4.8 Feature Requests

[PyTom]

I'm about to break down on this. I'll implement some form of readback when my supply of round tuits increases. (Maybe this weekend.)

It'll be an extra you can drop into the game directory. Readback will suppress rollback... it's an either/or thing, as I'll need to divert the keys to support it.

Readback will not be as perfect as rollback... sounds will not replay, and the images on the screen will not change. So it will be basically equivalent to readback on modern games.

annoying_readback_support.rpy, anyone?

[chronoluminaire]

I'm about to break down on this. I'll implement some form of readback when my supply of round tuits increases. (Maybe this weekend.)

It'll be an extra you can drop into the game directory. Readback will suppress rollback... it's an either/or thing, as I'll need to divert the keys to support it.

Readback will not be as perfect as rollback... sounds will not replay, and the images on the screen will not change. So it will be basically equivalent to readback on modern games.

annoying_readback_support.rpy, anyone?

I very nearly suggested a name similar to that in my last post RoundTuit shortage is understandable and excusable. Particularly this month.

Hmm, if it replaces rollback, though... hmm. That's a tough choice, because the image changing is nice, and the anti-accidental click protection is nice too. If I had to choose between allowing 10 lines of rollback or unlimited readback, but not both... I genuinely don't know which I'd go for.

[PixelWrangler]

It'll be an extra you can drop into the game directory. Readback will suppress rollback... it's an either/or thing, as I'll need to divert the keys to support it.

Readback will not be as perfect as rollback... sounds will not replay, and the images on the screen will not change. So it will be basically equivalent to readback on modern games.

annoying_readback_support.rpy, anyone?

Hmm, if it replaces rollback, though... hmm. That's a tough choice, because the image changing is nice, and the anti-accidental click protection is nice too. If I had to choose between allowing 10 lines of rollback or unlimited readback, but not both... I genuinely don't know which I'd go for.

Personally, readback. Strategic saving, especially on menu choices, is a hallmark of good RAG-playing, and will allow you to replay any scenes you want to view again fairly easily.

If worst comes to worst, and the game crashes long after your last save (if any) the SKIP option allows you to get back to where you left off fairly quickly, even from the very beginning of the game.

If there was no SKIP functionality, then I'd say readback would be impractical... but given the current state of the engine, I'd say it would definitely work.

P.W.

[Gloranor]

Suggestion:
Allowing the player to name his savegames.

Why: With the Ren'Ai games becoming more complex, there is a problem with multilple NPCs and using variables to determine what relationships exist (instead of just using jumps).
For example: In a game the Player can romance either Yuki and Makotto. Towards the end of the game there is are also several scenes which are completely the same, regardless wether you're in love with Yuki or Makotto. When the player saves there, he can't see which path he followed.

How: Add an option to the Option-menu: "Name savegames manually?" Yes/No, No is default, unless specified otherwise by the coder.
If it is on "No", then saving is done the same way as before.
If it is on "Yes", then an inputbox opens when you select the saving slot. The save_name for the scene is preselected, and the Player can confim it without changing it (Enter, Ok-button), replace it or add to it. Obviously, if there is a characterlimit for save_name, then the player shouldn't be allowed to make longer save-names

[chronoluminaire]

Another feature request, based on a couple of comments I've had about When I Rule The World: Some way to indicate the selected menu choice other than just colour. Ideally by positioning a little graphic to the left/right/both of the selected option. This applies for both preferences and in-game menus. Because it's *really* hard to choose colours where one is clearly "selected" and the other clearly not! You're fine in the case where there's more than two options, but that's often not the case. I've had this problem in DVD menus too... if under Language, "English" is white and "Japanese" is red, and pressing either left or right swaps them over, then which way round would you say it was??

[PyTom]

Do you think that having the menu composed of buttons would solve this problem? Right now, we can supply background images for buttons in hovered and idle states, which is the equivalent to a selected and unselected menu item. Do you think that that would be good enough?

Obviously, as part of this we'd need to make it so that it's possible to select buttons using the keyboard. We can do that right now with keymouse, but I'm considering ditching keymouse and going with a focus system.

[rioka]

If you can, can you please implement some kind of renpy.music_pause() or config.pause_music? There are moments when all I want to do is emphasize a moment by pausing the music and then continuing it after the moment passed instead of stopping the track and then having it start all over. Thanks!

