Me and My Shadow 0.5.1 Alpha

[acme_pjz]

Hello everyone,

There are a lot of new features added since the Me and My Shadow 0.5 was released. I think most of them are roughly finished, so I decided to release a new version: 0.5.1 Alpha.

Brief list of changes:

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

* General
  * Now the best time/recordings is reset if level checksum changed
  * Asynchronous downloading support in addon screen
* Game
  * Added arcade mode support
  * Now the game tooltip lists all blocks which will be activated
  * Fixed some unwanted shortcut in default level pack
  * Also added target time/recordings to default level pack
  * New level pack "Cooperation" with 24 levels, made by GunChleoc
* GUI related
  * Added word wrap support, and word hyphenation support using libhyphenate
  * Level finish screen improvements
  * Show level pack type and level pack medal in level select screen
* Replay
  * Added a dialog to show all replays of a given level (even with different versions of the level)
  * The replay can be tested against different versions of levels
  * Added the playback control to game replay
  * The replay can be saved by user in the interlevel screen
* Translation related
  * Use a customized version of SDL2_ttf to show different fonts simultaneously (mainly CJK mixed with Latin alphabet)
  * Show localized language name in options screen
  * Numeric format can be translated
  * Some fixes to key name translation
  * Make the key name in notification block change dynamically according to user settings
* Level editor
  * Tool to export translation template (.pot file), can be invoked in level editor UI or in command line
  * Change the background/foreground layer UI to make it more user friendly
  * Show the time/recordings & current best time/recordings & medal in test play
  * Custom (translatable) game tip support for portal and switch
  * In-game script API reference viewer
* Scripting
  * Bump the Lua version to 5.3
  * The blocks can be added/removed dynamically
  * Almost all properties of blocks can be edited using script
  * gettext related functions
  * The top left corner of a level can also be changed using script
  * pseudo-random number generator
  * added a lua debug mode (experimental)
  * some security-related fix
  * the <levelname>.lua will be loaded for onCreate script if present
  * fix the script executing order according to script API document
* Achievements and statistics
  * Adjustments and typo fixes to existing achievements
  * Some new achievements and statistics...
  * Level pack medals
  * A list of all level packs and the progression

... and a lot of bug fixes.

Current limitations:

* Playback control of level replay may consume a lot of memory, maybe up to a few hundred MB or 1GB for huge levels.
* Some new graphics are needed.
* More...

Since it is an alpha version, I'll not upload the binary to Sourceforge or Github. You can compile the game from source of download the nightly build at https://bintray.com/acmepjz/meandmyshad ... uild#files .

The translation template is just updated, and you are welcome to translate the game at https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/me-and-my-shadow/ .

Any feedbacks are welcome .

[GunChleoc]

I have done some testing and I have encountered no bugs so far. Like the new features

Can you add the new levelset to Weblate?

[acme_pjz]

I have done some testing and I have encountered no bugs so far. Like the new features

Can you add the new levelset to Weblate?

Sure. I have just sent an e-mail to Weblate, and now I'm waiting for the response.

[Wuzzy]

Weblate did not update at all by the way.

[acme_pjz]

Weblate did not update at all by the way.

I don't know, but it seems that now the Weblate didn't pull from origin/master automatically I have pulled it manually just now, and the .po files updated automatically. However the web UI has not been updated yet My experience tells me that maybe it will take 24 hours to update.

[Wuzzy]

Weblate didn't update today either. The problem is probably somewhere else … Fun fact: data/messages.pot is not up to date. For example, I cannot find the strings for the new achievements there …

BTW: I have attached a few proposed images for new achievements.

I will post about a few bugs I found soon.

