If you want to bring in a fancier feature based on programming logic, the documentation shows how to do that without being overly technical. Ren'Py's documentation is very good, so there no significant barrier to entry on that front. Granted, you'll make a prettier product if you happen to have some artistic skills, but it isn't a deal breaker if you aren't a GIMP guru. If you can write, you can use Ren'Py, no major coding experience is needed. You can also set it to use your system defined text editor if you would prefer to use a different editor to write Ren'Py scripts. The SDK has built in support for the Editra and jEdit text editors, and you can download either one automatically if you select it on the Ren'Py SDK's preference screen. Rapt needs to be downloaded separately, if you want to use it. There is also a build tool, rapt (Ren'Py Android Packaging Tool), to build Ren'Py games for Android. Though, unfortunately, game makers don't always release versions of their game for all three operating systems. Ren'Py is cross-platform, and the SDK and games can run on Windows, Mac, and Linux (x86 & x86_64). A real game would set up backgrounds and character images, define characters (so that it isn't necessary to type out the character's full name every time they speak), and, most likely, actually have the user interact with the game, instead of just reading. This example doesn't have any real interaction, and doesn't have any graphics, but it is a complete and valid Ren'Py script.
"Adventurer" "Oh bother, I wish I had brought my lantern." "Grue" "I'm nice enough to warn you first, ain't I?" "Adventurer" "It's not very 'friendly' to eat people." "Grue" "I did, I'm your friendly neighborhood grue." Here is an example of a very basic game script:
Though, if you want to make something more advanced, Ren'Py is built in/on Python, so Ren'Py can do just about anything Python can do. It is more like writing a theatrical play with stage directions than writing computer code. Writing a Ren'Py script is only a little more difficult than writing English. Writing a basic game script is super simple and adding in game/programming logic (using variables, if statements, jumping to a different section of the script, etc.) is not very hard.
Visual novels are the computer game equivalent of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" novel. Ren'Py, created by Tom Rothamel ( on Twitter), is an a open source tool for developing visual novels.