ElseIFPlayer: Update (June, 2023)

Playing Project Announcements
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Hello again! After another long break and a not-so-long coding session, I am pleased to announce the release of the new version of ElseIFPlayer, aka Parchment’s rebellious little brother.

Changes

In this update, you will find the following improvements:

  • Smooth scrolling: It feels amazing now, and you should definitely give it a try =)
  • Improved mobile user experience.
  • A new convenient in-game menu with various settings and links.
  • Support for ADRIFT 4 games. As always, thanks to @Dannii and his Emglken!
  • Over 150 new color themes: Now you can groove along with Gruvbox in your text editor or match ElseIFPlayer with Carbon on your keycaps.

Unfortunately, there are some breaking changes associated with direct links and, sadly, save files. The new player version does not support old save files :c

You can find the full changelog on the release page.

Help Needed

I have recently updated the repository description, IFWiki page, and some texts in the player interfaces. English is not my native language, so I would greatly appreciate it if you could review these pages and point out any errors, mistakes, wrong articles or awkward phrasings you come across.

Traditional Links

You can read my previous post about ElseIFPlayer, play your favorite games, browse the themes preview page, read the code in the repository, or create an issue if you encounter any difficulties.
As always, I’d appreciate any feedback =)

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ElseIFPlayer is very slick. Just have to say because I’m a huge fan of minimalist interface design done right.

Is there a version of the player that is packaged up as a desktop application?

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Oh, this feels really smooth on mobile!

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I have plans to add a menu to Parchment, and I was wondering what to do in the limited screen real estate of a mobile browser. I had been thinking a very thin top bar, but putting it in the bottom right of the input line is an interesting idea!

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Thank you for your kind words! It’s greate to meet like-minded people =)

About desktop application:
I don’t think it would be very difficult to wrap this web application in Electron. However, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the benefits of having a standalone desktop application. What advantages do you see in having this player as a desktop app?

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Glad to hear it! What mobile OS have you tried it on? I haven’t had a chance to test ElseIFPlayer on iOS, so I’d be happy to know that it works well on iPhones.

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I’ve tried several places and forms for this icon, and yes, the current position is optimal, I think.

I’d be happy to see if you cherry-pick some interface solutions to Parchment. I’ll consider it my humble contribution to your solid project =)

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I’m one of those who like to have a copy of things. Far too many times, I’ve seen useful stuff come and go online. Some of the old apps I have aren’t available anymore, but I still have the installers.

Also, because your app allows for local files to be uploaded, you’re already appealing to those who actually have a local copy of the games they wish to play. Seems to go hand in hand with that.

Plus, then people can take their laptop on trips and use their favourite IF player without a hitch.

I’d only do it once you feel the app is complete and bug-free though. Apps are less forgiving to update.

Anyway, that’s my two cents.

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Tested on the Samsung internet browser on Android. I can borrow an Apple device later this week and test it there as well.

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I love the speed. That’s the UX factor to end them all, and it can’t be faked.

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This is a great project. I was wondering if it would be possible to include the Frankendrift interpreter so Adrift 5 games can be played online?

Parchment will have to wait for .NET 8 but I don’t know if ElseIFPlayer has the same limitations?

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Thank you for sharing your perspective and providing your insights!

Your comments are completely valid, but honestly, I never thought anyone would want to preserve my small and humble web app.

I will investigate this topic and hope that the next version will be available as a standalone app.

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Thank you! I really appreciate your help in testing and I’m glad to hear that everything works on your device!

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This player is actually a tiny and not so complicated project, it would not have been easy to screw it up. My main merit is that I tried not to make obvious mistakes and didn’t slip into over-engineering.

Thank you for your kind words =)

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Like Parchment, ElseIFPlayer is based on the Emglken. I am not competent enough to implement ADRIFT 5 support on my own, so my player will definitely not win this race =)

The good news is that if @Dannii continues to let me use the Emglken, ElseIFPlayer will start supporting ADRIFT 5 not so long after Parchment will start to support it.

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Adrift 5 support won’t be added to Emglken. But hopefully it will get its own GlkOte implement later.

Btw, you can reply to multiple people in a post. Just select the text and then click Quote.

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Looks like I need to do my own research on this subject. At least just out of curiosity =)

Thank you! I really don’t want to be annoying. Also sorry for that accidental mention =)

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