New Features Update --- 2004-09-01
Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 3:23 pm
Well, it's been a while, so let me go over the newest features that Ren'Py now supports.
First of all, let me just plug the latest version of the documentation. When I do "print preview" in Firefox, it claims that this is 38 pages long.
http://www.bishoujo.us/renpy/devel/doc/tutorial.html
New features include:
Loading and saving, including a GUI interface that allows for an arbitrary number of save slots. Each slot has a small thumbnail and some information associated with it that gives the time the user last saved.
There's also a main menu that lets the user decide if he wants to start the game, or load a saved game.
A brand-new style system lets the user change the style of many of the things in Ren'Py.
I spent a bit of time profiling Ren'Py, and found out that some time was being wasted blitting images multiple times. The new system will now blit an image once (in most cases). This leads to a significant speedup in some cases. On my 1.4 ghz machine, the time it takes to show a new line of dialogue is now about .04 seconds.
I'd say Ren'Py is now usable as a game engine, having many of the features that it needs. There are still a few things I want it to have before I make a release, though:
- Predictive loading of images for improved performance with reduced memory usage.
- Frames, which scale images while keeping a border intact.
- Animations.
Once I get these done, then I'll cut a new release. (And switch modes from engine programmer to game author.)
First of all, let me just plug the latest version of the documentation. When I do "print preview" in Firefox, it claims that this is 38 pages long.
http://www.bishoujo.us/renpy/devel/doc/tutorial.html
New features include:
Loading and saving, including a GUI interface that allows for an arbitrary number of save slots. Each slot has a small thumbnail and some information associated with it that gives the time the user last saved.
There's also a main menu that lets the user decide if he wants to start the game, or load a saved game.
A brand-new style system lets the user change the style of many of the things in Ren'Py.
I spent a bit of time profiling Ren'Py, and found out that some time was being wasted blitting images multiple times. The new system will now blit an image once (in most cases). This leads to a significant speedup in some cases. On my 1.4 ghz machine, the time it takes to show a new line of dialogue is now about .04 seconds.
I'd say Ren'Py is now usable as a game engine, having many of the features that it needs. There are still a few things I want it to have before I make a release, though:
- Predictive loading of images for improved performance with reduced memory usage.
- Frames, which scale images while keeping a border intact.
- Animations.
Once I get these done, then I'll cut a new release. (And switch modes from engine programmer to game author.)