20230523 "FC01"

Release Notes

All

• Fixed an error by which every other letter was skipped when at a choice point or other system string
• Version string updated to 20230523 "FC01"

Arch Linux

• Updated Makefile to allow proper compilation on Arch Linux
• Highly experimental static Makefile; it likely will not work for you

macOS

• Starting with this release, all binaries are Universal binaries, capable of running on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs
  • This system requires MacPorts rather than Homebrew
  • These binaries require macOS 11 "Big Sur" or above as a result
• makedist.MacOSX.sh updated to 20230501 "FC01"

Trivia

FC01 is one of the main development teams of the company F&C. Its main claim to fame is the Canvas series of novel games, all of which play on themes related to visual art. The main character is usually a struggling artist himself, who often has stopped painting because of some tragedy that befell him prior to the beginning of the game. These games are also well-known for their music, having opening and ending theme songs that became famous in their own right, one example being "Plastic Smile" from Canvas2. Canvas2 in particular was popular enough to merit a TV anime adaptation, and is probably the most popular title in FC01's opus.

For me personally, though, my favorite of the pieces that FC01 put out was one of its lesser titles, 木漏れ日の並木道 (The Sun-Dappled Boulevard). It is unusual in several ways, not the least of which is the fact that the protagonist is a single dad and that his daughter is, in a sense, the deuteragonist of the story. It explores parenthood and transitions from childhood in a way that is sensitive and above all rare in novel games. It is not considered to be among the best works of the novel game genre, but for its warmth and its exploration of these topics it has a permanent place in my heart.

20230501 "élf"

Release Notes

All

• Integrated harfbuzz for accuracy of glyph shaping and kerning
• True kerning in UTF8 mode for proportional fonts
  • Kerning will not function for faux font styles by design, as the glyph metrics would simply be wrong in this case
  • Due to harfbuzz integration, will work with every font that has either a kern table or a GPOS table (that's any modern font)
• Floating point precision for glyph placement
• Several bugfixes now trigger on english_mode rather than legacy_english_mode
• Version string updated to 20230501 "élf"

macOS

• makedist.MacOSX.sh updated to 20230501 "élf"

YMMV

• See README.md section about kerning and ligatures and how to trigger true kerning mode

Trivia

élf was a legendary pioneer in the novel game industry. It distinguished itself from the rest of the industry in the mid-90s; during a time when most novel games were more pornographic and less literary in nature, élf chose to innovate in both structure and storytelling. Its 同級生 (Classmates), released in 1992, is arguably the primogenitor of all modern novel games that use high school as a setting. Although this genre of novel games would be truly defined by ときめきメモリアル (Tokimeki Memorial) by Konami in 1994 and then, definitively, by To Heart by Leaf in 1997, both of these seminal titles were highly influenced by -- and indeed followed the template set by -- 同級生.

However, élf was not merely the trope starter for the by-now bog-standard romantic-novel-game-set-in-a-Japanese-high-school supertrope. Its greatest contribution to the novel game canon is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the masterpiece that is この世の果てで恋を唄う少女YU-NO (YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of the World), released in 1996. This novel game, more than any before it, put the "novel" in novel game, and introduced complex characters with even more complex story arcs, world-building as solid as that seen in any sci-fi or fantasy epic, and a blend of hard sci-fi and speculative fiction elements that is considered standard-setting even by modern standards. Anyone who calls him- or herself a fan of novel games owes it to him- or herself to experience this piece -- and fortunately, an official English localization is available both on Steam and on the Nintendo Switch.

élf was a pioneer not only in the games its produced, but also in the way its games were adapted into other media. Its games were among the first novel games to become so popular that they merited anime adaptations -- a pattern that others (e.g. Leaf, TYPE-MOON) followed in the future. Unfortunately, for all of élf's fame and popularity in the early- to mid-1990s, it never became as popular or as mainstream as companies like Leaf, and later TYPE-MOON, did. élf closed its doors in 2015, after a remarkable 26-year run in the industry. Many modern novel game fans will never play a game by élf, and that is a great shame -- for the entire novel game industry owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to these pioneers.

