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digitalmars.D.announce - Project DVN - Visual Novel Engine

reply bauss <jacobbauss gmail.com> writes:
Project DVN is a free open-source visual novel engine written in 
D.

It's in early-development phase right now, but has most basic 
features already such as dialogue rendering with text/options, 
characters, images, animations, music and sound effects.

It uses SDL2 bindings through derelict.

The plan is to eventually have a fully-fletched user-friendly 
engine. Right now it's still a little technical to use, but in 
the future it'll be better.

A website will eventually be made as well with guides/tutorials 
etc.

For now there's just an example for building on Github.

There's much more to come. This is just version 0.0.2

Dub: https://code.dlang.org/packages/dvn
Github: https://github.com/ProjectDVN/dvn

Preview: https://i.imgur.com/F28Y9Sr.png

If you have any issues or questions feel free to ask or create an 
issue on Github.
Dec 12 2024
next sibling parent reply bauss <jacobbauss gmail.com> writes:
On Thursday, 12 December 2024 at 22:58:14 UTC, bauss wrote:

 ...


Version 0.0.4 has just been released.

Since 0.0.2 and 0.0.4 the following has been done:

- Added an "Act View" used to display before an act begins.
   Preview: https://i.imgur.com/AQp0nBn.png

- Saves now contain background image and music, thus you don't 
have to specify it for every scene in your scripts.

- Character names aren't dependent on characters anymore and thus 
names can be displayed without a character is being displayed.
Dec 14 2024
parent bauss <jacobbauss gmail.com> writes:
On Saturday, 14 December 2024 at 12:06:13 UTC, bauss wrote:

 On Thursday, 12 December 2024 at 22:58:14 UTC, bauss wrote:

 ...


 Version 0.0.4 has just been released.

 Since 0.0.2 and 0.0.4 the following has been done:

 - Added an "Act View" used to display before an act begins.
   Preview: https://i.imgur.com/AQp0nBn.png

 - Saves now contain background image and music, thus you don't 
 have to specify it for every scene in your scripts.

 - Character names aren't dependent on characters anymore and 
 thus names can be displayed without a character is being 
 displayed.


We're now at version 0.0.9 and here are the change logs since 
0.0.4

- Added dynamic message level. Allowing messages to be received 
dynamically N ticks instead of hardcoded 42 ticks.
- Fixed music not playing after leaving settings.
- Added default character name colors
- Fixed background loading order
- Added color settings for dialogue panel and name panel
- Added events - see 
https://github.com/ProjectDVN/dvn?tab=readme-ov-file#events

Events are basically functions that can be called to do different 
things with the engine.

This avoids having to modify the source code of the engine to do 
certain things.

Example:

```
public final class Events : DvnEvents
{
	import zid;
	import dvn.views.gameview;

	public:
	final:
	override void renderGameViewCharacterName(SceneCharacterName 
characterName, Label label, Panel panel)
	{
		panel.position = IntVector(150, 150); // The name panel will 
always be displayed at 150x150
	}
}
```

For a full list of events please see the link above.
Dec 15 2024
prev sibling next sibling parent reply bauss <jacobbauss gmail.com> writes:
On Thursday, 12 December 2024 at 22:58:14 UTC, bauss wrote:

 Dub: https://code.dlang.org/packages/dvn
 Github: https://github.com/ProjectDVN/dvn

 Preview: https://i.imgur.com/F28Y9Sr.png


I've now added a wiki page and alongside it a guide on creating 
your first visual novel:

https://github.com/ProjectDVN/dvn/wiki/Creating-your-first-visual-novel
Dec 16 2024
parent reply bauss <jacobbauss gmail.com> writes:
On Monday, 16 December 2024 at 23:07:28 UTC, bauss wrote:

 I've now added a wiki page and alongside it a guide on creating 
 your first visual novel:

 https://github.com/ProjectDVN/dvn/wiki/Creating-your-first-visual-novel


Updated link that works: 
https://github.com/ProjectDVN/dvn/wiki/2.-Creating-your-first-visual-novel

Also just released version 0.0.20 and since last update these are 
the changes added:

- Added a new event for dropdown components in the settings view
- Added a "runDVN" function that you should call from your main 
function
- Multiple saves now possible
- Added dynamic text for back labels
- Added event for saving games
- Allowing SPACE to be used for skipping dialogues
- Added Left-CTRL as dialogue skip key
- Removed ENTER as a dialogue skip key
- Added auto skip button
- Added meta object to settings that allows custom settings/data 
to be loaded/saved.
- Added checkboxes to the settings view
- Added dynamic button text to settings
- Added meta object to save files
- Added function to get current save id
- Updated dub.json copyright
- Added labels to scripts
- Added "renderGameViewLabel" event
- Allowed animations to be used in the UI generator
- Added ability to change text font in the script files
- Added "renderMainMenuView" event
Dec 18 2024
parent bauss <jacobbauss gmail.com> writes:
On Wednesday, 18 December 2024 at 18:56:06 UTC, bauss wrote:

 ...


