Proposed Unified Notation for authors and coders

[hex]

Choices
{Choice 1}
{Choice 2}
{Choice 3}


Inner monologue (displayedcursive in-game)
<Thoughts here>


Meta comments, meta scene descriptions etc(everything that doesn't directly get worked into the game as text, but is relevant nonetheless for the people working with the text)

///Descriptions, comments. insults etc here


Graphics and music
[filename]Text blablabla[/filename]

So for example

[Annoyed_jun.jpg]
Eyepatch-girl: Pause the TV. I don’t want to talk while it’s playing.

It takes me a moment to find the remote and hit the right button. The screen goes still. The girl frowns.
[/credens_justiciam.mp3]
Eyepatch-girl: "I was looking forward to watching that".

Grey: "I’m sorry. I honestly thought this place was abandoned.

[Flat/Deadpan_jun.jpg]

Suggestions, criticism or simply "Why is hex such an aspie?" are all welcome.

[ashido]

That should actually make the coding a bit smoother in terms of transition from script to code since Ren'Py

[onestep]

I'm fine with this as a whole.

I don't think that noting a difference between inner thoughts and in-game description's is necessary though. While they ARE different, for the purpose of reading and coding they're functionally more or less identical as they're all internalised by Grey. Similiar to how Katawa Shoujo did it. The split is more Dialogue/Everything else.

On the other hand, I completely agree with [ ] for Graphics and Music, { } for choices, / / for Meta comments and possibly adding " " for dialogue as well. That should make it easier for the coders and artists.

[mugen]

Yeah, I don't think his thoughts need to be italicized. Grey is more or less a biased, first-person narrator, so you don't really need to mark a difference between his thoughts and descriptions.

The other stuff is good.

[guykun]

Why specify a second format when a ren'py format already exists? You'll be find/replace-ing 24/7 with no extra benefit.

Just tell the writers to use the ren'py syntax...

[wootnik]

Whatever's easiest for you to work with. Changing it for renpy doesn't bother me.

[awayawyle]

Guykun's right. If the writers want to use another format in their work before converting it to the script that's fine, but mandating that the script be written in another format that we'll need to convert from is dumb.

Here's what Ren'Py uses -

Script:

##Comment. Anything after these symbols is ignored by python until the end of the line or until they appear again. eg - 
##Nested Comment##
Name "Dialog" ##Creates the text box for Name, which can be customized by character (font, color, the box itself, etc)
extend "Dialog" ##Continues the dialog in the same text  box. 
##This is used when you want a character to pause until the player clicks again
"First person" ##Creates an unlabeled text box

Including multiple lines / text box is fine. Ren'Py will divide the script into different text boxes wherever you tell it to.

Images:

scene name of background image ##shows the specified image as the background. 
##Note that 'name of background image' can be multiple words. 
##Certain words are off limits, like 'at' 'with' etc
show character emotion ##Shows image. This is usually a character portrait. 
##These will be things like 'Bro grinning' 'Naomi mad' etc
##Again, multiple words are okay, but some words are not
show image name at position ##position can be left, right, center, etc. 
##'left' 'right' and 'center' are predefined, but we can, of course, set our our own.
hide name ##Python will recognize partial names for some of the commands
##For instance, if 'Bro grinning' is on the screen, the 'hide Bro' command will remove his picture
with None ##No transition is used for the last images
with fade ## Entire screen fades to black, then fades in with the new images
with dissolve ## Last images dissolve in or out

Sounds:

play music "nameofmusicfile.ogg" ##stops playing last music instantly, begins playing nameofmusicfile. It will loop
play music "nameofmusicfile.ogg" fadeout 0.5 ##fades out last music over 0.5 seconds, begins playing new music
play sound "nameofsound.ogg"##Plays a sound file
stop music ##Does what it says on the tin. Can also take a fadeout trigger.

Choices:
Python uses things called 'labels' to allow explicit jumps in the code. These will not change the scene, music, or even the textbox unless you tell them to.

label labelName: ##This is placed at the start of each segment following a choice. 
##Everything following the label must be indented.
menu:
     "choice one"
             effect ##Note the indentation. 'effect' can be used to set flags or whatever
             jump labelName
     "choice two" 
             jump labelName

Example of all this:

label BadTimeToFlirt: 
       scene hiding concrete wall
       show Naomi tense at left
       show Bro tense at right
       play music "tenseMoment.ogg"
       "It was only then that I realized that Naomi's coat was missing a button."
       MC "What happened to your -"
       show Naomi tense talking at left
       show Bro yelling at right
       Naomi "Did I not just tell you that we needed to be quiet?"
       Bro "Yeah man, did you want to bring all the zombies down on our heads?"
       menu: 
              "Yell 'No' loudly"
                     jump ohGodSeriously
              "Shake my head"
                     jump thisReallyIsDifficult

label ohGodSeriously:
       MC "No"
       "I yell as loudly as I can"
       ...

label thisReallyIsDifficult
       "I shake my head quietly."
       play music "SteamyMoment.ogg"
       hide Bro 
       hide Naomi
       scene Horrible Sex
       "Naomi and Bro instantly start making out, leaving me to wonder I'm such a coward."
       ...

Edit: Apparently the forum hates spaces.