[WIP] XHH Studio - coming soon to Windows/Linux/Mac!

[XHH]

UPDATE:

Here's an early picture of the software in action.


And here is what I did:
- I clicked XHHStudio.exe
- I added an object to the library
- Clicked object->code->onUpdate menu button
- added a few lines of lua code
- saved and pressed 'run'
- game pops up

And here is the love file it exports too:

project0.love

(6.01 KiB) Downloaded 206 times

The code for the objects can either use my custom framework/api/whatever or you can use good ol' love functions (like love.graphics.newImage).
There is also syntax higlighting.

It will also be able to turn the file into an executable form for windows,linux, or mac.
You can add things to the software like plugins and extra API functions.
This whole project probably won't be ready for at least another few weeks or so but I just wanted to show that I'm actually working on something.

Here's another image showing the menu for choosing which code to edit:

[Davidobot]

Awesome!!!

[XHH]

Awesome!!!

Thanks! Just want to get your deeper opinion.... is this something you would use or try out?

[Davidobot]

Awesome!!!

Thanks! Just want to get your deeper opinion.... is this something you would use or try out?

Ok does it have support for game states? How does it know when to update the object or not? Also, I really like the simplicity of it.

[XHH]

Ok does it have support for game states? How does it know when to update the object or not? Also, I really like the simplicity of it.

Well looking at the libarary you made, you probably know better ways of handling states,
but yes, this IDE supports game states. You add them like rooms in Game Maker. Oh and btw, there are no "room size" variables; the rooms are somewhat infinite.
You should check out the structure of the code in the love file I attached. Although most of it will be different in the final product, the love file will show you a general idea of the direction I'm heading.

UPDATE:
The IDE works on Windows and Linux (with just a couple os-specific bugs like file path management) and Mac will be available whenever .
So far the following big things have been implemented:

• -- Sprites : Easily change sprite speed, rotation, frame, and blend color
  -- States : As mentioned above. You just type something like ST.changeState("state_name") to change the state.

Things that will probably be added next:

• -- Collision callbacks (a big one for meh)
  -- Add font option to GFX.drawText
  -- Playing sounds
  -- PixelEffect (lol I'm really rushing to get this one done for some reason)

The entire IDE is about 13 MB so far. It can easily be moved to your flash drive so you can take it with you.
I'm also deciding between releasing an early beta version or releasing a version after making a game with it.

Please post your thoughts... actually let me clarify... Please don't reply with a statement about how you won't use it because you like to make your own environment with Vim and Gimp. I simply don't care that you still use a text editor. Reply with something more helpful towards the development of this project. ty.

[Davidobot]

Will thîs have a built-in image editor? What about a built-in sound editor? Also, good job on the update. Will you be able to export to any OS (Windows, Linux, Mac and Android)?

[XHH]

The animation editor goes as far as adding/previewing spritesheets and editing their hitboxes so far. omg, and the code for that part took most of my time, but it was well worth it ^_^

For adding a spritesheet you would do the following:
- Right click on object -> Edit Sprite
- Click add spritesheet
- Enter how many rows and columns. Then the number of frames. It also asks for a default animation speed.
- It adds the sprite and that's it.

Once I finish the collision manager, I can have an official update for hitboxes. So far, you can edit individual hitboxes for each frame of the animation and make it any shape you want... As soon as I get through this part I'll know... omg this one is gonna be a headache...

And yes it will be able to export to Windows, Linux, Mac and Android. Android, of course, will take longer. But I plan on making it so simple that it spits out a nice little .apk ready for use.

[Davidobot]

Good, very good. That's all of my questions, thank you for answering.

[litearc]

I think an IDE is exactly what Love needs. It makes the game development process far more user-friendly. I agree with raidho that to edit resources such as graphics and sound, external programs are better, but for game data such as maps, sprites, and animations, an IDE is far better than doing it in raw code. I don't, however, like non-transparent IDEs that add layers over lower-level game code. For example, if you specify in an IDE that when a bullet collides with a plane, destroy the bullet and decrease the health of the plane by 1, when exactly does this occur in the code, and how can you modify the behavior in certain cases? However, if the IDE simply outputs resources readable by your program and you handle the rest, that's great.

By the way, I'm actually working on a very similar program written in Qt but haven't made a topic for it yet. It'll be interesting to see what the reaction to that is. Anyway, good luck!

[XHH]

Yes you will use your favorite external editors like GIMP and Audacity. This IDE puts everything together and lets you worry about your ideas rather than syntax. And it still doesn't remove the low-level parts of LÖVE.

SMALL UPDATE
Here is an example of the library I am making along with this IDE.

Instead of typing:

Code: Select all

if love.keyboard.isDown('left') or love.keyboard.isDown('right') or love.keyboard.isDown('etc etc etc') then

you can type:

Code: Select all

if KEY.check('left','right','etc etc') then

KEY.check(keys) returns true if at least one of the keys provided is pressed down.
There is also KEY.checkAll(keys) if you want it to only return true if ALL the keys provided are pressed.

@xhhstuff

Even if you don't want to use cool library functions like that, you can still use the good ol' love functions.