[Wuzzy]

General bugs:

1. The game window has no icon on GNU/Linux
2. If you open the scripting help search, a list of entries appears, seems to be an index of sorts. However, clicking or double-clicking or hitting enter on those does not work
3. The string “Homepage” seems to have an incorrect translator comment (plz check)
4. The level editor screen displays files that are not maps (e.g. Zip files) and lets you edit them. It seems it's possible to accidentally corrupt those files
5. I cannot reproduce it anymore, but I believe after re-playing and re-completing a few of the older levels that I have completed before, sometimes, my medal suddenly degraded from gold to bronze. The old records were also overwritten. Note this happened *after* I played the level again, not on startup
6. After a few minutes of playing, the music goes silent for good, after the end of a track. It stays silent until I restart MnMS completely
7. Typo in stats screen: “Achievement achieved: <number>” (should be “Achievements achieved: <number>”)
8. Add-on descriptions still have that ugly horizontal scrollbar
9. In the editor, if you enable arcade mode, then test the level and reach the exit, the “Best time” is continously going upwards. o_O
10. In the level selection screen, the left/right arrow keys do not work properly. If you hit left/right at the end/beginning of the available levels (respectively), the selection jumps to something else. This is annoying. I'd expect the selection just to wrap around. E.g. left on first level jumps back to last (available) level and vice-versa.
11. You can select Arabic as language, but I'm pretty sure this game does not support Arabic properly. Arabic is a right-to-left language, and your game does not seem to support this. I suggest to drop Arabic for now.
12. In the list of controls, many keys labelled with “in editor” are misleading. Some of these keys are actually only valid while TESTING a level, not in the editor itself.
13. You cannot save when your shadow is dead, but the tooltip claims you can
14. If you stand at a teleporter without a target, the tooltip claims you can teleport, but you can't
15. If you stand at a swapper and your shadow is dead, the tooltip claims you can swap, but you can't

Translation bugs:

Translated text is bleeding over (space is too tight) or has bad padding in a few windows:

Add layer (overshooting and arrows are too close):

(also note the arrows are very close to the word “Hintergrundebene”)

More replays (overshooting):


Level script (bad padding):


Please fix this by increasing the available space or shortening the source strings.


Suggestions:

1. Make the scripting help window larger by default.
2. In the controls list, add some padding. The text is too close to the border
3. In the add-on screen, use the normal block of the theme as preview image rather than the player. It seems more useful to me.
4. The button text “More replays” in the level selection screen is mildly confusing. “More” as opposed to what?! Just simplify this button to “Replays”.
5. If you press TAB, display a small message somewhere on the screen saying which camera mode is enabled now (player or shadow)
6. Show a similar status message if you save the game with F2 in the editor test
7. If you try to swap but the other one is dead, play the “fail” sound (like for teleporter fail)
8. The controls list is really hard to read. Suggestions.
   1. Add some padding. The text is kissing the border atm
   2. Add group headers to group the keys by context (e.g. in-game / menu / editor / level test)
   3. Use a more logical order
   4. Use a table-like format with the control name and the key names in separate columns

EDIT: Bug 16:

If you select Russian language, this appears in console:

tinygettext: ./data/locale/ru.po:830: warning: msgstr[N] count doesn't match Plural-Forms.nplural:
tinygettext: ./data/locale/ru.po:877: warning: msgstr[N] count doesn't match Plural-Forms.nplural:
tinygettext: ./data/locale/ru.po:896: warning: msgstr[N] count doesn't match Plural-Forms.nplural:
tinygettext: ./data/locale/ru.po:905: warning: msgstr[N] count doesn't match Plural-Forms.nplural:
tinygettext: ./data/locale/ru.po:1044: warning: msgstr[N] count doesn't match Plural-Forms.nplural:

EDIT: Bug 17:

Typo:

Player and shadow push the same pushable block in opposite direction.

Should be:

Player and shadow push the same pushable block in opposite directions.

[acme_pjz]

Weblate didn't update today either. The problem is probably somewhere else … Fun fact: data/messages.pot is not up to date. For example, I cannot find the strings for the new achievements there …

But I think data/locale/messages.pot is indeed up-to-date on Github . Where did you find it?

For the rest of suggestions, I'll reply when I'm spare.

[Wuzzy]

But I think data/locale/messages.pot is indeed up-to-date on Github.