Sorry for the spam! Got some additional updates as we've reached 
v0.1.0 - the first minor version of Project DVN.

Here are the changelogs:

- Added "loadingViews" event
- Added custom views
- Resource file structure simplified
- Added dialogue history
- Added additional character positions

The reason for a minor version now is that Project DVN has reach 
somewhat stability in terms of development. It's not yet ready 
for a major version however as there are still things to develop, 
rewrite and fix. (Copied from the release notes of v0.1.0)
Dec 18 2024
prev sibling next sibling parent reply Steven Schveighoffer <schveiguy gmail.com> writes:
Just want to say, while I don't intend to use this package, since 
I'm not interested in this genre, it's awesome to see something 
like this show up!

These are the kinds of little additions to the ecosystem that 
help move D forward.

Nice work!

-Steve
Dec 18 2024
parent reply bauss <jacobbauss gmail.com> writes:
On Thursday, 19 December 2024 at 04:21:19 UTC, Steven 
Schveighoffer wrote:

 Just want to say, while I don't intend to use this package, 
 since I'm not interested in this genre, it's awesome to see 
 something like this show up!

 These are the kinds of little additions to the ecosystem that 
 help move D forward.

 Nice work!

 -Steve


Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it.
Dec 19 2024
parent reply Dennis <dkorpel gmail.com> writes:
On Thursday, 19 December 2024 at 09:56:00 UTC, bauss wrote:

 Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it.


Like Steve, not my genre either, but I'm still interested: Is 
there a game in the works using this engine? And how does this 
differ from other engines, such as Ren'Py (other than using a 
superior language of course ;) )
Dec 19 2024
parent bauss <jacobbauss gmail.com> writes:
On Thursday, 19 December 2024 at 17:04:07 UTC, Dennis wrote:

 On Thursday, 19 December 2024 at 09:56:00 UTC, bauss wrote:

 Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it.


 Is there a game in the works using this engine?


Yes, but it's still in the very early stage of development.


 And how does this  differ from other engines, such as Ren'Py 
 (other than using a superior language of course ;) )


It uses much less of a scripting language and scripts are written 
in a format much like ini.

Renpy:

```

     s "Sure, but what's a \"visual novel?\""

menu:

     "It's a videogame.":
         jump game

     "It's an interactive book.":
         jump book

label game:

     m "It's a kind of videogame you can play on your computer or 
a console."

     jump marry

label book:

     m "It's like an interactive book that you can read on a 
computer or a console."

     jump marry

label marry:

     "And so, we become a visual novel creating duo."
```

Project DVN:

```
[main]
text:menu=Sure, but what's a visual novel?

[menu]
option:game=It's a videogame.
option:book=It's an interactive book.

[game]
text:marry=It's a kind of videogame you can play on your computer 
or a console.

[book]
text:marry=It's like an interactive book that you can read on a 
computer or a console.

[marry]
text:end=And so, we become a visual novel creating duo.
```

The above examples should be doing identical things in both 
engines, but highlights the difference.

It differs in a lot of other things too such as how resources are 
used, UI etc. of course, but much like renpy then everything is 
mostly customizable and you can do pretty much anything; there 
aren't many limitations.

But I also gotta admit my knowledge of renpy is limited and I've 
only played with it a little bit.
Dec 19 2024
prev sibling parent bauss <jacobbauss gmail.com> writes:
On Thursday, 12 December 2024 at 22:58:14 UTC, bauss wrote:

 ...


I think it's time for another update since a lot has happened 
since last time. We're now at a major version, all the way up at 
v1.0.7.

Changelog since last post update:

- Added click safe components and fire events for component
- Added "hideDialogue" and "hideButtons" properties for scripting
- Allowing X/Y positions in charPos when scripting
- Added "renderGameViewOptionsFinished" and 
"renderGameViewTextFinished" events
- Added video component
- Added "onFinishedVideo" event
- Added video to UI generator and allowed videos to go on repeat
- Added setting to allow a custom start view
- Added video loading view
- Added comments to script files
- Added "renderVideoLoadingView" event
- Incorporated zid (ui lib) as dvn
- Added the "renderGameViewOptionsStart" event
- Allowing intro video to be skipped
- Added "RawImage" component
- Allowing images to be used as dialogue panel and name panel
- Allowed raw image for buttons
- "takeScreenshot" function and saving screenshot when saving game
- Updated "load game" UI to include screenshots of saved games
- Allow main menu items to be any component
- Allowing "renderButtonImage" in ui generator
- Added "renderLoadGameViewPrevLabel", 
"renderLoadGameViewNextLabel", and "renderLoadGameViewLoadEntry" 
events.
- Added default text color setting
- Added screenshot shortcut (s)
- Added screenshot gallery
- Added music setting for loading music and main music
- Added ablity to add a video background for each main view
- Added history view

Documentation has also been moved to 
https://dvn-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html

Also merry early christmas to those who celebrate it.
Dec 23 2024