DevilsDad
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Important Poll
🕑 Added 2022-03-28 19:48:10 +0000 UTCHello everyone!
I will be brief. So, please take your time to read this post and vote in the poll after that.
If you've read my previous post, then you know that I've decided to make a Rework of MurMur. And it's a point which will determine the future of the game.
For a long time, I was trying to maintain one feature of the game - number of renders per line of text. Currently, the game has a structure where almost each text line has its own image. Game has almost 10,000 renders and animations. And to say the least, it's a significant amount of work.
But is it worth it? I ask myself this question more and more often. So, now I'm interested to ask your opinion, my players and patrons.
There are two ways of how the game can continue to exist. Down below, I will describe them and tell you about the pros and cons of both options, and only objective ones:
- The first option is to change the structure of the game. I will clean up unnecessary to the story renders, leaving meaningful ones working for character development.
Pros:
+ Reducing the workload should somewhat improve update times
+ Ability to focus more on other things, such as animations, posing, light, etc
+ Reduced game size
+ Fewer problems for Android versions
Cons:
- Obviously, MurMur will have lesser renders quantity, and feel more like usual VN
- The second option is to keep the game as it is. I won't change the game structure, and future updates will have the same ratio of renders per text.
Pros:
+ The game feel will remain the same
Cons:
- The update time is unlikely to improve
- Game size will grow exponentially
- The Android version would need to be partitioned, or transferred to Joiplay
- There are other downsides, but I wrote the most meaningful ones
Please take your time and leave your vote. If you have something to say, I would love to hear it. Here in the comments, on discord, or in my DMs.
This post will be open to the public on April 2. And I will write a separate post about it after it's finished.
Your DD
Comments
Devil'sDad
Then MurMur will be a whole lot different game, which is not what I want.
Hurley
I'm not a developer and I don't know how Ren'py works, so perhaps I'm really off-base here, but is it not possible to build static background renders and then overlay foreground character renders? On top of that, is there no way to re-use visual assets? That way you would render a set of perhaps 15 or 20 expressions for each character and a set of background "set" graphics, then simply point to the specific one(s) you need at each point of the dialogue.
Grimlar
Would love to say keep the quality as it is, as I think that is an admirable thing to do. However in reality Im here for the story first and the images second. Besides which I play/read on an android tablet anyway so hi-res doesnt really do much for me.
Anthony Docimo
and even we Italians don't constantly move. (no worries)
Anthony Docimo
maybe I'm trying to have my cake and eat it too, but maybe you reduce the number of renders for scenes with background/very-minor characters or if the main characters are just standing around doing no major movements...but keep the number of renders for renders during conversations and important interactions?
RMZ
No need to have a render for every line, but no movement at all would hurt the game. You can also just recycle mouth movement etc for multiple lines. I have faith you'll make the right choice though :)
Devil'sDad
It wouldn't be like 1 image per 100 lines, no worries on that.
Timo P
There isn't need for each line to have new image. Just don't drop the image update completely off. People stay still in RL too for some small periods of time when discussing things (unless you are Italian ;-) ) (no offense intended).
