Do you optimize your assets?

[clua]

Hey guys Im so sorry if there s a thread like this D:

I been wondering, Do you worry about the game weight?

Where I used to work, All the art we used to make, had to be optimized because It was for web purpose. But in the case of VN
Can It be done?(I mean the main atractive of a VN is the quality of pictures)

When it comes between png or jpg..I usually choose png, I did a little test a while ago(Im really not sure about it) But It seems that solid color drawings weight less on png than jpg
...Also about music...I manipulate the quality of my tracks with foobar, so they can weight like 1MB or less(Most of times is not really noticible)

I really dont know, I like to keep things not so heavy but do you mind?
If you do, what methods do you use to optimize things?

[Camille]

I use PNGs for everything so that the quality is higher, plus I have a lot of things that are transparent. For the music, I convert all of them to OGGs, but keep them at fairly high quality, as well. However, because of the way I code our sprites, the sprites only take up like 1-2MB each. So usually it's music that makes up the largest "weight" in our projects.

In the end, I think people would rather have the file be a bit bigger rather than stare at pixelated graphics and whatnot. D: Or at least I would. ^^;;;

[Gambit74]

I pretty much use only PNGs in my project, if only because most contains transparency while others are for image quality purposes. As for music files, I am currently using Ogg, but I find that converting them to MP3 gives them a louder reverb effect as well as taking up less space for some reason (I use Audacity for this, if it matters).

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Optimization of assets is important in ANY project. You need to balance quality and bloat. I don't care what size a final game ends up being, but I DO care about the size of each asset. If a game has 2000 1MB game sprites, I don't care. If a game has 200 10MB sprites, that's a problem.

[AxemRed]

As for music files, I am currently using Ogg, but I find that converting them to MP3 gives them a louder reverb effect as well as taking up less space for some reason (I use Audacity for this, if it matters).

If you want your Ogg files smaller, just lower the quality setting before exporting. Vorbis is a better codec, so you'll end up with either smaller files or better audio quality compared to MP3.



Some stuff you can do with images:
- Use pngcrush/save-for-web to reduce the size of PNG files.
- JCC supports alpha and results in a 40-50% smaller size than PNG at acceptable quality.

I also recommend using windirstat to see what files take up the most space.

[Greeny]

Aren't jpegs like, outlawed or something? They should be.

[nyaatrap]

There is no choice other than png in the game's art, especially in the anime style. Converting them into the highest quality of jpeg just make them ugly but get more data size.

Code: Select all

If you do, what methods do you use to optimize things?

In image files, set compression level at 7~9 with all filters enabled, and delete all meta data. I'm also using "im.Composite" to make sprites with different costumes.

[Gambit74]

Thanks AxemRed, I'll keep that info in mind .

[DaFool]

I have no choice but to use JCC and jpegs at 72dpi, the threshold of my quality tolerance. The delay in over-1mb pngs with built-in Intel videocard is noticeable.

[AxemRed]

Aren't jpegs like, outlawed or something? They should be.

What's wrong with JPEG?

I have no choice but to use JCC and jpegs at 72dpi, the threshold of my quality tolerance. The delay in over-1mb pngs with built-in Intel videocard is noticeable.

DPI information is ignored and PNGs are decoded long before they reach the graphics card.

[clua]

I see most of you use png...I had an internal battle when I used to save my files back then, because when we needed to optimize things, we used jpgs which were placed on the fla files of the game(We used flash) but then the prog fellows said they got a code or something that lower the png files size..or sort

I find what Nyaatrap say interesting I think Im going to investigate about it(I mean the im.Composite part!)

Also I wonder

Aren't jpegs like, outlawed or something? They should be.

this too haha

[KomiTsuku]

I do a fair amount of it because it starts to get nasty after a while. For projects like Anima that are massive and high resolution (28 characters, 10 emotions each, a dozen+ with 4-5 outfits; 1280x960 res), using PNGs cause the overall size to be massive (add in side-by images and you are in the 200MB range from sprites alone). I have to use PNG due to transparency issues, but I use JPG for the backgrounds and CGs. For the music, I use OGG as WAV has a gargantuan size and MP3s have that whole rights thing.

In short: It really isn't a big deal for smaller games, but you need to concern yourself with file types for the bigger ones.

[nyaatrap]

You can let ren'py to make composite sprites with different expressions, costumes, e.t.c. It'll reduce the file size significantly. For example:

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    expressions = [angry, blush, cry, .....]
    for i in expressions:
        renpy.image(("akari", "%s"%i), im.Composite((791,1280), (0,0), "akari.png", (0,0), "akari_%s.png"%i))

In this example, akari.png is a base layer, and akari_angry.png e.t.c. are facial layers.

[fleet]

I have a slow internet connection, so I hope others optimize. I've started doing it for stuff I upload.

[papillon]

On the other hand, if you push TOO much composite work onto RenPy, you'll get game slowdown.