DarkVN—Visual Novel Maker for VNDS! (Android, Windows, Linux, Mac?)

[Guest]

Posted this on my blog DarkVN—Visual Novel Maker for VNDS! (Android, Windows, Linux, Mac?)

Now you can easily make VNs for Android devices.

It's pretty neat. Not sure if it will outcompete Qberty's program, but I kinda like the crazy small resolution. It feels more personal. (Nagisa occupies most of the screen)

[Guest]

[07:44] <Romme> i see, cross-platform compatibility might be a unique feature for this engine

[07:44] <Romme> though practically the only other platform is MacOS

[07:45] <Romme> because you would need Apple approval for every ported VN, so this will quickly run into copyright issues

[07:45] <Romme> and the android version of Game Maker isn't there yet

[07:46] <Romme> well, i wish the guy luck

[07:46] <Romme> actually, persistence

[07:47] <Ruri> Apple... granting VNs on MacOS/iOS ? haha, nice joke... they won't grant anything that even looks like it has anything to do with sex

[07:47] <Romme> they won't, but here we've got all-ages VNs

[07:48] <~Kuudere> Has kissing

[07:49] <~Kuudere> not all ages antmore

[07:49] <Romme> this isn't funny

[07:49] <~Kuudere> Okay I'll stop

[07:49] <Romme> kissing is fine by republican moral standards, so apple will allow it

[07:50] <Romme> don't stop, please!

[07:51] <Joachim> Well it's not like you can't use vmware or bootcamp

[07:51] <~Kuudere> That goes against apple's wishes though

[07:52] <Ruri> on a Mac, not on an iphone etc

[07:52] <Joachim> True

[07:52] <Romme> there is an appstore on a mac, which is moving gradually becoming locked down

[07:53] <Romme> but i did list MacOS a possible platform for this engine to run

[07:53] <~Kuudere> MS be doing the same thing, but at least they kept the desktop

[07:53] <Romme> s/moving gradually becoming/gradually becoming/

[07:54] <Ruri> would just be nice if you wouldn't have to pay $50 for a developer account to publish stuff on the store

[07:54] <Romme> they only kept it where backwards compatibility forces them to

[07:54] <Romme> on the x86 platform, that is

[07:55] <Romme> Ruri: Google Play has a serious spam problem

[07:55] <Joachim> I didn't know

[07:55] <Romme> so severe it affects their ability to show newly submitted apps

[07:55] <Ruri> MS checks the submitted code before so it filters the crap out

[07:56] <Romme> asshole devs re-submit apps when users give it bad ratings, effectively resetting the rating and deleting all comments

[07:57] <Ruri> the other side has the problem that ratings aren't reset even if you patch/modify the app

[07:57] <Ruri> which means half of those ratings/reviews don't even help anymore

[07:57] <Joachim> Well at the same time Apple is suppose to have slick products, which is a perfect reason to enforce control and grab some money at the same time

[07:58] <Romme> i wish for a law preventing companies from controlling products that are no longer theirs

[07:58] <Ruri> hu, you only license apple stuff

[07:58] <Ruri> you don't own it

[07:58] <Joachim> Honestly, even though I dislike that side, I find it more pleasing to use everyday

[07:59] <Romme> Ruri: that's where a supposedly non-retarded law comes in and declares this license invalid

[07:59] <Romme> what's not pleasing in using android?

[08:00] <Joachim> I talk about OS for computers

[08:00] <Ruri> oh, that's why i love the german law in this regard: if you can't read the licence before buying it's null and void... that's why reverse engineering is allowed too here

[08:00] <Romme> it depends on how much money and talent was pumped into crafting the platform, not the amount of control exerted over what kind of apps users can run

[08:01] <Ruri> like amazon being able to delete your ebooks from your kindle?

