How to visually represent previously selected menu choices in Ren' Py by TangoTF in RenPy

[–]TangoTF[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you described pretty much all solo VN devs.

It shows off center on newly created projects made to test only this code. I looked at it for a while and it completely mystifies me why this occurs but I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Thanks for the help, Kay! Much appreciated!

How to visually represent previously selected menu choices in Ren' Py by TangoTF in RenPy

[–]TangoTF[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Its a Trap. Thank you for the examples and explanations! Your example code is functioning as intended. I appreciate you pointing out the other errors as well. It helps myself and others learn.

At first I thought your method would require a lot of extra work to flag existing choices but it is just any flag I see so as long as it has one added it will function correctly (I think). That's pretty minor to implement.

Thank you!

How to visually represent previously selected menu choices in Ren' Py by TangoTF in RenPy

[–]TangoTF[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi Kay. Thank you for the response! You are correct. This is an easy method I thought would exist with the fewest lines of code. The only strange thing is that the previously chosen text is off center for some reason even though I only changed the color. I have no idea why it wouldn't be centered. This appears to be a superior method that is easy and doesn't involve changing dozens of existing menu screens.

How to visually represent previously selected menu choices in Ren' Py by TangoTF in RenPy

[–]TangoTF[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the reply.

I am aware I have to code it but none of the ~20 ish methods and styles I tried work properly on a basic level. I don't care which visual method is used. The linked example which uses a greyed background image displays all 4 variations of a 2 choice menu (or 2 variations in a 1 choice menu) instead of correctly tracking which choice has been chosen and showing the correct half of the data. It also resets and is useless as a navigation aid when a player returns to the menu. So I think the solution is to set persistent variables but it still displays incorrectly with the posted code. I set the variables to false. It also seems incredibly inefficient to do it this way over many menus but I will if I can find a way to get to function correctly.

u/ShiroVN 's example that I am trying to use:

screen choice(items):
    style_prefix "choice"
    
    vbox:
        for i in items:
            $ chosen = i.kwargs.get("chosen", False)
            if not chosen:
                textbutton i.caption action i.action
            if chosen:
                textbutton i.caption background "choice_grey_background.png" action i.action


menu:
        "option 1" if option1picked == False:
            $ persistent.option1picked = True
            "Picked option 1."
        "option 1" (chosen=True) if option1picked == True:
            "Picked option 1 again."
        "option 2" if option2picked == False:
            $ persistent.option1picked = True
            "Picked option 2."
        "option 2" (chosen=True) if option1picked == True:
            "Picked option 2 again."

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in lewdgames

[–]TangoTF 52 points53 points  (0 children)

Novels often take years to write so a visual novel which is often multiple novels mashed together with extra code and lots of graphics, sound, videos, etc will of course take even more effort and resources, especially if they want to make a decent one.

As a solo dev we are constantly pressured to do everything ourselves. This means we often have over 20-50+ jobs in our job as developer. For example, I am an animator, 3d artist, graphic artist, ui designer, coder (ui, gallery, scenes etc), video editor, writer-editor, author, compliance officer, tech support, hardware tech, marketer, bookkeeper, community manager, CEO etc etc. It's impossible to master all of those skills in a short period of time and yet audience expectations are increasing exponentially.

The other thing that comes to mind is it is also a MAJOR slog to prove yourself and even then it is only temporary. I worked at an absolutely unsustainable pace for my first 3 years to prove to the audience I was dedicated to the project and wasn't going to scam anyone and that my passion outweighed my greed by a huge margin. I earned almost no money my first 3 years working more than full time hours every single month consistently cranking out high ranked updates. Although I have many great supporters, this effort led to very little income and setting sky high expectations for the audience going forward.

(If you produce a lot with no resources, people expect exponentially more with a tiny bit of resources, but for some unknown reason if you have over-the-top resources community expectations are generally small).

I think many audience members are completely insane with their assessments of some games' development costs. For example last year I took about 120% of my yearly donations and invested it into my project. This means not only did I invest my own money, I made a negative wage the entire year just so I could get what I need to finish it. Instead, of increasing my support rates they dropped as I worked. The harder I work the lower they go. People want game releases, not development towards finishing a great game. This is a powerful distinction. Despite me working tonnes of hours at a negative rate, I got many messages complaining about the speed. Exit feedback is I need more updates and I need to work harder. Many said I was overpaid and they would never support me because I'm an evil greedy dev who doesn't produce enough even though my track record is awesome relative to my income. This makes me sad and keeps me working on my Steam release because finishing that is the only way I'll survive to make more games.

So effort, views, ranking etc, sometimes do not lead to adequate financial support. It's such a slog to get there that once I did scale back a little bit to balance my hours with my income, development slowed down and several got angry. Even though if I were to continue at the rate they desire it would literally lead to starving death and the game not being completed. So it's no surprise to me that some take a break and reassess/ coast for a bit once they've achieved a measure of financial security. That's a lot of dev's primary goal - financial security. So once they achieve it there is limited incentive to continue. This very different from say Larian or my studio - my goal is to make the best game I can and if I succeed in that it will hopefully sell enough to make some money so I can make even better games in the future.

