this option is not for you. If you ever find someone willing to work on someone else's profit for free, I would question their experience and competence.

To answer some other points:
You do not need persistent data at all. In fact, you should not use persistent data here (except maybe storing some data which should persist between hard resets). Everything you want can be achieved by keeping single autosave which gets transparently loaded on game start.
A lot of other things you want are pretty trivial, and easily implemented by anyone who has experience with RenPy.

It looks too ambitious for a first serious project, if you want to do it in reasonable timeframe. A pet project in development for 3+ years? Possibly. A commercial project with a deadline in less than 2 years? Unlikely.
Do not forget, that you will have infrastructure outside your RenPy project to work with your game. Data for microtransactions should be stored somewhere on your side, you should check game for integrity online (otherwise you will have "everything paid unlocked instantly" pack avaliable on the internet next day after release).

I see! Thank you for the insight that is very helpful. Yes, I was thinking it might cost 4-figures. I guess I will just save up for a programmer to avoid any big mistakes.

Everything you want can be achieved by keeping single autosave which gets transparently loaded on game start.

I will look into that. Thank you for directing me to not look at persistent date there I would probably have struggled with that for 10 hours or something

Well luckily I don't really have a deadline for it specifically at this point in time and you could consider it a pet project but I appreciate the calculation on the timeframe that's a useful insight!