DOCTOR_dev

DOCTOR_dev is a game dev trying to make it in the world

[directdogman]

I love your games,the visuals, the writing, etc. You've honestly inspired me to make my own!! Im still learning how to code and stuff, but I was wondering what engine (if any) do you use for your visual novels?

I use RPG Maker for VNs because I'm a psycho. You should try an engine out that was made for VNs, like Renpy, or perhaps look into Dialogic for Godot? It has a higher learning curve than RPG Maker, but has a lot of very cool features (some of which I envy.)

[lazzmap]

After the redesign of the Cartography standards, I did another redesign, this time around, I added more details for R&D to help in making map design easier.  Something else that was requested from upper management was the addition of low, medium & high complexity maps, and the workflow chart showing how a map starts and travels through the various steps to completion within our corporate environment at that time at Wizards of the Coast.

I hope this helps everyone in creating their own maps and making gaming more fun and enjoyable for all :)

Cheers!

Lazz

[ka3l]

IM HOSTING A GAME JAM! True beginners welcome!

there is a generous window of 3 weeks. The theme is yet to be announced but the space is very artsy, LGBT and fun, if you want to try making a game, please join here -> [link]

[vaadazen-codes]

How To Get Started Making Visual Novels

Wanna make a visual novel? Or maybe you've seen games like Our Life, Blooming Panic, Doki Doki Literature Club, etc. and wanna make something like that? Good news, here's a very basic beginners guide on how to get started in renpy and what you need to know going in! Before you start, I highly recommend looking at my last post about writing a script for renpy just to make it easier on you!

LONG POST AHEAD

Obviously, our first step is downloading it from their website

thankfully, its right on the home page of their site. Follow basica program installation steps and run the program. I highly recommend pinning it to your task bar to make it easier to access.

From there, you're met with the renpy app, it's a little daunting at first but let's talk about what all these buttons are for.

Projects

This part is simple, it just lists the current projects in the chosen directory. You probably won't have any in there of your own. You should still see Tutorial and The Question!

Both of those default projects are super helpful in their own ways, i highly recommend testing out the tutorial and playing around with it just to get comfortable with some of the basics.

Create New Project

The first step to actually making your game into a game!

You'll be met with a prompt letting you know that the project is being made in English and that you can change it. You can click Continue.

From here, you'll be asked to input a project name! Put in your games title, or even a placeholder title since this Information can be changed later! (this is also the title the folder will be in your file browser, be sure to name it something you won't overlook)

Now we get to choose our resolution!

If you have no idea what to choose, go for 1920x1080! This is the standard size for most computer monitors and laptops, but it will still display with moderately decent quality on 4k monitors too!

You can choose 3840x2160 as well. This is 2x the measurements of the default, with the same ration. These dimensions are considered 4k. Keep in mind, your image files will be bigger and can cause the game to have a larger size to download.

Now we get to choose our color scheme!

Renpy has some simple default options with the 'light mode' colors being the bottom two rows, and the 'dark mode' colors being the toop two rows.

You can pick anything here, but I like to choose something that matches my projects vibes/colors better. Mostly because depending on how in depth you go with the ui, it minimizes the amount of changes I need to make later.

Click continue and give it a minute. Note: If it says "not responding" wait a moment without clicking anything. It can sometimes freeze briefly during the process.

Now we should be back at our home screen, with our new project showing. Let's talk about allll that stuff on the right now.

Open Directory

This just opens that particular folder in your local file explorer!

game - is all the game files, so your folders for images, audio, saves, and your game files like your script, screens, and more.

base - this is the folder that the game folder is inside of. You can also find the errors and log txt files in here.

images - takes you to your main images folder. This is where you wanna put all of your NON gui images, like your sprites, backgrounds, and CGs. You can create folders inside of this and still call them in the script later. EX: a folder for backgrounds , a folder for sprites for character a, a seperate folder for spirtes for character b, etc.

audio - Takes you to the default audio folder. This is empty, but you can put all your music and sound effects here!

gui - brings up the folder containing all of the default renpy gui. It's a good place to start/ reference for sizes if you want to hand draw your UI pieces like your text box!

