Novelty progress update (VN maker)

[Sin]

Novelty is, for all of you who don't know, my attempt at creating a WYSIWYG visual novel maker.
I haven't posted in a while since my last thread and I've come a long way since then. Therefor I figured it was time for another update, in video form.

This video shows off two small demo-projects that I made. After playing them through I spend some time messing them up, just to give you an idea of how the interface works. The first one is a typical VN created using no programming what-so-ever and the second is a minigame that I made using scripts.

Click here to view the screencast

I hope this gives a glimpse of what's to come ^_^

[Vatina]

I had just been wondering where you had gone to! It's nice to see/hear and update about your project.

Looks like you can do a lot of things with this. I couldn't help laughing when the background started spinning and the girl was jumping all over the place xD That was just too weird....

*cheers you on*

[bloodywyvern]

Well another choice for game makers is always lovely, especially when it has such a clean interface. I was surprised by how efficient everything seemed to be, there wasn't much cluttering things where it didn't need to be. Very visually pleasing for a visual novel visual editor (Hence forth known as VPVNVE for short ^^). I think you've really simplified the process of a lot of actions, more so then I would expect. The one major advantage it has over Ren'Py seems to be the ease of picking it up. Since Ren'Py does work with code, it can be daunting (despite actually being rather easy) to start on something. With Novelty though it gives room for beginners and advanced users a like to use it for whatever needed. It's got simple editing for the basics of creating a game, and then your showing of scripts and the like prove it isn't limited by that. That's a problem many visual editors tend to face, how the visual aspect limits it.

Personally...while I'm not a programmer, I don't think I'd go for a VPVNVE for anything I make. Why? I find it difficult to properly keep track of things I do in them (I have horrible organizational skills, even with programs). I'd inflate the program with so many useless sections I wouldn't be able to find anything I needed.

That doesn't mean it doesn't interest me greatly, and I think it will help a lot of people think 'hey I COULD make a game with THIS'. I only see a problem with the engine when making larger projects...it could involve a lot of searching for images and the like. It might be good to allow a user to define images as something shorter and easier to remember, where the engine follows up and finds the image for you. A click down interface is nice and all...but again, can get big. I don't think more than 1% of games would even have a problem like that though...

Anyway! Very beautifully done so far, and good luck on your VPVNVE (That acronym is going to get stuck in my head now). Great job!

[Hime]

To be honest, I've been missing updates on the progress of Novelty, so it's great to see some! ^^ The demo movie makes it look like fun... Awawa, the walking animation is cute! The minigame part is really cool too. This looks so professional that it's almost hard to believe it's going to be free.

[Jake]

minigame that I made using scripts.

Just out of interest, how are you doing those? Are you doing all the parsing yourself, or using some existing engine/compiler?

I only see a problem with the engine when making larger projects...it could involve a lot of searching for images and the like.

You make it sound like this isn't a problem outside of an IDE. It is! Finding all your stuff when you have a lot of stuff is always a problem!

[bloodywyvern]

You make it sound like this isn't a problem outside of an IDE. It is! Finding all your stuff when you have a lot of stuff is always a problem!

Well, with a visual editor you face a lot of drop down menus rather than the ability to type something out...at least with code you can rename an image to something smaller, remember it, and not take the tedious task of finding it in a menu (though if you allow your drop down menus to also allow typing, that point is mute). Like I said, when facing a visual editor your most important thing to consider is what limitations it faces because of it.

[Jake]

(though if you allow your drop down menus to also allow typing, that point is mute)

"Moot". But as it goes, I've yet to see an IDE which doesn't allow you to type into drop-downs. It's part of the default behaviour of the dropdown class in most Microsoft UI libraries, for example.

Like I said, when facing a visual editor your most important thing to consider is what limitations it faces because of it.

Sure. I'm just noting that "being able to find your resources" isn't something that becomes hard because you have an IDE, it becomes hard because you have a lot of resources. If anything, it's a worse problem when you have to just remember what they're called and/or look them up in a file browser before you can use them.

