[Tool] Chronicler - ChoiceScript Visual Code Editor

@FSketchy There is nothing to be concerned about. It’s built with Game Maker Studio which is “sandboxed.” Meaning the program can’t make any changes to you’re computer without displaying a “save dialog box” and getting you’re permission first.

Chrome throws an error because I don’t have a windows developer licence and therefore no valid certificate to verify the authenticity of the program. (costs $200 a year)

You can try to download it with Internet Explorer or Firefox

  • or -
    On Chrome:
    The following steps will turn of phishing and malware warnings, as well as download warnings.

In the top-right corner of the browser window, click the Chrome menu.
Select Settings.
Click Show advanced settings.
Under “Privacy,” uncheck the box “Enable phishing and malware protection.”

I know it likely doesn’t need said, but if you’re turning off that protection I suggest turning it back on again immediately after you’ve downloaded the programme.

@stainedofmind Thanks!

I updated it just for you. (:
Zoom using Q and E
You can also reset the view using CTRL+R

If you have version 1.5 of the launcher, run a forced update by holding CTRL and clicking on the update button.

@FairyGodfeather Agreed, turn it back on immediately. Sorry I forgot to mention it.

Thanks for the quick-start guide! I’ll check it out again, and yes, what you describe about tracking stats down the different branches is exactly what I want. I also agree that it’s not a big deal to go through the code and look at all the *set’s, but the hard part is drawing the tree. I tried to go through my code and draw on paper a flowchart of all the choices, but it got unusably chaotic very quickly.

As for the js code, yes, it’s not the easiest thing to follow. Did you look at randomtest.html? That seems to go through the game making random choices, but if it could be made to walk the branches in systematic order, that could be what you’re looking for. Quicktest already does this, just that it doesn’t look at stats or show the text, but maybe the two can be combined?

@BenSeawalker: You work fast. Nicely done, my good man!

I decided to bite the bullet and make a CS parser from scratch. It’s a quick 'n dirty hack instead of being exactly like the real thing, but after two days of work, it seems to work tolerably well, despite my many shortcuts. Tomorrow, I’ll make a version of it that will make sense to others (right now its output is just debugging messages). It’s in PHP, but maybe you can use it for Chronicler. I’m going to use it to make the graphical story tree/flowchart. I hope it helps you! Basically, it’s turns cs code into an array of objects. An object for a label, a choice, a goto, etc, and some objects, like choices, have more code inside them, so that’s a nested array. This, then, is basically already a tree, so you’d just have to walk the nodes, turning each one into a Chronicler node/box.

@Flurrywinde11 That’s awesome! I’ve been rather busy the last few days so haven’t had a chance to work on my own version. But why reinvent the wheel, right? Post a link to it, or PM me and I’ll implement it asap. (with credit to you of course) ;D

Having the ability to import CS projects will be incredibly useful! Thanks for your hard work!

Also: just uploaded some new features and bug fixes. Namely, a button for editing the CS Stats Screen located in the file menu. (See the Dragon example for usage)

Ok, here’s a link to it: http://herbaloutfitters.com/cs2gv/cs2gv.php . It works right now, but if it’s broken (or throws a bunch of debugging code), I’m probably working on it and messed it up. If that happens, hopefully I’ll fix it soon, so try again.

Let me know what you think!

EDIT: Oh, and only a few of the cs commands are implemented, so some will come up as type unknown. This is an easy fix, but I’m working on the graphviz code first. If you get the other types working, let me know!

@Flurrywinde11 I checked it out, looks pretty slick (:
I’m busy writing essays for scholarships for the next few days, so that’ll give you some time to fix it up a little more. As it stands, its given me several ideas on how to implement my own version in Chronicler.

Thanks again!

I worked on it some today, but parsing the cs objects into graphviz is taking longer than I thought. (The current gv code produced is very basic and probably downright wrong some of the time.) I’m taking a break and decided to look at Chronicler. Here are my notes on it:

  1. The window is wider than my screen and can’t be resized. Also, no maximize button.

  2. Tooltips would be nice.

  3. The link in this thread is to v.1.2.8, but when I run it, it says the latest is 1.2.9.

Ok, I used it to make a simple game. Pretty slick! Here’s some input on what I’d like to see in a tool like this. (Feel free to ignore!)

When I write a story/game in a tool rather than straight coding, I want to focus solely on writing. So, say I type in the label on a bubble. I want to be able to hit TAB and go to the body. Then when I’m done with the body, I want to be able to hit a key and jump to a choice. Then, I want to use a hotkey to either do the next choice or the next bubble. And the next bubble should be automatically placed, so I don’t have to worry about putting it somewhere. (But, of course, I can move it later if I want.) Make it like this, and I’d love using this tool!

