Ideas for later versions
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53 thoughts on “Roadmap and Feedback”
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This is the future !
No joke. Makers of the future will be CODERS and this platform is amazing.
First, the re-use of BASIC is genius because it’s a language that is relying very much on simple logic tricks. I grew up in it as a child and only now realize how charming it is :-)
Second, and more important, is the new experience of coding ON the device that runs the ‘app’. It makes for a very intimate and simple, self contained experience.
I think this amazing idea should evolve into a
A full programming language. Keeping it simple but adding stuff like all your really great ideas for version 4.0.
I hope you will give a thoughr to somehow incorporating touch more.
I can easily imagine this new hybrid,
Maybe even getting info from sensors?
Anyway, you made my year :-)))
Please keep this going
Regards
Yair
Thanks a lot!
I don’t really want to make free touch control as I want to keep compatibility with external game controllers. Although probably I’m the only one who owns one (Apple should allow cheaper game controllers, nobody needs pressure sensitive buttons for mobile games…).
Anyway I was thinking already about different gamepad layouts, even without visible buttons. For example dividing the screen in zones, which would still be checked with the existing UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT functions. For example “LowRes Racing” could be controlled by touching the left and right screen halves, without losing compatibility with game controllers.
Sensors don’t really fit into the retro idea of LowRes Coder, but I agree that a lot of new ideas would be possible. I will keep that in mind.
Using sensors as an option is quite charming. For some stuff it could be nice to use touch sensors or tilt sensors. :-)
I really like the simple iPad programming environment that you have created, this is excellent.
But I totally have to agree with Yair about missing features — the first thing that strikes me is the absence of touch and tilt inputs. Almost *no one* has a game controller, but *everyone* using this environment has an iPad. What if I don’t want to make a retro game, but want to do some other simple programming?
The language really needs simple touchx, touchy, tiltx, tilty functions for sensing tilt and touch anywhere on the screen.
A 128×128 mode is also badly needed, but I totally agree that sprite definitions need to stay nice and simple.
At the moment my idea is, that LowRes Coder simulates a classic game console. This may change in the future, supporting more input types like touch and keyboard (INPUT command…), but it’s not priority for me yet.
A 128×128 screen mode is high priority for V5.0! :) It’s not a simple change, because I want to use OpenGL for rendering. The current renderer is too slow for higher resolutions.
Hey this is for Low fi composer in low res will it end up with the famitracker feel to it like u can make your own Instruments Li,e with appregio volume and type or pitch and more basic instruments with more options
When there will be new sound options in LowRes Coder, I will update LowFi Composer, too. But I’m not sure yet if I make a real sound editor or just more presets.
Hi, have you ever thought about porting LowRes Coder to the Mac? I mean, coding on the iPhone/iPad ist nice, but it would be cool, to you a real keyboard.
I thought about it, but for me it’s not that important at the moment and I have limited time. But you can connect any Bluetooth keyboard to an iPad already (and I guess to an iPhone, too).
Hi :)
First, thank you so much for this wonderful app!! :) my first experience was on an apple2e computer with green screen and a boot up floppy disk…
Second, I am running your app on an iPod 5, and it is difficult copying code the starts on the left border… A way to keep the text from this edge would be wonderful (I know I could manually put in the space with the keyboard but it can be tricky as u type and edit quickly)
Third, I am making text graphic games like I did on the old apple2e (the text character as a graphic instead of a Sprite) but was sad when I found out the printing a blank space does not write over or erase any previous text.
Using text characters as if they were graphics makes the code easy and quick … My work around is to draw a bunch of black lines (as I could no draw a solid Black box, fill won’t erase the existing text) maybe a solid font set??
Minor fourth thought, I love your text which are all the same block sizes, but they must be placed per pixel location, not text location … For example text location 2,2 is 16,16 pixel location… It’s easy to work around that issue, so no problems , it is just more a comment of how the retro programming was…
Overall I am in love with your app, and thank you!! :)
I’m happy to hear that you like it :)
2. It would be easy to put some space around the text, but then we had even less space for the actual text, so I’m not sure about it. I might do some experiments…
3. TEXT always renders with transparent background. PRINT clears it, but you cannot set the cursor position for it. Never really thought about using text as graphics. At the moment the easiest approach might be clearing and redrawing the complete screen for every frame. Anyway, you can use the BAR command to fill/clear rectangles.
4. I grew up with the Commodore Amiga, it didn’t have a pure text mode anymore, so even text rendering was already bitmap based :) The TEXT command is thought as a graphics command (so it’s pixel based), while PRINT is more for “classic” text output. I thought about a LOCATE command to move the text cursor, but didn’t find a real reason in the end. So for text-graphics it could be nice, but my PRINT implementation has a delay (I like the slow text output), which may make it useless for it. Another thing I could experiment with.
When the new backend is ready I want to focus on simplifying things. I think the most important thing is, that beginners can use sprites, pictures and music more easily.
BAR. Wow, how did I miss that.. That works great! :)
I tried combining text and print commands and they are independent of each other… I was hoping text would alter where print started but it doesn’t…
I just thought of an idea… If u had one more space for an extra character in your font set, make a text a solid block 8×8 .. One could then use it to draw over an existing text character.. U could put it in an unused character like [ … Apple dos had quite a few graphical characters, basically fancy lines, to dress up the the spaces on the screen
My text games can be like Yatzee, or more fun are maze games, where each area of the maze is represented by a text character…
I am currently working on a small dice game with the theme of feeding zoo animals, and hope to get it finished soon… Will post and share with everyone when it’s ready :)
Thanks for the help and replies :)
I actually have an idea how to modify PRINT a bit (and add LOCATE) to allow your game style without losing my original ideas. Maybe I’ll make a mini update soon.
