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Renai Game Developer's Wishlist

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:52 pm
by DaFool
Well since its the season of giving and receiving gifts, it may be a good time to drum up people to mention what they really want to aid them in their gamemaking.

Yeah, yeah, some might have everything at their disposal already. And a good default answer is 'Need more Time'.

But maybe there is a wish that can be made by some member of this forum. Like for example, a GUI toolkit, more resources (be specific). It's to help those of us who are already doing such things or thinking of doing such things.

But don't expect the presents to arrive until next year! :D

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 2:16 pm
by EwanG
My list - YMMV:

1) Character Generator - So that a large cast can be created that appear to be in a similar style. Right now your choices are to make them all yourself, or to combine several different sets that don't look like they belong together.

2) Scene Generator - Again, it would be nice to say (as in my current example) that I want a generic forest, and then be able to clear out some timber to put up a few cabins. Similarly to have a generic bedroom that can be accessorized to make each one a bit unique.

3) Text to speech engine that sounds like a real person - Let's just say that it would make using random events and customizations simpler. It wouldn't necessarily have to do all of a script, but perhaps take samples from a voice character, and then sound the same. For example, in Senior Year I have the player enter their name. The voice actors can't do 200 different possible names, because there are still a lot that wouldn't be covered, and the editing would probably be noticeable. But if an engine could tack it on while playing...

Once you have those, you can create quite complex setups in a one or two person shop.

FWIW,
Ewan

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 2:57 pm
by Mihel
1) Propellorheads' Reason. I think the reasons for this should be obvious :P
2) A plugin for Ren'Py that allows for dynamic music playback - that is, it allows for the gamemaker to simulate a real soundtrack by stitching together different files and things. Fun fun fun! (Any Python programmers out there?)
3) Instrumentalists. If I could get hold of a live orchestra... :P
4) Money. It always helps :mrgreen:

Yeah. A music geek I...

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 3:18 pm
by PyTom
Mihel wrote:2) A plugin for Ren'Py that allows for dynamic music playback - that is, it allows for the gamemaker to simulate a real soundtrack by stitching together different files and things. Fun fun fun!
Actually, support for this has been in modern version of Ren'Py. It was first done in Go! Magical Boy, and I made it easier to use a few versions later. Basically, you just use lists of short segments, and then use renpy.music.queue to switch between them.

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 4:26 pm
by F.I.A
A music generator which can make any bgm of any genres. Because I know nothing about music making. :D

Well, for a more realistic wish, maybe a collection of +500 free musics sort up by genres which I can pick on without going through multiple japanese character sites.

Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 5:11 pm
by DaFool
Hmmm, I haven't been searching through free music sites, but is it sort of true that there's a general lack of certain genre music? Like for example, there's a smattering of rock / pop / jazz / techno, but not enough (or not at all) of soundtrack / OST type stuff?

Like for example, music that evokes warfare, high drama, Celtic music, epic scores.

Because I think that if people had access to soundtrack type music, they will be inspired to do stories besides the usual School Life (which usually comes with your run-of-the-mill looping midi track)

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 2:45 pm
by Mihel
PyTom wrote:
Mihel wrote:2) A plugin for Ren'Py that allows for dynamic music playback - that is, it allows for the gamemaker to simulate a real soundtrack by stitching together different files and things. Fun fun fun!
Actually, support for this has been in modern version of Ren'Py. It was first done in Go! Magical Boy, and I made it easier to use a few versions later. Basically, you just use lists of short segments, and then use renpy.music.queue to switch between them.
But can you imagine hearing the same short loop over and over and over and over again? Because in order to switch in real time the loops would have to be very very short. And then the script would be 50% queue statements. At least, if I had the reigns :P I would want to have the music morph as the player gets to certain points: and this means that it would have to stop in the middle of one song, load a transition that's specifically tailored for where in the first song stopped, and then switch to the second without the user noticing. queue() just waits until the first song is over, and simply stopping the song, even with crossfading, doesn't allow for a smooth transition.

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 3:08 pm
by yummy
Mihel wrote:I would want to have the music morph as the player gets to certain points: and this means that it would have to stop in the middle of one song, load a transition that's specifically tailored for where in the first song stopped, and then switch to the second without the user noticing. queue() just waits until the first song is over, and simply stopping the song, even with crossfading, doesn't allow for a smooth transition.
Yup, it would help if you planned some dramatic moments in your storyplay, avoid endless music loops...

