Customizing renpy file structure

I wrote in my previous post on my process on how I outlined my stories. Now let's get to a more boring topic, organizing files. While it may not seem important at first, things can get hetic when assets start piling on as development progresses over time.

Flexability

Renpy's default project file structure is generous. Renpy has example projects that is already downloaded. This was a great rescource for me, who was new to using Renpy.

Assets Management

When developing my visual novel, I knew that I was going to have quite a few assets that include:

• sound effects
• music
• backgrounds
• characters

While the assets are the main components for my visual novel. I had to account for further customization.

Keeps piling on

I was making story changes, adding more content such as more gui and python scripts for gameplay for minigames I plan to add later.

Current file Structure

Here is the file structure I currently use:

|--- game
| |-- audio
| |-- cache
| |-- chapters
| |-- gui
| |-- images
| |-- saves
| |-- tl
|-- gui.rpy
|-- options.rpy
|-- screens.rpy
|-- script.rpy
|-- characters.rpy 

As above I added a chapter folder to organize my files for chapters in the visual novel.

Tips and Advice

Luckily for renpy game development there are a few resources to help organize file structure for video games:

YouTube

While this is a obvious choice, watching a few renpy tutorials on how game devs structure their game can be useful tool when developing your own visual novel.

Forums

Lemma Soft Forums is dedicated forum for renpy devs. Viewing discussions on helped me sturcture my story better. The Ren'Py Cookbook has tutorials on customizing your game with a wide variety of minigames and UI designs.

Closing thoughts

Overall, the file structure comes down to the developer. The structure can be a simple or complex. Keep the default file structure or modify it to your liking. As long as the file structure is easy to understand, anything is fine.