discussion Why refuse to play games not made with Renpy?

[Kono-kun]

So I've seen many replys to posts from people saying that they wont play a game unless it's made with Renpy, or "this game isnt even made with Renpy, eew! not playing!!". But I was wondering why specifically wont you play it?

I just curious, like is it your experience with cashes on other Engines (like Unity, for example). or is it so you can edit the files for yourself? etc?

For me, for example, if I just want to have a good story experiance then it doesn't matter to me what it was created with, as long as it is intuitive to play and has a good story/visuals that I expected from it.

ps. I am looking to make a VN in the future (just planning right now), and i have experience in Renpy, Unreal and Unity.. so I just wanted to get a general feel for what people expect or if any one really does care about what engine it was created in.

 

[User_111574]

If you consider VN or KN, RenPy is the most successful option, besides this engine has rather moderate system requirements, it is easily adaptable to other operating systems.
But when it comes to GAMES, Unity is out of competition for me. Yes, the engine is more tailored for Windows, it is a little more demanding on resources, some say that it is guilty of premature failure of GPU, I have not encountered this, possible brakes and excessive load on the computer hardware and unsuccessful optimization is not due to problems with the engine, but with the crooked hands of the developer.

 

[Kono-kun]

If you consider VN or KN, RenPy is the most successful option, besides this engine has rather moderate system requirements, it is easily adaptable to other operating systems.

That is a great thing to take into account. adaptability to other platforms other than Windows.

Yeah I never had any issues with Unity games really, unless they were buggy games anyways - so code needs fixes.

 

[Roki1212]

I would have laughed that Renpy is easily played with one hand... It seems to me that simply that Renpy doesn't have “requirements”, where engines like Unreal or Unity might already need something. I find RPGM on par with Renpy simple and enjoyable to use. Renpy has a lot of features, rollback text, skip text, it's easy to edit, for example if NPC/MC Name doesn't fit, it's easy to mod it. Renpy is just the most common engine and if someone likes it, then expect similar features and in games not made on it.

 

[Shiva]

While I WILL play games using other engines, I PREFER RENPY. For MOST games it just seems to be a better choice (for me). The different engines have their own strengths and weaknesses, but RENPY seems to be the most balanced for Adult Games at this time. Players can enjoy ease of use, GOOD images and animations, ability to enjoy the story (or skip it), and the usefulness of the console commands is AWESOME. Games using the other engines I've played just don't FEEL as effortless or well balanced (for me).

I have played games with other engines, but they (for the most part) don't really feel as comfortable or versatile. Part of that I am sure is my familiarity with RENPY, but it is also based on the fact that they have different strengths (and weaknesses).

While RENPY is my preferred engine I have enjoyed games that use others. The problem is that I will ALWAYS find something that I would like to do and can't (like using console commands), which makes them a less appealing option for me.

Hope that helps.

 

[48e1-920b-9a4ff0ce20]

rollback text, skip text

yeah, these two are the most important bits.

once you're used to being able to scroll up and go make a different choice in a VN, not being able to do so feels bad. you just end up having to save scum instead with a billion saves.

the text skipping lets you zip through a bunch of scenes to try other routes or get back to some point if you're starting a new game or on a new update or whatever.

renpy has convenience functions for the user built in.

 

[WigglyWorld84]

not an out-right deal breaker, but it can tip the scale for sure. a clunky or shitty UI and I may quit a game. Not a given, but I rarely have issues with Renpy and when I do, it is usually a developer's desicion to block some feature that annoys me.

 

[Kono-kun]

I see that its more the expected features that people like about Renpy (like Rollback and Autotext), the portability to other platforms. Thanks for the info

 

[azathoth]

it's just the better engine for VNs.

 

[Asukaj]

The thing with renpy is that it just works, and it works like every other renpy game. While unity etc. games usually roll their own inferior UI that probably also has some annoyances and/or accessiblity issues. Also with renpy I can open the console and do whatever the fuck I want with the game state efortlessly

 

[Anoxia]

So I've seen many replys to posts from people saying that they wont play a game unless it's made with Renpy, or "this game isnt even made with Renpy, eew! not playing!!". But I was wondering why specifically wont you play it?

I just curious, like is it your experience with cashes on other Engines (like Unity, for example). or is it so you can edit the files for yourself? etc?

