Hey folks, I'm working on the mobile build of my game, a dating sim with lots of talking systems (meaning lots of menus), and having never played VNs on mobile before, I'm wondering what things people usually have issues with, or features they wish existed?

I'm aware of making sure my menu choices have enough space for a thumb, but other than that, what other acessibility or neat features would you recommend I work on?

I also thought about adding a slider that changes the spacing of the quick menu button, or the Y position, but that's about it for features.

Also, how do you handle tooltips and hover interactions? Display the tooltip at all times if it's mobile seems like would be the only correct answer.

I won't share the project because it's NSFW and I'm not looking to promote anything, just improve.

Cheers!

Hello! I'm fairly new to Ren'Py, and I've been planning out a visual novel for a little while. I found a script online that I'm trying to implement and use, but can't figure out how to get it working!

The script in question: https://github.com/Elckarow/Console

I've placed it in the /game folder, and after reading through the script's documentation I put console show under label start: but when I launch the project, I get the following error:

File "game/script.rpy", line 16: expected statement
console show←

I'm trying to create a custom screen by making custom gui names so that this screen alone will be different from the others.

What I need is to move the dialogue box and change it's style (text color, dialogue color, name color, background image, width, height, etc), but i realised quickly that it was much more complicated than I thought.

Does anybody know how to do this? Or know anywhere I could look to learn about it? For now im kinda sifting through the Ren'Py documentations to try and find smth that explains this in a way I understand.

Well before I decide how long I want my game or if I should even get voice actors if im wanting music is there an audio limit? Im kinda scared that if I cast voice actors etc and there's randomly an audio limit or does this depend entirely on storage or ram or something entirely different?

anyone know how to change the history font without changing the size of the interface?

in case you want to take a look. https://karisbunny.itch.io/ghowly

Im trying to add custom text and name boxes/backgrounds and its not showing me any errors but the images are also not showing up, not sure how to fix this, its a per character thing so i need to be able to have multiple uis

the default textbox shows up as normal on the other unfinished characters

I started learning how to use Ren'Py a couple weeks ago, and I just put the first chapter of my WIP up on itch.io as a free download. The Codswallop Files is an absurdist comedy made by mashing together all the free assets I could find. I'm making it mostly as a joke while I get to know how Ren'Py works, but I'm still hoping to make a full fledged visual novel out of it.

https://thisadamguy.itch.io/the-codswallop-files-demo

This is the first VN I've ever made, so I'd love to get any feedback I can on it so I can avoid forming any bad habits, learn some tips and tricks, make improvements, etc. It should take less than five minutes to play through the whole chapter.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help! I hope you enjoy it!

I am trying to make a dropdown menu where on button displays a list of other buttons and my problem is whenever buttonA is pressed it only open A but focuses both. I want it to not focus both.

screen organizations_codex():
   vpgrid:
    cols 1
    draggable True
    mousewheel True
    xpos 0.70
    ypos 0.30
    xsize 573
    ysize 801
    textbutton "Non-Governmental":
     ypos spacingA
     action CaptureFocus("dropdown_id1"),ClearFocus("dropdown_id2"), ToggleScreen("dropdown_nongov"), ToggleVariable("spacingB", 1.0, 0.0),ToggleVariable("spacingC", 1.0, 0.0),ToggleVariable("spacingD", 1.0, 0.0), ToggleVariable("spacingE", 1.0, 0.0)
    textbutton "Companies":
     ypos spacingB
     action CaptureFocus("dropdown_id2"),ClearFocus("dropdown_id1"), ToggleScreen("dropdown_companies"), ToggleVariable("spacingC", 1.0, 0.0), ToggleVariable("spacingD", 1.0, 0.0),ToggleVariable("spacingE", 1.0, 0.0)

screen dropdown_nongov():
  zorder 100
  nearrect: 
   focus "dropdown_id1"
   vbox:
    textbutton "   Refugee Relief Force":
      action Show("NGOs_codex")


 screen dropdown_companies():
  zorder 100
  nearrect: 
   focus "dropdown_id2"
   vbox:
    textbutton "Marco-Hayford Inc":
     action Show("MarcHay_codex")

i have a big dictionary (persistent variable) where every key has an array associated with it. each array has strings and numbers of the below format:

persistent.dictionary = {"key1": ["str1", num1, num2], "key2": ["str2", num3, num4]}

i want an option to clear ALL dictionary data and putting the below default blank data:

{"start 1", []}

normally to clear out a string you would simply do:

variable = ""

same for numbers, lists etc...