Edit File

Simple enough, this is just where you can open your code files in whatever text/code editor you have installed.

Script.rpy - where all of your story and characters live. This is the file you'll spend most of your time in at first

Options.rpy - Contains mostly simple information, like project name and version. There aren't a ton of things in here you need to look at. There is also some lines of code that help 'archive' certain files by file type so that they can't be seen by players digging in code however. Fun if you want to hide some images in there for later or if you just dont want someone seeing how messy your files are. We've all been there

Gui.rpy - where all of the easy customization happens. Here you can change font colors, hover colors, fonts, font sizes, and then the alignment and placement of all of your text! Like your dialogue and names, the height of text buttons, etc. It more or less sets the defaults for a lot of these unless you choose to change them later.

Screens.rpy - undeniably my favorite, this is where all of the UI is laid out for the different screens in your game, like the main menu, game menu, quick menu, choice menu, etc. You can add custom screens too if you want, but I always make my own seperate file for these.

Open Project - this just opens all of those files at once in the code editor. Super handy if you make extra files like I do for certain things.

Actions

last but not least, our actions.

Navigate Script - This feature is underrated in my honest opinion, it's super handy for help debugging! In renpy you can comment with # before a line. However, if you do #TODO and type something after it, it saves it as a note! You can view these TODO's here as well as easily navigate to when certain screens are called, where different labels are (super great if your game is long, and more. It saves some scrolling.

Check Script (Lint) - also super duper handy for debugging some basic things. It also tells you your word count! But its handy for letting you know about some errors that might throw up. I like using it to look for sprites I may or may not have mispelled, because they show up in there too.

Change/Update GUI - Nifty, though once you start customizing GUI on your own, it isn't as useful. You can reset the project at any point and regenerate the image files here. This updates all those defaults we talked about earlier.

Delete Persistent - this just helps you delete any persistent data between play throughs on your end. I like to use it when making a lot of changes while testing the game, so that I can reboot the game fresh.

Force Recompile - Full disclosure, as many games as I've made and as long as I've been using Renpy, i have never used this feature. I searched to see what it does and this is the general consesus: Normally renpy tries to be smart about compiling code (creating .rpyc files) and only compiles .rpy files with changes. This is to speed up the process since compiling takes time. Sometimes you can make changes that renpy don't pick up on and therefore won't recompile. In these cases you can run force recompile to force it. Another solution (if you know what file is affected) is to delete that specific. rpyc file.

The rest of your options on this right hand side are how you make executable builds for your game that people can download to extract and play later!

Sorry gang! that was a whole lot of text obviously the last button "Launch Project" launches an uncompiled version of the project for you to play and test as you go! Hang in tight because my next post is about how to utilize github for renpy, so you can collaborate easier!

[doctor-dev]

Siren Silk (v.0.2) -- Game Jam Release

A solo/co-op map building ttrpg of undersea trading

Siren Silk​ v.0.2​ is the demo build for ​Siren Silk​, a map building TTRPG. Within this document, you will be able to create undersea characters, chart sprawling hex-maps, and work your charisma. This game can be played with or without a GM.

Players take the roles of journeyfolk, the umbrella term for travelers that spread word and wares under the waters of the Swiften Sea, home of the branchia and their kingdom Ornata. Trade is done through any number of means: you can barter goods, harvest and deliver natural resources, craft at your traveling workshop, spin stories, or deliver news to the fringe settlements of Ornata.

[insertdisc5]

🎮 HEY I WANNA MAKE A GAME! 🎮

Yeah I getcha. I was once like you. Pure and naive. Great news. I AM STILL PURE AND NAIVE, GAME DEV IS FUN! But where to start?

To start, here are a couple of entry level softwares you can use! source: I just made a game called In Stars and Time and people are asking me how to start making vidy gaems. Now, without further ado:

SOFTWARES AND ENGINES FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW HOW TO CODE!!!

