Decrease the file size?
So I've added a lot, and a lot of transparent images (PNG) that are big. The game has always been a bit on the big size, but it's really starting to bloat. I did some test runs of converting the images to WEBP. The quality looks good without any degradation.
Convert to Webp is going to take about 4-7 days to update all the images (11,000 images) and update the code to use the new webp file names and test as many of the 11,000 images as I can.
I don't see any issues converting it all to webp (All PNGs and JPEGs) if you have an issue with webp let me know. I haven't tried doing such a large push to GIT, so those that do use it may notice the branch getting removed and starting the master branch fresh.
Game file size right now: 4.5 GB (At this rate it will probably end up around the 6GB size by the end)
Possible game size after decrease: 1.2 GB (Test folder was reduced by 77%)
Zip download will be even smaller
*note - added after - those that do play on pirate sites like game core will want the smaller size - if it gets too big they may stop hosting this game
Comments (12)
how will this change game performance?
It will improve it slightly. Mostly because smaller files get loaded faster.
Would a python script help to automate the change ? Something as: 1) convert all images , same name except webp 2) in the code replace all parts looking like... with... Let us know, some devs here
Mostly testing and rebuilding the git with a new branch, but testing
My main reason for voting yes was the file size, shitty wifi took three hours to download the last update. It unzipped in 10 min max
I was gonna say it's a whatever thing to do. Something to throw on the backburner. Something that should be on the "to-do later" list for maybe another few years. But then I thought, that it is something that is a sound time investment overall and should eventually be done anyway, and all images down the line could be added as webp upfront with no additional work. And the file does start to get a slightly bulky. So while it is not a strictly necessary time sink it would be an improvement, I'm switching my vote to yes. IMHO Go for it. But at the same time, it's not like it really matters THAT much. I think that you should decide that on your own. "Do I want a break from making stuff for the game and deal with file formatting instead to clean my head, or do I not want to lose my vibe and my flow right now, so maybe push that stuff back another month or two?" I think you know better what you wanna do with your game. I'll download it regardless if it's 1, 2 or 10 GB.
I'm totally in favor. However currently the vote is pretty much 50:50 so I would be interested to know the reason people vote against it.
Yeah. I was hoping the people that voted against would comment so I understood, but alas they haven't
Why not do a test run of both? This way those of us who are curious can see the difference and then hold the vote again
I can, I'll still have to spend a week creating a new game, updating the code and all the images to put out a test
PNGs to WEBPs is a no-brainer. Even at lossless quality (100%) it's still a big savings, and you can go lower if you need to. Even at 40-50% quality, the images will still look pretty good.
Yeah, that's why I put it to a vote. I didn't want to make the big change without the community agreeing.