5.6.3 Plans

[PyTom]

Now that MangaNext is over, it looks like it's time to start on 5.6.3. 5.6.3 will continue the current trend of simplifying Ren'Py, and improving the user experience. As my current plans for 5.6.3 will contain some artistic improvements that I am incapable of accomplishing on my own, I'm hoping the community will step up (as it has been) to help complete this release.

Anyway, the following are some of my plans for 5.6.3:

config-library unification. Right now, about half of our configuration variables are config.whatever, and half are library.whatever. The distinction is fairly arbitrary, based on where a variable is used, rather then on anything systematic. I propose eliminating the distinction, and just having config variables (with library being an alias to config for backwards compatibility).

Eliminate the extras/ directory. Extras have always been a bit problematic, as they aren't part of the demo game, which doubles as the main test suite I run when releasing Ren'Py. So I want to eliminate the extras entirely.

The functionality that's currently found in the extras/ directory will be dispersed to several different places. Mature functionality, like fullscreen.rpy and east_asian.rpy, will be integrated into Ren'Py proper. Less mature functionality, like voice.rpy, will be moved into the demo game... where at least it will get tested each release. Finally, the extras that haven't proved useful will probably get migrated onto the cookbook section of the wiki.

Rewrite kanamode. I'm thinking this release will be when I rewrite the kana mode. (The mode that lets us make NVL-type games, for those familiar with the Japanese notation.) I'd appreciate it if users could give some thoughts to requirements, and post them here.

Improved mixer selection. When config.has_music or config.has_sound are False, we should disable the corresponding mixers. (Minor, but useful.)

Multiple With Skip Clicking during a transition should terminate that transition, and skip all transitions until the next non-transition interaction. Coupled with the new Pause transition, this will let multi-part transitions be skipped as a unit.

Rewrite demo game. This is probably the biggest time-sink in 5.6.3. I want to rewrite the demo game to make it more useful. A big part of this will be breaking the current demo game up into a number of easily-understandable files, and indicating on the screen which file we are in. The purpose of the demo game is to demonstrate the power of Ren'Py in a reusable fashion... the purpose of the simple game (due out in 5.6.4) will be to show people how easy it is to make a game.

I'd also like the demo game's artwork to be improved. A number of community members have volunteered to help with this. Here's what I see the tasks as being:

- Background Art. DaFool has contributed some nice classroom shots. I need to figure out how to use these in the demo, as the current version uses a number of layers. These layers make the current version look really good... but I worry that they will be a bit confusing to someone reading the demo. Compare the current:

Code: Select all

scene bg washington
show eileen happy

To the new:

Code: Select all

scene bg classroom
show screen
show eileen happy
show seats

I'm just a little worried about this from a pedagogical point of view... especially when doing more complex things. For example, if I want to show the cyan circle on the screen behind Eileen, that can lead to overly-complicated code. (And I don't want to use zorder on every statement... zorder should be used rarely.)

Suggestions would be most appreciated here, as coming up with a way to do the backgrounds is the pacing factor on creating the new demo game.

- Music. "Sun-Flower Slow Drag" has been slowly driving me insane. We need new music reasonably soon, before I lose it. (IIRC, Alessio volunteered for this... is that right?)

- Voice. I'd like to demonstrate voice acting. While the game won't be fully voiced, I'd expect there to be a short section that is. So I'll need someone to be the voice of Eileen.

That's about it for now... I'd appreciate anyone's comments, suggestions, offers of help.

[monele]

Kanamode : make {p} and {w} work. Maybe have a way to clear the text and then place the cursor vertically. This would allow for vertical-centering simulation (I noticed Fate/Stay night doesn't *really* center the text).

Multiple With Skip : Mm... I'm not sure this will be good in all cases. Is there a way to have this as an option instead? :/

[Alessio]

Eliminate extras directory: Very good idea, makes sense!
Multiple With Skip: Sounds very good to me, but then again monele can have the last word... I understand if he's worried. :)
Music: Sure, you can still count me in - just let me know what you need. 2-3 different melodies? Midi or ogg (or both)?

[PyTom]

Multiple With Skip : Mm... I'm not sure this will be good in all cases. Is there a way to have this as an option instead? :/

Can you think of a case in which it wouldn't do the right thing? You can always do a renpy.pause(0) to break up skipping, when necessary.

[monele]

Really don't know ^^;.. Will have to see for myself I guess.

[papillon]

While I'm probably the wrong person for this job, I will hold up my hand to say (to anyone really) that I am both female and in possession of a (not that good) microphone. Recorded a whole book in audio format for my creative partner in recent months, it was fun.

It's just a headset, though, if anyone wants *quality* audio you'll want someone with a better mic.


- papillon, whose accent is somewhere between Southern and British depending on the day.

[PyTom]

Music: Sure, you can still count me in - just let me know what you need. 2-3 different melodies? Midi or ogg (or both)?

Well, we need at least one melody to serve as the main looping background track for the demo game. Ideally this should be happy, but unobtrusive. It should be long enough that the looping isn't too noticeable... well, the loops in G!MB were pretty short, so that may not be too big of an issue. But I would like something a little longer then that. Figure a minute or so... something that fits in a 1 MB OGG file, at reasonable quality.

