Post by goliard in 🚀 Capsule VN Engine 2.0 — Official Development Roadmap comments

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Hi,

I've just spent two weeks working with Capsule every day for a game jam.

Here's a link to my entry:

https://itch.io/jam/parody-games-jam/entries - (Iran B4 I Could Walk)

I've got some random observations on my experience. This isn't a comprehensive list (!), but as I've just finished and these things are still fresh in my mind, I thought you might appreciate some feedback.

The list falls into five categories:

1. Stuff I love
2. Stuff I like but needs attention
3. Stuff which is annoying
4. Stuff which is INFURIATING
5. Stuff which is missing

==========================================================

1. Stuff I love
---------------
1. The PAN & ZOOM command works really well! Wasn't expecting it to be so smooth. Already thinking of ways I can use this in the future.

2. Stuff I like but needs attention
-----------------------------------
2. The sprite sheet animation works nicely but needs more control, like specifying time intervals with more precision.

3. Stuff which is annoying
--------------------------
3. Sounds did not appear to be included when I uploaded the HTML file
to itch.io. The sounds are pretty rudimentary, but I took some time on them. Sounds work fine on my local machine. They were part of the whole
experience and now they're not there...

4. Stuff which is INFURIATING
-----------------------------
4(a) If you have a large number of scenes, and you want to introduce a
new scene at the beginning, that scene is created at the bottom of a
'ladder' of scenes. You then have to inch it up the ladder, one step
at a time, until you reach the top. I had to do this several times,
eventually with clenched teeth... Why not make a newly-created scene
appear below the current scene?

(b) The DELETE button for OVERLAY does not work. I had to make a 'dummy' overlay containing nothing and then load it in order to cancel.

(c) The DELETE button for SFX does not work. I had to make a 'dummy'
sound effect containing nothing and then load it in order to cancel.

(d) Towards the end of the jam I needed to start in a different place.
It took me some time copying and pasting assets to get this to work.
Being able to nominate the START scene would be a big improvement.

5. Stuff which is missing (in my opinion)
-------------------------
5(a) There is no way to introduce a character from off stage, or to get
them to leave. At present there are a lot of these moves available for
backgrounds, and none for characters. This is the wrong way round: I want
to slide a character in and out from off stage-- I don't care about the
background so much.

(b) I'd like to see some more timing possibilities, eg when a dialogue
has finished, trigger an animation... Perhaps some tutorial on whether
this could be accomplished using CapsuleScript?

Sorry this is so long!

goliard

CapsuleTeam3 days ago

Hi goliard!

First of all, a massive congratulations on finishing and submitting your game jam entry "Iran B4 I Could Walk"! Seeing creators use Capsule for jams is the ultimate reward, and I can't thank you enough for taking the time to write down such detailed, honest, and incredibly constructive feedback while it's still fresh.

This is exactly the kind of field-test feedback I need to make the engine better. Here is how things are looking regarding your points, especially with the major Version 2.0 overhaul currently in development:

1 & 2. Pan & Zoom / Sprite Sheets

Really glad you loved the smoothness of the Pan & Zoom command!
For the Sprite Sheets, you hit the nail on the head. Version 2.0 is introducing a native Animation State Machine that will give you precise control over frames, loops, and custom timing intervals.

3. The Audio Issue on Itch.io

This is a classic web deployment trap! If the sounds work locally but fail on Itch.io, it is usually due to one of two things: either a case-sensitivity mismatch in the file names (e.g., sound.mp3 vs sound.MP3—Windows ignores it, but Itch.io's servers are strict), or the browser's Autoplay Policy blocking audio until the player physically clicks on the game screen. I'll make sure to add a troubleshooting tip for this in the docs!

4. The "Infuriating" Stuff (UI & Quality of Life)

The Deletion Bugs (Overlay & SFX): You are completely right, and I apologize for the clenched teeth! These are UI state bugs in the current v1.9 release. The entire action/event pipeline has been rewritten from scratch for Version 2.0, which completely eliminates these phantom UI retention issues.
Scene Ladder & Nominating the START Scene: Pure gold feedback. Moving scenes one by one is tedious. For 2.0, I am adding a "Set as Start Scene" button for easy testing, and changing the logic so new scenes appear contextually near your active selection instead of defaulting to the bottom.

5. Missing Features & Timings

Character Transitions (Off-stage entry/exit): Message received loud and clear! Sliding/fading characters in and out makes total sense, and I am adding character-specific transitions to the v2.0 roadmap right now.
Dialogue/Animation Sync: The upcoming 2.0 State Machine will handle this automatically (e.g., triggering a 'talking' animation when text starts and reverting to 'idle' when it finishes). I will definitely release comprehensive tutorials on how to leverage CapsuleScript for advanced triggers as well.

Thank you again for putting Capsule through its paces. Your feedback is actively shaping the development of version 2.0. I'm heading over to check out your jam entry right now! 🚀