Thank you. I’ll just download it using Firefox :relaxed:

@Flurrywinde11 Sorry bout the 1.2.8 mixup. I’m fairly certain it actually is 1.2.9, I just forgot to update that in the project file before I saved it… *facepalm
As for window resizing. It currently runs in 720p. I foolishly assumed most people already had a monitor larger than that. *shrugs
And, I never ignore advice from my users. They’re the reason I’m doing this at all! (:

@FSketchy I apologize for the hassle, but it’s kind of out of my control at the moment. :confused:
also, the program is open source, so if you were really worried about viruses, you could open that with Game Maker: Studio, check out the code, and compile it yourself. (:

Finally, here’s the feature list for v1.3.0:

  • Window resize functionality.
  • Color picker for text bubbles. (to help define story arcs or mark finished text)
  • ability to duplicate bubbles
  • More hotkeys.
  • Autosave every 3 minutes (will be adjustable in options menu later)
  • Various UI improvements and continuing bug fixes.

I’m hoping to have the ability to import existing CS (startup.txt) projects by v1.3.5

My resolution is 1280x1024. Maybe in Wine, Chronicler runs bigger?

I look forward to v.1.3!

Does Save work? I tried to save, and it threw no error, yet nothing was actually saved.

Oh, and another must have feature is auto-save. I’d hate people to lose work if it crashes. It actually crashed on me a few times, but dang it, I didn’t pay attention to what caused it. I will next time.

@Flurrywinde11 added autosave to features list.

So, I tested it on Linux again. You are correct, the linux version on here was 1.2.8… *double facepalm
(that explains the crashes)
I uploaded 1.2.9 but I suggest you wait till 1.3 with the screen resolution fix.

As for the save feature, it does indeed work. I just saved the files to the desktop and they showed up. Are you running Wine with admin user status? (from terminal use " sudo Wine path_to_Chronicler.exe ") that should fix it.

thanks for being an active beta tester (:

I thought of that and tried it with sudo too, but it still didn’t save. Sudo shouldn’t be necessary, though, should it? I’m running as the user who owns the directory Chronicler.exe is in, and the files are being saved in that same directory. Plus, shouldn’t there be an error message?

Basically just downloaded and started it up, updated and took a look.

This is what I would need to make my ideas, I simply get lost in the code and lose my way when doing it the ‘down and dirty’ way by coding around my writing.

So I will keep an eye on this, for sure – desktop version is best for me, by the way, thank you for that one.

Due to things beyond my control I am not able to test and report regularly, but know that I am indeed grateful that you started this and hope to see it become the very tool I need to make the world suffer my CYOA creations. :blush:

@Flurrywinde11 Do the files show up when you click “Open Project” in Chronicler? I encountered the same issue in the virtual machine I’m running Ubuntu in, and they wouldn’t appear in the file system, but they would in the open file dialog box. (have you tried saving to desktop? they showed up when I saved them there for some reason…)
*shrugs
When Chronicler gets closer to completion, I think I’ll buy all the modules including the iOS and Android ones. Meaning official Mac and Linux builds!
Wish I could help more right at this moment tho. :confused:
I’ll try and get GM:S running in Ubuntu and do some bug testing tomorrow.

I’m getting all 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled on Thursday, so I might be out of commission for awhile.

@JTAL Thanks! (:
I’m planning on doing away with “Programmer Mode” entirely. I just need to come up with a cohesive way of displaying all the CS actions first. You will probably have to wait till v1.4.0 before I can get around to it tho.
When you do start a project let me know! I’ll be happy to run any bug testing/constructive criticism. Plus I’d just be super excited that someone chose Chronicler. (:

As it stands, Chronicler seems capable of creating just about any CYOA you can imagine. And if it’s missing a feature, let me know and I’ll work on adding it!

Okie dokie, looking forward to v1.4 then – and certainly, if I find something missing I will let you know. :relaxed:

@Flurrywinde11 I ran some more testing.

if you save to your desktop, they show up in /home/.wine/drive_c/users/user name/desktop
(open home ctrl+h to show hidden files)

looks like Wine clones your file structure into the “fake” C drive so, anywhere you save them will be in the .wine directory

@FSketchy (and anybody else with this problem)

I just tried to download the files with chrome and got the same error. But, I just noticed that if you go to the “show all downloads” tab there is an option under the blocked file to “recover malicious file”

It was also brought to my attention that Norton Antivirus blocks the launcher from downloading updates.