HiddenChest RGSS Player Executable

[Mel]

I run my game in 1088x608 with 60fps and never had any performance issue even on huge maps with tons of events and even light effects and dynamic sounds and other parallel process things.

The only thing HiddenChest seems to have problems with, are menus that load or permamently update too much stuff at once especially when it comes to alot of text like long item lists for example.

[kyonides]

HiddenChest Now Include
a Few Brand New Features

version 1.1.42

Now you can use methods like...

• Sprite.set_xy(x, y)
  
• All binaries for Windows and Linux might start in fullscreen mode if their resolution matches your OS's.
  

Note: Before this update I had only seen Windows binaries open in fullscreen mode on their own.

Keep in mind that Window.set_xy(x, y) also exists so take advantage of it.

There were some other minor changes in the main code. Besides I have included a new resolution just for our dreaming girl to test it any time soon.

Happy Dreams with Custom Screen Resolution!?

[kyonides]

Some Hidden Secret Has Been Revealed!

Since version 1.1.43 you can enjoy the pleasure or displeasure of getting a bold font outline feature!  

You don't believe me!? Fine, I guess you need to get some proof of it first...

So what do you think about my screenies?  

Now we're talking for sure!

The New Methods

• Font#outline_size and Font#outline_size=
  
• Font#no_squeeze and Font#no_squeeze=
  

Font# implies you need a working copy of the Font class to access it. This means you need something like:

Code:

@sprite.bitmap.font.outline_size = 4

to set its outline border size. Valid range of values: 1 through 8 only

no_squeeze means you don't want it to squeeze a text if it's larger than expected.
Default value: false (Squeeze!!)

Happy Bold Virtual Handwritting!

[DerVVulfman]

If you wanna add outline thickness, how about shadow depth and shadow color ? ^_^

[kyonides]

Some Furry Wish Has Been Granted!

Since version 1.1.44 you can enjoy the pleasure or displeasure of getting colored shadows in your texts!

The New Methods

• Font#shadow_color and Font#shadow_color=
  
• Font#shadow_size and Font#shadow_size=
  
  
  

Font# implies you need a working copy of the Font class to access it. This means you need something like:

Code:

@sprite.bitmap.font.shadow_size = 2

to set its shadow size. Valid range of values: 1 through 3 only.

Note: I had to dish the original font shadow implementation because it sucked! It looked quite ugly and squarish.

Happy Shadowy Handwritting!

[kyonides]

Modifying the Way Your Shadow Follows You!

Well, after reading the only opinion I could find on the shadow feature modifications here on the board, I preferred to stop bleeding the shadows by making them solid (not blended) from the very beginning. Here you can check out the curious results!

So what do you think about my shadows now?
Do you think the fourth screenshot provides useful information for the average user?
Note: The warning is only available on Linux distros...

Say no and I'll bite you for sure!

By the way, the last screen will only show up if you just run HiddenChest engine whenever the current path is not your game root directory.

[kyonides]

Sharing Objects For Free

From now on *Ubuntu distros and Fedora 31 depend on a separate library better known as shared object SO on Linux. That reduced the executable's file size... just a little bit. It still runs fast so everything seems to be fine here. The new shared object is called libhiddenchest.so and it got to be installed in your distro's default library path. It contains pretty much all of the RGSS components plus every single addition I have been offering you from the very beginning.

The engine has reached the 1.1.46 milestone already by the way!

I am not sure whether or not it will be easy to do the same for Windows builds...

By the way, since the previous version you can call the following method to change your font shadow's appearance:

Code:

@sprite = Sprite.new
@sprite.bitmap = Bitmap.new(400, 28)
font = @sprite.bitmap.font
font.shadow = true
font.shadow_size = 1 # up to 8
font.shadow_mode = 0 # 1 or 2
@sprite.bitmap.draw_text(0, 0, 400, 24, "Sample text", 1)

Warning! You should not mix shadow and outline font effects!

Concerning the outline effect, in Fedora it can be translucent because of SDL2_ttf version 2.0.15 IIRC. I do not know why the Ubuntu team prefers to keep older packages...

[kyonides]

A Local lib Directory

+ Some Function Removal

+ Splash Screen Improvements

Now on Linux distros you can load libhiddenchest.so library locally or by following the default system libraries path(s)!

HiddenChest engine's splash screen is now supported on all available platforms!

Currently it does show you some of the most basic error messages in an interesting way IMHO...

For compatibility and stability I just had to remove a weird function found in its parent project mkxp. I'm talking about a engine specific puts method. To be honest there is no real need to reimplement Ruby's puts at all...

Windows builds do not sport any separate HiddenChest DLL so you won't ever find one there.

By the way, by pressing a button or clicking on the left button you can save a screenshot of this splash screen.

Happy Game Testing on Christmas!

[kyonides]

Changes that Might Show up in HiddenChest Engine Any Time Soon

Fedora was the only one that could offer you translucent font outlines... but now even *Ubuntu can do that as well!

List of Changes

• Translucent font outlines available on *Ubuntu and Fedora Linux distros
  - I don't know why it doesn't show up on Windows...
  
• Included Point class
  - Just in case I implement some sort of Bezier curve algorhythm some day to let you draw curves
  
• Splash or Error screens with built-in error logger
  - It will create a file namely error.log in your project's root directory
  

This is the Main script I'm using here...

Code:

begin
  Graphics.freeze
  $scene = Scene_Title.new
  while $scene != nil
    $scene.main
  end
  Graphics.transition(20)
rescue
  Scripts.log
end

Got any ideas? Got ANY suggestions?

Please take in consideration that I'm the only one developing this engine.

[DerVVulfman]

Allow Outline + Shadow, obviously allowing Outline to be rendered after the shadow-text code.