Strange. I have checked the file again and now the missing strings are there. Maybe I looked into the wrong file before or forgot to update. Then I don't know why Weblate fails to update.

About Weblate: You can easily see if the update worked by looking at the translation with the highest completion % before the upload. You'd expect the translation % to drop after the update. There should not be any 100% translation left. But probably you have figured that out already.

There's also this: https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/me- ... e/#history


Also, is it just me or is it no longer possible to set the speed of moving blocks in the editor?

[acme_pjz]

Yeah, you should be noticed that some of them are still 100% (for example German, etc.). Also, the updated .pot should contains about 550 strings, but on Weblate it's still 496.

By the way, I had already send several e-mails to Weblate guy, but so far I didn't get any response Strange. Are there any other way to contact them?

Also, is it just me or is it no longer possible to set the speed of moving blocks in the editor?

I have tested that it still works. In Select mode right click to a moving block, Add Path, then use mousewheel or PageUp/PageDown to set speed.

[Wuzzy]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh! You are supposed to use the mousewheel?! I never knew that. I thought it was in the context menu just like for conveyor belts …


EDIT: New bug: It appears the decimal separator and thausands separator translations are ignored, it's always the English default, no matter what you put in the locale file.

[acme_pjz]

I have fixed a few of bugs and typo, the remaining is still fixing.

If you open the scripting help search, a list of entries appears, seems to be an index of sorts. However, clicking or double-clicking or hitting enter on those does not work

There is a "Goto" button on the right hand side (as well as a textbox to input search terms). Select an item and click "Goto" to the selected page.

PS: SDL2 doesn't have double-click event, so it'll take a little bit time to implement it.

The string “Homepage” seems to have an incorrect translator comment (plz check)

I don't think there are any translator comments associated with it. At least not in .pot file. However old comments will not be erased during .po file update, so it must be an old comment before.

I cannot reproduce it anymore, but I believe after re-playing and re-completing a few of the older levels that I have completed before, sometimes, my medal suddenly degraded from gold to bronze. The old records were also overwritten. Note this happened *after* I played the level again, not on startup

In V0.5.1 the best time/recordings is reset if level checksum changed. This happens when you re-completing the level. Since the level progress file in V0.5 doesn't contain level checksum info, in this case the game checks whether there exists a best-time/best-recording replay file with given checksum instead. If there are no such file, the game assumes the best time/recordings in V0.5 progress file are not associated to this version of level, and will be overwritten. Hope this explanation helps.

New bug: It appears the decimal separator and thausands separator translations are ignored, it's always the English default, no matter what you put in the locale file.

It works on my computer. BTW, the decimal separator and thousands separator in current de.po are all ".".

[Wuzzy]

PS: SDL2 doesn't have double-click event, so it'll take a little bit time to implement it.

Wrong.

https://wiki.libsdl.org/SDL_MouseButtonEvent

Uint8 | clicks | 1 for single-click, 2 for double-click, etc. (>= SDL 2.0.2)

The string “Homepage” seems to have an incorrect translator comment (plz check)

https://hosted.weblate.org/translate/me ... lude_user=

The translator comment is “TRANSLATORS: name of a key”. So yeah, this seems to be an old comment that wasn't deleted. Anyway, a translator comment still makes sense here. I suggest something like:

This is a button that leads to the main page / starting page / “homepage” of the Lua scripting help in the level editor.

BTW, the decimal separator and thousands separator in current de.po are all ".".

That's right, it seems it was not pulled from Weblate yet. However, when I manually fix this in my de.po file and re-compile the game, it still does not work. :-(
I am looking at the record times in the level selection to test this: It's always a period, no matter what I do.

To make sure the game really took my updated de.po, I also edited an unrelated string and this one was updated in the game correctly. Weird.

Weblate search:
https://hosted.weblate.org/translate/me ... l&offset=1

In V0.5.1 the best time/recordings is reset if level checksum changed. This happens when you re-completing the level. Since the level progress file in V0.5 doesn't contain level checksum info, in this case the game checks whether there exists a best-time/best-recording replay file with given checksum instead. If there are no such file, the game assumes the best time/recordings in V0.5 progress file are not associated to this version of level, and will be overwritten. Hope this explanation helps.

