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Hi all. Been a little while so I thought Iād just update yāall on where Audio Manager 3 is at and when to expect it at this point.
Is it nearly done? yes. The code is like 90-95% done. As normal the last 5% takes most of the time xD. I found a few bugs which took me a week or so to work out in the spare time I had recently. I think Iāve got them at this point. I also had to add in a new system for an inspector player for audio. Something I couldnāt really leave out of the initial release. A little sneak peak above (right). Its more flexible than the 2.x solution with the option to use mode edit modules from the inspector and choose as few or as many as youād like to use.
Iāve got one more script to write for a music player inspector, but after that is done it is just a matter of sorting a few small demo projects, testing & finishing the documentation. The docs I have already started writing. Iām hoping itāll be ready before 2024, but Iām annoyingly busy at the moment on the weekends where I can get the most done. So weāll see if that happensā¦.
Also new logo! All the assets have a new logo design as of this weekend. I’m slowly updating them everywhere as I get the time to do so and I’m not in a coding mood…. Audio Manager’s logo below:
Its been a while since I updated you all on the progress so far. So far the progress has been good. So here’s how things are shaping up:
Library Editor
Library Tab
The main library tab of the library editor has had a few changes to it. The main layout hasn’t changed much since I last showed it, but there are some subtle changes.
Update clips struct button, lets you update the Clip.??? struct with the latest data. You can edit the keys for the clips in this version so the entries in the struct need updating often. This is one feature I’ve yet to work out a good way to automate. So for now it and any other struct will have manual updates with the exception of when a new clip is scanned where it will happen automatically.
Clip Dynamic time preview. I’ve managed to actually draw on the waveform the time currently set for the dynamic start time. This system still needs work to make it more user friendly, but visually its where I wanted it to be.
Hints, these are on each main button and can be toggled in the asset settings. They are just to aid with new users to help them understand what important buttons do.
Groups Tab
The groups tab has been updated with some extra buttons and has been fixed up. Previously editing any clip would only edit the last one in the list and there were some issues with keeping the data in sync with the library asset in the project. This tab has the same struct generation button which you’ll see in all the tabs and will update the Group.??? struct.
Mixer Tab
The mixer tab is legit just a button to update the Mixer.??? struct & a button to access the mixer in the project. I have attempted to add the inspector of the mixer to the tab. However it didn’t really play ball. So for now its just a link to the asset in the project with room to extended it down the line.
Music Tab
This is still in development as I’ve only just started the music side of the new version as of writing. So it has the music struct button for Track.??? but nothing else at the moment as I work out how its all going to work xD
Music Management
Like with the audio manager in 3.x, the music setup is going to work mostly if not entirely static. The idea is to allow for a modular setup with the option to transition between tracks. Setup layed tracks which you can sync & transition between as well as playlists etc. Still need to work out the particulars, but it should be good if it all comes out as planned. I may also have a component for use in scenes to set some of this up. But its likely to be mostly a code based solution this time around for the flexibility.
That’s about it for now, so far its on track for end of August, but we’ll see how I do over the next month or so. I’ll post another update when its near release.
Its been about a month since my last update post. So its about time I updated you all on developments over the last few weeks. Starting on from the last post withā¦
Save Manager 2.x
As you will have seen by now, the new Save Manager has been released! So far so good. There hasnāt been any major problems from what I can tell so far as Iāve been using it in my personal projects to handle save data there. I have made a few minor updates to the asset since launch to fix some minor issues, most of which didnāt actually break anything. But they would throw some console messages which could confuse users.
As of writing the asset is on version 2.0.4. Some improvements were also made such as an option to hide the save keys for induvidual save values, reducing the clutter on the save editor. As well as a fix to allow the demo logic to be totally removed from the asset without any errors occurring. Before there was a direct type reference in the save editor window logic to determine if it would show the demo save object data. This has been changed to a type string comparison to fix the issue.
There are plans for some further QOL & feature updates in the future, such as save slots & a better API to allow for custom encryption options. These will be worked on once I get some time to look into it.
It wonāt be a surprise to those who read the year in review for 2022 or been following on the socials, that the next main project is the Audio Manager update. Like the Save Manager, it is getting a rewrite in the backend. This is mostly due to the 2.xās setup not being easy to update for the new features & setup I want to implement next.
The current plan is to have this update out by the end of August. Similar to the deadline of April I gave myself for the Save Manager. So 4 months to fully develop & release the asset update. Now this isnāt a flexible deadline and may change if its just not ready in time. Likewise, if it is ready earlier than planned then itāll release early. Iāll post updates with progress and a release date nearer the time as well.
Functionally the Audio Manager wonāt change much for the end user, but behind the scenes a lot of work is going to be done to make it just a lot easier to use. Some of these include:
Automatic Library Management
Youāll no longer need to manually scan for clips via and inspector or anything. When you import audio, the manager will find a process it automatically for you. There will be an option to manually scan still if needed. This also makes the setup simpler which is a bonus!
