Methods to minimize file size

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akareed
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Methods to minimize file size

#1 Post by akareed »

I'm actually quite confused on where to put this, crossing fingers this would be the best section to post it under. :?

I do have some questions regarding your game's file size and such.
1. What are some methods you use to reduce the game's final size? (If you do any at all)
2. Do players care about this at all? Will they pass a game just because the file size is too big?

:?: Wow, I actually had more questions than I thought. What are you guys' opinions about these?

Right now I don't do anything but put all my images through a compressor app called ImageOptim.
As a player, I don't usually look at its size. :|
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Re: Methods to minimize file size

#2 Post by fleet »

I avoid using bmp and png files where I can, and use jpg files instead.
On video files I use MP4. For sound I avoid wav files and use mp3.
Also on music tracks, instead of playing a 60 second piece of music, I'll try to find a 10 second piece and loop it.
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Re: Methods to minimize file size

#3 Post by Katta »

I've seen a recommendation to use .ogg files instead of mp3 and they really are smaller. Personally I don't care much about the file size but people in some countries still do.

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Re: Methods to minimize file size

#4 Post by Fuseblower »

Well, one thing you could do is combine jpeg and png images. Jpeg typically gives better compression but it doesn't have an alpha mask. So, you could put the mask on its own in a png file and combine it with the jpeg that contains the colors. The mask will compress just fine in png format since it's mostly composed of 0's and 255's anyway. Of course, jpeg is a "lossy format" so the better compression comes at the cost of a bit of loss in the quality (normally hardly an issue).

A quick search in the renpy documentation showed the function "AlphaMask()" but I don't have any experience with it since I'm just starting out with renpy. I don't know whether there are any performance issues with it or not.

Players might not look to the file size but hosting sites might. Sites like "Kongregate", for example, have a 50MB limit (although Kongregate doesn't host renpy games as far as I know :)

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Re: Methods to minimize file size

#5 Post by YonYonYon »

You can try PNGGauntlet to compress your .png files https://pnggauntlet.com/
Works best with sprites than BGs and CGs, for these, it is better to use .jpg format
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Re: Methods to minimize file size

#6 Post by MoonByte »

What usually is the big overkill are sound and music files.
Keep them small and in file types that don't just eat double as much as necessary. Most of the time, you will find that even all image folders combined (UI, sprites, backgrounds, CGs) are at most only a quarter of the game size with the rest being the music. If you want top quality images, then always first try and see if you really need a 3 minute song in .wav

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Re: Methods to minimize file size

#7 Post by akareed »

Thank you for all the replies/suggestions so far! I'll still have to take some time to check and see what will work best for me but these are all helpful tips. :wink"
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Re: Methods to minimize file size

#8 Post by SundownKid »

Use an online PNG compressor to reduce file size of images

Convert all music to .ogg (.mp3 would also be suitable, but it's a copyrighted file format and is illegal to sell games without paying a licensing fee)

Of course, players probably wont care THAT much, but it's helpful to your players who have slow internet.

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Re: Methods to minimize file size

#9 Post by Alte »

1. Alternate method for reducing image file size could be through WEBP format.
akareed wrote:2. Do players care about this at all? Will they pass a game just because the file size is too big?
I interpret the second question as: What does the players expect from a game with a large file size?
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