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Magic Circle Generator

A completely customizable magic circle builder · By Game Dev Goose

FAQ Sticky

A topic by Game Dev Goose created Oct 18, 2022 Views: 906 Replies: 42
Viewing posts 1 to 15
Developer

Got a question? Find an answer or ask it here!

(1 edit)

Center symbol is small, is there anyway to increase the size of it? I can change the size of symbols in all other circles except the very center one.
Also, you show at some point the ability to change fonts, how do I do that?

Developer

Under the generation settings and then under text settings there is a font selector. It reads all the fonts you have installed on your PC when the app loads. The size of the center symbol should be controlled by the symbol size setting (there was a bug in 1.0.0, but its fixed in v1.0.1)

While the file says 1.01 (including in the .exe metadata) it reads 1.0.0 when I launch the "about" info box so not sure if that has to do with anything with the fonts not reading. I only have 2 selectable: georgia and arial despite the buttloads on my pc. 

Developer

Okay, yup that sounds like an error is happening and preventing them from loading. What are your system specs? Also if you press Ctrl+D a debug window should pop up, can you let me know if you see any errors in the console?

So I get the same debug error on my laptop as my desktop via the debug: The specified value "#0000 does not conform to the required index.html:205 format. The format is "#rrggbb" where rr, gg, bb are two-digit hexadecimal numbers. 


Curiously though, my desktop has slightly different specs than my laptop but the laptop CAN change fonts with no issue.  Laptop specs are : AMD Ryzen 7 5800H 3.2 GHZ with 16 GB ram and Geforce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU

Desktop: Ryzen 7 3700 3.6 GHZ with  16 GB ram and Geforce 3060 GPU


I'm at work until tomorrow so I cannot get my DXDIAG for my desktop until then

Developer(+1)

Under Text Settings > Fonts there is a dropdown to select the font. The center symbol should be resized with the  ring symbols in the latest version :)

Your work is incredible! Thank you so much! I've been sharing this in magic groups and to a few artist friends

(2 edits)

How do I launch the magic circle generator web version? I have unzipped the zip file but now I just have a folder with individual files. EDIT: I think I've got it, I just needed to launch the file "index.html" in chrome. I appreciate the web version so I can use the generator on a Mac.

This looks very interesting! I have few questions:

1) Can this export the settings/parameters into a text format like JSON, such that I could import that file and recreate the same circle?

2) If the above is true, is there a way to use this tool from the command line, for scripting? Like `./magic_circle.exe --file settings.json --output circle.png` ?

This would be an awesome way to generate some specific circles in batches, I would simply have a python script modify the JSON before calling this to generate the image.

Thanks!

Developer

Thanks!

So you can import/export circle settings in JSON, but there's no built-in way to batch-create them, although it shouldn't be too hard to implement. I believe there is a way to do it with automated browser scripting, but I've never tried it, so you would be in uncharted waters. It's also possible to write some custom JS functions and run them from the inspector in chrome, but you'd have to reverse-engineer the code which technically goes against the license. But a custom license is always an option :)

If it isn't hard to implement, something like `./magic_circle.exe --file settings.json --output circle.png` to take in a previous export and generate a png would be perfect.

Is there a way to get text in regular Latin script? When I type standard characters, I just get a bunch of strangely formatted arrows.

Developer

Can you paste the text you're trying to get in a reply to this?

I'm trying to paste in "Hello World!" into the text circle field, but it's giving me a bunch of arrows.

Developer

The font in that input field updates with the font you set under Text Settings > Font. My guess is the font you're using replaces the normal alphanumeric characters? Do you mind sending me a link to the font you're using? If your font isn't the cause, does the same thing happen when you just type into the field, rather than paste?

Oh, you're right, my font was set to that weird arrow font. I didn't realize I even had that installed on my system.

Do you have any plans to turn this into a library for use in games that feature procedural content generation (e.g., a roguelike with randomly generated spells)?

Developer

I'm considering making an asset for Unity based on this. Maybe other engines far off in the future.

That would be amazing and I'd totally buy it for use in my games! This is the best magic circle generate I've seen anywhere :). Please do make an asset in Unity!

are you using images or is it all equations? 

Developer

It's all just beautiful equations :)

That's amazing! When will you be releasing on unity store then? XD

Can it work at runtime? I've created a very similar system so far but I have ways to go to reach your level of detail!

