Game Development with Ren'Py

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiv

   PDF

2. Stories and How to Craft Them

   • Robert Ciesla

   Pages 1-46

3. The (Ancient) Art of Interactive Fiction

   • Robert Ciesla

   Pages 47-77

4. The Modern Visual Novel

   • Robert Ciesla

   Pages 79-108

5. Working in Ren’Py, Twine, and TyranoBuilder

   • Robert Ciesla

   Pages 109-143

6. Deeper Down the Dungeon

   • Robert Ciesla

   Pages 145-185

7. Deploying for Popular Platforms

   • Robert Ciesla

   Pages 187-215

8. Three Little Games

   • Robert Ciesla

   Pages 217-324

9. Promotional Strategies

   • Robert Ciesla

   Pages 325-337

10. Back Matter

    Pages 339-346

    PDF

Get your feet wet in developing visual novels and take a guided tour through easy to follow tutorials using three of the most popular tools (Ren'Py, TyranoBuilder, and Twine). This book uses a two-pronged approach into the fine art of text-based games, showing you what makes for compelling writing as well as the programming logic and techniques needed to bring your visual novels to life.

In this book, you will uncover the rich history of interactive fiction from the bare-bones 1970s games to the audiovisually rich modern output. You will take a detailed look at how to work with some of the most popular and exotic sub-genres and tropes of interactive fiction, such as nakige ("crying game"), dating sims, and horror. Once the stage is set, you will learn to use all-purpose programming logic and techniques in three mini tutorial games and also learn how to deploy your titles to both desktop and mobile platforms.

Not solely relegated to the ancient historical period of the 1980s and 1990s, interactive fiction has again become appealing to developers as new tools became available. The visual novel is an increasingly popular and potentially lucrative genre of video game, being deployed for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and more. Game Development with Ren'Py reveals how multi-platform tools such as Ren'Py, TyranoBuilder, and Twine are becoming ever more plentiful for creating games in this genre.

What You'll Learn

• Gain a working knowledge of Ren'Py, TyranoBuilder, and Twine
• Examine the basics of general programming logic
• Deploy to all available operating systems and platforms
• Review different approaches to fiction writing in the context of text-based games

Who This Book Is For

People with no programming experience who are interested in working in the genre of visual novels or interactive fiction.

• Ren'Py
• TyranoBuilder
• Twine
• Visual Novel Games
• Python
• Game Development
• Open Source

• Helsinki, Finland

  Robert Ciesla

Robert Ciesla is a freelance writer from Helsinki, Finland. He has a BA in journalism and a knack for writing urban fiction and directing short films. Robert has worked on many video games on several platforms since being a kid in the mid-nineties.