#choicescript game tools

[csgt]

Hi folks, it's been a rough few months but I am getting ready to release the next version of CSGT! As mentoined I had a bunch of life stuff going on, but additionally one of the primary things I've been working on is switching the Node packager that I use (from browserify to webpack). However I am C/C++/Python kinda gal, not a Node developer and managed to get myself extremely confused and tangled within that. That said, I have made my way through it, and I now get to reap the benefits in massively simplified code, as well as using another extension to almost double the compression of the save data!

Visually, I've reorganized the menus for managing saves, so those should hopefully be easier to use. I had one question though about whether people actually use the functionality that synchronizes saves across computers. It seems like a nice feature to keep for me, but the actual amount of storage that's available is tiny (100 KB to be precise). Most games use between 2-4 KB, which seemed reasonable to me for a while, but while testing I discovered that some games (e.g. Royal Affairs, which you should all play if you haven't) use significantly more (20 KB before the new compression, 10 KB after). So I'm curious if anyone actually uses the sync capability / if it's worth me maintaining.

Let me know!

[thesoulofthebeautiful]

Don't worry, it's not just authors who post regularly on the forums. They appreciate getting comments from readers, and there are a few programmers who have made save tools and posted about them there. But there's plenty of people who lurk too, so if that's your preference it's fine as well.

Here's a link to some recent posts about savegames (and potential plans from CoG; the tldr is that they currently have no plans to officially implement them):

forum (.) choiceofgames (.) com/t/consolidated-saves-in-choice-of-games-and-hosted-games-thread/33373/158

Thanks for the assurance! I have now made a topic on the CoG forum (https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/csgt-back-button-save-syncing-variable-notifications-extension-for-firefox/133937 for those interested), I have no idea how interaction works over there but we'll see!

The latest version also has (let's call it alpha) support for moody.ink and locally-hosted builds, as requested! Offline builds that aren't locally-hosted (e.g. using the file directly) might work but honestly I didn't test them too thoroughly.

[thesoulofthebeautiful]

Hello! I had a question about CSGT, sorry for bugging you on your regular blog. Anyway, I haven't found a way to sideload it yet, but if I did do you think it theoretically might work with Firefox for Android? Assuming that if I managed it, it would still be totally unsupported and might blow up my browser, etc etc.

Hey! No worries, didn't realize that I didn't have asks enabled on the other one! I'm going to copy what I said about Android builds from the forum thread:

So funny story, it does actually support Android currently (that’s where I primarily use it actually), but Mozilla has some stupid rules around add-ons for Android. Namely, there’s a very very limited whitelist of addons that you can install on the basic Firefox for Android. However, on Firefox Nightly and Firefox for Android Beta you can install it using a custom collection, and they describe the process here. A quick summary of that process (assuming you’ve installed Firefox Nightly / Beta):

Create a collection with whatever extensions you would like on Firefox for Android Beta

Note the number and name in the collection URL

In Firefox Nightly / Beta, go to Custom Add-on collection and input the number and name.

Your extensions should now be installed!

It’s a major pain in the ass, but unfortunately it’s totally out of my hands. I have added some specific support for mobile, but it’s pretty much just enough to get it working as until Mozilla changes their policies my hands are pretty much tied. Also note that cross-browser syncing doesn’t work on mobile (again Mozilla), but it does work between games on the same browser. So for example if you made a save for TWC 2 on mobile, you could import that into TWC 3 (or the demo!) on mobile.

[csgt]

The next version of CSGT will switch from using localStorage to store data persistently to using IndexedDB. This will completely prevent the QuotaExceeded errors you may have seen when playing some games, and may also allow me to persist your history (instead of it beirg lost between sessions). This is supported on all major browsers, but what it means is that if you play a game using CSGT, then attempt to play it on the same browser without CSGT, the previous data will not be used (this is only applicable to games on choiceofgames.com).

Given this, should I just publish the next version, or include a toggle to make this optional?