(1 edit)

I am very new to this program, but I love it so far.  Thank you very much for making it!    Is it possible to tell the app where to start the text in a ring?  Basically, I would like to tell it to rotate a ring of text (for example) to start 45 degrees clockwise from where it currently is.   I am using the browser version in Chrome on a MacBook Pro.  I tried changing the number in the "rotation" box, but that does not appear to do anything.

Developer

Hmmm looks like there is an issue with the outer ring. I'm going focus on adding functionality to the outer ring in the next update. Until then, as a work around you can add a sub-ring and disable everything except the text and resize it to fit around the rest of your circle and you should be able to rotate that. 

Thank you!!

Can you help me understand what units the "Rotation" field is in? If I make a diamond using "Symmetry Count" = 4, then "Rotation" = 45, I would have expected this to rotate it 45 degrees into a square. However, it is always off, and even clicking up 1 makes it rotate a lot. I've tried a ton of numbers, and "0.78" looks close, but still isn't exact. 

Developer

The value is in radians, so for 45 degrees it would be 0.785398. I'll make a note to update that field to use degrees instead.

Is there a way to control the Inscribed arc width? For example, a star (symmetry 5, connect points skip 2, connect border off) with Inscribe Points on will have the inscribed arc extend outside of the star, to where the invisible border of the pentagon is.

I'd like to control this width in both directions: one to extend the arc to the outer circle (like the blue line in the picture), and one to shorten the width such that the inscription is inside the star (I crossed out the line in red). I imagine an "inscription width" variable would be enough?

 

Developer

There isn't really a way to do that right now. I could look into adding a width+rotation override, but that might have to be on a per-position basis or I could add a couple of selection boxes that apply to the whole ring that control the upper and lower connection points. Do you have a preference?

I'm not sure I fully understand the two options. I would have thought a singe width override that applied to the whole ring would be enough, to either extend the arc in both directions, or shrink the arc in both directions. It seems by default the arc extends to the connection point lines, so overriding with a larger width could extend it towards the outer ring, while overriding with a shorter width (or negative offset?) would bring it closer to the "connect-point-skip-2" lines. It doesn't seem like a rotation is necessary. But I'm not sure how it is implemented under the hood.

By the way, in my picture I showed two separate cases, I didn't intend to mean that both the red and blue cases could be done simultaneously. I intended to either extend the arc in both directions (like the clue line shows, just on both sides), or shorten the arc in both directions (the red X, but on both sides).

how do i start the program and start making stuff

Developer

If you're using the windows version, you double-click the magic-circle-generator.exe, or if you're using the web version you double-click the index.html

how do I run the application after downloading it

Developer

If you're using the windows version, you double-click the magic-circle-generator.exe, or if you're using the web version you double-click the index.html

(1 edit)

So I purchased the program for the magic circle, and I'm reading the copyright agreements it says, " Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software".  But the magic circle Royal Goose Studios then says, " You may not copy, distribute, sell, or sub-license the Software or any part of the Software. You may not reverse engineer, disassemble or modify the Software or any part of the Software. You may not publicly resell the image files generated with the Software individually and or independently of a creative body of work. You may not use the Software to sell non-fungible tokens or other blockchain assets. So, am I allow to make a magic circle(s) for my story and in the future sell my story to make profit? Is that permitted and prohibited?

Developer

You can use the circles you make as part of a creative work that is for-profit. You can put it right on the cover and sell a trillion copies with no problem. You can generate millions of images and use them in a game with no problem. 

I'm mainly concerned with preventing people from spamming itch, game dev market, and other platforms with asset packs like "2000 unique magic circle asset pack" and I don't want anyone to scam people with "Magic Circle NTFs" 

How do I start off with a blank magic circle?

Developer

By default, a circle is always generated. You can select and delete all the rings (except Ring 0) and add them manually using the + and - buttons that appear when you select a ring.

is there a way to prevent the text ring from warping the text? 
Currently, the text is more narrow on the end that is closer to the center. Is it be possible to have the text width stay consistent from top to bottom and just have the letters placed around the ring?

is it possible to add multiple fonts?

Developer

Not currently, but that is an excellent suggestion. I'll add it to the to-do list!