making an online game

[Chronically Adixted]

I am a complete noob at making video games of any kind.Thanks to experiencing alot of the games on this site I have a bunch of ideas but i dont know how to get started. my ideas are based in the dating sim game area but are more elaborate than that. what programs do i need to get started and are they free or do i have to buy them?

[Kimiko]

I recommend Ren'Py... most people here in LSF use this engine. It's free, plus it got a framework for Dating Sims: [DSE]

[manga_otaku]

1. Download Ren'Py.
2. For dating sim, you'll probably want the DSE framework found here.
3. Get sprites (characters) by either drawing them yourself, getting a commission or find them using a free site.
4. Do the same as 3, but get backgrounds.
5. Same as 3 and 4, but with music and SFX.
6. Using Ren'Py, make the script. Basics here.
7. Think of a name~! You can leave it to last I suppose...

For sprites and BGs that are for free use (so don't make a commercial game without some of your own work ;D Commercial being NOT FREE) I recommend this site here.

Have fun~!

Edit: There's also Novelty, but I think it'll be pretty hard to make a dating sim with that. So, I would stick to Ren'Py.

*hides in corner*

[Chronically Adixted]

Thank you very much this was really useful

[manga_otaku]

No problem
Look forward to hearing about you and your games in the future

[fleet]

You can make a dating sim with Novelty, most folks on this site are familiar with Ren'py, and the experts here can answer your questions. Novelty has a much smaller user base; like Ren'py you can get help at their user forum. By on-line game, do you mean something that will play in a browser (versus downloading the game to your hard drive to play)?

[HikkiPanda]

if you're completely new to this stuff, then I suggest making much much less ambitious project. Maybe a short visual novel with 3 -5 characters. It's already pretty hard if you're a one man army, you need to draw some backgrounds, character's sprites with several different expression, coding, and story.

Don't think about making online games first. It's very complicated, especially during testing phase (different connection speed etc).

A lot of people start their first game with an ambitious project, they get tired and lost their motivation, and eventually abandon the project. So I really suggest you start with something simple first o:

[Chronically Adixted]

I have started making my game thanks to all your help i think im getting the hang of it.