This is one of the areas that a purpose-built IDE is really useful, in practice - you don't have to just remember the exact name and spelling of that 'ineventoffirebreakglass' label you want to jump to, or go hunting through three or four different script files it might be in, because - hey, you just scroll through the list of labels beginning with 'i' and it'll jump out at you. Context switching - where you have to stop doing one task (writing your script) to go and do another task (looking through other scripts for a label name) is very damaging to productivity.

(Both with or without an IDE, of course, it's easier if you adopt a systematic naming/storage approach.)

[bloodywyvern]

"Moot". But as it goes, I've yet to see an IDE which doesn't allow you to type into drop-downs. It's part of the default behaviour of the dropdown class in most Microsoft UI libraries, for example.

Well yes, sure if you must correct my spelling Though, if you think about it since I won't be mentioning my concern again I've technically gone mute on the subject XD Also in my defense I've been up for over 24 hours now, and am a bit out of it.

Sure. I'm just noting that "being able to find your resources" isn't something that becomes hard because you have an IDE, it becomes hard because you have a lot of resources. If anything, it's a worse problem when you have to just remember what they're called and/or look them up in a file browser before you can use them.

This is one of the areas that a purpose-built IDE is really useful, in practice - you don't have to just remember the exact name and spelling of that 'ineventoffirebreakglass' label you want to jump to, or go hunting through three or four different script files it might be in, because - hey, you just scroll through the list of labels beginning with 'i' and it'll jump out at you. Context switching - where you have to stop doing one task (writing your script) to go and do another task (looking through other scripts for a label name) is very damaging to productivity.

(Both with or without an IDE, of course, it's easier if you adopt a systematic naming/storage approach.)

Well it depends on personal preference and how good of a memory you have, if you find mesmerizing small file names a problem when used a lot...your probably going to forget which letter this or that started with to (I know, I've done it). Suddenly you have 3-4 possible names you could have given it, and have to check each one. It really affects production time when added up...

I understand my points aren't completely valid in every instance but...the important thing is to take all variables in to consideration, even the least expected ones.

[monele]

This is looking just as promising as the first time, whoo ^_^. I second the appreciation of the walking animation : cute! ... Gosh, where do you get these graphics from? XD... I love the dancing chibi!

Btw, very nice screencast (love the zooming) but I noticed it eats *all* my RAM. I'm using Firefox. It's very weird, just running the video makes it eat RAM as if it put all the raw frames in memory and kept them there until I close the window/tab.

[Cybeat]

That was good! (how do you guys make these engines?) That girl in the demo has a distinctive style of......art. She looks like she was drawn by Itoh Noizi. Anyway, good luck.

Edit: I had trouble viewing the video. It wouldn't play nicely.

[Jake]

if you find mesmerizing small file names a problem when used a lot...your probably going to forget which letter this or that started with to (I know, I've done it).

Sure - but again, this is going to be just as much - if not more - of a problem if you don't have the IDE. Again, the best solution is a systematic nomenclature.

Btw, very nice screencast (love the zooming) but I noticed it eats *all* my RAM. I'm using Firefox.

I've noticed that using Firefox eats *all* of my RAM.

Seriously, using Opera my RAM usage goes up 2% when I open that page, and another 1% through playing. I have Firefox open just for Chatzilla, and it's already using as much RAM as Opera with several tabs open.

(how do you guys make these engines?)

Black magic. Also practice. ;-P

I seem to recall Sin saying before that he was writing Novelty in C++ with DirectX; if that's the case it's quite possible to work entirely with freely-available tools, MS gives away Visual Studio Express and the DirectX SDK. Then there's just "learning C++ and the APIs"...

[Cybeat]

Ah. It would take a lot of practice.

[monele]

I've noticed that using Firefox eats *all* of my RAM.

Hu hu . I know Firefox eats RAM but here it was very unusual (I usually have about 500mb free and I wondered why the HD was working so much... oooh, 0 mb left o_o...). I do wonder why the Firefox team hasn't fixed the general memory problem yet, though :/...

[sake-bento]

Wow, this looks really super super cool, and it seems like an especially good tool for beginners. I look forward to playing around with this. XD

[Hyperguy]

Will you be making a demo available?