6.5.0+ Release Plans / New Themes and Layouts

[PyTom]

Here's the plans for the upcoming releases of Ren'Py.

6.5.0 will be released relatively soon, with a pre-release probably due out this weekend. It has a large number of new features:

- The new ui.side displayable.
- Improved bars.
- Viewports that can be dragged and mouse-wheel-scrolled.
- Custom statements that can branch.
- Dissolve support alpha.
- Windows have foregrounds.
- im.matrix.hue()
- Hyperlinks can hit real websites.
- A new set of ease transitions, that are like move with slowdowns at the start or end or both.

As well as the bug fixes that are up on the website. I want to roll those bugfixes into a production release sooner, rather than later. Now that I have my new laptop, I don't see any reason to delay.

The other goals of the next release are being deferred to 6.5.1. These include:

- A new theme.
- A new layout.
- A way of trimming the size of the common/ directory in a built game.

I'm officially calling for community feedback on the new theme, and the new layout. So if you have any opinions on what the out-of-game menus should look like, now's the time to air them. I'd really like to make the design of the menus a community process, so we get something better than what I came up with myself.

After all, I'm the guy who thought roundrect was a good idea.

[Nio]

How about something simple, like semi transparent buttons that can show some of the background image through. A control for the transparency level would be nice too. If I have time I could mock something up.

[PyTom]

I've considered that, and much of the infrastructure is there. If you could mock up an example, that would help.

(Remember, buttons have 5 states: idle, hover, selected_idle, selected_hover, insensitive)

[DaFool]

Is it possible to mimic all the Windows, Macintosh, and Linux themes (especially KDE) into Ren'Py buttons? That could be a start.

Also, second Nio's suggestion of transparent buttons.

Plus, the glowing / strike-through text effect I mentioned earlier.

[Raikiri]

- Hyperlinks can hit real websites.

I can see this one being used for much evil...

[PyTom]

It's not too late for me to take it out, you know.

Actually, there's not really any more evil now than there was a while ago. The python webbrowser module has been included forever... all I'm doing is making it a little more easy to get at. The hope is that people will link the forums and archives when they mention them in their games, helping to grow the community.

[denzil]

How about something simple, like semi transparent buttons that can show some of the background image through. A control for the transparency level would be nice too. If I have time I could mock something up.

If you mean something like the attached image, then you can already do it.
You just have to use Solid() color instead of #012345 color.

[DaFool]

- A way of trimming the size of the common/ directory in a built game.

A start is the 500kb dejavusans font. Why not when building a game, a copy of the font is placed in the game directory by default if the user has not declared an external truetype font already? That way, there is no hidden default large font hiding in the distro, something I didn't realize until you pointed it out recently.

Also, is Ren'Py already supah-streamlined in that it only includes compilations of python that is absolutely necessary for a game?

For example:
*Game A is a straightforward kinetic novel that does no more than textboxes, show statements, and a few transitions
*Game B uses advanced features such as Dynamic Displayables and mathematical definitions.

Assuming the resources of Game A and B are the same, the distro for Game A should be smaller than for Game B. Am I making sense or maybe I'm ignorant of how python is compiled...?

Lastly, why not make 7zip the default for Windows executable zipping, if it's so good? Is it legal to integrate it as part of the build process? Even better, have a config.executable icon that is set to an external png file, then when the builds are made, you don't need to reextract it to edit the .exe icon anymore.

[monele]

*clicks on the "I want to know more" button for these items :*
The new ui.side displayable
Custom statements that can branch.
Dissolve support alpha.
Windows have foregrounds. (like a half transparent glass-like pan in front of them?)

After all, I'm the guy who thought roundrect was a good idea.

Uh... roundrect is nice? ô_o

[chronoluminaire]

Roundrect is indeed nice. New themes would be nice too, but roundrect is perfectly serviceable. Something I'd like to see (on the themes front) is making it really easy to include subtle gradient fills in dialogs/buttons. Of course, it hadn't occurred to me that semitransparent was an option either, so it probably is really easy, I just haven't found the right place to look.

I'm very glad to see hyperlinks to real websites, at long last. (I think I asked how to do it when I was releasing When I Rule The World, and there wasn't any platform-independent way to do it then. I've had to just include URLs as plaintext in all my games. It'll be great to have hyperlinks straight here to the forum )

[delta]

The problem with roundrect isn't that it's bad, the problem is that it's just too good at what it does - providing a simple look that works with just about everything and is highly customizable without much effort. It's really hard to come up with something that does all of these things just as well and looks noticeably different at the same time.

[Guest]

The problem with roundrect isn't that it's bad

uhh... that's not only not a problem, it's not bad to begin with.

I should really register here just for the benefit of being able to edit my babbling.

[yummy]

For simplicity, roundrect style is nice. You won't normally have to touch it, provided you're not intending to create your custom game menu, main menu and user interface.

But for those who want to customize, roundrect is just what you want to avoid. There are new ways to implement customized user interfaces but overall, you have to grasp the styles concept (undocumented).

The new features here look very nice though (for esthetics):
- Dissolve support alpha
- A new set of ease transitions, that are like move with slowdowns at the start or end or both.

I was wondering how I could do this using previous versions, but I guess I won't have to search anymore thanks to Pytom
I'm wondering if these transitions will be customizable too (aside from the time spent in the transition), just like the alpha masks that enables you to create unique transition effects.

[Jake]

There are new ways to implement customized user interfaces but overall, you have to grasp the styles concept (undocumented).

Myself, I'd like to see more documentation on this point.

If I'm honest with myself, I'm unlikely to produce a Ren'Py-based game in the immediate future, 'cause my game-making time is being spent on a 2d-shooter engine in a totally different language. But I wouldn't mind writing a theme or two if I had some solid documentation telling me what stuff is or isn't covered by a theme. I had a go at some point in the past at coming up with an OSX-like shiny-glass-buttons theme, but it basically became a case of finding one thing that needed changing, hunting through the roundrect script to find something that looked like it was probably that thing, changing it, seeing what happened, finding the next thing that needed changing... and so on. I'm sure I probably missed some important facet of the theme, since all I really had to go on to check I'd got everything was the game settings menu. If all this stuff is documented, it's not particularly easy to find that documentation.

[BigFish]

Will 6.5+ have better support for low-res games? Because right now, Ren'py hates low-res games. The text is too jagged without anti-aliasing, and the save game menu ect. don't even fit on the screen.

Also, would it be possible to turn off the ability to skip the letter-by-letter text?

......

Maybe I should just make my game 640x480 or something. Or write a custom engine. *shudder*