Ren'ai Games

Development Corner

Find all you need to know about making ren’ai games here in the Development Corner. Please Note: Each person has their own particular way of developing their own games. When you read through something, work with what is agreeable to you. That does not mean that you should overlook what is advised. The articles below were written based on personal experience. Take note of the advice, experiment, and work with what’s best for you. Most of all, have fun!

For more development tips, tricks, and check out the Game Dev Category.

Development Articles & Tutorials

Character Profiling
Create believable characters by using a profile. Recommended for the experienced developer only.

Designing and Completing A Ren’Ai Game
All around good advice of making a ren’ai game from start to finish.

Stereotypical Ren’ai Characters
The usual cast of characters to be found in a ren’ai game.

Developer’s Laboratory: Visual Design
Visual tricks game-makers employ to set their game apart.

Coming Soon: Planning Your Game
Turning an idea into a ren’ai game. From basic story and character outlines, game design, charting a game path outline, and working within your limitations (time, skill, availability).

Hue Color Chart Hue Color Chart (245KB)
Use as a reference for changing text colors, dialogue boxes, screen colors, and more. Each color box includes hexadecimal code and individual RGB numbers. Example: Periwinkle is Hexadecimal #CCCCFF, and RGB (204, 204, 255) respectively.

Ren’Py & DSE Tutorials

Ren’Py 101: Starting Out Part I
Editing script, setting configs, buttons, save slots, and preferences.

Ren’Py 101: Starting Out Part II
Setting backgrounds, transitions, character images, objects, and animation.

Ren’Py 101: Writing Your Script Part I
About labels, save game title, menus, and jumps and passes.

Ren’Py 101: Writing Your Script Part II
About variables, movies, music files, text styles, and restarting.

Ren’Py 101: Releasing Your Game Part I
Obfuscating images, and making a readme file.

Ren’Py 101: Releasing Your Game Part II
Changing the icon, and making a windows installer.

DSE Tutorial
Covers the DSE (Dating Sim Engine) files, main.rpy, events.rpy, day planner, and using arcs to structure your game.

Going Commercial

Tips, tricks, and tons of links to get you in the right direction for going commercial.

Are You Ready?
Do you think you’re ready to publish your own games? Take a look at some pro’s and con’s into becoming a full-time indie developer.

Get Your Stuff Together
Find out what you need in order to get started from a computer to software’s!

Getting Your Own Website
Don’t know what to do to get your own hosting and domain? This article’s for you!

Building Your Own Website
Should you build a site from scratch or use a ready-made CMS (content management system) site? Learn some tips and advice on how to build your website.

Miscellaneous Articles

Graphic Tablet Buying Guide
Interested in buying a graphic tablet but not sure what to look out for? Then check out this article! See the top 8 things to look out for when purchasing your tablet.

English Language Visual Novel Commercial Developer’s List
Find out the who’s who of the English language VN game developer’s out there.

Art Tutorial Links and Information
Are you the artistic type? Want to learn art techniques? Then find out some useful info here!

Background Image Packs

Use these images for your games! It’s free to use just as long as you give Rio or Ren’aiGames.net credit. All images may be used for game or game-related purposes only! Check ‘em out:

Cloud Pack (4.5MB) (Mirror) – 1600×1200; 14 images; Samples: