Why Early Access?

“To allow people to try and give feedback. The tool generates a free-to-use animation format which will help a lot of indie devs that I currently know who are using this file format. The tool will be quickly used and feedback will help improve the final product and guarantee its success.”

Approximately how long will this software be in Early Access?

“Only a few short months. The final version is nearly complete. Ideally it will be Early Access for 1-2 months but it depends on how quickly I finish it.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The full version is polished visually using user-selectable themes to make it easier on the eyes. It also supports some meta-scripting management called "attributes" as well as supporting UGC comments by reading comment tokens. It's not much different beside those niche Quality-of-Life features.

BoomSheets full product shall contain all of the Early Access features and the following:
1. Attribute template creation - small one-liner scriplets that can be interpreted by programmers when the frame is reached
2. Attribute assignment - Selecting an element (animation state, frame, or point) can be given an attribute from the template selection list
3. Comments - Selecting an element (animation state, frame, or point) can be given a comment that will be written into the animation file. This feature also works in reverse, meaning that hand-made animation files will have their comments preserved
4. "Locate me" button - this opens the texture in the file explorer. This is a useful feature for graphics artists to make edits to their sprites
5. Command configure button - this opens a widget that allows the user to specify a program to run and any arguments to supply. Boom Sheets reserves special keywords to represent the animation data so that 3rd party programs can be fed stream of data from Boom Sheets dynamically and see updates in their programs instantly
6. Command execute button - runs the program with the arguments specified in the previous point
7. Select any element and move them up or down using right-click context menus. This allows users to organize their animation states and re-arrange frames easily without having to delete their hard work.
8. Bugs and crashes will be fixed from the early access that are discovered”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Upon purchase, BoomSheets Early Access executable has the following:
1. Unlimited animation files opened at once as new tabs
2. Drag-and-drop to load animation files
3. Drag-and-drop to swap texture files
4. Animation state creation, naming, and editing
5. Frame entry creation, editing, repositioning, resizing, flipping, and re-timing
6. "Blank" Frame entry types to indicate when nothing should display
7. Unlimited point management for frames
8. Interactive canvas to resize, move, select, delete frames in the active animation state
9. With a point selected + CTRL clicking on the interactive canvas repositions the point clicked
10. The interactive canvas is zoomable and draggable with right-mouse button held down
11. Animations can be previewed by clicking the red play button
12. Animations can be previewed with an overlay by loading an extra attachment onto a selected point
13. Animation previews can select different playback mode and optionally sync with their attachments
14. Boom Sheets allows for saving, saving as new file, and also compression which reduces the empty space in the provided texture and generates a new animation file along with a new texture that minimizes useless space
15. Boom Sheets comes with a "magic wand" selection tool that, when selected, intelligently creates a frame representing the best area of pixels for easy animation creation
16. Hold shift key down to select multiple frames at once. Multiple frames can be edited together at once.
17. Every action has a keyboard shortcut to make working with the tool easier and quicker”

Will this software be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“No changes to pricing.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“The community I know of is already involved and excited to use the "official" product. New adopters can be involved by joining my Discord for the tool or sending emails to the support email address provided.”