Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2015 15:00:00 -0500
<p>Visit our <a href="http://pythonpodcast.com?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss">site</a> to listen to past episodes, support the show, and sign up for our mailing list.</p> <h3>Summary</h3> <p>Tom Rothamel is an embedded systems engineer who spends his free time working on Ren’Py, a visual novel engine written in Python. Ren’Py allows you to write interactive fiction experiences and deploy them across desktop and mobile platforms. By creating a purpose-built DSL for describing the interactions, users of Ren’Py can focus on crafting polished experiences without fighting through the vagaries of programming languages, while still providing access to the internals when necessary. Listen to our interview with Tom to learn more about this long-running project and what makes it so interesting.</p> <h3>Brief Introduction</h3> <ul> <li>Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great.</li> <li>Subscribe on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast.-init/id981834425?mt=2&uo=6&at=&ct=&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">iTunes</a>, <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=64838&refid=stpr&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="http://tunein.com/embed/follow/p726240/#?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">TuneIn</a> or <a href="https://www.pythonpodcast.com/feed/mp3/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss">RSS</a></li> <li>Follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/Podcast__init__?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://plus.google.com/+Podcastinit-the-python-podcast?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Google+</a></li> <li>Give us feedback! Leave a review on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast.-init/id981834425?mt=2&uo=6&at=&ct=&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/Podcast__init__?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Tweet</a> to us, send us an <a href="mailto:hosts@podcastinit.com">email</a> or leave us a message on <a href="https://plus.google.com/+Podcastinit-the-python-podcast?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Google+</a></li> <li>I would like to thank everyone who has donated to the show. Your contributions help us make the show sustainable. For details on how to support the show you can visit our site at</li> <li>I would also like to thank Hired, a job marketplace for developers, for sponsoring this episode of Podcast.__init__. Use the link <a href="http://hired.com/podcastinit?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">hired.com/podcastinit</a> to double your signing bonus.</li> <li>Linode is also sponsoring us this week. Check them out at <a href="http://linode.com/podcastinit?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">linode.com/podcastinit</a> and get a $10 credit to try out their fast and reliable Linux virtual servers for your next project.</li> <li>We are recording today on October 19th, 2015 and your hosts as usual are Tobias Macey and Chris Patti</li> <li>Today we are interviewing Tom Rothamel about RenPy</li> </ul> <div class="well"><a href="https://hired.com/?utm_content=shownotes-4k&utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=podcastinit&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img alt="Hired Logo" src="https://i0.wp.com/podcastinit.podbean.com/mf/web/ehi957/hired-logo-dark-padding.png?w=1200&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" /></a>On Hired software engineers & designers can get 5+ interview requests in a week and each offer has salary and equity upfront. With full time and contract opportunities available, users can view the offers and accept or reject them before talking to any company. Work with over 2,500 companies from startups to large public companies hailing from 12 major tech hubs in North America and Europe. Hired is totally free for users and If you get a job you’ll get a $2,000 “thank you” bonus. If you use our <a href="https://hired.com/?utm_content=shownotes-4k&utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=podcastinit&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">special link</a> to signup, then that bonus will double to $4,000 when you accept a job. If you’re not looking for a job but know someone who is, you can refer them to Hired and get a $1,337 bonus when they accept a job.</p> </div> <h3>Interview with Tom Rothamel</h3> <ul> <li>Introductions</li> <li>How did you get introduced to Python?</li> <li>What is Ren’Py and what was your inspiration for starting it?</li> <li>I noticed that Ren’Py supports a number of different styles of gameplay. Can you explain the differences between interactive fiction, kinetic fiction and RPGs?</li> <li>I notice that RenPy has clearly been around a while (Some of the games for OSX are PowerPC binaries!) – what problems have you encountered maintaining such a long lived project and keeping it current?</li> <li>What libraries does Ren’Py leverage and how did you go about selecting them to allow for cross-platform development and deployment?</li> <li>What underlying Python graphics toolkit does RenPy use for display, and how did that choice affect RenPy’s design?</li> <li>While reading through the quickstart in the documentation I noticed that there is a special syntax that you have created for defining the dialog and narratives. Can you explain how you created the DSL for building the storylines?</li> <li>It feels to me like RenPy was heavily inspired by the JRPG genre and as such there are games where sex plays a prominent role(I noticed a mention of Hentai in the docs), which is less readily accepted in the west. Have you ever encountered any pushback on this issue?</li> <li>I noticed that some of the games that were created with Ren’Py are available on the Steam platform. What elements of the Ren’Py project lend themselves to producing games with enough polish to be published on such a mainstream platform?</li> <li>If you were just starting out today implementing RenPy, would you still use Python? Why?</li> </ul> <h3>Picks</h3> <ul> <li>Tobias <ul> <li><a href="http://amzn.to/1NRDrbX?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">DJ Logic</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/tj/git-extras?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">git-extras</a></li> <li><a href="https://github.com/rubik/radon?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Radon</a></li> </ul> </li> <li>Chris <ul> <li><a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/narcos/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Narcos</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.rust-lang.org/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Rust Programming Language</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.kentfallsbrewing.com/shower-beer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Kent Falls Brewing Shower Beer</a></li> </ul> </li> <li>Tom <ul> <li><a href="http://cython.org/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Cython</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.npr.org/about/products/npr-one/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">NPR One</a></li> <li><a href="http://lifehacker.com/281626/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Seinfeld Method</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> <h3>Keep In Touch</h3> <ul> <li><a href="http://renpy.org?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">renpy.org</a></li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/renpytom?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Twitter</a></li> </ul> <h3>Links</h3> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.hanakogames.com/llq.shtml?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Long Live The Queen</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.bishoujo.us/moonlight/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Moonlight Walks</a></li> </ul> <p>The intro and outro music is from Requiem for a Fish <a href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Freak_Fandango_Orchestra/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Freak Fandango Orchestra</a> / <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" rel="noopener" target="_blank">CC BY-SA</a><img alt="" height="0" src="https://analytics.boundlessnotions.com/piwik.php?idsite=1&rec=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pythonpodcast.com%2Fepisode-30-tom-rothamel-on-renpy%2F&action_name=Tom+Rothamel+on+Ren%E2%80%99Py+-+Episode+30&urlref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pythonpodcast.com%2Ffeed%2F&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss" style="border: 0; width: 0; height: 0;" width="0" /></p>