[PyTom]

If you can, can you please implement some kind of renpy.music_pause() or config.pause_music? There are moments when all I want to do is emphasize a moment by pausing the music and then continuing it after the moment passed instead of stopping the track and then having it start all over. Thanks!

Looks doable.

Other ideas for improving music support (mostly here so I don't forget them):

Allow a track to be specified for the game menu.

Add a fade argument to start and stop, allowing people to control it individually.

Perhaps some sort of music control system, that would let me say something like "wait until the end of the current segment of music, then play this bridge here, and then start looping these 5 segments of music."

The idea is to allow what appears to be a continuous music track, yet transitions as scenes change. (Any musicians want to comment on how hard it would be to write for such a system?)

[chronoluminaire]

Do you think that having the menu composed of buttons would solve this problem? Right now, we can supply background images for buttons in hovered and idle states, which is the equivalent to a selected and unselected menu item. Do you think that that would be good enough?

I think that would do fine, as long as an example of doing that was provided in the demo game. Otherwise I have a feeling it might be a bit difficult to figure out. Could one be able to use a Frame as that background image? If so, it would work quite nicely for putting > ... < symbols around the selected choice, by having a generic background with a transparent middle that the Frame code stretches. Thanks!

[PixelWrangler]

Other ideas for improving music support (mostly here so I don't forget them):

Allow a track to be specified for the game menu.

Add a fade argument to start and stop, allowing people to control it individually.

Perhaps some sort of music control system, that would let me say something like "wait until the end of the current segment of music, then play this bridge here, and then start looping these 5 segments of music."

The idea is to allow what appears to be a continuous music track, yet transitions as scenes change. (Any musicians want to comment on how hard it would be to write for such a system?)

Depending on the type of music being used, it can be tricky:

MIDI files are easy to loop seamlessly, as they can be easily quantized.

mp3/wav files are trickier, but with proper planning, it can be done... much in the way that creating a seamless tiling graphic can be tricky, but is doable.

Now, an interesting thought that the music discussion has brought up... would it be possible to implement Tracker music file support (.MOD, XM, etc) into Ren'Py? This would provide a more dynamic, but more easily looped, music format for game authors to use.

For those who are not familiar with Tracker files, they take audio samples (usually in .wav, .au, or .sam format) and play them at varying pitches and with varying effects, based on the input of the tracker file author. The files have multiple tracks available, usually with panning and volume controls, and the song itself is broken into sections. The general structure is similar to MIDI, except for the fact that the user supplies the samples directly, rather than relying on a MIDI synthesizer.

Since the file plays each sample as a distinct note, blending the sections together is seamless. A Tracker file made for a game can have, for example, an intro part, a main part, and an "outtro" part, as well as interim fills, which are then strung together by the program that is playing them.

MadTracker, FastTracker, and other Tracker file applications can be used to create these files. A short description of Tracker files can be found at http://www.sonicspot.com/guide/musicfileformats.html

P.W.

[PyTom]

Now, an interesting thought that the music discussion has brought up... would it be possible to implement Tracker music file support (.MOD, XM, etc) into Ren'Py? This would provide a more dynamic, but more easily looped, music format for game authors to use.

Ren'Py should be able to play any format libmikmod supports (mod and xm should be among them). Is there some feature that is missing from the Mod support?

[PixelWrangler]

Most likely not... it's one of those features I hadn't looked into, and therefore didn't realize was already supported. (I removed my "if it isn't already supported" line from the post, too...) If/when I start using the functionality, I'll keep an eye out for functionality glitches.

Mod support is one of those things I got for free, so I haven't really tested it at all. It probably works, but I have no idea for sure.

[PixelWrangler]

Most likely not... it's one of those features I hadn't looked into, and therefore didn't realize was already supported. (I removed my "if it isn't already supported" line from the post, too...) If/when I start using the functionality, I'll keep an eye out for functionality glitches.

Mod support is one of those things I got for free, so I haven't really tested it at all. It probably works, but I have no idea for sure.

Ummmm... Was that you, PyTom?... looks like someone edited my post...

Weird.

Assuming it was... when I get the chance, and think of it, I'll try to remember to mess around with the MOD/Tracker capabilities and let you know what happens.

P.W.

[PyTom]

Gorram it. I clicked edit instead of quote again.

My bad.

[PixelWrangler]

Gorram it. I clicked edit instead of quote again.

My bad.

No problem... at least I know I'm not imagining things.

P.W.