Ren’py Lint. Don’t forget to use it. It can save your life… seriously.

OK, so here is the story. We are commissioned to do a sort of slideshow with very specific requirements that needed perfect synchronization and other stuff not normally done with powerpoint. The event is a Seminar organized by the MCLE, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, South Luzon Region… this is a job for Ren’py.

It is not the first time. I’ve been using Ren’py to create a wide range of things not originally intended but very well does the job like review materials for nursing schools, company presentations, product demonstrations, review materials and others… business is good and growing. There is a market for Ren’py other than VN’s… fine, no one believes me… no problem… I am gonna go and dive head first and I’m gonna tap this uncharted market. I’ve been receiving lot’s of inquiries and commissions that I decided to divert one of my Graphic Artists into a dedicated Ren’py Slave.

Here’s our work flow.

– I bring client
– I discuss stuff
– He does Art
– I do coding

Simple yet effective.

But this time it’s different. I am very busy lately. I thought at that time that my Ren’py Slave/Padawan was ready for the task and give him a week to complete a rather simple job order I gave him (a simple slideshow… I already handled the complicated part). I asked him and he said he can do it. So I left but is restless so I called one day before deadline…

April 15 – Thursday Night

mugen: So how are things going on your side?
coder: OK Sir, leave everything to me.
mugen: Is it done?
coder: Not quite but rest assured it will be done in time for tommorrow.
mugen: Good, Don’t forget to email me a copy OK.

April 16 – Friday
7:20AM

coder: Sir, I think we have a problem.
mugen: What problem?
coder: Whenever I tried launching this presentation…
coder: It crashes and says…
coder: It says “Traceback Error” Sir.
mugen: PFFFTTT!!! (Spits Krispy Kreme Shake)
mugen: (Opens Netbook)
mugen: OK, can you sent it to my webdrive?
coder: Sorry Sir but we don’t have Internet access here.
mugen: WiFi?
coder: No Sir.
mugen: What about the SmartBro? (3GP card)
mugen: It should be with the laptop.
coder: I forgot it at home.
mugen: FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Now at this point I’m nearing boiling point. It’s 7:30AM when I ended our conversation. MCLE Seminar will start at 12:00 Noon. I am currently in Ayala convincing a potential client and the venue is in Binalakayan which is in Kawit, Cavite. Guess I got to get there myself to fix things.

 

Fast forward 2+ hours later I reached my destination and began debugging what is supposed to be a very basic almost routine Ren’py based slideshow with additional bang in some places. After fixing a few indentation errors it was running fine or so I thought.

I noticed that it automatically forwards after roughly two seconds. Checked the code and saw this.

$ renpy.pause(2.0)

Ah!… I guess this one is my fault. Here is why, I always keep a notepad file containing often used (and abused) renpy codes somewhere handy (like in the desktop) and I guess he just copied and paste it from that handy renpy notepad file I gave him which has this written “$ renpy.pause(2.0)”. I forgot to explain it to him that he has to change the number to this.

$ renpy.pause(999999.0)

Meaning, the slide will pause for 999999 seconds and will only move forward after the user clicks.

OK so after doing lint. I checked, double-checked and it is working properly but you see, this is a high paying client with very important guests, most notable of them is Philippine Senator Francis Pangilinan and this presentation is supposed to run “while” the Honorable Senator in the middle of his speech.

Oh fuck… I can’t screw up on this one. So we decided to trade places and I personally operated the slideshow making sure I was synchronized with his speech.

After the 10+ minutes that involves the slideshow (which I cannot show here due to a certain stipulation in our agreement), I can finally relax and savor the food…

Moral lesson?… Don’t forget to use lint… it can save your life…