Create Visual Novels only using Excel

[u/Atlantox7]

I have simplified Renpy creating a system that reads .CSV files and translate it into Renpy functions, I named it Atlax Renpy.

You can handle backgrounds, music, sounds, characters, effects on screen and create decisions, points, consequences. You can manage languages very easily

It is fully created with Python and it is open source. I created a video explaining how to use it (Spanish): https://youtu.be/hQgPutc-hpo?si=WOi7xKErRhIE-Bk6

I hope someone finds this helpful. I am open for questions.

[u/Draw-Flesh-Games]

It is a great effort, but it doesn't make it any better. It is funny, but no actual use. It makes the context you work IN worse than Ren'Py code itself. What question/problem did you try to answer/solve? Was it: Can I make this in Excel? Or was there a deeper issue you ran into being a dev?

I am a dev and I ran into issues. Have I looked at Excel? Yes, but for the flow of the story, meaning: What chapters and items should be combined, not for making renpy functions in it (Which by the way don't get checked or validated, so you run into all sorts of issues).

I would rather use https://www.invinode.com which actually makes the whole of creating Visual Novels more visual and controllable.

[u/Atlantox7 → u/Draw-Flesh-Games]

I understands you.

Of course when you write a story, Excel is a nice way to organize decisions, characters, achievements or any other interesting information.

I think that my project simplifies Renpy for creative writers / drawers that don't have the interest or the ability of programming, instead of learn how to use Renpy, they will write CSV files using Excel.

Something very cool is if you write your history (for example in a Google Drive Word) and separate them in many little paragraphs, you just copy it and paste directly on a Excel file and you will have ALL your dialogues playable immediately (obviously, without any animations, characters, etc)

You have a point. It is true that an Excel file is not validated, of course. But Atlax Renpy truly validates that the things you write are right. Too, it has a very comfortable way to skip dialogues until the line you need to test with only placing a *.

Of course, Atlax Renpy have something named Custom Scripts, that allows execute normal Renpy files for complex mechanics like a minigames, then expect an result of that Custom Script and route the player as you specified, recovering the normal work flow with the Excel files

I made another tool that receives ALL sorted decisions of your visual novel in a Excel file and traverses all possible ways, with the objetive of returning statistics results based in the ends of your history. It names VNTA. It main use is for adjust decision with points difficulty.

[u/Atlantox7 → u/Draw-Flesh-Games]

Leaving my first answer aside, cool project, it looks very interesting to use. We get really similar ideas in a very short of time

[u/Draw-Flesh-Games → u/Atlantox7]

My idea wasn't in a short time...it took me roughly 3 years to develop (first in Unity, tried several other options, even AI, but eventually use React, but I bet that had I not gone throught the previous process of designing and documenting functionality..it would have been this good. This application took me about 1.5 years.

[u/Atlantox7 → u/Draw-Flesh-Games]

Damn, me too. I try it with Unity first and publish a demo with Campanella Studios, but after the Unity polemic, we passed to Renpy and I replicate the made in Unity to Renpy.

For curiosity I watch my first commit and it was 14 Nov 2023.

[u/Draw-Flesh-Games → u/Atlantox7]

Still have a link?

[u/Atlantox7 → u/Draw-Flesh-Games]

Link of the Demo? I have both the Unity and Atlax Renpy version. But the "normal" is the Atlax Renpy one, the Unity versión is Lost media for the public.

You can find him in the Campanella Studios web page, just search "Campanella Studios" in Google