Belle - Visual novel maker

[AxemRed]

there's NVList (which functions eerily similar to ONscripter, at least on face value)

Wha- NScripter? NVList is hardware accelerated with a high-level scripting language, ONscripter is software rendering with a scripting language more akin to Commodore BASIC.

I can probably tweak the VN functionality of Construct 2 further, but out of the box the built-in transition effects (using WebGL) and easy adoptation of action gameplay make it my default choice for an HTML5 engine.

WebGL isn't available on most mobile/embedded platforms. Isn't Android/iOS/whatever support usually the point of using HTML5?

There are already some transitions available, like fade and slide for objects. I haven't added transitions when passing from one scene to another or when changing backgrounds, but i plan to do it.

What about something like Ren'Py's ImageDissolve?

[fleet]

I've used Novelty a lot. I downloaded Belle and made a simple (two page) VN (no sounds, just pictures and dialog) and successfully exported it in about 20 minutes.
When I tried to open the VN in Internet Explorer 8 (I'm running Windows XP), I received a message that my browser doesn't support HTML 5. With Mozilla Firefox 17, however, the short VN worked fine.

[leon]

When I tried to open the VN in Internet Explorer 8 (I'm running Windows XP), I received a message that my browser doesn't support HTML 5. With Mozilla Firefox 17, however, the short VN worked fine.

I don't think Internet Explorer 8 supports all HTML 5 features... But freemind said support for older browsers is in the works, so this should be fixed in time.

[EwanG]

This all sounds interesting, and a complete IDE VN maker would be nice, but just curious why you are targeting HTML 5? Are you thinking of integrating this with PhoneGap/Cordoba to support iOS and Android? Or... ?

After my recent experience with the Windows Store, I have to say I'm a little less HTML5/JS enthusiastic at the moment.

[mirelle]

For that msvcp100.dll error, I believe downloading that .dll file and slapping it on system32/ the program folder would solve it.

Or simply install visual c++.

[freemind]

Animations like snow or rain shouldn't be very difficult to add i guess. You mentioned i needed code, what kind of code?

Well I see it like this: when you want to add a custom sprite it's easy to import it, but it's different when you want to create a custom animated effect in your engine which isn't in your list of effects, right? It would either have to be delivered in code, an animated image file, or you would need some kind of other implementation or tweaking system which goes beyond my non-programmer-imagination so far.

Hmn yea, if you want to create a custom effect that can be tricky with a gui-only approach.

Looks awesome!

I wanted to try it out, but got an error: MSVCP100.dll is missing.

Ah i see. Downloading and installing this should fix the problem: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/co ... px?id=5555
I've also updated the installer and included that dll. Thanks.

What about something like Ren'Py's ImageDissolve?

I don't think so.

I've used Novelty a lot. I downloaded Belle and made a simple (two page) VN (no sounds, just pictures and dialog) and successfully exported it in about 20 minutes.
When I tried to open the VN in Internet Explorer 8 (I'm running Windows XP), I received a message that my browser doesn't support HTML 5. With Mozilla Firefox 17, however, the short VN worked fine.

Like leon pointed out, Internet Explorer 8 doesn't support HTML5. In the current version of the engine it is used the HTML5's canvas to draw the game. In the next version (0.3) it will be supported both the canvas and the traditional HTML elements. There's still a problem with the audio for older browsers since the audio is also a feature from HTML5. I guess i'll have to fallback to a flash player or something.

This all sounds interesting, and a complete IDE VN maker would be nice, but just curious why you are targeting HTML 5? Are you thinking of integrating this with PhoneGap/Cordoba to support iOS and Android? Or... ?

After my recent experience with the Windows Store, I have to say I'm a little less HTML5/JS enthusiastic at the moment.

I'm targetting HTML5 because, in my opinion, is the best choice for a VN or similar games.
Are you talking about adding support for Android and iOS in the editor? For now i have no plans in doing so, since Android and iOS are usually run in small devices, which are not good for editing.

[EwanG]

I'm targetting HTML5 because, in my opinion, is the best choice for a VN or similar games.
Are you talking about adding support for Android and iOS in the editor? For now i have no plans in doing so, since Android and iOS are usually run in small devices, which are not good for editing.

No, what I'm asking is more about the delivery platform. If HTML5 that implies that you will have folks posting their VNs to websites, or putting them in some kind of container to run off their desktop. If you are going to do that, then it would seem that adding a couple macros to wrap it in PhoneGap/Cordoba for delivery to the other platforms would make sense. While I'm not sure I'd want to run a VN on a phone, a 10 inch tablet seems ideal for these types of games.

