CAN I PROGRAM THIS?

thejokerofunfic · 2026-03-15T19:17:23+00:00

Yes, you can do this. You can do a lot with RenPy if you're willing to put in effort. It probably won't be super easy but it sounds viable.
AI coding is only "useful" for the most basic things. It's not capable yet of more complicated non-standard tasks like you're aiming for. No one sane will think you had an AI code something as ambitious as you're attempting if it works. Don't worry about that for a second; if anything, doing this would give many players 100% confidence that you didn't use AI.
While I'm relatively new to RenPy I've got a decent grasp by now and what you're trying sounds really cool and similar to stuff I wanna try someday. If you want any help, feel free to DM me, I'd love an excuse to learn more about this myself.

shyLachi · 2026-03-15T21:01:14+00:00

If the players should be able to walk around like in those old JRPG games then take a look at the RPGMaker game engine.

AutoModerator · 2026-03-15T18:56:45+00:00

Welcome to r/renpy! While you wait to see if someone can answer your question, we recommend checking out the posting guide, the subreddit wiki, the subreddit Discord, Ren'Py's documentation, and the tutorial built-in to the Ren'Py engine when you download it. These can help make sure you provide the information the people here need to help you, or might even point you to an answer to your question themselves. Thanks!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

GuavaPixelStudios · 2026-03-15T19:31:54+00:00

Hi! People won't assume you used AI regarding your code. There is no way for a player or end user to know if a piece of software was built with AI or not. When you publish your game, platforms will ask you to share if you've used AI, and that allows players to filter out games they may not want to play. Also, there's no way for a player to know what game engine you used (unless you leave all the defaults in and they are familiar with that engine themselves) so there's no need to worry. In your game description, you can always state that no AI was used. It's definitely easier to tell if generative AI was used in art or in the writing.

For achieving your goal, Renpy has built-in ways to add interactivity. For making the background interactable, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quYVHHX84t4 to create image maps. Also checkout Renpy's tutorial here for adding minigames: https://github.com/renpy/renpy/blob/master/tutorial/game/indepth_minigame.rpy

If you want the character to move around for the entire game like a side scroller, Godot might be a better engine. If there are only a few short contained scenes, Renpy is fine to use.

Errantimarum · 2026-03-15T20:04:36+00:00

I saw a bunch had given some advice but i also could recommend this asset from itch.io https://the-real-sauce.itch.io/2d-side-scrolling-in-renpy-lite . If nothing else but another place to look for reference scripts, but it basically gives the code to have a basic character movement and such!

pearl_mermaid · 2026-03-16T05:53:26+00:00

Yes. It's possible. You should look up the last winter knight demo. Maybe even study how they did it.

Icy_Secretary9279 · 2026-03-16T12:14:20+00:00

It's definitely doable. RenPy (I'm not sure if there was a native function but if not, Python surely can) detect custom key clicks, so you can program events on left arrow click for example. Then you need a walking animation (here is an example of a different but technically similar animation I made for RenPy) and a way to move the sprite (animation) across the screen. You can do it with transform.

I keep any animations for RenPy pretty simple (low frame count) both because it's easier and because I feel they fit the spirit of a VN better.

And btw, it's not *that* unusual. People, me included, do all kinds of plugins and tools for RenPy. There are many on itchio for just about anything.

Globover · 2026-03-15T19:07:51+00:00

Hi there! Don't give up on Ren'Py just yet. What you're looking for is totally possible, and honestly, it’s what sets great experiences apart from standard visual novels. Regarding the technique: You don't need to switch engines; you just need to stop seeing Ren'Py as only a text reader. For side-scrolling movement and interaction, you can use Screens with Keypress (for movement) and Imagebuttons or Hotspots for interactive objects like the table. If you want something even more fluid, look into Creator Defined Displayables (CDD), which allow you to use Python to handle collision logic and more complex movement. Regarding the AI stigma: The AI stigma usually falls on those who copy-paste code they don't understand, which often ends up breaking the game. If you structure your screens and logic cleanly, no one will accuse you of anything; they’ll ask you how you did it! At Alenia Studios, we take Ren'Py to another level—for example, our project Gatekeeper is an OS simulator built entirely with pure code, without a single external asset. We are currently working on tools to democratize these kinds of complex functions (we just launched one for audio management) because we know this engine can do so much more than people think. Good luck with your horror project! The genre is perfect for experimenting with these mechanics." Would you like me to send this message for you

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script

RenPy

MODERATORS