20230423 "D3"

Release Notes

All

• True bold, italics, and bold italics font style supported through supplemental font files (but no proper kerning yet):
  • default-b.ttf/.ttc/.otf/.otc for bold
  • default-i.ttf/.ttc/.otf/.otc for italics
  • default-bi.ttf/.ttc/.otf/.otc for bold italics
  • All font files must have the same file extension; in other words, they must all be .ttf or all .ttc or all .otf or all .otc
• Mixing and matching of entirely different fonts is possible through the above
• Proper glyph metrics and hinting for faux font styles (but not proper kerning yet)
• 0.utf.txt and 00.utf.txt are now acceptable script names for UTF8-encoded script files
• Highly experimental support for underlines (~u~, predictably)
  • Use at your own risk
  • Here there be dragons
  • OMGWTFOTL :3
• Version string updated to 20230423 "D3"

macOS

• makedist.MacOSX.sh updated to 20230423 "D3"

YMMV

• See README.md section about updated font requirements

Trivia

D3 Publisher is a major Japanese video game publishing house. It is most famous (or, some would say, notorious) for its SIMPLE series of games. This series began as an effort to provide, well, simple, classic examples of game genres, with the game genre itself being the title of the game. For instance, the first game in the series is SIMPLE1500シリーズVol. 1 THE 麻雀 (Simple 1500 Series Vol. 1: THE Mahjong), which is, predictably, a mahjong game. However, from there the series got wackier and wackier, with such titles as SIMPLE2000シリーズVol. 50 THE 大美人 (Simple 2000 Series Vol. 50: THE Giant Beautiful Woman) and SIMPLE2000シリーズVol. 31 THE 地球防衛軍 (Simple 2000 Series Vol. 31: THE Earth Defense Force). As you can imagine, the above games aren't exactly simple ... and they aren't classic examples of any known genre either. The only thing that can really be said about them is that (a) they're wacky and (b) they're often as awesome as they are wacky. Indeed, many of these games developed cult followings and spawned series of their own, with Earth Defense Force being the primary example.

In any case, D3 had a small but vital role in console novel gaming as well. It republished certain novel games (some famous, some obscure) under the SIMPLE series, all of which of course had their sexual content removed. A notable example of such a game is SIMPLE2000シリーズVol. 9 THE 恋愛アドベンチャー 〜BITTERSWEET FOOLS〜 (Simple 2000 Series Vol. 9: THE Ren'ai Adventure 〜BITTERSWEET FOOLS〜), which, true to its name, is a straight-up all-ages console port of Bittersweet Fools by minori. This particular novel game is of specific historical interest to those who follow insani.org's history as it was subtitled by none other than our very own Ed Keyes!

20230420 "Capcom"

Release Notes

All

• New UTF8 mode
  • Full support for UTF8-encoded script files; the script file must be named 0.utf (not 0.utf.txt) for autodetection
• Proportional font support in UTF8 mode
  • Proper kerning not supported in this release
• Completely new pixel-based text wrapping system
  • Appropriately ignores the length of inline text commands, unlike the previous system (!s, !sd, !w, !d, #nnnnnn, ~i~, ~b~, ~bi~)
  • Truly universal; works with both monospaced and proportional fonts, in both UTF8 and SHIFT_JIS modes
    • There are known issues in this system as relates to the faux font styles; these issues are largely resolved in this commit, which will be a part of the next release
  • Has special rules for emdashes, horizontal rules, and French spacing for guillemets in UTF8 mode
  • Nonbreaking spaces (U+00A0) honored in UTF8 mode
• Faux styles (bold and italics) for fonts
  • Use ~i~, ~b~, and ~bi~ as inline text commands; the first instance enables that style, and the next disables it
    • This is ~i~italics~i~ and this is ~b~bold~b~ and this is ~bi~bold italics~bi~
• Expanded font file compatibility; onscripter-insani now accepts OpenType fonts, TrueType collections, and OpenType collections as follows:
  • default.ttf
  • default.ttc
  • default.otf
  • default.ttc

macOS

• If no default.ttf/.ttc/.otf/.otc is found, fallback to system Hiragino Maru Gothic
• Recompiled SDL_mixer with --disable-music-mp3-shared, making MP3 playback work in macOS app bundles for real this time around
  • Updated README.md section on SDL_mixer and MP3 playback with updated build instructions
• makedist.MacOSX.sh updated to 20230420

Windows

• If no default.ttf/.ttc/.otf/.otc is found, fallback to system MS Gothic

YMMV

• See README.md section about font requirements

Trivia

Capcom is one of the most major and most influential video game development/publication houses of all time. It is legendary for its many long-running video game series, such as Street Fighter, Devil May Cry, and, to a lesser extent, Breath of Fire. However, did you know that Capcom has also developed novel games? While there is some amount of debate as to whether the games of the 逆転裁判 (Ace Attorney) series truly count as novel games, Capcom has also developed and published true purebreed novel games such as Bounty Hunter Sarah and Critical Bullet: 7th Target. It is worth noting that Capcom developed and published many of its novel games during the era of the Sega Dreamcast -- this was a time when novel games on consoles were at their zenith, with the success of games like Konami's ときめきメモリアル (Tokimeki Memorial) spurring other development houses to follow suit. Capcom was not alone in this -- for instance, one of the last first-party games for the Sega Dreamcast was an obscure novel game called キャンディストライプ 〜みならい天使〜 (Candy Stripe: Apprentice Angels), developed by none other than WOW Entertainment, the developers of games like Sega GT and, uh, Sega Marine Fishing. It goes without saying that this was a ... strange time in the Japanese video game development community.

