How do I add new buttons to the menu?

[Banjo Oz]

I can see how to use the UI Interface tool to add buttons to the game when it's running normally, but how do I add new buttons to the menu that appears when a player clicks the menu button?

When I try to edit the Menu (via "Game Settings -> Menu -> Edit Menu"), I can't figure out how to add a new button. :(

Is this currently only possible by editing the html file? (a guess, I've not tried this yet)

[jay_rab]

I believe that adding additional menu items would still require you to update it via the html file like shown in this example with adding the backlog as a menu item: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=434496296

[Banjo Oz]

Originally posted by jay_rab:

I believe that adding additional menu items would still require you to update it via the html file like shown in this example with adding the backlog as a menu item: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=434496296

Thanks, that's what I was planning to do, but the tutorial helps even more. :)

That said, I do think something basic like this should really be added to the program rather than making users edit the html files. I don't mind some really complex features requiring workarounds and manual editing of files, but adding new buttons to the main menu seems like it should be part of the UI tool or a similar "WYSIWYG" method, IMO. Hopefully something the devs can look at in an update?

Failing that, how about just adding Backlog, Config and Gallery buttons to the menu (maybe disabled by default), as I'd imagine those are all most people would want to add unless making a more complex RPG type game?

[jay_rab]

We love the idea of having a complete system that is WYSIWYG and have slowly been moving in that direction, first it was allowing users to create a simple visual novel just with components and previews, we heard alot of feedback at that time about making variables more assessable so in the next update following that we introduced a variable manager, built in if statements for the jumps, and components to process them, we included the backlog and the user interface in the next one, visual ptext in the next (text on screen without using tyranoscript), read text in the one after that, and call and return components as well as the pan camera tool in the last update.. to were we are now with the menu editor, themes, config, and other pages.

In most cases the objects included in the release were related to what the community really was struggling with at the time and was hitting a brick wall, but also they have been stepping stones for us to continue to polish the software, the user interfaces editor was a big component in helping us come up with. The menu, save, load, and backlog, editor we have in the game settings now is based off that design, and now that we have editors for the menus we will use that to progress it even further.

With all that being said though currently the config menu can not be added to the menu screen, the way it is structured doesnt allow for nesting very well at all. So the call and return functions lose their place and we are looking into another way of handling the config to allow for this but its not doable in the current update.

[Banjo Oz]

Originally posted by jay_rab:

We love the idea of having a complete system that is WYSIWYG and have slowly been moving in that direction, first it was allowing users to create a simple visual novel just with components and previews, we heard alot of feedback at that time about making variables more assessable so in the next update following that we introduced a variable manager, built in if statements for the jumps, and components to process them, we included the backlog and the user interface in the next one, visual ptext in the next (text on screen without using tyranoscript), read text in the one after that, and call and return components as well as the pan camera tool in the last update.. to were we are now with the menu editor, themes, config, and other pages.

In most cases the objects included in the release were related to what the community really was struggling with at the time and was hitting a brick wall, but also they have been stepping stones for us to continue to polish the software, the user interfaces editor was a big component in helping us come up with. The menu, save, load, and backlog, editor we have in the game settings now is based off that design, and now that we have editors for the menus we will use that to progress it even further.

With all that being said though currently the config menu can not be added to the menu screen, the way it is structured doesnt allow for nesting very well at all. So the call and return functions lose their place and we are looking into another way of handling the config to allow for this but its not doable in the current update.

Thanks for the detailed reply. As a newcomer to TyranoBuild, it's interesting to hear about how far its come already, and *extremely* nice to hear about the dev team engaging with and responding to users' requests and issues.

I can quite accept "small steps" are needed in some cases, in terms of adding new or needed features, or improving the interface. As you said, adding the UI tool hopefully means unifying a few elements that are scattered in odd places (such as the menu icon), due presumably to the way they were added bit by bit), as well as adding little things that are missing (such as menu button position). Certainly big issues take time to resolve, but I hope we see some small things (e.g. fixing the quake issue, adding backlog or custom menu buttons via WYSIWYG) will come soon. :)

As an aside... to be honest, the big question for me in regards to buying TyranoBuild on stumbling across it was "why not use one of the many free alternatives instead"? In the end, I bought TB out of curiosity (it's actually reasonably priced, unlike some "makers"!) and am now very glad I did as I really like the program and find it fun to use.

However, from the perspective of most potential customers "on the fence", I see TB's biggest selling points (especially compared to free alternatives) are:
1) Ease of use. Very much a part of TB already, but the main reason I feel strongly (and am glad you do to) about making as much of the creation process WYSIWYG as possible.
2) Active development and response to customer/user requests and feedback. The fact you folks listen to your users and then actually try your best to implement what they need is really fantastic, and IMO makes TB stand out even more than it's ease of use.

TL:DR - thanks for continuing to respond to user requests and continuing to support/improve TyranoBuilder! I know a lot of stuff I/we want is being worked on, and appreciate it! :)

[jay_rab]

Thanks for your nice reply and we are glad we can relay that information, personally we like to be transparent as much as we can and not lead people on, and many time that results in saying to some potental users that tyranobuilder falls on some points just because its very much a work in progress even though we feel were it is now is leaps and bounds ahead of were other tools are which was one of the reasons to get it into users hands like yourself and I am always amazed to here about first time developers starting out with tyranobuilder to get their feet into the gaming industry.

That being said, with all the time I have been with this developer, they do tend to perfer to have large packed updates, vs releasing small updates which have small fixes and requests, in part due to how it can distrupt those currently developing games and the other part just liking to show alot of work that went into the updates.

[Banjo Oz]

As a consumer/user, I prefer "small and often" updates. As an artist and game maker myself, I totally understand "less frequent but major updates". :)

In any case, thanks to your tutorial, I got a backlog button working. Now to mess around with other menu customization possibilities!

For others reading this thread looking to do the same thing, I've uploaded my own pre-edited files as a "demo" to my blog:

https://banjosmods.wordpress.com/2017/08/27/tyranobuilder-backlog-button-in-menu

Just unpack the download there to your own project folder to use, though read the whole post first to avoid overwriting something by accident!