[08:01] <Romme> kindle is shit

[08:01] <Romme> i never mentioned kindle as an example

[08:01] <Joachim> You might be true, but having used windows, mac and fedora, this is my conclusion

[08:01] <Ruri> i did as example for stupid licences

[08:02] <Romme> and i would never buy one precisely for this reason

[08:02] <Romme> umm

[08:02] <Romme> you named three open platforms

[08:02] <Ruri> nah, I will never use any mac product

[08:02] <Ruri> appel

[08:02] <Ruri> *apple

[08:02] <Joachim> I can definitely understand your point

[08:03] <Ruri> it's enough that i have to use apple stuff at work

[08:03] <Joachim> x)

[08:06] <Ruri> anyway, the problem with VN engines is that most of them are coded in C, C++ or similar languages.. doesn't help with multiplatform support

[08:07] <Romme> i feel like i could code one up, but don't see any reason why anyone would want another engine to play the games people had already played a long time ago

[08:12] <Joachim> Wow, you are quite gifted then !

[08:13] <Romme> i'm not, knowing a few programming languages is not an accomplishment

[08:25] <Ruri> dunno @ GML

[08:25] <Ruri> never heard of that language

[08:25] <VDZServer> Regarding audio bandwidth, these days we've got streaming video (including audio). I have no idea why streaming non-stop audio would be a problem

[08:25] <Romme> indeed, GameMaker it is

[08:25] <VDZServer> Er

[08:25] <VDZServer> non-non-stop

[08:26] <VDZServer> 8<Ruri> anyway, the problem with VN engines is that most of them are coded in C, C++ or similar languages.. doesn't help with multiplatform support

[08:26] <VDZServer> It's not about the language. A C/C++ program could also easily be compiled to a different platform

[08:26] <Ruri> that's a question of used libraries

[08:26] <VDZServer> The problem, and the reason why such languages are used, is the libraries

[08:26] <Romme> is there really that much of an audience wanting to play Clannad in a browser?

[08:26] <Ruri> and the effort/work needed to get it to work on all platforms

[08:27] <Romme> if it is, i'll give it a thought after i implement VNTLS RSS parsing

[08:27] <VDZServer> Using only generic stuff means you have to give up a lot of resources that engines normally use

[08:27] <Romme> (the parsing is already done, now i need my script to remember what it did parse and what's new)

[08:28] <VDZServer> For things like Clannad that isn't a problem, but it would be hilarious to see someone try Mahoutsukai no Yoru using absolutely no native calls

[08:28] <Ruri> if you code the libraries yourself anyway just code them multiplatform

[08:28] <Joachim> Well, people could watch other play and comment at the same time

[08:28] <VDZServer> Ruri, that's the problem

[08:28] <Romme> VDZServer: with WebGL and a shitton of free time, you can

[08:29] <Ruri> hu, i'd use QT as graphics library

[08:29] <VDZServer> On the lowest level, graphics libraries just call the graphics features of the OS (or even lower, the graphics hardware)

[08:29] <Romme> you'll also need some solid expertise to write all those shaders for transitions

[08:29] <VDZServer> Of course there's things like OpenGL to at least skip the lowest levels and have some sort of cross-platform compatibility, but the more you skip the less multi-platform you get

[08:29] <Romme> but Mahoutrukai no Yoru is definetely doable, i see no obstacles

[08:30] <Romme> i'm not aware of a platform OpenGL skips

[08:31] <~Kuudere> Skips meego

[08:31] <Romme> lol

[08:31] <Romme> but it has opengl

[08:31] <Romme> it's window manager is certainly using it anyway

[08:32] <~Kuudere> Fine fine

[08:32] <VDZServer> Well, platforms like NDS and other homebrew generally doesn't have OpenGL

[08:32] <~Kuudere> it skips whatever my grandfather's brick of a nokia runs

[08:32] <VDZServer> All major platforms have OpenGL, but you give up on the more obscure ones simply by picking OpenGL

[08:32] <~Kuudere> Make VN's run Direc3D

[08:32] <~Kuudere> go go go

[08:32] <Romme> nintendo is gay

[08:33] <VDZServer> And the more advanced things you want done for you (without doing every single thing yourself), the more platforms you give up