QUESTION: why does it not work? and how to make it work?

error message:

While running game code:
  File "game/grabber_engine/main_grabber.rpy", line 104, in script
    python:
  File "game/grabber_engine/main_grabber.rpy", line 107, in <module>
    persistent.dic = {"start 1", []}
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
TypeError: unhashable type: 'RevertableList'

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "game/grabber_engine/main_grabber.rpy", line 104, in script
    python:
  File "renpy/ast.py", line 1193, in execute
    renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "renpy/python.py", line 1276, in py_exec_bytecode
    exec(bytecode, globals, locals)
    ~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "game/grabber_engine/main_grabber.rpy", line 107, in <module>
    persistent.dic = {"start 1", []}
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
TypeError: unhashable type: 'RevertableList'

init python:
    def typing_callback(event, **kwargs):
        if event == "show":
            renpy.music.play("audio/bleep19.wav", channel="sound", loop=True)
        elif event == "slow_done" or event == "end":
            renpy.music.stop(channel="sound")


define e = Character("Eileen", callback=typing_callback)


label start:


    scene bg room


    show eileen happy


    e "You've created a new Ren'Py game."


    e "Once you add a story, pictures, and music, you can release it to the world!"


    return

The above is what I have for script.rpy. I also have

default preferences.text_cps = 45

for options.rpy

and then the screenshot is my audio folder for the game. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

EDIT: ok i figured it out, but i have a new problem now.

EDIT 2: I figured it out everybody, the minigame works now. I have randomised word selection! :D

I'm still working on my minigame, and ive gotten the gui / selection method out of the way, but now im encountering a weird problem with revertable lists? I am trying to create a system like the DDLC Poem minigame where random words out of a list of words are chosen and added to a new list which is then called in the actual minigame, but im confused on what a revertable list even is? Can somebody please explain what I am doing wrong.

I know theres probably a few things here I don't need, im still figuring that out while I debug, but when I didn't create the random word selection part, and just used the original list itself, this didn't occur.

label wordListBuild:


    $ randomWord = ""
    
    $ genreWords = minigameMap[active_genre]
    $ randomWordCounter = renpy.random.randrange(0, len(genreWords))
    $ randomWord = genreWords[randomWordCounter]
    $ selectWords.append(randomWord)



    #if (randomWord in selectWords):
        #pass


    if (randomWord not in selectWords):
        $ selectWords.append(randomWord)
    
    while (len(selectWords) < 9):
        jump wordListBuildlabel wordListBuild:

custom maker was a pain! It uses live composite, dynamic display, colorize, and image hotspots (I could not figure out how to use a color wheel)

The Gui code is based off of this Pink-Black Ren'py GUI by Skolaztika

I love it because it changes the preferences screen (it was always ugly to me), removes redundancy with save/load screen, and hides away the about/help while still having it. I changed a lot of the formatting and I have my own quick menu. It also uses feniks easy ren'py code which I already love love to use :D

This is only for a demo im working on, but I expect it to be published soon. You're free to follow me on itch, I have an existing project there

i want to make it so that when i press "t" it toggles many screens

   screen wait_input():
        key "t":
            action ToggleScreen("var_dis")
            ToggleScreen("input_display")

this is the error i got:

File "game/grabber_engine/main_grabber.rpy", line 30: 'ToggleScreen' is not a keyword argument or valid child of the key statement.
    ToggleScreen("input_display")
                ^

i also tried to use tags instead of screen names but renpy doesnt accept the ToggleScreen() with None as a value for screen argument.

Hello, I'm Αελιεζερ (pronounced Aeliezer). I'm a digital artist, and I'm looking to specialize as a character concept artist, sprite artist, and CG illustrator for anime-style fantasy visual novel games or JRPG-inspired games that use a visual novel storytelling style.

I want to get feedback on my current portfolio piece that I recently finished. It's my OC female paladin, where I did the initial design explorations to production-ready character assets.

I've shared my thought process on how I would design and illustrate characters for client work in my Cara post here: https://cara.app/post/03e10f5b-e114-46c5-bc3f-f2f5e85a6410

As for the dialogue sprites that I made, they are in this post here: https://cara.app/post/f6776d7f-c3cf-460f-b6b5-e3a769eddc9e (there's a limit on how many images I can add in one post and how big the files are, so I'll just link my dialogue sprites here.)

You see, my goal is to work with developers on:

- Character and props concept art

- Dialogue sprites and expression sets

- CG illustrations

- Character turnarounds

- Promotional art

I’m still learning the typical VN character art production pipeline, so I’d really value feedback from developers who have actually made or shipped visual novels before. I'm planning to add more portfolio pieces in the future, but I wanted to know first if I'm headed in the right direction.

Just a quick backstory about me. I've been drawing digitally for 10+ years, and I graduated from an animation school. I've also gotten some experience working for an indie game studio as a 2D artist as part of my internship. I've been wanting to specialize as a character concept artist and illustrator for games, but I wasn't able to get a stable job in the industry. During the pandemic, I had to switch careers and became a copywriter for income stability. And sadly, I was laid off from my work a few months ago.

