5.0.33 out now

[Campbell]

9 months after the last release, the new version is finally out. There's a few exciting new features and the usual scattering of bug fixes. Full details can be found over on the News page.

[Lumin]

Some nice changes in there, thanks Campbell. The wait actions and everything to do with background colors will be especially handy to me.

[Lazzah]

Nice one, Campbell. The ability to cut and paste restrictions and actions will be extremely useful and time-saving. While the background colour enhancements are very welcome, we also need an override option to prevent the player changing these. I have added an enhancement request at: http://www.adrift.co/bug/19017

[David Whyld]

Why prevent the player changing them? No one's going to thank you for taking away the option to set the colours the way they want.

[Campbell]

You already can - just untick the View > Options > Allow text colours to be modified by games checkbox in Runner.

[Lazzah]

Why prevent the player changing them? No one's going to thank you for taking away the option to set the colours the way they want.

I asked for this because some players chose such weird colour schemes that I have had to display a warning message on the start options page of my games. Anyway, they are my games, why shouldn't I have the option to set the colours the way I want them?

[Lazzah]

You already can - just untick the View > Options > Allow text colours to be modified by games checkbox in Runner.

I tried that, it doesn't work. When I untick that option, then run one of my games where I have the title page in various colours, ALL the text reverts to the default cyan colour.

[Campbell]

Am I misunderstanding you? Do you want to prevent the person playing the game from being able to allow the game designer to change the colours (i.e. force colours on), or do you want to prevent the game designer from changing the colours away from the person playing the game's preferred colours (i.e. force colours off)?

[David Whyld]

Why prevent the player changing them? No one's going to thank you for taking away the option to set the colours the way they want.

I asked for this because some players chose such weird colour schemes (i.e. a certain person with the initials PP) that I have had to display a warning message on the start options page of my games. Anyway, they are my games, why shouldn't I have the option to set the colours the way I want them?

It's entirely up to you as the author to do what you want with your game. Just as it's entirely up to the player to quit playing your game because you refuse to them let make it look how they want.

I've seen quite a few posts from you complaining over the lack of feedback you've had for "Fortress of Fear". Do you really want to discourage people from playing future games?

[Lazzah]

Am I misunderstanding you? Do you want to prevent the person playing the game from being able to allow the game designer to change the colours (i.e. force colours on), or do you want to prevent the game designer from changing the colours away from the person playing the game's preferred colours (i.e. force colours off)?

I just wanted the option to prevent the person playing the game to change the colours chosen by the game designer. Obviously there is opposition to this, so forget I asked.

[Campbell]

The default is for the designer's colours to show - the player has to explicitly disable these. But I think it's important to give the player the final say here. For example, someone that is colour blind or hard of sight might find the designer's colours difficult to see, not comfortable, or just plain garish. If the colours are important as far as gameplay goes, you could always add a note saying such at the start of your game.

[Lazzah]

The default is for the designer's colours to show - the player has to explicitly disable these. But I think it's important to give the player the final say here. For example, someone that is colour blind or hard of sight might find the designer's colours difficult to see, not comfortable, or just plain garish. If the colours are important as far as gameplay goes, you could always add a note saying such at the start of your game.

I have done so.

I fail to see the point of the new enhancements allowing the game designer to use <bgcolour> HTML tags and to add default background colour if the player can then override these with their own colour choices? You might as well not bother at all with trying to make your game look attractive and leave everything in boring cyan.

[Campbell]

I have done so.

[David Whyld]

I don't know why you're getting so worked up over this, Lazzah. Someone choosing to change the colours to something they prefer is hardly going to affect you because you wouldn't even be aware of it unless they told you. But someone giving your game a negative review because "you've set the colours to something I can't read so I can't play your game" would affect you. Why not leave the option to the player?

(And yes, I've quit games because authors have messed around with the colours and wouldn't let me change them. I played Adam Cadre's "Endless Nameless" and really liked it up to the point where it overrode my preferred colours and left me with a glaring white background. After hunting for an option to change the colours and finding none, I quit.)

[P/o Prune]

Personally I like the new setup. It's like the old V.4.
I see no harm in letting the player change the colours if s/he feels the need to do so. Like mentioned earlier in this thread, the author can write a note suggesting that the colours not be tampered with.
I've already changed the ones in my game because this is the way I prefer to see the screen when I'm playing (testing) my game.

If there was a thing I would like to have a final say over, it would be the position (and size) of the graphic window in the developer and the runner. But this is due to the way my game is designed.