.music files should have an "author" entry.

[bruhmoent]

Presently, the identity of the composer behind the game's soundtrack might pose as an enigma. Simplifying matters, it would be highly convenient to incorporate an author designation. This could take the form of something like:

(supertux-music
(file "forest-cave.ogg")
(author "Marek Moeckel")
(loop-begin 0)
(loop-at 149)
)

[Vankata453]

In my opinion, this attribution should show up when hovering over .music files in the FileSystemMenu, if it's available.

[tobbi]

I'm not sure. .music files are only used to denote start and end.

[tylerandari13]

While im not sure if it should be in the file itself there should at least be a spot in the credits for all the music and who made it.

In my opinion, this attribution should show up when hovering over .music files in the FileSystemMenu, if it's available.

If it can be pulled off i think it would be cool.

[Vankata453]

I'm not sure. .music files are only used to denote start and end.

Should they have to only note that? If necessary, they could provide more details about the music file.

[mrkubax10]

They could provide more details about the music file.

True.

[jamescdericco]

I started work on this issue in the branch 2617-music-author of my fork.

[jamescdericco]

I finished making a UI mockup for this. I would like your feedback before starting implementation. Do you all like this or is there anything you prefer added, subtracted or adjusted?

UI Design Mockup

In the design below, we display music metadata, including author, when hovering over music files in the hover "help text" below the menu:

This "help text" area is currently used by the SuperTux Options submenus which display additional explanation when hovering over options. I'm thinking that we could also use this help text area for displaying music metadata.

I also want to propose displaying the original titles of songs in addition to their authors, where the info is available, so that users can find the original song online, and so authors can display the original name of their work. We can store the title and author metadata as a "title" and "author" fields each ".music" files, and each of these are optional: when the information is not in the .music file, SuperTux will just not display that field in the UI.

If the "title" field is not available, but only "author" is, the hover info could look like this:

If no "title" or "author" is available, the hover info does not display at all.

And if just the "title" is available, we could display that too in quotes in the hover info.

Additional Designs Considered

I also considered adding the music metadata inline in the music filesystem menu itself, but this idea may be too large and cluttered:

[Vankata453]

In the design below, we display music metadata, including author, when hovering over music files in the hover "help text" below the menu:

Personally, I like how this first design looks. Only thing I'm not sure is needed is the music filename being listed in the description, despite it already being used for the menu item text.

[jamescdericco]

In the design below, we display music metadata, including author, when hovering over music files in the hover "help text" below the menu:

Personally, I like how this first design looks. Only thing I'm not sure is needed is the music filename being listed in the description, despite it already being used for the menu item text.

I also felt that repeating the music filename at the bottom could be extraneous, but there is one reason why we may want it there. With the music filename at the bottom, the user can keep their eyes focused only at the help text at the bottom as they navigate the menu with the up and down arrow keys. Without the filename there, the user may have to move their eyes back and forth between the middle and bottom of the screen more often. Also, there is also a case where only "by AUTHOR" appears in the text, which may be a bit too terse and confusing without the added context of the music filename.

The music filename does look a bit weird on its own line. If we keep it, I will add emphasis (use blue font or some other method) so it looks like the subject of the help box.

[Vankata453]

Was thinking that, because usually, help texts are used to add additional information, which extends what the menu item text says. Kind of like a title and a description.

[jamescdericco]

I tried a UI design where the filename was emphasized using a big font and activetextcolor (blue stroke). But I see your point @Vankata453, it may be better to be more consistent with the rest of the app by not repeating the menu item text. I think I'll take your suggestion @Vankata453, and remove the music filename headline from the hover help text.

In the case where a song has no title (or unknown title) but does have a known author, we can display the base filename in place of the song title like this example:

"jewels by Test Author"

Here is the UI design I tested today:

When the song has no title, but does have an author:

[Vankata453]

In the case where a song has no title (or unknown title) but does have a known author, we can display the base filename in place of the song title like this example:

"jewels by Test Author"

Sounds good to me!

[jamescdericco]

Thanks @Vankata453! That should settle all the UI requirements (so no filename headline in the hover text). Now I will start the real implementation of this. I anticipate reporting back with a pull request sometime next week.

[MatusGuy]

Great work man 💪

[jamescdericco]

Thanks @wansti for the data and all your music! It's added to the PR now.

The remaining list of missing music fields is:

• christmas_theme has no author, license or title info on it.
• music/retro/classic is missing author and license.
• ice_music and worldmap_old both by ZhayTee are missing licenses.

I'm not blocked by this missing data, but adding it where we find it is great.

[jamescdericco]

My pull request #2674 is ready for review!

This pull request also includes a separate commit that fixes the display of long help texts (>4 lines) that occur for song music files. This commit changes the alignment of the menu item help text display to anchor at the bottom of the screen, preventing the help text from growing past the bottom of the screen.