Yes, I just got confirmation via my email to GJ support that the total game size limit is now 3GB instead of the single GB it was thought to be in a public thread that addressed it over 11 years ago! While I definitely should have waited until the game was done to contact the support team, I'm glad I got this conformation as I now know the scope of what I can do for future games.
While I currently have no game plans that could use half that amount of data, I won't hold my breath just yet. I always opt for web builds if I can and I don't know if this also applies to to them, as heavier web builds tend to risk crashing quite a bit on certain browsers.
So with that, I would like to share some tips on kinda scaling the game size down in the event that you want to be prepared to upload a web build to multiple host sites with different restrictions:
Convert videos to WEBM format - it will drastically reduce the file size, while keeping most of the quality. For Ren'Py/Python devs, I've found this to be necessary as that is how videos will successfully play in a web build. WEBP can also reduce size of standalone images if needed.
TEST TEST TEST - in addition to having a dummy system in place while building your game, be sure to privately upload the entire build to a browser and then do your testing, there are a ton of bugs that will remain invisible until the game is uploaded (like a black screen when a video should be playing).
Make animations in engine if possible - mainly for the Ren'Py/Pygame devs, but if you have sprite animations or something like that, it's better to upload the pictures and use the code to animate them in place of uploading animations by themselves. It's perfectly okay for different movements to have poses in common, so it's a lot less weight on the game build.
Of course, there applies the most to Ren'Py and Pygame devs, so if you have advice of your own pertaining to a different engine, feel free to share in the comments (and be detailed cos I will take notes)!!!
I am super glad the game size has been updated as that allows us devs to use more of the advanced engines at our disposal to share our games here!
#gamejolt #gjsupport #advice #support #gamedev #webgame #f2p #renpy #pygame #unreal #unity #godot #gamemaker
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