I see. It would have been nicer if the check was automatic, not just after manually touching the level.

Anyway, is this a temporary problem that only happens with this one update? Or do I have to expect a similar breakage in future updates as well?

[acme_pjz]

PS: SDL2 doesn't have double-click event, so it'll take a little bit time to implement it.

Wrong.

https://wiki.libsdl.org/SDL_MouseButtonEvent

Uint8 | clicks | 1 for single-click, 2 for double-click, etc. (>= SDL 2.0.2)

OK then. I'll implement it.

That's right, it seems it was not pulled from Weblate yet. However, when I manually fix this in my de.po file and re-compile the game, it still does not work. :-(
I am looking at the record times in the level selection to test this: It's always a period, no matter what I do.

To make sure the game really took my updated de.po, I also edited an unrelated string and this one was updated in the game correctly. Weird.

It works on my computer:

I see. It would have been nicer if the check was automatic, not just after manually touching the level.

Anyway, is this a temporary problem that only happens with this one update? Or do I have to expect a similar breakage in future updates as well?

This will happen each time the level file is edited and the checksum changed. In this case before you play the level, when you select the level you'll see that there is the "(old)" mark in the best time/recordings in the bottom right corner of screen.

It could be automatic, but this requires calculate checksum for all levels at game start up (which is the behavior before V0.4), which may take a lot of time if there are many big levels. So in the V0.5 the level checksum will only be calculated when the level is selected. I think it looks weird if the level medal suddenly changes when user clicking a level. So I made it changes only after the level re-completed.

[acme_pjz]

Hello,

About half of them are fixed, some others are still fixing.

After a few minutes of playing, the music goes silent for good, after the end of a track. It stays silent until I restart MnMS completely

I can't reproduce it. Can you try again?

Add-on descriptions still have that ugly horizontal scrollbar

Sorry but I don't plan to fix it (by me). You can submit a pull request if you want.

If you stand at a teleporter without a target, the tooltip claims you can teleport, but you can't

I'm not sure, but if you don't show the tooltip then the player will find that the teleporter has no target without entering it. I think it's not good for game mechanics.

More replays (overshooting): ... Please fix this by ... shortening the source strings.

Do you have a suggestion for a shorter source string? I also feel that it's too long.

In the add-on screen, use the normal block of the theme as preview image rather than the player. It seems more useful to me.

The default icon for a theme without icon is the player's image. I'm not sure about it. If you want you can submit a pull request at https://github.com/acmepjz/meandmyshadow-addons .

EDIT: Bug 16:

If you select Russian language, this appears in console:

tinygettext: ./data/locale/ru.po:830: warning: msgstr[N] count doesn't match Plural-Forms.nplural:
tinygettext: ./data/locale/ru.po:877: warning: msgstr[N] count doesn't match Plural-Forms.nplural:
tinygettext: ./data/locale/ru.po:896: warning: msgstr[N] count doesn't match Plural-Forms.nplural:
tinygettext: ./data/locale/ru.po:905: warning: msgstr[N] count doesn't match Plural-Forms.nplural:
tinygettext: ./data/locale/ru.po:1044: warning: msgstr[N] count doesn't match Plural-Forms.nplural:

I think this is out of my control; maybe Weblate updated the plural rule for Russian.

[Wuzzy]

Good progress so far!

I can't reproduce it. Can you try again?

I think I have figured out how to reproduce it. You must wait until the music track ends in the editor or in the editor level test. Now the music is silent forever, no matter what you do (until a full restart, of course).

If you stand at a teleporter without a target, the tooltip claims you can teleport, but you can't

This is a problem because:
1. Player stands at teleporter
2. Sees tooltip “Hit SOME KEY to teleport”
3. Player hits SOME KEY
4. Nothing happens

The tooltip lied to the player! I suggest to replace the tooltip with the text “This teleporter is broken.” or something like that.
Or maybe do this: Keep the original tooltip (sneaky broken teleporter!), but after the first failed attempt to teleport on a broken teleporter, replace it with the special message for this one teleporter.

