Sneak peak - a Patreon exclusive new game! (Patreon)

I've been working on a new RPGM -> Ren'Py conversion (well, a few, actually!) and I have one close to completion that I will release as a Patreon exclusive to say thankyou to all you lovely people for donating.

The engine I wrote to power The Office Wife Unofficial Ren'Py Redux is capable of playing any and every RPGM game. The only things missing are elements I didn't convert because The Office Wife didn't use them, like combat, and quests.

The engine has two variations of the UI for allowing the player to make choices. The first is the image choice screen, where you trigger events by clicking images:

The second is the menu choice screen, where you trigger events by clicking on a standard Ren'Py text list (I only used this in The Void):

These choices work well, as long as the list isn't too long and the screen isn't too cluttered to play the game. The Dixon Subway mission is as bad as it got in The Office Wife. I just about got away with it:

But if there were any more events, it becomes a mess.

I've found when converting other RPGM games that this mess comes up all the time. To make other games playable, I needed a third way to offer choices that can handle large maps with many elements on them. I also wanted this screen to reflect the geography of the original game's maps, in order to give a sense of space.

I am proud to unveil the all-new third way of presenting options to the player - the event map screen, as seen in the soon-to-be-released game:

It works like the map screens in (say) Fashion Business, where there is a large layout of locations that the player can go to.

Having this screen means there are more RPGM games I will be able to give the Ren'Py Redux treatment to, of which the first, and exclusive to you, one is coming soon. I'm aiming for within the next week.

Watch this space!