kBlorb - if you want it done right

Technical Development Tools
1

… well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is doing it right right, but I got a little angry this week at cBlorb and the few other tools available to create blorbs.

cBlorb? Great, uses a single text file to define everything that goes into the output. But it refuses to do Reso chunks, which I want to use for reasons. Does it even allow Rect? It doesn’t seem to.
So I figure I use cBlorb as the first step, then use blorbtool.py to manually add in a Reso from a file I prepared separately. Which involves weird stuff involving file locks, so my build process has to take the initial zlb from cBlorb, let the python script load that in, add the Reso, save it to a new zlb, which is then copied over the now-unlocked initial, and finally the temporary new blorb is removed.

That’s nonsense. If there’s a better way to do this, I couldn’t find it…

So I figured I’d just write my own damn blorb tool. It’s not fit for public release quite yet, but watch this space.

  • Written in C# just because I like it.
  • Uses a JSON file as its blurb, because I have my own JSON library and by gawd I’ll use it. Might add support for cBlurb-style files though?
  • Supports Reso and Rect.
  • Can import images and sounds (png, jpeg, ogg, aif, mod, s3m, xm, it)
  • Can designate an image as cover art.
  • Automatically skips ahead on indexing if a sound would be indexed < 3.
  • Does not yet support non Z-Machine/Glulxl game files, and the latter needs testing.
  • Has for now very bare-bones IFID support, enough to please WinFrotz and let it show an About this game screen.
Example JSON blurb that I use to develop this with 
{
	//target must be specified for now, may later decide from main game file if missing
	"target": "fowd.zlb",
	"files": [
		//main game must be first in this list.
		"fowd.z5",
		//can use block syntax like this too:
		//{ "type": "exec", "src": "fowd.z5" },
		{
			"type": "picture",
			"index": 1, //can be left out, 
			"src": "title.png",

			"ratios": [ 1, 0, 0 ] //allow scaling, but don't care by how much
			//defaults to all zeroes (don't scale)
			//three numbers is shorthand, expands to six:
			//[ 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1 ]
			//so 1/1, 0/1, 0/1
			//single number is also allowed:
			//[ 2 ] --> [ 2, 2, 2 ] --> [ 2,1, 2,1, 2,1 ]
			//all that is only used if there's a resolution block
		},
		//alt text, also for sound resources.
		{ "src": "landscape.png", "alt": "A beautiful landscape." },
		{ "src": "cover.jpg", "cover": true }
		//last pic to say it's the cover wins

		//placeholder rect support:
		{ "type": "rect", "size": [ 32, 32 ] },
		{ "index": 3, "src": "sun_sex_girls.mod" }
		//shorthand rects are just a two number array:
		[ 32, 32 ],
		//
		"sun_sex_girls.mod",
		"another.png"
	],
	//optional, causes a Reso chunk to appear with ratio info for all pics.
	"resolution": {
		"standard": [320, 200],
		//min max may be left out, will default to match standard.
		"minimum": [320, 200],
		"maximum": [320, 200]
	},
	"meta": {
		//**work in progress**
		//id is generated on the fly if missing.
		"id": "A7B0CE51-AF32-4134-9C76-CCE0848F5A1B",
		"title": "Farrah's Ordinary Work Day",
		"headline": "A Demo Drabble",
		"author": "Kawa",
		"description": "Mew?"
	}
	//you can also do "meta": "gameinfo.xml" if you want,
	//or an embedded XML document if you're a nutcase.
}

And yes, my JSON library supports comments. DWI.

I tested all this by comparing the output from kBlorb to that of my cBlorb/blorbtool mashup. As it is now, it fits my personal needs just fine. Hell, I didn’t even want an IFID

This is not yet fit for release so there’s no download links or whatever yet. I still need to add textual feedback, some error handling and all that. Then we’ll talk.

But besides that, what features do you feel must be supported, and which would be nice to have?

Edit: frick it, I put it on github. No binaries yet though, maybe after I add alt text support to media.
Edit 2: RDes support via alt properties is in.

6 Likes