Do you have a suggestion for a shorter source string? I also feel that it's too long.

“Replay under current level version”
“NOTE: Layers are sorted alphabetically”

If all else fails, resizing the window is also an option. There should still be some extra space left in the English version, because other languages are more wordy.

The default icon for a theme without icon is the player's image.

I just don't think it looks good atm. It seems it uses the editor tile, am I right? So for some themes including Cloudscape, the icon is not 100% opaque. This is definitely not a good idea for an add-on icon.

The most important thing of a theme are, in fact, the tiles. It's the one thing that makes them stand out. The player sprites, much less so. Themes might share player sprites (like Pixel Castle) and they still could look pretty unique overall.

EDIT: Weblate did still not update properly. Should I just send you the German translation update the old fashioned way?

[acme_pjz]

I can't reproduce it. Can you try again?

I think I have figured out how to reproduce it. You must wait until the music track ends in the editor or in the editor level test. Now the music is silent forever, no matter what you do (until a full restart, of course).

OK, I'll check later.

... Or maybe do this: Keep the original tooltip (sneaky broken teleporter!), but after the first failed attempt to teleport on a broken teleporter, replace it with the special message for this one teleporter.

I think this is a good idea. And we may turn the telepoter red after the first failed attempt.

There is another problem though: the teleporter will fail if the destination is temporarily blocked by a pushable block. How to handle this case?

“Replay under current level version”
“NOTE: Layers are sorted alphabetically”

If all else fails, resizing the window is also an option. There should still be some extra space left in the English version, because other languages are more wordy.

Well, after resizing window there is only "Replay under current level version" need to be fixed (you can check latest master branch).

I just don't think it looks good atm. It seems it uses the editor tile, am I right? So for some themes including Cloudscape, the icon is not 100% opaque. This is definitely not a good idea for an add-on icon.

The most important thing of a theme are, in fact, the tiles. It's the one thing that makes them stand out. The player sprites, much less so. Themes might share player sprites (like Pixel Castle) and they still could look pretty unique overall.

Well. Could you provide the icons for them? I'm a little bit too lazy.

EDIT: Weblate did still not update properly. Should I just send you the German translation update the old fashioned way?

Sure. You can send the .po files or open a pull request on Github.

PS: I think later we have to discuss the Weblate problem. I have already sent 3 e-mails last week, but I didn't get any response.
What's the progress of Weblate/Pootle/whatever instance on FGD? I'd like to move again if Hosted Weblate can't solve this problem.

[Wuzzy]

There is another problem though: the teleporter will fail if the destination is temporarily blocked by a pushable block. How to handle this case?

When attempting to teleport, just show a temporary message (in the same spot as “Your shadow died.”) saying “The destination is blocked!”. Nothing fancy required.

Well. Could you provide the icons for them? I'm a little bit too lazy.

Wait, what? The icons are not generated automatically?

What's the progress of Weblate/Pootle/whatever instance on FGD?

I have no idea.

It's a shame you consider moving away from hosted.weblate.org. But I can understand … There must be a logical explanation behind this update failing! Also, it has worked before. I have no clue what is wrong here. For Minetest, hosted.weblate.org has served them well for years. So the platform seems to work, I guess.

[acme_pjz]

Well. Could you provide the icons for them? I'm a little bit too lazy.

Wait, what? The icons are not generated automatically?

Unfortunately, no. All the icons and screenshots are made manually, and filled in the addon info file manually, then uploaded to addons git repository.

EDIT:

For Minetest, hosted.weblate.org has served them well for years. So the platform seems to work, I guess.

I have also checked Minetest, on the information page it said that there are merge conflicts and the source string version is outdated. Not sure if it really syncs with git master branch.

PS: I have opened a new topic for this: https://forum.freegamedev.net/viewtopic ... 48&t=11742

[Wuzzy]

I have also checked Minetest, on the information page it said that there are merge conflicts and the source string version is outdated. Not sure if it really syncs with git master branch.

