It might be a little weird to announce this now, but I've decided the engine I will be using to "program" PSA will be TyranoBuilder! I know it's still a long ways away, but things have a way of creeping up on you. And partly I'm making this announcement now and this decision now for my own sanity.
Almost since I started this project of making PSA into a proper dating-sim I've been dreading the programming phase. I'm not a programmer, I'm more likely than not dyslexic (when it comes to numbers). My father is my brother has the same issue with numbers it's hereditary so it's just a safe bet. Anyways we're not good with numbers, so while yes, totally, in theory I could learn Ren'py the gold standard engine. I think for me as someone who doesn't see themselves doing this a second time, and who doesn't have a lot of time on their hands it would just be more stressful than it's worth. I understand that yeah it's more robust, but I just don't see PSA as a game that really needs something capable of so many things. Outside the item system there really isn't anything complicated about it's mechanics or design. So for me Ren'py just doesn't seem like the best fit.
The other option I considered was Visual Novel Maker. But given all I read it seemed super polarizing. The common thing I heard was it wasn't really user friendly, nor first-timer friendly. And while yes I have some game design experience it's basically all on limited systems i.e. Disney Infinity and it's logic system, Halo map editors, GameMaker (back when I was like 16). So while I'm confident I could learn it, I've heard there's a lot of bugs, and again I just don't know that the time investment for some additional features that ultimately aren't necessary to the functioning of the game would be worth it.
TyranoBuilder is one that I see talked about a lot with Ren'py. And from the looks of it, it really is super simple and seems to function a lot like how Disney Infinity's logic system worked which I am intimately familiar with. Like I said outside the inventory system I don't see anything in PSA that would be difficult to accomplish with TyranoBuilder. So yeah, I'm going with that. Again it'll be a while still, but just having that peace of mind knowing, "okay this is the one we're going to use." Is really comforting, because it keeps me from psyching myself out about whether I'm using the right engine or like will I be able to even use the engine?
Worst case scenario if for some reason TyranoBuilder can't get the job done I'll either bite the bullet and go with one of the other two options; or I'll look for a volunteer programmer, if I have to I'll figure out a way to hire someone to code it. But for now TyranoBuilder is the plan.
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