Yup, it’s finally that time -- I’ll be distributing the program to beta testers for testing later in the week. I’ll have a post with more information on that shortly. I’ve also set up a Discord server to handle things like bug reports and file distribution. You don’t have to be a beta tester to join -- it’ll also be a place to follow program updates and discuss with like-minded members. Find the Discord Server here.
To learn more about the program, check out my #MysMe Program tag
And, in case you were looking for the usual update, here’s some info below the cut:
Week of January 27th:
Accomplishments this week:
Made an “intro chatroom” aka a chatroom that shows up to give context before jumping into the main game
Modified folder hierarchy to be easier to understand; cleaned up files
Made improvements to many of the existing chatrooms/VNs etc on Tutorial Day
More User Guide stuff; almost done!
Fixed up a few small issues with changing pronouns
Added more icons to differentiate completed email chains
Goals for next week:
Fix small bug where audio for phone calls doesn’t play sometimes
Email screen’s back button occasionally takes you back to the main menu not the chat home screen; fix
Package up the assets .zip and begin distribution to beta testers!
Swipeable album CGs! I’m really proud of this one; I used drag-and-drop functions to have the program detect whether you’re swiping to the left or right. It skips over any locked images in the Album so you can view them all seamlessly
Wrote up a User Guide section on timed menus
Added a new hacked background + the slowed-down hacked background music
Added voice for Yoosung’s example phone call using Ren’Py’s auto-tag feature
Modified MC’s “phone” version so their dialogue disappears more quickly
Added a message when loading that says “You have X unread emails” etc
Goals for next week:
Came across an odd bug that crashes the game if you load up the same file twice in a row without doing anything after the first load; fix
One more ‘hacked’ background to hunt down
Look into allowing users to upload their own profile picture for MC (you can do this behind the scenes via simple code but you can only cycle through pre-programmed options in the game itself)
Beta testing is in progress! Join the Mysterious Messenger Discord server for more information.
To learn more about the program, check out my #MysMe Program tag
Bonus:
Swipeable album CGs! It works on mobile too, and tapping to get rid of the “Close” icon functions as normal.
Lots of progress on real-time texting! Fixed a bunch of animation issues, emojis and CGs display properly, and you can pause/play conversations like you do in chatrooms
Also I added a fancy animation to the footer when the conversation is done just ‘cause ^^
You can now back out of a real-time text message conversation, which essentially cancels the conversation much like hanging up a phone call
Text message popups work for real-time messaging, too! I made some improvements to the way they display so that variables don’t get cut off and the message preview won’t go on too long
Made some quick fixes for text message and email notifications so they can’t interrupt your phone calls or chatrooms
Goals for next week:
Get real-time texting ready for release! Aka cleaning up bugs -- backing out of viewing a CG full-screen causes some issues, as does viewing a real-time conversation after a VN
Continue updating User Guide on real-time texting
Modify text message notifications slightly so they don’t continue notifying the user even if they haven’t read the message yet
Beta testing is in progress! Join the Mysterious Messenger Discord server for more information.
To learn more about the program, check out my #MysMe Program tag
Real-time texting! It’s still quite buggy so I haven’t released an official update for it, but it’s looking pretty nice. It means that text messages act more like mini-chatrooms, where you can have a more real-time conversation with a particular character
Although Ren’Py doesn’t support the Python libraries I’d hoped to use to allow players to update their own profile pictures, I can, however give the user a folder they can drop an image in which will then be cropped and resized by the program without needing to name it something specific
I’ve made some improvements to the way you write text messages -- now it more closely resembles how you write chatroom code
Goals for next week:
Bug fixes! Especially for the real-time texting. In particular, there’s an animation bug once the messages go past a certain number
I also need to figure out how I’m going to handle the player being able to back out of text message conversations (or if I want to allow them to do that at all)
Consolidate some of the text message code for easier reading/parsing
User Guide section on the new real-time text messages
Beta testing is in progress! Join the Mysterious Messenger Discord server for more information.
To learn more about the program, check out my #MysMe Program tag
"Hacked"/glitchy effect added! There's a variable you can toggle on/off to make the chatroom timeline do the glitch effect we see in Ray Route
Rewrote profile picture scaling so you can use higher-quality images now
Wrote up requested User Guide sections for things like customizing the route select screen and keeping a route locked until a certain condition is fulfilled
Added some fields to the Chat class so the program can auto-colour generic speech bubbles for you
Cleaned up code for the Settings screen and made it look nicer
Improvements to custom UI changes (animated choice buttons, better fits with the black-and-turquoise theme. Optional, of course, toggled from the Settings screen)
Goals for next week:
Create an example chatroom to showcase the additional "hacked" effects that can be used
Further test timed menus to possibly release as an additional feature
Thanks for your patience while I was travelling! The program is shaping up very well ^^
Beta testing is in progress! Join the Mysterious Messenger Discord server for more information.
To learn more about the program, check out my #MysMe Program tag