Yea \(^_^)/
I rethought my layout in my game and have got the layout functioning well… I just need to add the guts of the game now… Main game, computer players, and weighted running high scores…
I’ll hold off on text maze games until ur next update … I very excited about this app, it’s wonderful fun :)
Finished my game, it’s called feed the zoo animals.. I’ve uploaded up to the community.. I’ve tested it and it plays well.. I hope I’ve uploaded ok …
Hi there,
Is it possible to download this app for a Windows 8.1 computer and work on it on a computer?
Thanks for reading this. Any hel[p on this would be appreciated, as I would love to be able to code and this app came recommended by a magazine. Thanks.
Hi!
Sorry, LowRes Coder is only available for iPhone and iPad.
Hi Aiden,
For Windows u can try game maker, but it takes great effort to make it available for multiple devices.
That’s what’s so cool about this app, u can code, play, and share all from this app… Ez and tons of fun :)
Did u know that this app’s built in editor accepts pasting? U can use another app like NOTES to type in code, then copy paste it into the apps editor…
I’ve discovered a bug:
It happens rarely, but as I rerun my code over and over to tweak changes, I’ve come across this bug a few times
And perhaps I instigate it but quitting and rerunning rapidly to give a test several runs to observe changes to saved variables…
But, the bug occurs when rerunning the game, and instead of a black blank as it thinks before the game starts, it will show a blank red screen… If u stop execution at this point then rerun, it runs normally but your saved (persistent) variables reset to zero…
Ok, I verified it wasn’t the red screen that clears the persistent variables… It Ed screened on me and I let it play on… The sounds of the game ran as normal but the red screen prevented the graphics of the game to be seen… Upon replaying the persist variables remained
So I tried running, exiting before the game really started, than reran… This time the persist variables zeroed out
Hi,
The bug with the red screen is known. I know to what it is related, but it never happened to me, so I currently don’t know how to fix it. As it’s not critical (as long as it doesn’t clear variables!), it has low priority for me.
Thanks for reporting anyway! :)
I love this app so much, I’m happy to help in any way :)
I have a thought, would it be possible to have tabs ? I’m guessing, not… But for bigger games it would help organize code
Another thought , could “undo” be possible , I made backup copies for any horrific accidents I’ve had so I gave a work around for that…
Just some thoughts, I’m really enjoying it as it is :)
I prefer keeping the idea of “one program = one source file” and a simple editor, it’s thought for smaller programs anyway (although I’m happy to see big projects!).
“Undo” is already built into iOS, just shake your device a bit. On the iPad there are also “undo” buttons on the keyboard. I had the idea of keeping automatic backups some time ago, but it’s kind of a “pro” feature and I want to focus on other things at the moment. I don’t have a lot of time to work on this app at the moment :/
Hey thanks for the tip on the shake undo feature :)
I never cared for auto backups… I do that manually by created numbered versions once I get to a “stopping” point in the code where the thing I was working on finally works well, and I save that separately before adding or changing new things… Auto backups I’ve never used
However, a tabbed editor (they could all be assembled into one file) as an upgrade for a fee would be something I’d pay for… For longer code it’s very nice esp. I believe my last version of basic created a new tab for each new label… If I remember correctly…
But, ultimately what u have now is actually VERY cool and very fun!!! The ease of the language and most importantly the community u provide makes it a wonderful experience… So I want to thank u :)
I understand time constraints and such, but as long as u have this app and community I hope to be able to contribute and participate… After I wrap up my last two games I want to explore everyone else’s stuff… Then I’d like to create a tutorial on text game coding which is my secret love ;)
Anyway, I’m a big fan of what u have here, domo arigato!
Did you discover already that you can touch the sidebar in the editor? There you can jump quickly to all labels.
Of course I’m happy for all suggestions, but at the moment I’m making this app in my spare time, so I need to have my own priorities to be happy ;)
Oh yea I found that sidebar by accident… It’s very cool :) the only downside when the code gets too long is when some of the labels are relatively close compared to the overall length of the code the close ones get put together and it only show the topmost one…. However sine they are close it isn’t hard to find them… I’m glad u have that feature as I do use it.. :)
And I understand about time and priorities… Coding for fun relaxes me, do I’ll be hanging around here … Anytime u offer here I count as a gift I greatly appreciate… Thank you \(^_^)/
I think you should make it so you can check your account from the website. I know it would benefit me because I don’t have access to my phone on weekdays.
It’s a nice idea, but it would be a lot of work to make it and I don’t have a lot of time and different priorities. Also as long as you can’t play the games on the website, its use would be a bit limited, I think.
Well that makes sense.
Never mind
So we definitely need a webport of the language :-)
Anyone there porting LowRes Coder to Javascript? :-)
I’m sure I’ve posted this already, but if it’s possible would buy a pro upgrade which had multitabbed pages of code, even though technically all one file, just a way to manage as well as copy paste reusable code (like mouse control or text Sprite loader) by copying one page from one game into another page in another game
Extra payed functions I won’t make, it would require too much work for the management of enabling them and it’s not the way I want to sell the app. That’s another story.
About new features in general: I have to think well about priorities. Currently I have very few spare time to work on this app. I think it’s much more important to work on non-pro functions, to make it easier for newbies.
Ah, makes sense…
you’ve made such a wonderfully fun app, I have confidence in your judgement
Thank you for all your hard work