Static Audio Manager
While having the option of an instanced manager can be handy, 99% of the time it wonāt be needed. So in 3.x the whole system is static. So no need to use āinstanceā when calling for audio to play.
New Library Window
While 2.x had a basic library editor for each audio manager file. 3.x will have a proper editor window with all the settings you need. You can even change the key of the clip! It also has a search option to search through the entire library and select any clip with ease.
Helper Structs
A new system for 3.x that will make typoās a thing of the past. Instead of calling āAudioManager.Play(āMyClipā)ā youāll be able to call a helper class called āClipā to let you select the clip with intellisense. So that same call becomes āAudioManager.Play(Clip.MyClip)ā. There are other helper structs for groups and mixers as well.
Grouping
Speaking of groups, youāll be able to group clips together in the audio library and call for a clip from that group to play. Handle if you have a lot of variations or want to play a clip from a range of options.
Dynamic Start Time
An experimental feature that tries to guess when the clip actually starts playing audio at a loud enough volume. Then sets the clip to start just before then instead of at 0. You can toggle the feature on/off globally, per clip in the library or via the method call itself. Youāll also be able to adjust the settings to get a better guess time in the audio library.
Currently it is still early days and some of these features may change a tad. One thing I mentioned in my last post was a method chaining API for calling audio to play. Sadly Iāve had to scrap this, but Iām still working to make the API better as a whole. The amount of methods in 2.x was a bit much, so Iāll be consolidating and using a better base method to avoid issues with call parameters.
Overall the idea is to build upon 2.xās success with new QOL features & automation where possible. The music side of things is in the air at the moment, as Iāve always struggled with a good generic solution for it. But if all goes well Iāll have a little time to research something for that. Iāve already had a few suggestions for it which I have noted down.
Other Projects
As mentioned in my last post. Iām also working on a personal project as well to kind of replicate P5ās turn based combat into a small demo game of just that mechanic. This is entirely for portfolioās sake as itāll make for a strong project that I can talk about in detail with a lot of systems. It also makes a good testbed for these asset updates. Save Manager 2.x was tested in the project to make sure it was all working before release and Audio Manager 3.x will get the same testing as and when its at that stage. That project is going well at the moment and I juggle my time between both it and the active Carter Games project to keep it fresh.
Organisation
This week I spent an evening or two organising the mess that was the Carter Games Notion. I legit didnāt use it as it was such a mess to find anything. With the new setup I will be using it a lot more. While its not something you see much, it does help to have a goal in mind and to write down tasks so you know where youāre at and what is left to do. Below is the Audio Manager task board for example:
The new structure has goals as āEpicsā which then have āTasksā to complete. Epics & Tasks are linked to āProjectsā which hold branding, links & anything else specific to that project on them. Even this blog post is been written in Notion under the new Marketing section xD
Website & Socials
A little heads up that I plan to change up the discord a tad at sometime. Mostly just removing bloat channels and making super simple. Its not used that much anyways and I want to have a place for update notifications for assets/games as well as the general news/announcements section.
Iāve also slowly been updating the documentation for all the assets to the new docs setup on the website. Iām mostly there at this point with Leaderboard Manager being the only asset to fully update. Iām hoping to have that all done at some point xD
So yea, thatās about it for this post. Long story short; a lot going on behind the scenes xD Iāll post another update around the end of June with progress if there is enough to share.
This is just a post to update you all on what I’ve been up to over the last few weeks with both the website & some of the asset store assets. Its not been too long since my last post but I did want to update you one the website changes and the progress of the Save Manager mainly.
Website Changes
The biggest and change that you would’ve seen is the new navigation menu setup. I’ve gone ahead and expanded it to have links to all major products currently active. The reason for this was to help indicate to visitors that there were extra pages for assets / games etc. As the homepage doesn’t illude to this too well. The sub menus also include Scarlet Library under the resources section. This being a code library I’m slowly working on for Unity which houses scripts I use between projects. It is well overdue an update when I get the main goals for this year done.
The other main change is more subtle unless you’ve tried to access some of the assets documentation. As the documentation for some assets have been ported to the website, instead of being an embed of a html export from Notion which it was before. The biggest upside to this is the ability to search the documentation! The solution isn’t perfect, as I’d like the option to add a landing page for each docs but otherwise this is much better than the other idea I was trying and mentioned in my last post. Below is a screenshot of the Mutli-Scene docs as they appear on the site now (https://carter.games/docs/multiscene/):
The only other website changes are in the backend, which should improve the sites performance a tad. The site isn’t on an expensive dedicated web hosting provider so it will be a little slower due to that, but its cheap and works which is ideal for me now.
