[CSIDE] The ChoiceScript IDE (v1.3.3 Now Available — 05/09/2022)

The tutorial in CSIDE seems great so far. The style of the interface looks slick and simple.

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I have been waiting for this since I watched the live stream in September. So happy I can finally use it!!

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Any idea why the *line_break commands aren’t working?

Sorry, I know this sounds simple, but have you made sure to save your changes, and then click the right arrow on the project’s header bar to run the game again?

New changes won’t show up until you refresh the game by re-running it.

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AMA
Myself, @Fiogan, @Vendetta and @Lordirish will all be hanging around the forums and twitter for the next hour or so to answer any (burning) questions anyone may have about CSIDE, its development (or any other related topics!).

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(Proceeds to take question out of the oven.)
(Picks up question with thick padded gloves and tosses it in your general direction.)

Question: Do you have any plans to ask Choice of Games to integrate CSIDE into the download link in addition to, or perhaps even in place of, the standard ChoiceScript?

Of course, a link to ChoiceScript can be found on this page, specifically here.

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An aside: it’s worth bearing in mind that just leaving a blank line between any two lines of narrative will result in CS doing the same in-game. You don’t actually need those two *line_break commands there as a blank line should work just as well (although in that case the blank line may need to be immediately after the *label name line, to be certain of the spacing in-game).

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@Fiogan LOL I was assuming clicking restart would function the same as clicking the run button again hahahaha im dumb xD

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Has been tested on two PC’s and Mac here just a little bit ago and no problems were found with running the two *line_break.

@J3loodT4lon No, it’s an easy mistake to make, the different between ‘rerun’ and ‘restart’. I’m glad it was an easy solve! (:

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AMA Answer to: [CSIDE] The ChoiceScript IDE (v1.3.0 Now Available — 18/06/2019) - #14 by Carlos.R
Sorry @Carlos.R, we’re here, but that was quite a question to start off with!

OK, short answer: no. CSIDE is 100% unofficial, and whilst done with CoG’s blessings, is no way integrated with or endorsed by them. That’s not to say that if things go well we wouldn’t be open to a tighter level of integration, but I think for the time being, it’s safest to say we’ll just wait and see how things go! :slight_smile:

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Let me just say, @CJW, you and your team beat CoG to the punch on a really awesome program! I would be very disappointed in CoG if they didn’t eventually start working with you guys to make CSIDE entirely OFFICIAL.

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Really just glad to help, and we hope it encourages many more people to try their hand at developing IF with ChoiceScript :slight_smile:

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We’re so glad you like CSIDE! I’ve been really excited to share it with other authors, because it’s helped me so much with my own coding and storytelling. I went from just appreciating having all my scene files conveniently arranged, to falling in love with auto-indent (and let’s be honest, the dictionary and user dictionary).

And then I discovered the Console, which is a sort of mad tinker’s dream. The ability to jump to any label and twiddle with my variables while in the midst of play-test was like 100 days of Christmas all at once. :D

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Just had an idea…

So what if @Lordirish set up a Patreon (or similar) so people who wanted to could donate in support of the work, and that money could be used in the prize pool for the next CSComp (assuming there will be more)?

There will be another I just may have to take more of a back seat next year due to College. But this is a awesome project that @CJW has worked on for a long time. We back him in what ever comes next.

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I think there’s a lot of things to consider. One thing is for sure, and that’s that CSIDE is and will always be free (any future updates included). I’m not sure I’d even feel comfortable giving people “special treatment” via a patreon. That said, CSComp is a good cause, so it’s another watch this space response from me I’m afraid! Good questions though! :slightly_smiling_face: Just a little hard to answer at this early stage.

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True, true. Not sure I could manage without it either now!

That said, I must admit I’m particularly fond of the Popout facility when running a test game (which opens a new instance of the game running in a separate window). It’s useful for stuff like comparing conditional narrative, but mostly I just love the ability to Popout and test one option, then close it and Popout again to test the next option, and so forth, before advancing the main game instance to the next major *choice, then repeat again to Popout-test each option. All without having to restart or use any sort of testing code… Sheer bliss! :smiley:

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(Walks over to collection of hats…)
(Finds hat labeled “interviewer.”)
(Puts on hat.)
(Removes questions about fur babies – slightly irrelevant at this time.)

  1. So can you tell us what programming language CSIDE is written in?
  2. Who worked on the development of it?
  3. How many hours would you say went into the project?
  4. Any plans on making CSIDE open source (with appropriate licensing)?
  5. Did you make sure to send the code in for copyrighting at https://www.copyright.gov/ (or equivalent?)
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Nice!

  1. Mostly web technologies, HTML, CSS and JavaScript - much like ChoiceScript itself. The match made sense and allowed us to write once and port to near enough everywhere.

  2. The actual development has been done almost exclusively by myself. That said, there’s a good number of various open-source libraries that CSIDE depends upon, built by other (very talented!) people. Two very honourable mentions would be CodeMirror and NodeJS (via nwjs).

  3. I honestly couldn’t even guess. Lots, and then some (and that’s just my time). I’ve come to think of it as a second dissertation, or even a thesis, if that gives you an idea.

4 + 5. It’s easy to open source software at anytime, but it’s a lot harder to re-copyright something, so that’s why we’ve released it under copyright. Once the program finds its legs, and assuming interest grows, I’ll definitely take another look at licensing.

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