For me, for example, if I just want to have a good story experiance then it doesn't matter to me what it was created with, as long as it is intuitive to play and has a good story/visuals that I expected from it.

ps. I am looking to make a VN in the future (just planning right now), and i have experience in Renpy, Unreal and Unity.. so I just wanted to get a general feel for what people expect or if any one really does care about what engine it was created in.

I have an affinity for renpy games, as they tend to just feel better than most unity ones. That and the market is flooded with horrible unity games, spat out of a production line..

 

[gestved]

ren'py games comes with a set of features that may or may not be available at RPGM, Unity or other engines. Some Unity games even fuck up the save system, the most basic shit required to play the game, so no wonder. But it should be a case by case analysis

it also seems way easier to program, so it's perfect for amateur devs. Ren'py has some limitations that in some cases would make Unity a better option, but 95% of the time it's not.

 

[Kono-kun]

ren'py games comes with a set of features that may or may not be available at RPGM, Unity or other engines. Some Unity games even fuck up the save system, the most basic shit required to play the game, so no wonder. But it should be a case by case analysis

it also seems way easier to program, so it's perfect for amateur devs. Ren'py has some limitations that in some cases would make Unity a better option, but 95% of the time it's not.

Yeah this is true, in Unity you would have to create your own save system - or use an asset premade to save game states etc. I see Renpy has having all teh things needed for VNs right out of the bag - depending on what features you want to have in your game, of course.

 

[MattShizzle]

The other ones are usually shit, especially RPGmaker and HTML. Unity and unreal engine often crash.

 

[Shawnchapp]

Simple. Renpy just comes with basic QoL features out of the box, and why use a bloated engine with less QoL features for a visual novel, if you ever notice 9 out 10 times when dev do use other engines they spend most their "coding" just to minic renpys UI and features.
It'd be like using a sledge hammer to hammer a normal nail, ya you can do it but why take the "extra" effort when a "normal" hammer is perfect for the job.

 

[NarutoZzoR]

I like some unity games too. What really keeps me away from most games is a clunky interface. I cannot be bothered to stay through frame change animation that lasts 3-5 seconds

 

[AlBetGam]

Renpy makes the basic stuff simple for most devs. Save system- done. Rollback- done. Clean UI- done. Etc. And all wrapped up in a package that's fairly easy to work with and usually light on computer resources. Most other engines just don't do as good a job on at least one of those things. Some do a worse job on all of them. And while there are some games that involve mechanics or features that really require a different engine, they're few and far between. I personally can't think of any Renpy games I played and thought "this needs a different engine", but I have played a number of games made in something else and thought "this should have been in Renpy". Usually because the dev got ambitious and experimental and tried to make something fancy that should theoretically work in his chosen engine, but didn't realize it would take way more skill and work than he'd anticipated.

So fair or not, that's created a perception that Renpy = you know what to expect from this game and it works on a basic level and not!Renpy = this game is a wonky buggy mess without the convenience features you're used to. For some people it's just not worth their time to test whether that's true or not.

 

[eezergoode]

I will occasionally play games made in another engine, but it needs to really draw me in. I'll admit, I'm spoiled by Ren'Py and the plethora of features it has out of the box, but then again, it is doing what it was specifically designed to do, and has been around for quite some time. There are still buggy Ren'Py games, but that is most often because the dev is trying to stretch the engine to do things it isn't actually meant to do or didn't bother to learn Ren'Py very well in the first place. If you want to make a game in another engine that does what Ren'Py does out of the box, then by all means do so, but... why? If you want it to do what Ren'Py can do, why not use Ren'Py? And if you DON'T want it to do what Ren'Py does, there is a good chance that unless you have an otherwise very compelling game, I'm likely to skip it. I like my rollback, I like my text skipping (especially in games that update frequently, and need to be started over with an update due to system changes), I like my saves and persistence in variables across playthroughs. Plus, from a coding standpoint, you can make Ren'Py do a lot more than it was designed for, since you can use Python within your Ren'Py game. Basically, if it can be done in Python, it can be done in Ren'Py.

 

[kurgan]

As linux user, Ren'py is for me the best solution. I don't bother to try other engines or install a windows emulator. Another good thing is that's easy to access to the source code and mod the game.

 

[Kono-kun]

Thanks for all the replys and insight, I appreciate the feedback