Godot-proposals: Add "Loading - Please Wait" text to HTML5 export loading screen.

[LillyByte]

Describe the project you are working on:
I export a lot of small, HTML5 games that are played by numerous people; especially by Twitch streamers, and I've encountered a simple, core issue affected by many who load HTML5 games exported by Godot.

Describe the problem or limitation you are having in your project:
After watching a large number people load my HTML5 games in their browsers (100s of people over time), most will initially close the game page because they think the page is frozen, even though the circle is still spinning. Many will remark that it's not working. The spinning circle alone is not recognized as a universal loading icon. I have to explain to them, "No, the circle means it's still loading, you have to wait for it to load."

Describe how this feature / enhancement will help you overcome this problem or limitation:
A little bit of text saying "LOADING PLEASE WAIT" underneath or above the spinning icon would go a long way in allowing end users to understand the game is loading and that it is not frozen.

Show a mock up screenshots/video or a flow diagram explaining how your proposal will work:
Just put some text above/below the spinning icon we currently have, and there you go.

Describe implementation detail for your proposal (in code), if possible:
I don't know how to do this.

If this enhancement will not be used often, can it be worked around with a few lines of script?:
It would be used in every single HTML5 export, as it would be on the loading page.

Is there a reason why this should be core and not an add-on in the asset library?:
It's for end-user clarity while loading Godot HTML5 exported games so people don't pre-emptively close them out thinking they are frozen.

[DleanJeans]

You can change the HTML to add the text after you export.

[LillyByte]

You can change the HTML to add the text after you export.

Great, if you're a web developer; terribly inconvenient if you're not, even less so if you have to re-do it every time you export (which for me, can be a dozen times in the run of a day).

There is no reason to not have a "Please Wait" message as defaulted on export.

[Calinou]

Great, if you're a web developer; terribly inconvenient if you're not, even less so if you have to re-do it every time you export (which for me, can be a dozen times in the run of a day).

While I agree with your proposal, you can just change the HTML template to avoid doing it every time :wink:

The Export dialog lets you choose a custom HTML template for each HTML5 preset.

There is no reason to not have a "Please Wait" message as defaulted on export.

Actually, there is: the message can't be easily localized…

It's probably not a dealbreaker, but some people may not like seeing an English message if they managed to fully translate their project in other languages.

[NHodgesVFX]

What about a progress bar with no message. I think that would get the message across that its loading.

[clayjohn]

@Calinou It should be possible to allow users to input a custom string that gets inserted right? That way we get around the localization issue.

[Calinou]

@NHodgesVFX This is what we currently have while the project is downloading. It seems it doesn't convey a clear meaning to some people out there :slightly_frowning_face:

@clayjohn Maybe, but I'd still prefer having localization built-in. It's likely doable with a bit of JavaScript; the issue is that it'd be tedious to integrate with a translation platform like our Weblate. I guess we could accept pull requests for translations instead.

Proper localiaztion support also makes it possible to support multiple languages at once.

[NHodgesVFX]

@NHodgesVFX This is what we currently have while the project is downloading. It seems it doesn't convey a clear meaning to some people out there 🙁

@clayjohn Maybe, but I'd still prefer having localization built-in. It's likely doable with a bit of JavaScript; the issue is that it'd be tedious to integrate with a translation platform like our Weblate. I guess we could accept pull requests for translations instead.

Proper localiaztion support also makes it possible to support multiple languages at once.

Oh your right I see the progress bar. Another issue I noticed is once the game downloads the user still has to wait for the initial scene to load in. During this time the screen is black with nothing shown, would it be possible to have an option to show a spashscreen while waiting for the first scene to be loaded. Here is an example https://codegoons.itch.io/go-farm-yourself-web .The game loads fine but takes a while for the initial scene to load.

[nezvers]

Very often that black screen after loading is staying for a long time and that for sure is killing the joy.

[Calinou]

@nezvers This is probably due to engine initialization taking a while – it's a large .wasm binary after all. I'm not sure how much this could be optimized. Since this happens before the engine is actually initialized (to my knowledge), this means we have to use some other method to display a splash screen – we can't reuse the splash screen defined in the Project Settings.

[LillyByte]

Could something be added to the output of the HTML file itself while the engine initialization is happening that rolls out a custom loading screen until it is initialized?