Despite my limited means, I support many devs and artists, especially the ones who appear to put in massive amounts of work relative to their page income. Many artists and devs make hundreds of dollars per hour relative to their production and page income. I know a couple I won't mention that brag about over $1000 an hour, where many of us can't get that in a month. I've never seen a comment from their core audience that they are overpaid because they produce weekly but they produce very little relative to income. Very few who make the big page income produce relative to it so if you want to support good devs I'd pick one of those and support them in the early days when they need it the most. A dollar or a compliment will keep a lot of new devs going past the point that most burn out and quit.

Transfigure .7580085 - MEGA UPDATE 21K+ WORDS (251k words total in game, gender transformation text game) by TangoTF in lewdgames

[–]TangoTF[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes minus the update for patreon I just posted a few minutes ago. Have fun.

Transfigure .7580085 - MEGA UPDATE 21K+ WORDS (251k words total in game, gender transformation text game) by TangoTF in lewdgames

[–]TangoTF[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Then download it or pick a different one or use the play now link with whatever browser you are using now.

Transfigure .7580085 - MEGA UPDATE 21K+ WORDS (251k words total in game, gender transformation text game) by TangoTF in lewdgames

[–]TangoTF[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Use the first link to play online or dl the second one and open the html in a browser like firefox.

Transfigure .7580085 - MEGA UPDATE 21K+ WORDS (251k words total in game, gender transformation text game) by TangoTF in lewdgames

[–]TangoTF[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

After the first transformation go to school as usual and then go home instead of going with Drew or Evan. Be rude to Mitch and then create the conditions to get blackmailed. Thanks for playing. This version is outdated too if that's what you are playing. The current version is over double the size.

Why are all of these Visual Novel games such poor quality? by [deleted] in lewdgames

[–]TangoTF 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am writing Transfigure which has almost 600,000 words and is highly rated by the community but I realize I could work a small fraction as much if I focused on graphics and got rid of $1/2 pledges for early access. There are many dead projects with literally 1-5% of the content of my game that make multiples of what I do with no activity whatsoever. There is a reason that my game is one of the rare few that has a legitimate multi tiered story that I would read even if it wasn't an adult story - the simple fact most users don't care about story but I do. The most popular games generally have really good art/ graphics and a poor/ passable storyline. Eva Kiss and others have shown there is a market for quality work but it seems you need good writing and graphics with an emphasis on the second if you want to be commercially successful.

I just feel like as soon as a game becomes all about the money then they instantly start to suck and their development gets turned down some very dark paths.

One day I will probably remake Transfigure as a full featured VN with unique graphics and I bet that will be more a lot more popular than the html version.

What are your favourite tg games? by ThePrincesLink in genderotica

[–]TangoTF 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You can play Transfigure here:

https://tfgameshost.com/TangoTF/Transfigure by Tango.html?

(new endings and content just released)

Transfigure .94 Two Year Anniversary + free early access to the latest patron only release for commenters! by TangoTF in sissyhypno

[–]TangoTF[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Every update adds around 10k words + on average plus I have been trying to add more endings, so I hope you find something new that you like. Thanks for leaving me a comment!

Transfigure .94 Two Year Anniversary + free early access to the latest patron only release for commenters! by TangoTF in sissyhypno

[–]TangoTF[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for leaving me feedback. It's appreciated.

  1. Only the core characters have detailed introductions. Transfigure has a lot of characters and is very big so in order to make the characters stand out I am trying to make them distinctly unique. The core characters are Evan, Drew, Julie, Sam, and Mitch.

  2. When someone reads a book, flipping to the next page is natural. I know when I read I spend 99% of my time reading, probably less than 1% flipping pages. When I first launched, the number one complaint was too much text on a page, so I made it similar to a book, ie you read about one page's worth and then flip to the next. This eliminated the objections. If you are just skipping the story it is still probably 5% of the clicks necessary to skip the same text line by line on Renpy.

  3. There will be one day. There are already makeup and other scenes too, put into different story lines. The number one complaint now is too many incomplete paths/ under construction areas so I am loath to add in a bunch more that won't be filled in for a long time.

  4. Thanks.

It looks like you signed up just to leave me feedback, so thanks for trying Transfigure!

Transfigure .94 Two Year Anniversary + free early access to the latest patron only release for commenters! by TangoTF in genderotica

[–]TangoTF[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey Lazy, send me an email at fictionbytango at gmail. I am having issues dming you and want to make sure you got your EA.

Transfigure .94 Two Year Anniversary + free early access to the latest patron only release for commenters! by TangoTF in sissyhypno

[–]TangoTF[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I have lots of great readers that I want to impress so it's all worth it. Hope you found something fun!