But we digress. 20230420 "Capcom" is perhaps the most major release of onscripter-insani to date, and it seems appropriate that we pay homage to this giant of the Japanese video gaming industry in this fashion.

20230413-1 "BaseSon"

Release Notes

All

• Now with 100% more MP3 playback capability
  • README.md now has information about compiling your own SDL_mixer with MP3 support

macOS

• makedist.MacOSX.sh updated to 20230413-1

YMMV

• These binaries require a default.ttf in the same directory, which for maximum compatibility should be a monospaced font with Japanese character support; we recommend:
  • Genjyuu Gothic X Monospace/Monospace Bold
  • Migu 2M/2M Bold
  • Sazanami Gothic

Trivia

BaseSon is a long-running novel game development unit under the umbrella of the Nexton Corporation. It is best known for its 恋姫 (Koihime) series, which has been around for as long as BaseSon has existed.

20230413 "Baldr"

Release Notes

All

• Now with 100% more insanity spirit
• Corrections to line-wrap system
• Corrections to behavior of @, \, and / in legacy english mode
• !s, !w, and # now work in english mode
• Initial support for UTF8 (0.utf) script files
  • Confirmed working on several pieces (Radiata, The Letter) of the insani novel game library, with 0.txt converted to 0.utf
  • Confirmed working on Le Petit Prince
  • Line-wrap algorithm confirmed working in UTF8 mode with half-width characters
    • This is most Latin languages
    • Other languages, for instance those who use a Cyrillic alphabet, will have non-functional line wrap
• French and Italian documentation
• README.md now in Markdown, and consolidated for all languages

YMMV

• These binaries require a default.ttf in the same directory, which for maximum compatibility should be a monospaced font with Japanese character support; we recommend:
  • Genjyuu Gothic X Monospace/Monospace Bold
  • Migu 2M/2M Bold
  • Sazanami Gothic

Trivia

Team Baldrhead was one of the many development teams of the legendary novel game publishing house, GIGA. Team Baldrhead is most famous for its Baldr series of games, which were as much games as they were novels. Baldr Force, for instance, is a novel game with a strong 2D shooter component to it, set in a cyberpunk world. Unfortunately, with the shutdown of GIGA in 2023, it is unsure that we will ever see another game from this team.

20230308 "August"

Release Notes

ONScripter Upstream Version

20220816

All

• Added legacy_english_mode flag (for monospaced 1-byte-character scripts whose lines begin with `)
• Set english_mode and legacy_english_mode to TRUE when a line that begins with ` is detected
• Created line-break system for legacy_english_mode
• Fixed a bug in which lines that begin with ` cannot be advanced from in any circumstance
• Minor tweaks to allow for usage of SDL2 + SDL12-compat

macOS

• Binaries require:
  • ARM64: macOS Ventura or higher
  • x86-64: macOS Catalina or higher
• Modified makefile for macOS (Makefile.MacOSX.insani)
• -DAPPBUNDLE build flag which by default allows for saving of .sav and envdata files in ~/Documents/ONScripter/<game name> instead of in the same directory, and to allow for game asset detection within the app bundle itself
  • Do not define -DAPPBUNDLE unless you are creating a game-specific app bundle
• Created macOS app bundle creation script (makedist.MacOSX.sh)
• Created ICNS creation helper script (makeICNS.MacOSX.sh)

Windows

• All-new makefile for Windows, based on MSYS2 rather than VC++ (Makefile.Windows.insani)
• Edits to several files to allow proper MSYS2-based compilation
• Backported in windows icon feature (from 2005!)

YMMV

• Please see README.md for detailed build instructions
• All onscripter-insani specific modifications are housed in #if defined(INSANI) ... #endif blocks; if you remove the INSANI define, you will get mainline onscripter-20220816
• These binaries require a default.ttf in the same directory, which for maximum compatibility should be a monospaced font with Japanese character support; we recommend:
  • Genjyuu Gothic X Monospace/Monospace Bold
  • Migu 2M/2M Bold
  • Sazanami Gothic

Trivia

August Software is a major developer of novel games, and has the distinction of having made the game that was the first insani.org demo project that utilized ONScripter. Indeed, this demo was one of our critical testbeds for the build system as well as the new English-localization functionality of onscripter-insani. Of note, there are several pieces of code from this earliest onscripter-insani release that remain part of the ONScripter codebase, nearly two decades later.