It might make sense to have a more noticable short second piece, to use when demonstrating the music subsystem, fades, etc.

papillon >>> I'm not quite ready to cast the voice yet, but thanks for expressing interest. I'm not totally sure what I want, accent-wise... probably something in the sort of midwestern standard US TV accent thing. (Is that considered accentless in the UK, like it is in the US? Or is it considered an American accent?)

[NetGenSuperstar]

Dang. I have almost all of the qualifications of being the voice of Eileen so far: I have what I consider an "accentless" voice (I've tried very hard to speak full Standard American English my whole life), and I even have a brand-new recording studio in my backyard. I've also always wanted to try voice acting; if I could make it my career, I would in a heartbeat.

The problem: I'm a guy.

But hey, if you decide pitch-shifting is an acceptable alternative to a real girl, talk to me.

[yummy]

I'll need someone to be the voice of Eileen.

PyTom! It's time you voice acted for Eileen

On a more serious note, would it be possible to add another character to the demo or would it make it more difficult for a demo?
There would be good points for it, like how to handle multiple characters on the same screen, create an atmosphere...

I'm wondering about the voice acting because when you consider the final file size, it would come to more than 100mb (if you plan on giving Eileen more than just few sentences, that is to say).

About multiple transition skipping:
I think it's a good idea. It will spare time and drammatically decrease my code size
Would it be possible to add some block limit characters to define the beginning and ending of such a skip?
Would it be possible to couple it with some kind of transition effect (dissolve or fade, etc) so that it would be customisable?

[PyTom]

PyTom! It's time you voice acted for Eileen

Heck no.

On a more serious note, would it be possible to add another character to the demo or would it make it more difficult for a demo?
There would be good points for it, like how to handle multiple characters on the same screen, create an atmosphere...

Hm... this is interesting. But we'd need more character art. I wonder if Piroshki's interested in doing that. (I'd like to keep the character art consistent within the game.)

I'm wondering about the voice acting because when you consider the final file size, it would come to more than 100mb (if you plan on giving Eileen more than just few sentences, that is to say).

The current plan is to just voice the few lines that will refer to voicing, to demonstrate how the voice acting feature works.

About multiple transition skipping:
I think it's a good idea. It will spare time and drammatically decrease my code size
Would it be possible to add some block limit characters to define the beginning and ending of such a skip?
Would it be possible to couple it with some kind of transition effect (dissolve or fade, etc) so that it would be customisable?

My current idea is that clicking during a with statement will immediately jump to the next statement that is not a with statement. So one could write:

Code: Select all

e "Out with the old..."

scene bg interstitial 
with dissolve
with Pause(2.0)

scene bg newscene 
show eileen happy
with dissolve

e "... and in with the new."

And if the user clicked during any of the three transitions, he would immediately be jumped to the end of the sequence. I don't want to make int more complex then this... I definitely don't want to change the syntax of Ren'Py.

Performing a transition when the user aborts a transition would defeat the point, I think.

[Megaman Z]

Dang. I have almost all of the qualifications of being the voice of Eileen so far: I have what I consider an "accentless" voice (I've tried very hard to speak full Standard American English my whole life), and I even have a brand-new recording studio in my backyard. I've also always wanted to try voice acting; if I could make it my career, I would in a heartbeat.

The problem: I'm a guy.

But hey, if you decide pitch-shifting is an acceptable alternative to a real girl, talk to me.

there's another alternative... hold on a second while I look the thing up...

Zerius Vocoder

to use it, put your recording (in *.wav format) in the modulator file, put a carrier wave file (which can be just about anything but silence), and specify an output file (in *.wav format). [to this day, I have yet to come across or synthesize a decent Male->Female carrier file. of course, I haven't spent a long time trying, either.]

[NetGenSuperstar]

I know of programs like that. They basically do the same thing I can do in Cubase in my recording studio, except they automate the process. Either way I do it, it probably won't sound too great. Pitch-shifting alone, however, sounds pretty good if not done to an extreme. And I don't need it to be too extreme; I sound (and look) a lot like a girl anyway.

Even so, the chances of me being picked over a real girl are very low. I'm not getting my hopes up over this. I can always VA in my own games, anyway.

[PyTom]

Okay, let me just explicitly state that lack of Y chromosomes is an explicit qualification for the VA part. Sorry, guys.

[DaFool]

Certain species have males that are XX. I think there have been a few cases with humans too. There is a way to beat the system!

About the BGs... unless Eileen grows some legs, we have no choice but to put at least one overlay (the other layers can be merged together when convenient).

Oh yeah, I'll work on the table or something, just have been sick lately (plus too much new anime to screen)

[Rika-chan]

I feel like I want to help, but I don't know how else, so I figure maybe I can audition for the Eileen part. I meet the qualifications -- I'm female, and I have the standard "accentless" American accent. I've done voice acting before, (in Japanese, lol), for a short animation that I did for my Japanese class. I know you're not looking right now, but it can't hurt to let you know that I'm interested.