Writing a VN Section

Example files to look at: tutorial_6_meeting.rpy, tutorial_3b_VN.rpy

A brief overview of the steps required (more detail below):

  1. Create a label using the name of the chatroom + the suffix _vn (e.g. label my_chatroom_vn)

    1. (Optional) Indicate a character the VN is associated with by including their file_id as another suffix (e.g. label my_chatroom_vn_s)

    2. (Optional) Indicate that this chatroom is the party by including the suffix _party (e.g. label my_chatroom_party)

  2. In the VN label, write call vn_begin

  3. Add music with play music your_music_var

  4. Set up the background with scene bg your_bg

    1. (Optional) Use transitions like with fade e.g. scene bg your_bg with fade)

    2. (Optional) Write pause after your scene statement to give the player a moment to look at the background.

  5. Fill out the dialogue and character expressions

  6. Finish the label with jump vn_end

First, much like creating a chatroom, you must create a label for the VN. For a Story Mode icon not associated with any character, you can just use the name of the chatroom + the suffix _vn and the program will know to set it up after that chatroom e.g.

label my_chatroom:

has the VN label

label my_chatroom_vn:

If you would instead like the VN to have a certain character’s image associated with it, you must add another suffix: _ + the file_id of that character e.g.

label my_chatroom_vn_ju:

will show up in the program as a VN section associated with Jumin.

Alternatively, you can also use the suffix _party to indicate a VN contains the party. This will look like

label my_chatroom_party:

Underneath your label, begin with

call vn_begin

This sets some important variables before the VN. Next, set the background for your VN. It begins as black.

scene bg rika_apartment with fade

where bg rika_apartment is a pre-defined variable you can find in vn_mode.rpy or one you defined yourself. Backgrounds should be 750x1334 pixels. with fade indicates the background should fade in from black.

If you want the player to have a moment to look at the background before you move on, you can write pause after showing the image, e.g.

scene bg rika_apartment with fade
pause

Writing a VN Menu

Writing a menu in a VN is the same as it is in phone calls; that is, you need to write extend '' right after menu: and before the choices.

menu:
    extend ''
    "Choice 1":
        m "Choice 1"
    "Choice 2":
        m "Choice 2"

This tells the program to display the last line of dialogue underneath the choice menu.

Awarding heart points in a VN

You award heart points to a player the same way as you would anywhere else:

call heart_icon(ja)

where ja is the variable of the character you’re awarding a heart point to.