The Minetest devs only update Weblate shortly before a release. They don't touch it otherwise. This is not a big deal.

Unfortunately, no. All the icons and screenshots are made manually, and filled in the addon info file manually, then uploaded to addons git repository.

TIL there is an addons git repository. Heh.

I have checked out the new bugfixes and updates and most of it looks fine now.

Ahhh, the controls menu is now much better. Much more readable now.
But it has a few oddities, still.

Like for the “in editor” keys, the indivisual action names still have “(in editor)” in there, like “Next block type (in editor)”. This info is now redundant and should be removed. Just say “Next block type”, for example. It's now obvious these keys are for the editor.

Some actions and action names are just really weird: There are some actions that are named like the key, i.e. “Space (Record)”, “Escape”, etc. This is confusing. Please just rename these actions to the actual actions they stand for, for example:

- “Space (Record)” → “Record”
- “Tab (view shadow/level settings)” → “Toggle shadow camera”
- “Shift (in editor)” → “Move selected object precicely”
- “Escape” → “Abort / go back / exit”

The weirdest action is probably “Tab”. Its an action for two very different things: camera and level settings dialog. I suggest to drop the secondary usage for the level settings menu. Maybe just use hardcoded F6 as shortkey for the level settings dialog.

I would also rename “Teleport (in test game)” to “Teleport player to cursor” to make it clearer.

EDIT: New images! See attachment.

[acme_pjz]

Thanks, I'll loot at them later.

As for the achievement icon, I think it looks like the player is dancing with shadow maybe it's more suitable for another funny achievement to be invented.

[Wuzzy]

I have translated the Cooperation level pack into German, see the attached de.po!

I also provide you the updated translation for Tutorial for the 2 new levels (you didn't update de.po):

Shadow Camera
Translation of level name:
Schattenkamera

Translation level notification block:
Ist der Schatten außerhalb deines Sichtfelds?
Drücke {{{key_tab}}}, um die Kamera auf deinen Schatten zu zentrieren.
Drücke die Taste erneut, um die Kamera zu dir zurück zu bewegen.


Push
Translation of level name:
Schieben

Translation of notification block:
Einige Blöcke können herumgeschoben werden
und helfen dir dabei, höheres Gelände zu erreichen.

[Wuzzy]

Oh no! I made a terrible mistake!
In the translation of the Cooperation level pack:

Please replace:

Dein Schatten wurde unrechtmäßg eingesperrt.

with:

Dein Schatten wurde unrechtmäßig eingesperrt.

I found a bug with the new portal colors:

When you enter an automatic portal without destination, it doesn't turn red. Since it's automatic, it should automatically fail as well.
Please do: If the player enters a dysfunctional automatic teleporter, turn it red and play the “portal fail” sound. I.e. the same behaviour it would do, had you pushed the action key manually.

[acme_pjz]

Oh no! I made a terrible mistake!
In the translation of the Cooperation level pack:

Please replace: ... with: ...

OK, fixed.

I found a bug with the new portal colors:

When you enter an automatic portal without destination, it doesn't turn red. Since it's automatic, it should automatically fail as well.
Please do: If the player enters a dysfunctional automatic teleporter, turn it red and play the “portal fail” sound. I.e. the same behaviour it would do, had you pushed the action key manually.

I think this is sort-of intentional. If I remembered correctly, this was the behavior in some old versions. However it will make the "error" sound playing constantly (e.g. if the destination is blocked), which is annoying.
Therefore in the newer version the error sound only plays when you press the action key manually.

I'll reconsider it, though.

[acme_pjz]

I can't reproduce it. Can you try again?

I think I have figured out how to reproduce it. You must wait until the music track ends in the editor or in the editor level test. Now the music is silent forever, no matter what you do (until a full restart, of course).

I'm sorry but I still can't reproduce it. The music track auto repeats even in level editor and in the test play. I don't know if it's a platform dependent bug (I'm using Windows).