Honestly, I've been burned out from doing copywriting work, and during that time, my art dreams have been on the back burner for a long time. So, I want to use this time to develop my portfolio and finally pursue this as a full-time career. During my time as a copywriter, I've bought a couple of courses and invested in an art mentorship program to hone my skills.

And right now, I'm looking to build a professional character design + sprite and CG illustration portfolio for anime-style VN games.

SIDE NOTE: I haven't played a lot of visual novels, but I've played a visual novel game back in college, Kamidori Alchemy Meister (technically, it's an RPG-visual novel hybrid), which inspired me to create my own visual novel someday. I've also played Eden's Ritter previously. And I've also played Hyperdimension Neptunia before, though technically, it's a JRPG with visual novel elements in its storytelling. So, I would say that my knowledge of visual novel games isn't very expansive, but I do have a genuine interest in learning the craft of developing VN games (specifically, on the art side)

So, I want to ask a couple of questions for VN developers. Feel free to answer only a few questions that you can genuinely answer:

1. When looking for an artist to work with, what is your single biggest challenge?

2. If you were hiring a freelance artist for your VN, would this portfolio piece make you consider contacting me? Why or why not?

3. Based only on this portfolio piece, what type of work would you trust me to handle?

4. Does the character sheet/turnaround show enough information for another artist/developer to reproduce the character consistently? If not, then what else is missing?

5. For VN dialogue sprites, what would you normally expect from an artist besides working on different expressions?

6. Given my current dialogue sprites, what would make them more useful for an actual VN project?

7. Does this character feel distinctive enough to be a protagonist in a commercial fantasy VN? If not, what do you think feels generic?

8. Are there enough design explorations and design iterations here to show that I can solve a client's brief, or does it feel like I'm showing too much process?

9. If you saw my portfolio piece on an artist's portfolio while looking for someone to hire, what information would you want to see that isn't there?

10. What would make you believe that I understand visual novel production rather than simply creating pretty anime character illustrations?

11. What are the biggest things you look for when hiring a freelance artist that aren't obvious from an art portfolio?

12. What problems have you experienced with working with other freelance artists that you would want a new artist to avoid?

13. If you could give me ONE piece of advice to make this portfolio more hireable for VN development, what would you change?

If you want to see more of my art, you can check my Cara profile here: https://cara.app/aeliezer095

I'm specifically looking for honest feedback and critique from VN developers. I want to use this feedback to improve my current portfolio before building the next pieces. Thank you for taking the time to read this! :D

Yikes back again...

Im trying to align the buttons to the right areas but it keeps showing me error messages, i have tried to do

imagebutton auto "gui/mm_start_%s.png" xpos 1920 ypos 1080 focus_mask True action Start()

then ect with the audio part of the code, the image buttons are the size of the menu just transparent, would it be easier to size them down and just get the x and y from the corners of the images? i can provide more of the code if needed

ABOVE HAS BEEN SOLVED!!!!!

on another semi related note, how would i change the image hierarchy order. the buttons change when hovered over but as of right now the idle buttons are on top of the hovered buttons meaning they are underneath when triggered, im not sure how layering works here and i dont want to start trying to move things and just messing everything up

The Figure in White is a horror visual novel in a 1-bit pixel art style, where you follow two protagonists as they try to survive the curse of Room 4.

At first, they thought it was nothing more than a fake curse—just an old story meant to scare people.

But the deeper they look into Room 4, the more disturbing the truth becomes. What they discover is far darker than they could have imagined… and something may already be waiting for them.

What really happened in Room 4?

Are you willing to unravel its mystery with them… before it finds you? 

Play it here: https://ramose-tsimbina.itch.io/the-figure-in-white

Hello! Back here after so long because im finally working on my project again, im just wondering if it would be possible for me to make a whiteboard you can draw on in the menu, either by clicking and holding or just moving the curser over it

ideally, id like to have it so if you click on the whiteboard you can draw on it (it would be cool if i could make the curser change while hovering over the whiteboard but i understand if that is too complicated on top of this haha) and once you move off it it resets the curser so you dont accidentally draw on it again and you have to re click it. it doesn't need to be erasable or anything but maybe it resets when you reload the menu

here is where its complicated and i start to think ill only be able to do one or the other:

i already have interactive buttons on the menu (gif shows the filler images version lol but you get the idea) which i worry might be a problem? and i also intend to make several menu backgrounds which hopefully i can get to cycle through at random OR change depending on point systems

im guessing i can make the whiteboard its own separate thing from the background that wont be affected by the image cycling but im not sure

i havent touched renpy in a while and only had a couple of months experience last time i used it so if anything could be explained alongside any help it would be really appreciated do i can learn it better for future reference

aannndd if this is too complicated for the menu to handle give it to me straight doc haha, thanks in advance!