Ren'py (and also a link to it if you click here do it): THE visual novel software. Comic artists, look no further ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It has great documentation! It has a bunch of plugins and UI stuff and assets for you to buy! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) You can also port your game to a BUNCH of consoles! ✨Cons: None really <3 Some games to look at: Doki Doki Literature Club, Bad End Theater, Butterfly Soup

Twine: Great for text-based games! GREAT FOR WRITERS WHO DONT WANNA DRAW!!!!!!!!! (but you can draw if you want) ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's versatile! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! (You'll just need to read the doc a bunch) ✨Cons: You can add pictures, but it's a pain. Some games to look at: The Uncle Who Works For Nintendo, Queers In love At The End of The World, Escape Velocity

Bitsy: Little topdown games! ✨Pros: It's free! It's simple! It's (somewhat) intuitive! It has great documentation! It can be used even if you have LITERALLY no programming experience! You can make everything in it, from text to sprites to code! Those games sure are small! ✨Cons: Those games sure are small. This is to make THE simplest game. Barely any animation for your sprites, can barely fit a line of text in there. But honestly, the restrictions are refreshing! Some games to look at: honestly I haven't played that many bitsy games because i am a fake gamer. The picture above is from Under A Star Called Sun though and that looks so pretty

RPGMaker: To make RPGs! LIKE ME!!!!! NOTE: I recommend getting the latest version if you can, but all have their pros and cons. You can get a better idea by looking at this post. ✨Pros: Literally everything you need to make an RPG. Has a tutorial inside the software itself that will teach you the basics. Pretty simple to understand, even if you have no coding experience! Also I made a post helping you out with RPGMaker right here! ✨Cons: Some stuff can be hard to figure out. Also, the latest version is expensive. Get it on sale! Some games to look at: Ib, Hylics, In Stars and Time (hehe. I made it)

engine.lol: collage worlds! it is relatively new so I don't know much about it, but it seems fascinating. picture is from Garden! NOTE: There's a bunch of smaller engines to find out there. Just yesterday I found out there's an Idle Game Maker made by the Cookie Clicker creator. Isn't life wonderful?

✨more advice under the cut. this is Long ok✨

ENGINES I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT AND THEY SEEM HARD BUT ALSO GIVE IT A TRY I GUESS!!!! :

Unity and Unreal: I don't know anything about those! That looks hard to learn! But indie devs use them! It seems expensive! Follow your dreams though! Don't ask me how!

GameMaker: Wuh I just don't know anything about it either! I just know it's now free if your game is non-commercial (aka, you're not selling it), and Undertale was made on it! It seems good! You probably need some coding experience though!!!

Godot: Man I know even less about this one. Heard good things though!

BUNCHA RANDOM ADVICE!!!!

-Make something small first! Try making simple: a character is in a room, and exits the room. The character can look around, decide to take an item with them, can leave, and maybe the door is locked and you have to find the key. Figuring out how to code something like that, whether it is as a fully text-based game or as an RPGMaker map, should be a good start to figure out how your software of choice works!

-After that, if you have an idea, try first to make the simplest version of that idea. For my timeloop RPG, my simplest version was two rooms: first room you can walk in, second room with the King, where a cutscene automatically plays and the battle starts, you immediately die, and loop back to the first room, with the text from this point on reflecting this change. I think I also added a loop counter. This helped me figure out the most important thing: Can This Game Be Made? After that, the rest is just fun stuff. So if you want to make a dating sim, try and figure out how to add choices, and how to have affection points go up and down depending on your choices! If you want to make a platformer, figure out how to make your character move and jump and how to create a simple level! If you just want to make a kinetic visual novel with no choices, figure out how to add text, and how to add portraits! You'll be surprised at how powerful you'll feel after having figured even those simple things out.

-If you have a programming problem or just get confused, never underestimate the power of asking Google! You most likely won't be the only person asking this question, and you will learn some useful tips! If you are powerful enough, you can even… Ask people??? On forums??? Not me though.

-Yeah I know you probably want to make Your Big Idea RIGHT NOW but please. Make a smaller prototype first. You need to get that experience. Trust me.

-If you are not a womanthing of many skills like me, you might realize you need help. Maybe you need an artist, or a programmer. So! Game jams on itch.io are a great way to get to work and meet other game devs that have different strengths! Or ask around! Maybe your artist friend secretly always wanted to draw for a game. Ask! Collaborate! Have fun!!!

