Disco Framework is a Disco Elysium-inspired framework for the game engine Ren'Py. Made for those who would like to make Disco Elysium fangames and playable fanfics.

Created by the artist Katy133.

Features

Framework includes:

  • A playable tutorial to walk you through the different features.
  • Coloured text inspired by the Skills in Disco Elysium.
  • Customised textbox.
  • Animated health damage and morale damage.
  • Animated stat raise effects.
  • Animated success and fail checks.
  • Dialogue choices with text that changes colour when you hover over each of them.
  • Custom mouse cursor.
  • Designed to minimise programming knowledge needed to make a game with the framework.

NEW! Version 1.2 includes:

  • Random number generator for dice rolls.
  • Skill system for passive rolls and levelling up.
  • Modifiers with custom messages to buff/debuff rolls.
  • Inventory and money system.
  • Journal that can be updated.
  • Character portraits with skill portraits and placeholder art.
  • Interactive map/crime scene to search.
  • Health and morale bars, along with death/game over scenes.
  • Animated notifications for gaining items, tasks, money, and more.
  • Clock system.
  • Window icon (of a disco ball).
  • Sound effects for the skills and user interface.

Requires a copy of the freeware engine Ren'Py.

Released under the CC-BY-NC-4.0 license. (The CC-BY-4.0 Premium License is if you'd like to use the framework for commercial use, and requires payment and a free copy of the project you make using it upon its release, see the Pay What You Want options below for pricing.)

Games that use this framework

Let me know if you make a game with this, I'd love to see it and showcase it.

FAQ

How do I use this framework?

Download and install Ren'Py. Create a New Project using the launcher. Open the project's folder. Replace the "game" folder with the Disco Framework game folder.

How do I edit .rpy files?

Download and install a script editor (Ren'Py recommends several free ones) and use the program to open and edit the .rpy files.

Can you add x?

I don't plan on adding additional content to the framework (I want to focus on my current projects), but please feel free to contact me if there's something you think Disco Elysium fangame devs would find jolly useful.

Why don't you include assets from Disco Elysium?

I specifically avoided using assets directly taken from the game to avoid copyright issues. Disco Elysium's assets are owned by studio ZA/UM.

Where can I find your Disco Elysium fanfics?

On AO3.

Support

Ko-fi | Patreon

Updated 9 days ago
StatusReleased
CategoryAssets
Release date Jul 04, 2021
Rating
Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars
(15 total ratings)
AuthorKaty133
GenreInteractive Fiction, Visual Novel
Made withRen'Py
TagsFangame, Minimalist, Narrative, Ren'Py, Story Rich, Project template, Text based, User Interface (UI)
Asset licenseCreative Commons Attribution_NonCommercial v4.0 International
Average sessionA few minutes
LanguagesEnglish
AccessibilityInteractive tutorial

Download

Download NowName your own price

Click download now to get access to the following files:

Disco Framework-1.1.zip 1.4 MB
Disco Framework-1.2.zip 2 MB
Premium License for CC BY 4_0.txt 1 kB
if you pay $13.94 CAD or more

Development log

Comments

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Dear Katy,

I hope this comment finds you well. I would be most grateful for your guidance regarding two matters:

  1. I understand the framework is currently under a CC-BY-NC license, and I would be very interested in discussing the possibility of obtaining a commercial license. I am absolutely willing to provide fair compensation that reflects the framework's value and your development efforts. Please let me know if you would be open to discussing commercial licensing terms.
  2. With the utmost respect for your creative work and policies, I would also like to inquire whether you would be comfortable with the framework being used in the development of an adult visual novel project.

To clarify regarding the adult content: The project would be a murder mystery / space opera / sci-fi visual novel that includes romantic relationships and consensual intimate scenes. I want to assure you that the content would not involve anything illegal or extreme - simply mature romantic content within the context of the mystery narrative.

I deeply value your work and want to ensure I proceed in a way that fully respects your wishes and intellectual property. I would be more than happy to provide any additional information about my intended project that might help inform your decision. Thank you so much for taking the time to consider my request. I truly appreciate your attention to this matter.

Kind regards,
Jackie

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Dear Jackie,

Thanks for reaching out to me. Yes, we can talk further about this. Would using Discord be okay with you for discussing the details? (My Discord is katy133 )

-Katy133

I have a question for you, how did you reduce the opacity of previous lines for your framework? Please and thank you.