[Guest]

[08:40] <VDZServer> Anyways, regarding browser VNs, I once made a shitty Javascript version of Narcissu. Might be of interest: http://www.tsukuru.info/jsnarcissu/prologue.htm

[08:41] <VDZServer> I think it might actually be possible to turn it into something decent using HTML5

[08:41] <VDZServer> Romme; don't install quicktime, it's terrible

[08:41] <VDZServer> It used to just normally play the audio in the browser

[08:41] <VDZServer> But browsers have changed since I made JSNarcissu

[08:41] <VDZServer> I guess nowadays with HTML5 such functionality can be restored

[08:42] <Joachim> It doesn't work properly on my computer

[08:42] <VDZServer> Man, I've read Narcissu's prologue so many times now

[08:43] <VDZServer> Yeah, it won't work properly on modern browsers. Everything except for the audio should work, though

[08:43] <Romme> oh

[08:43] <VDZServer> Audio was done by just dynamically embedding the audio in the page using javasript

[InvertMouse]

Thanks for the information! I might have a look into it sometime. It's been ages since I did any drawings, though ~

[Tay]

Some brilliant insight into DarkVN:

<Sakamoto_Neko_> well, it's basically a VNDS player for PC

<Tay_> da

<Sakamoto_Neko_> so it's good for testing VNDS converted visual novels before putting it on your NDS or Android device

<Sakamoto_Neko_> i don't like to spend time transferring files from A to B every time i want to test

<Tay_> that's a good point!

<Tay_> Till you said that, I figured its best use was for Win 8 users who can't run a lot of VNs yet

<Sakamoto_Neko_> Win 8 sucks when it comes to running VNs still

(Text order switched a little for flow)

[Permagate]

<Tay_> Till you said that, I figured its best use was for Win 8 users who can't run a lot of VNs yet

<Sakamoto_Neko_> Win 8 sucks when it comes to running VNs still

Eh, how come? I have no problems at running VN in Windows 8 (and I shouldn't be, because the architecture behind the desktop mode is essentially the same with Windows 7). I have used Win8 since March this year and so far, I have played A Profile, Symphonic Rain, Kamidori, Hoshimemo, Phenomeno, Hatsuyuki Sakura, and Tsukiyori. Atlas and co work fine too.

[REtransInternational]

The issue is probably with the older VNs.

Things like UAC and other "security features" also get in the way of patches.

[molitar]

So how does it compare to VNDS? I am using VNDS on my phone playing Cross Channel at this time.

[Darkwalker247]

You guys seem to be mistaken, DarkVN does not work on Android :| It's just meant to allow you to play VNDS novels on Windows PCs.

Well anyway, I just released a new update for the first time in a while. DarkVN is now much more compatible with VNDS novels!

You can read more and download it here: http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=555467

[Darkwalker247]

Just thought you guys might want to take a look at DarkVN's successor >

It works on Windows, Android, Mac OS X, and HTML 5. (possibly iOS and Ubuntu)

I'm working on VNDS support now.

 

HTML5 demo (an old VN I made as a joke):

http://darkgamedb.site11.com/community/index.html

 

You can take a look at the scripts here:

http://darkgamedb.site11.com/community/html5game/script/start.script (auto-loaded at start)

http://darkgamedb.site11.com/community/html5game/script/script1.script

http://darkgamedb.site11.com/community/html5game/script/script2.script

http://darkgamedb.site11.com/community/html5game/script/battle1.script

http://darkgamedb.site11.com/community/html5game/script/badending.script

[ThatPlayer]

Are you still using Game Maker? It doesn't seem like it supports touch controls which are important on Android, I can't click start game.

 

Also it would be good to resize the images. If you look at my HTML5 VN thing at http://vnjs.thatplayer.com , it'll resize to fit your window which helps a lot more for mobiles with different sizes.

[Darkwalker247]

The HTML5 version is meant for desktops. There will be a separate mobile version that fits the screen and has touch controls.