Save Manager
I have good news in regards to the Save Manager, I’ve finally hit a release candidate for the assets version 2.0.0 release. I’ve been spending the last few weeks working out the bugs as best as I can and automating where possible. It’s a good thing I did this as a large chunk of the asset was not working as intended or was fundamentally flawed. Using my side project to test it, I have managed to get it initializing correctly when imported and updating when new save assets are added. On top of this I had to do a lot of trial and error to get the web builds working, but it does thankfully work.
I expect that asset will be out by the end of the month (ish). I’ve still got the write the documentation and check over the code one more time to remove any redundant logic and improve the API for usage where possible. But I should be on track to roughly hit that goal if I keep at it over the next few weeks when I get time.
Build Versions
Some of you may have noticed some minor releases to Build Versions over last week. This was just to fix up some issues the asset was having with getting assets in the resources folder mainly. There is another update coming this week which changes up the date field in the information asset to use a custom class instead of a string, which should help with regional differences with the date. An example of how it looks now:
That’s it for this update. Hopefully more around the end of the month with the Save Manager release!
So its been about a month since my last update. So its about time I updated yāall on where things are at.
Save Manager
The main progress has been on the save manager, with the code base now being pretty close to being production ready. Iām currently working out some bugs on builds which are been a bit annoying. The editor side of the asset is ready though, with just a few stress tests to do to make sure it works.
I have a few feature changes to the asset, mostly due the amount of work for the amount of use it will get. So the create tab has been removed as the creation of save data is a more modular in this version and should be easy enough to follow without a tool. I may add it again in a future update if its requested or really needed, but for the initial release making data manually will be fine with documentation and videos to aid with that.
Speaking of documentation, Iāve been looking into solutions for that. Annoying there isnāt really any solution Iām 100% happy with, most either are paid which I canāt afford given everything I release is free or doesnāt quite do everything I need it to. Iāve ended up trialling an idea using a website builder & either GitHub pages or similar to host the site on. An example below that I trailed using the Multi Scene docs
Iāve also changed up the path remapping in the asset to be different dependant on the target platform. You can define the path still but using some pre-defined strings rather than selecting the path yourself. There are some caveats such as having the update the path for each platform if you want it to be different etc. But it should work out fine for the first version. You can also press a button to open the directory where the save will be if targeting a standalone platform (PC/Mac/Linux).
I think Iām still good for the April release, but things may crop up that interfere with that, well see.
Audio Manager
The advantage of not doing the Audio Manager before the Save Manager is that I can use what I learn from it in the new version. Iāve recently been testing the early versions for bugs (which there are many) and researching some ideas. This week I was able to make a method chain solution that will change up most of the API Iāve written so far. Currently the setup is similar to 2.x with loads of methods for each use case which gets very hard to maintain. If I went about the chaining solution which Iām planning to now it works, Iād be able to reduce that and make the asset much easier to manage from my end without compromising on features. If youāve used Linq, String methods or some tween libraries then youāll know the syntax. An example below of what Iām thinking of doing and what itāll do:
// Example
AudioManager.Play(Clip.Click01).SetVolume(.5f).SetDelay(.1f);
// What it does:
// Your normal play this clip, clip being the struct system I already have in place.
AudioManager.Play(Clip.Click01)
// Sets the volume of the clip to play at .5f volume (range 0-1)
.SetVolume(.5f)
// Sets the clip to play with a delay of .1f
.SetDelay(.1f);
Now this is still quite a while off as Iāve only just got my head around how to make this work. I also wonāt be working on the Audio Manger 3.x until Iāve finished & published Save Manager 2.x. But this will certainly give me a lot to work on. I do still plan to keep a modular method for the more traditional calls should people wish to use that syntax over this setup.
Personal Project
While Iām working on Carter Games stuff, Iām also taking on a personal project at the same time to give me some variety. Mostly to avoid burnout on one project which Iāve had in the past. In this case Iām making a passion/portfolio project where I attempt to replicate the Person 5 Royal (P5R) combat system & to an extent the look as well. I played the game over the Christmas break and really enjoyed it. So decided to make a project out of it.
The end goal is to at-least have a small custom boss battle which a full party of 4 vs something. With the user being able to use a mini velvet room system to make a persona with the skills available to then use in the fight. I donāt plan on replicating the AI or anything for the players party so it will be direct commands for all party members. The party members will also be custom and not related to the actual P5R ones. At the end of the day Iād like to make a mini-experience out of it, but it will always just be for portfolio, I obviously cannot release it commercially due to copyright etc.
Below is a little video below of how thatās going so far on the UI side, but its still very early days:
If you want to see more on the project then you can see the full project page on my portfolio here:
Its a long project so Iām posting update posts which you can view on that page. The up side of doing a project like this is that I learn even more doing it. Iāve now got a custom UI shape system as well as a basic Google sheets downloader working as well will come in handy in future projects.
Thatās about it for this update, Iāll see you in the next one.