It should be a line somewhere in the script that uses the tag "alpha" in relation to dialogue text. You can quickly search through the script using Ctrl+F, and typing in "alpha" in the search box. Alpha control's an element's opacity.

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thanks, I just found it.

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This is extremely good stuff!  Thanks for this.  I will be using it with my upcoming horror mystery VN, Innocent Creatures.

YOU'RE AN ICON!!! this is sick!!!

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Amazing, you're a legend for this

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This is so sick!! Great work.

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Amazing framework! Didn't expect to get so thoughtful and detailed template.

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Just wanted to swing in and say thank you for this! I used the Disco Framework as a base for a game for class, and found it to be wildly helpful! Going to make some big changes as I move forward (to make my game feel more original and less of a clone of Disco Elysium) but I cannot possibly express enough just how helpful this was, especially as a beginner w/ Ren'py!

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Thank you! It was a great tool. And I made a game with it. It will be free on Steam. PIGBLUE.

I'm glad you found the framework useful! Thank you for showing me your game's page, I'll link to it on Disco Framework's page to showcase it.

Absolutely amazing. Haven't even finished the game yet, but this has got me very excited. Thank you for sharing.

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Oh my god, this is absolutely amazing. I can't wait to open it up! Fantastic work!

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I used The Disco Framework in order to make Hoping This Finds You Well! It helped me to understand NVL mode and how to mechanically craft and implement a textbox which could function as a drag-and-drop item.

Honestly, I felt guilty for NOT using it to make a Disco Elysium-style game; this framework is so mechanically rigorous that I was itching to make something with stats and puzzles and I ended up starting up a new run of Disco Elysium itself. XD Just playing with the framework has got my mind buzzing with all kinds of new possibilities!

Thank you so much for making this and sharing it with everyone!

Thank you, I'm glad to hear that the framework has been useful!

I came back to this after a while and was wondering if there was a shortcut for character names? Using the original renpy format of defining a character then using their shortcut doesn't work with the text formatting. If some characters have a fairly long name it gets really tedious to always write them out in caps at the beginning of a sentence, same with the different feelings. E.g. I would want to be able to define ELECTROCHEMISTRY as EC then just use EC "- blabla"

Have you dealt with that issue before? And if so what was your workflow like?

Because the framework is designed for users new to programming, the character's names are written within the dialogue. While it is still possible to use Ren'Py's built-in definitions, extra steps would need to be taken to reformat the nametags so that they are placed correctly, as well as changing the indentation of the dialogue text. While I don't have the script that would make these needed changes, more information on indentation and nametags can be found in Ren'Py's documentation.

oh this whole thing is really useful for a project i want to make, thanks for this. one question though: is it possible to add some kind of transition and/or animation to the portraits?

them just popping in isn't the look im personally going for, but since portraits are character and need to be called on the same line as whatever text i want to put, i cant find a way to do this atm, though i am very new to renpy lmao. if you or anyone knows of a way, i'd really appreciate it. thank you!

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Thank you. Yes, it is in theory possible to make any image element in the framework be animated or have a transition, since Ren'Py is python-based. I don't know what the script would be to add this in, but asking in Ren'Py-focused communities on Discord, forums, etc. should help you get info on how to accomplish the transition you want.

rip, thanks for the reply though. i'll check out those options too. thanks again for the framework!

what a great little project, really what I was looking for. One thing though... After showing how backgrounds are done, could you remove the blue bathtub and maybe show a single colored background instead? In combination with the font it's a bit off putting and, at least for me, harder too read in general.

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Thank you for your feedback. I'll add that to a list for a potential update. In the meantime, an option to make the text more readable whilst playing through the framework is using the Accessibility options (which includes Font Override options, Text Size Scaling, and--if you are using the downloaded version of the framework in Ren'Py's Launcher, instead of the browser version--a High Contrast Text mode as well) in Ren'Py by pressing the hotkey "A" while the framework is running.

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That's awesome to hear!! I'd love to see it. <3

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Ahhhh thank you so much for doing this!

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Wow, I've been struggling to put something like this together as a new Ren'Py user. So happy I found this, thank you!

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What a great idea and tool ^^ 

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This is really cool.