Ren'Py 4.1 Released

[PyTom]

I'm pleased to announce the release of the latest version of Ren'Py, 4.1. This release includes a slew of new features, including everything on the list I posted a few days ago.

Anyway, you can download Ren'Py 4.1 from the usual place:

http://www.bishoujo.us/renpy/

This is now the preferred release for people making games with Ren'Py.

Upgrading from 4.0

You can upgrade from 4.0 to 4.1 by copying script.rpy and any image files you've created from the 4.0 game directory to the 4.1 game directory. You should be sure to use the versions of library.rpy and style.rpy that came with Ren'Py 4.1, however, as these files include support for some of the new features.

New Features and Changes in 4.1


Added the ability to customize the main menu by giving a list of
buttons on the main menu and the labels that they jump the user to.

Added the ability to center-click to hide any displayed text or menus.

Added the ability to have a color mouse that we can move around the
screen.

Added a persistent object, which has fields that are persistent across
games. Made the preferences part of this object, so that they are
persisted across sessions. For simplicity's sake, made seen_ever part
of that persistent object.

Added a special character called "centered", which causes the text it
displays to be centered in the screen without any window. Added two
new styles (centered_window and centered_text), which are used for
this, and a new property, textalign, which controls the horizontal
alignment of text within the Text object itself.

Keywords are now special in all contexts. So you can no longer include
keywords in image names. Sorry.

Improved parse error messages. They now include the text of the
line and a caret indication the location in the line where the parse
error occurred.

Added a with clause to say statements and menus. This lets one display
dialogue, thoughts, or menus using a transition. In conjunction with
this, changed a bit the semantics of with statements, and with clauses
on show, hide, and scene statements. Rewrote the section on
transitions in the documentation to reflect the new reality.

Added the ability to translate the text of the game menu. Together
with the ability to change the main menu, this makes Ren'Py fully
localizable, except for error messages. Check out the Localization
section in the tutorial for more details.

Added confirmations for quitting and overwriting a save game. This
also includes quitting by trying to close the window.

Added a preferences screen, which lets users change the Ren'Py
preferences. Right now, this includes Windowed/Fullscreen, Music
Enabled/Disabled, CTRL Skips Unread/All messages, and Transitions
controls which transitions are performed.

Added a Pan function which can be used in an at clause. This allows us
to pan over a background image.

Conclusion

Well, that's it for this spiral of Ren'Py development. Ren'Py now has all the features I can think of and want. If people want more features, let me know and I'll see what I can do. I'll also be supporting people as they develop new games, and working on my own.

Have fun.

[GorillaKick]

Are you sure it's on the site? I went there and all I saw was the link for 4.0. Or am I just not looking hard enough?

[PyTom]

It's right under the heading "current release". You may need to hit reload in your web browser to be sure you have the newest version of the page.

[GorillaKick]

Nope. It ain't there.

[Sai]

Nope. It ain't there.

It is. Try pressing the Ctrl and F5 keys at the same time on your keyboard whilst on the page (that is a clean refresh)

[PyTom]

Actually, GorillaKick was right. I linked to the bishoujo.us main page, rather than the Ren'Py page. I then edited the post, but had to go to pick up a pizza before I could write this response.

[Sai]

Oh I see. Sorry GorillaKick, I thought it was a cache problem. I blame the pizza >=)

[GorillaKick]

Also the download link is for 4.0. Trust me. I've checked several times.

[PyTom]

Oh *expletive*. I forgot to change the version number of the demo game. Don't worry, if you downloaded renpy-4.1.zip, you have 4.1.

[GorillaKick]

I'm sorry if you misunderstand me, but there is no link for 4.1.zip, it's still the link for 4.0.

[GorillaKick]

Oops! Nevermind. I did a clean refresh and got it! Sorry!

[GorillaKick]

Ok. I got it! I really like it. Sorry if I sounded like a jerk in the past few posts. Luv it! \m/ ^_^ \m/

[Alessio]

Congratulations, PyTom! I'm amazed at the demo. Especially the transition effects (although I'm more of a purist and would probably use them sparingly) and the rollback. Also very good to think of mouse and keyboard support. Thanks a lot for the great work!

Now if only my company would stop having me work 12-hour shifts, then I could find more time to continue my story...

Cheers,
Al

[PyTom]

I agree that transition effects can be abused, but I figure it's not my purpose to come up with a tool, not to protect people from themselves. I think it's appropriate to use transitions between scenes, and when a character enters or leaves a scene. Default transitions are probably a bad idea for an actual game.

Of course, I still won't implement the text that's slowly typed on the screen, even though it would only be a few lines of code.

[Alessio]

Of course, I still won't implement the text that's slowly typed on the screen, even though it would only be a few lines of code. :-P

Good! Be blessed! That's what I hate most! :)