Random Question (xna)

[JeremyBenson]

Hey,

I was wondering. Do you think Ren'py would ever take on something that would allow it to be ported to Xbox? It would be crazy if these games could be sold on the Xbox market place. I know that would probably take a lot of work... but if that ever came in the future I think it would be a whole new level of cool for Ren'py

[PyTom]

I don't have any plans for this. Apart from the technical problems, the xboxes are closed platforms, and I don't like the idea of encouraging players to purchase closed platforms.

[Fox Lee]

I think in general, the Android market is a more useful one for Ren'Py to approach than XBLA. Visual Novels don't really occupy the same brainspace as console games these days; X-Box seems to generally have the best developer tools of the big three this time around, but its audience demographic (keeping in mind it is very much aimed at the western mainstream/non-geeky/FPS crowd, and was never very popular in Japan) is probably the least likely current console userbase to actually want or appreciate your typical VN. Games on smartphones, on the other hand, have a lot more freedom to be something other than an 3D action game, and the attitudes of users there are - again overall, not commenting on any individual - much more accepting of an experience that is primarily reading and looking at pictures.

Don't get me wrong, I know how you feel - I often wish I could play Ren'Py games on my 3DS - but I can also see 100% why PyTom isn't interested in it. Obviously Ren'Py could also be a paid tool, but instead it's in an open and accessible, and free even for commercial projects. If those ideas are important to what Ren'Py is - obviously those choices were made for a reason - then putting in all that effort to reach closed console environments is pretty much like supporting the opposite ideal.

On the bright side, Android packaging means that you can look forward to your Ren'Py game being playable on the Ouya, so there's that :p