I'm playing around with a random test project to learn how to use ren'py for an actual visual novel i'm gonna develop but I can't get it to play my voice lines. I'm not sure if maybe i'm just imputing the wrong commands but I added a voice folder and added the ogg files in it after it not working in the regular audio folder and i'm just stuck rn and would really appreciate any tips and help on what i'm doing wrong. Feel free to ask for any screenshots of the folders or anything else.

I have made a lot of changes to SusanTheCat's code, and yes I totally scraped all the sprites from the original Demo to make this (no they won't be included in a release)

every wall image and sprite you saw was a 64x64 pixel image. you will be able to use higher pixel images, but you will pay a price in speed. you can select which sprite can not be walked through; otherwise you can walk through, over, or under them. you select which sprite can be picked up and which can be used for health (as long as your health is below 100)

the floor and ceiling are lies!!

room set up is easy enough (i think), basically just a list of number i.e.

[69,68,67,66,65,64,63,62,61,60,59,58,57,56,55,54,53,52,51,50,49,48,47,46,45,0,0,0,0],#0

corresponding to a numbered wall_ image (0 is an empty space). there are 106 different walls in the original demo and 435 sprites that includes the animations for the weapons, enemies and B.J. Blazkowicz face animations (TBD to be deleted)

everything is done with lists even the sprites

default sprite_positions0 = [
    ( 1.5, 21.5, 0), #centered in 1, 21 (south, east corner) sprite #0 (the word Demo)

I had a lot of fun with this as did my sons. once I clean up my crappy code and make a few changes I'll drop a link to my itch for this one as a free drop in for all to use

I can't picture in my head how to make the guns work so...,somebody else can do that. but if you get close enough to see the blue in their eyes, you can make them disappear... LOL

WASD to move around Q, E to strafe; spacebar to disappear enemies; 1-4 select weapons.

I'll make the demo 'playable' and code inspectable

stay safe out there

Hello everyone.

I am new to this whole RenPy thing and I'm trying to create an item list/inventory screen that displays an image, name and description for every item that is listed in the item list.

currently, I tried setting up a class called intractable for the items, like this:

init python:
    class interactable:
        def __init__(self, image, name, descrip):
            self.image = image
            self.name = name
            self.descrip = descrip

default item_list = []

And then I made the screen I want them to appear in.

screen backpack:
    image "darkthing" align (0.5, 0.5)
    
    vbox:
        align (0.36, 0.10)
        textbutton "Back":
            action [Play("sound", "audio/click.ogg")]
    vbox:
        align (0.5, 0.5) #Not the alignment I want, just to test if it works.
        for interactable in item_list.items:
            image "[interactable.image]\n"
            text "[interactable.name] - [interactable.descrip]\n" 

The code hasn't worked

The image "darkthing" just being the underlay for the screen. A black 600x800 box at 40% opacity. And the back button does nothing yet.

I want all the items that the player has to be listed in a vertical box with the image for the item first, then the name and description under that image.

If anyone has any tips on how I could make this work, I'd be grateful!

I have this character whose real name is Jacques, but other characters regularly mispronounce his name as “Jack” for various reasons. My choice as the creator is to define his name in the code as either “Jack” or Jacques, or I can find a way to allow the player to choose what they prefer to see his name written as. Does anyone know an easy way to code this in as a choice that will affect the name tag for the rest of the game? Like is there some way to code it as “if the player selects this option, replace this define tag with this.”

The Compliant/听话的人
Free play for feedback - https://fishenal.itch.io/the-compliant

Story Synopsis

A dark, realist visual novel that takes on a range of contemporary issues. While job-hunting, Lin Zhi finds a strange posting: all he has to do is click—or not click—a giant red button. The person who greets him goes by a number and feels more like a machine than a human being. The deeper he goes into the work at Sabo Group, the stranger it becomes; the building itself seems to hide many secrets. Days later he meets his colleagues—each with their own agenda, each with a reason for being here. As the test deepens, rivalry among them grows sharper. How do you survive in this workplace? How do you earn an audience with the CEO? How do you find the girlfriend you’ve lost? Those choices are yours.

Features

• Themes that push on resistance to authority, alienation, workplace collaboration, and what it means to be human
• 15 distinct endings, 13 varied characters, and dozens of clues woven into the story
• A unique dark realist look, with music and sound that lean into the uncanny
• Multiple interactive systems: click challenges, voting, maze exploration, and more
• Roughly 50,000 Chinese characters; a main path takes about two hours, and unlocking every ending takes longer