How does this compare to Fungus?

[Bradge]

Fungus, a library for both the free and professional versions of Unity 3D, allows anyone to create a visual novel using a graphical interface and no programming. As an added bonus, Fungus is free and open source, and games created with the latest version of Unity can be exported to 21 platforms, even if you use the free version of Unity. How does TyranoBuilder compare?

http://fungusgames.com/

http://unity3d.com/unity

[Shymander]

I have previously used Fungus, and in my opinion TyranoBuilder is a lot easier to use. TyranoBuilder is aimed more at amateurs and yes, using Fungus in Unity is free and ports to more platforms but it does require a lot more work. There are also more features in Tyrano and if the user wants to code it's a lot easier to learn Javascript than C#. Unity also requires a much larger download and setup.

I think one of the main points for Tyrano is that it's rapid and easy, whereas engines like Unity and Ren'Py can be tedious and take some time even though they are both easy and free to use.

Yes Tyrano costs money, but it isn't much at all and is affordable for anyone who wishes to make even just a simple visual novel.

[Bradge]

I've used Renpy. I thought it was simple to make basic games with and the tutorial is quite good. To make anything more complicated, I'd have to learn Python just as I'd have to learn Javascript to do so with TyranoBuilder. And, unfortunately, the only languages I know thus far are BASIC, HTML, Scratch and C (not C#).

As for Fungus, I downloaded it this evening and looked at the example files. It does seem more complex to use than Renpy, and I'll take your word that it is more complex than TyranoBuilder. But, for me, the visual GUI is part of what makes Fungus seem more cumbersome than Renpy. It seems slower to me to have to hunt down the right menu or panel with your mouse than to just type the command and be done with it. Most of the work of a visual novel is writing the story and creating the artwork. The Fungus GUI seems to slow down the story writing process, but is helpful and faster when arranging the artwork.

I am wondering whether it would make sense to buy TyranoBuilder at its 15 percent discount just in case... Or whether at any price (even free) it would be a waste of time for me.

Renpy doesn't intimidate me. Fungus does. Yet Fungus offers functionality that Renpy doesn't -- publishing on more platforms than Renpy or TyranoBuilder (Fungus, despite seeming more cumbersome to me than Renpy, still has the use of camera pans and scans of 2D images in 3D space, and it is fairly simple to do, which is impressive. The ability to create real animation, with joints and automated tweening, is also great and a huge time saver.)

So I'm not looking to compare it to Renpy. Renpy is great. It is Fungus I am weighing it against.

[Shymander]

People keep asking me questions I don't really have the right to answer, but I'll do my best.

Fungus, Ren'Py and TyranoBuilder are all different in their own right, all with their own benefits from the other.

In answer to your questions (even though I'm not the developer):
By complexity I mean more of 'ease of use,' which is won by TyranoBuilder. What I mean is that it is the easiest to pick up out of the three if someone had never done any form of programming or game engine use beforehand (e.g. you can just place character where you want on the screen in Tyrano rather than having to program coordinates for the position in Ren'Py)

However, if we pretend that someone knew how to program and use every feature of each than Fungus and Ren'Py just outstrip TyranoBuilder, but that would require a fair bit of study and work.

(Just for comparison between Ren'Py and TyranoBuiler) Looking at the program and screenshots of TyranoBuilder as well as asking the developer questions, Tyrano actually pretty much has all the same features as Ren'Py and what they are capable of doing through visual novel form.

I have to agree that Fungus is more advanced with animation and camera pans, but like I said Tyrano is certainly easier to start with and use. I'm not trying to argue that Tyrano is the best, I am just attempting to present the difference to you :) and it certainly wouldn't be a waste of money.

TyranoBuiler offers the same, give or take 1 or 2, features compared to Ren'Py at least but is easier to use than Ren'Py and still allows custom programming. Fungus doesn't quite offer some of the same features but offers a larger range to work with (e.g. camera pans and complex animation), at the price of being a bit harder to work out and use.

Last but not least, what I mean by tedious is that where you can just drag and drop something in TyranoBuilder you would have to go through the process of either programming it into Ren'Py and Fungus or finding the correct Asset to use and adjusting it, etc etc.

[Bradge]

Good answer. Thanks. If I could figure out how to do so, I'd +1 it.

[Shymander]

Phew, thanks. I did my best.

[Bradge]

It is hard to compare the capability of TyranoBuilder so far because the examples given on the website and the YouTube video are few, while I can compare them to many examples for RenPy and Fungus games. So it is a lopsided comparison. Naturally the diversity of samples for the latter engines result in some really impressive looking games. TyranoBuilder, with its lack of samples, not so much.

[Shymander]

It is true that it is hard to judge a piece of software after it has only just come out.
However, if you go to their website they so far have 2 made examples in their showcase (both in Japanese) with browser versions to play.

TyranoBuilder Showcase: http://tyranobuilder.com/showcase/

Both sites are in Japanese so I'm not sure how to get to the actual games themselves.

[Bradge]

I saw the showcase already. Those were the samples on the website I mentioned above.

[Shymander]

Well anyway, it depends on what you want to make and the amount of skills you have. You decide if you want to purchase this based on that.

[Bradge]

This is another way to look at RenPy (Python) vs. TyranoBuilder (Javascript) from a beginner's perspective....

http://www.quora.com/Is-it-better-to-learn-Python-or-JavaScript-as-a-first-language

[Shymander]

Yeah, that makes a really fair point. I guess it depends on how far you're willing to go and where you want your visual novel to go as well.

[Bradge]

I'm actually willing and eager to learn a computer language. So I think that will be the deciding factor for me: which one.

[Shymander]

They're certainly quite different, it depends on what you hope to achieve with programming. Javascript is more web-based, but can also be used on desktop and other devices. Python is great for applications (a pain for GUI) and can also be used across platforms including Android.

[jay_rab]

Just as a heads up another thing that we hope to make us stand out is we are actively working on live2d support which we should have an update on in the coming weeks.

[Bradge]

Something of this nature?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrLnF7CQ8Ac