So here's my wishlist:
1)Main menu and Game menu customizers (to shape, color and configure the menus appearance)
2)Brainstorming teams (sometimes we need revolutionnary ideas)
3)A CG artist generator (makes CG artists appear when you need them)

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 5:04 pm
by Enerccio
1. CG and Character generator
2. money (lot, lol)
3. I wish taht day would have 48 hours... :lol:

Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 7:38 pm
by papillon
Dedicated and verbose testers with a looooooot of time on their hands. :)

Posted: Sun Dec 24, 2006 12:18 am
by PyTom
But can you imagine hearing the same short loop over and over and over and over again?
This is why Ren'Py supports lists of segments, rather then single segments. Right now, one can write:

Code: Select all

$ renpy.music.play([ 'a.ogg', 'b.ogg', 'c.ogg'])

"Hit me!"

$ renpy.music.queue('abc_to_def.ogg')
$ renpy.music.queue(['d.ogg', 'e.ogg', 'f.ogg'], clear_queue=False)

"Ouch!"
This starts off by looping a, b, c, a, b, c, ... while showing "Hit Me". When the user clicks, the currently playing file will finish, and then abc_to_def will play, followed by a loop of d, e, f, d, e, f, ...

The loops should be sample-accurate, so there won't be a pause when playing tracks, unless the pause is in the sound files themselves.

The only thing that's missing is we don't allow for separate transitions from a, b, or c to d... since right now there's no way to know what music is playing. I might add that in...

Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 10:43 am
by Mihel
PyTom wrote:
But can you imagine hearing the same short loop over and over and over and over again?
This is why Ren'Py supports lists of segments, rather then single segments. Right now, one can write:

Code: Select all

$ renpy.music.play([ 'a.ogg', 'b.ogg', 'c.ogg'])

"Hit me!"

$ renpy.music.queue('abc_to_def.ogg')
$ renpy.music.queue(['d.ogg', 'e.ogg', 'f.ogg'], clear_queue=False)

"Ouch!"
This starts off by looping a, b, c, a, b, c, ... while showing "Hit Me". When the user clicks, the currently playing file will finish, and then abc_to_def will play, followed by a loop of d, e, f, d, e, f, ...
You mean this is why I love Ren'Py :P Thankee for pointing that out, since I obviously can't read the documentation properly on my own :roll:
PyTom wrote:The loops should be sample-accurate, so there won't be a pause when playing tracks, unless the pause is in the sound files themselves.

The only thing that's missing is we don't allow for separate transitions from a, b, or c to d... since right now there's no way to know what music is playing. I might add that in...
If you add that I will love you forever.

And I suppose that does work well enough, since if each of a.ogg, b.ogg, and c.ogg are two-bar phrases in a larger piece, then the transition only has to work with the larger harmonic structure of that section.

I do hope that one can specify the same file more than once. Or is that too much to ask? (i.e., if I had a=verse and b=chorus, a standard AABA song would be [a.ogg, a.ogg, b.ogg, a.ogg]?)

Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 10:59 am
by PyTom
The only thing that's missing is we don't allow for separate transitions from a, b, or c to d... since right now there's no way to know what music is playing. I might add that in...
If you add that I will love you forever.
Um... since you seem to be a guy, how 'bout I add it in and we call it a day, alright?
I do hope that one can specify the same file more than once. Or is that too much to ask? (i.e., if I had a=verse and b=chorus, a standard AABA song would be [a.ogg, a.ogg, b.ogg, a.ogg]?)
Yeah. (Well, ['a.ogg', 'a.ogg', 'b.ogg', 'a.ogg'], but who's counting.) We do support listing the same file more than once.

Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 11:13 am
by Mihel
PyTom wrote:
The only thing that's missing is we don't allow for separate transitions from a, b, or c to d... since right now there's no way to know what music is playing. I might add that in...
If you add that I will love you forever.
Um... since you seem to be a guy, how 'bout I add it in and we call it a day, alright?
Fine, I'll just worship you from afar :P It would've been difficult to explain to my girlfriend anyway...
PyTom wrote:
I do hope that one can specify the same file more than once. Or is that too much to ask? (i.e., if I had a=verse and b=chorus, a standard AABA song would be [a.ogg, a.ogg, b.ogg, a.ogg]?)
Yeah. (Well, ['a.ogg', 'a.ogg', 'b.ogg', 'a.ogg'], but who's counting.) We do support listing the same file more than once.
Huzzah! Thanks for the info.

Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 12:37 am
by mugenjohncel
Hmm...

Wish No.1
Better documentation on UI with working example and a lot of helpfull comments on the code.

Wish No.2 (For Mikey)
Still figuring how he does that Main Menu screen
(The one with rotating choices and stuff)

Teach us how you do such things... please.

Wish No.3 (For Mikey... again)
That text in O3... how did you do that?
A tutorial would be nice... please

Wish No.4
A tutorial on how to prevent a user from clicking or doing anything for a specified amount of time.

Ren'py pause doesn't work the way I wanted it and no idea how to use U.I pause.

Reason:
I wanted a segment animated and wanted to show it the way it was meant to be... abrupt user input screws up everything.

Oh!... and Happy New Year to everybody! :)