[DaFool]

Wha- NScripter? NVList is hardware accelerated with a high-level scripting language, ONscripter is software rendering with a scripting language more akin to Commodore BASIC.

I meant the way an out-of-the-box NVList game is made with default functionality looks similar to an out-of-the-box ONscripter game. Of course I do recognize NVList is hardware accelerated, but also forgot that ONscripter is already way behind the curve.

WebGL isn't available on most mobile/embedded platforms. Isn't Android/iOS/whatever support usually the point of using HTML5?

Hmmm, the future devices then. Crossing my fingers.

it would seem that adding a couple macros to wrap it in PhoneGap/Cordoba for delivery to the other platforms would make sense.

If you're interested in some default export templates in Construct 2, they are:
appMobi, CocoonJS, Facebook, Windows8

I'm targetting HTML5 because, in my opinion, is the best choice for a VN or similar games.

Indeed, but it's all thanks to Steve Jobs for speeding up both the demise of Flash runtime as well as the adoption of closed platforms, so they only way to get erotic VNs to work on your iPad is through HTML5. As a VN maker, it is now a matter of survival. Cue "Why Downloadables are Important" discussion Round 2...

[leon]

Ah i see. Downloading and installing this should fix the problem: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/co ... px?id=5555
I've also updated the installer and included that dll. Thanks.

Thanks. Adding msvcp100.dll and msvcr100.dll to system32 also worked.

I couldn't get it to run a test VN. All I get is a pupup that says "start" and a blank screen. I think I'll wait for some examples and documentation...

Hmm, i never played an RPG game made with Ren'Py, i need to play one to see if Belle is also capable. However i guess you should be able to accomplish something since you can plug actions to different events (mouse press, mouse release, mouse hover) in any object (image, textbox, etc). I also plan to later on add scripting capabilities (with JavaScript) like Novelty has.

JavaScript support would be awesome. That might also allow for custom transitions and other fancy stuff. I don't think complex gameplay (like http://eviscerate.net/article/rpg-battle-engine-renpy) can be added, without some scripting support.

[freemind]

I'm targetting HTML5 because, in my opinion, is the best choice for a VN or similar games.
Are you talking about adding support for Android and iOS in the editor? For now i have no plans in doing so, since Android and iOS are usually run in small devices, which are not good for editing.

No, what I'm asking is more about the delivery platform. If HTML5 that implies that you will have folks posting their VNs to websites, or putting them in some kind of container to run off their desktop. If you are going to do that, then it would seem that adding a couple macros to wrap it in PhoneGap/Cordoba for delivery to the other platforms would make sense. While I'm not sure I'd want to run a VN on a phone, a 10 inch tablet seems ideal for these types of games.

I'll have to read more about PhoneGap. Thanks for the advice.

I couldn't get it to run a test VN. All I get is a pupup that says "start" and a blank screen. I think I'll wait for some examples and documentation...

Hmn, something might gone wrong.

JavaScript support would be awesome. That might also allow for custom transitions and other fancy stuff. I don't think complex gameplay (like http://eviscerate.net/article/rpg-battle-engine-renpy) can be added, without some scripting support.

That's probably true.

[fleet]

Leon, I got it to work by exporting the project. I had to change the font color of the text and set the text box opacity.

[leon]

Leon, I got it to work by exporting the project. I had to change the font color of the text and set the text box opacity.

Still no luck here... I'll just wait for a sample VN / demo to be included and try importing that. This way I'll know whether the problem is with my browser or I'm doing something wrong.

[fleet]

Leon, Here's what I made, as I said, there is one slide with a picture and dialog, and then a text slide that says "The end"

Sorry for the typo

Untitled.zip

(816.56 KiB) Downloaded 69 times

[leon]

Thank you! Didn't work in Chrome so I installed Firefox and it works fine there. So it seems my Chrome was the culprit.

[Taosym]

If you have any questions or suggestions feel free to ask.

On your site, you're obviously making it open source.

Belle is free and open source software, both the editor and the engine are released under the GNU General Public License v3. This means you can modify this software and adapt it to your needs. It also means you can use it freely to make commercial or non-commercial games.

How are you handling the licensing for the engine? For people who might want to develop commercial games, are you requiring any sort of licensing for using the engine, sourcing, etc? Also how are you going to justify continued development of the engine in the future, or are you expecting different programmers to make different distributions of the engine rather than doing it all yourself?

I think for some people, they might not be sure you can afford to continue developing the engine.