Short answer: A sprite's first appearance can fire one entrance effect - pop, grow, bounce, nod, headshake, flinch, perk, slump, shake, or punch. Set it per sprite in the Sprites dock and every show of that character plays it automatically; a single show event can override it, and the same ten effects are also available mid-scene as ordinary effect events. Ren'Py imports start with entrances off so the imported game looks exactly like the original.
The ten entrance effects
Entrances come in three flavors:
- Scale-ins -
pop(a quick scale pop),grow(grows in from small),bounce(lands with a spring). - Gestures -
nod,headshake,flinch,perk,slump- the character arrives already acting. - Impacts -
shakeandpunchfor a forceful arrival.
You can also choose None for a plain appearance.
Setting a sprite's default entrance
Open the Sprites dock, expand the sprite, and pick from the Entrance dropdown. That choice becomes the default for every show of that sprite across the whole project. Newly created sprites start from the project-wide default in the dock's settings cog, so you can decide once how your cast tends to arrive.
Overriding a single show
Each show event's editor has its own entrance picker with three kinds of choice: Default (follow the sprite's setting), None, or a specific effect. That lets a character who normally pops in slump into one particular scene without touching their default.
Entrances combine with fades and slides
An entrance is its own channel. It can play together with a fade-in transition and with an animated slide-in Move - the fade rides the show, the slide rides the Move, and the entrance fires as the sprite lands. Use any one alone or stack them.
The same effects, mid-scene
Every entrance effect is an ordinary effect from the insert palette's Animate family, so the same looks work at any story beat - a @nod as a character agrees, a @slump as bad news lands. An entrance is simply one of these firing automatically at first appearance.
Importing from Ren'Py
Imported projects start with entrances off - the original game never had them, and the import should look exactly like the original until you decide otherwise. Turn them on sprite by sprite in the Sprites dock, and set the default for new sprites in the dock's settings cog.