Just publish

Make it optional

Other (replies or tags)

Voting ended onMar 28, 2023

[thesoulofthebeautiful]

Hi! Thanks a lot for making CSGT, it works great and it's what I've always wanted to have in CS games (the back button especially). Wanted to ask, do you happen to have an account on the Choice of Games forum? There's been a discussion on having savegames as a feature and I think many people there would appreciate your tool.

And will you add support for moody.ink? It's an updated version of dashingdon by the same site creator. It would be great to have support for locally hosted/offline games too (if that's feasible).

Hope that isn't too much to ask. Thanks again for making the plugin! ✌️❤️

Hi, thank you so much for sending this ask! It's really nice to know that the work I've put in is appreciated 😊

I do have an account on the CoG forum, although I don't spend much time there (always felt a little intimidating as I'm not an author per se). I probably should though, is there a particular thread where that discussion is happening?

I'd never heard of moody.ink, that's pretty cool! Thankfully it seems like it should be pretty straightforward for me to add support for it, so I'll be looking into that over the next couple of days. As for locally hosted/offline games, it's a bit trickier, but if it's a desired feature I'd be happy to look into it!

Absolutely not too much to ask, and thanks again for sending this in! ❤️❤️

[thesoulofthebeautiful]

CSGT 1.5.4

Short informal update because I'm sleepy

I added the ability to transfer all matching stats from one game to another. For those of you who (like me) are very excited about The Wayhaven Chronicles Book 3 in April and want to get a proper taste of it, you can use this to transfer your stats from book 2 to the demo for book 3 relatively easily! Just play through book 2 until you get to the very last page (where it says "Play again") then go to the book 3 demo up to the very first page after character creation. Open the CSGT options menu, select "Copy variable data from another game", then pick "wayhaven2". and your detective should be transferred!

This should also work for other games, but I haven't found many to test on so I'm considering this feature to be in alpha. It can't mess up any saves you've uploaded to CoG, and it can't mess up any local saves from DD, and it *shouldn't* be able to mess up any savedata from CSGT but I can't guarantee that at the moment.

Anyway, enjoy!

[thesoulofthebeautiful]

CSGT Update 1.5.2

Just released a new update to Choicescript Game Tools! Update information is below the cut for those who are interested.

Added

Alpha commands for authors to interface with CGST! Interested authors see the update notes on AMO or get in touch for details on how to use them.

A CGST options menu! Pretty sparse at the moment, but you can choose to also be notified of changes in temporary variables and to print the total after a change on numeric variables.

Changed

Stat notifications now have a timer at the bottom to let you know when they're going to disappear.

You can click on stat notifications to pin them so that they won't disappear (I want to add a visual pin to this or something, but for now they simply won't disappear).

Fixed

Games with unusual characters in their name (e.g. Love♡Verse) would previously break due to a library used by the Choicescript engine. These names are now correctly sanitized and should work correctly.

Upcoming

Previous post items that I haven't done yet

Compatibility with dark mode (it's technically compatible but looks kinda awful)

Onboarding/upboarding pages so I don't need to keep making Tumblr posts about updates :P

As always I welcome feedback, bug reports, and feature suggestions here on this blog or over on the GitHub page! Thanks to everyone who's tried this out, you're all extremely appreciated 🤗

[thesoulofthebeautiful]

Dashingdonsnoop looks awesome!! Genuinely it's everything I've ever wanted for cogs. Are there any plans to add it to Android Firefox as well, or is it just PC?

Hey!! I'm really glad you're appreciating it 😊

So Firefox does this weird thing where it lets me mark an extension as being mobile-compatible, and tag it as mobile-compatible, but you can't actually (easily) install it for some reason.

You can technically install it on mobile but the process is kind of a mess, although the Firefox team has indicated that they're working towards allowing more extensions to be used so if that goes through you can bet I'll be updating to support it!

As for the support that exists now, the extension functions decently well on tablets, but phone support is kinda lacking. I do plan to improve this as I much prefer reading on my phone! Also the save syncing does not work at all on mobile (and I've just noticed that seems to have broken a bunch of things, so expect a new version this weekend :P ).

TL;DR: TYVM, and yes to the best of my ability!