I hope that was useful! If it was. Maybe. You'd like to buy me a coffee. Or maybe you could check out my comics and games. Or just my new critically acclaimed game In Stars and Time. If you want. Ok bye

[mtfoss]

Seriously cannot recommend GBStudio enough for beginners, it makes making a gb/gbc game pretty simple, it's also FOSS (free, open source software) and the devs in my experience are very responsive as is the community

GB Studio

A quick and easy to use drag and drop retro game creator for your favourite handheld video game system.

[holmoris]

Worth noting that ren'py and gb studio will happily let you add whatever ridiculous code you want on top of their frameworks. GB Studio will straight up dump the entire engine as a CMake project if you want to work in assembler or C, so if you don't like the way something works you can change it.

[demoisverysexy]

A while ago, I made a doc filled with pretty much evwry cheap and free resource I could find for game dev, and Im still working on it. Highly reccommend checking it out.

Demo Argenti’s List of Cheap and Effective Game Dev Tools

[iraprince]

i'm not sure if anyone has posted this here already, but submissions close tonight for the TTRPGs for Palestine bundle run by @/jesthehuman. (abt 8 hours left as of now, 16:30 GMT+1 19/02.)

if you have any TTRPGs, TTRPG assets + tools, etc on itchio that you can submit, just follow this link to submit them to the charity bundle!! if you've never done it before, i assure you it's super quick and only takes a second, and you can simply select any of the games you've already published with a few clicks. (and you can make multiple submissions to offer several games!) there's more info on how the bundle will work in the FAQ at the above link.

and if you're not a dev/have nothing to submit but still want to help, keep an eye out -- the bundle is planned to come out in march!

there are over 600 entries so far; could we possibly hit 700 or more before the end of the evening? we can try!!!

[doctor-dev]

Added my game Warmth and uploaded a demo for Beastcrawl for this. Check out the games and future bundle!

[doctor-dev]

Presently working on v.1.1 of Warmth (the art update) whenever I have the time and muse. Sorry if it takes a while, I'm currently covering more shifts than usual at work!

I'm thinking of cross-selling Warmth on ko-fi with a pay what you want model, so people can leave me tips and such.

[doctor-dev]

Warmth; Official 1.0 Release

Warmth by DOCTOR_dev

A solo/co-op game using the Guided by Firelights system

I'm happy to announce that Warmth has been released on itch.io!

I'm already working on an update; adding artwork and more possible encounters. No news on when it will be done since I'm only getting busier at work now.

[doctor-dev]

Warmth; Dev Log 2

Warmth; Dev Log 2

Artificial Radiance published a post on Ko-fi

[doctor-dev]

Warmth Dev Log 1

Warmth; Dev Log 1

Artificial Radiance published a post on Ko-fi

[doctor-dev]

Firelights Jam 2023

Hi, I'm Rue, and I'm happy to announce that I'm participating in the Firelights Jam!

Firelights Jam

A game jam from 2023-03-01 to 2023-05-01 hosted by Fari RPGs (René-Pier Deshaies). Firelights Jam Firelights is a condensed and open license

Firelights is an open licensed and condensed solo/co-op ttrpg, with the main tools at hand being two 6-sided dice, a deck of cards, and a journal, with the setting itself inspired by games like Hollow Knight, Ori, and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I recommend people check it out if you're a fan!

With the jam, participants are expected to design and publish a game based on Firelight's mechanics, releasing it within March or April.

I plan on releasing a game for this jam, and posting weekly devlogs for the process. I would consider streaming, but I don't have the equipment or internet for that as is.

[doctor-dev]

Hello and Welcome to... DOCTOR_dev

My name is Rue Cosmos, and I am an indie game dev working on text adventures, roleplaying games, and supplemental content for other games.

My current main project is Nest Realm, a buggy ttrpg which has its own blog @nest-realm-ttrpg (the page is still a wip and rebranding still needs to be settled). I am also working on small projects that are supplemental rules, roles, and items for games like Quest and Wanderhome.

This blog will host Q&As, game and progress updates, and polls for public content. You can find my itch.io page here.

If you are interested in other content I produce, check out my art blog @artificial-radiance.