Release

Easy Designer

Timo 2022-08-10 11:38 (Edited)

This is an idea I had for a long time: A simple version of the Gfx Designer for beginners.

• Only one palette
• No attributes
• Fix map size of 128x32 cells
• Only one Save button for everything
• No selection of different files
• No support for 16x16-pixel cell mode or big sprites
• Can not edit character #0
• Simple 1-color font as default
• Saves sound presets, if ROM #15 is empty

Keys:

• 1 2 - Switch tab
• W A S D / arrow keys - Scroll in map editor
• Z X C - Tool selection in map editor

Read more about the Easy LowRes concept: https://lowresnx.inutilis.com/topic.php?id=2547

SP4CEBAR 2022-08-10 12:10 (Edited)

That's amazing! It looks really clean!
I really like the "save all" feature, how many times have I exited GFX designer without saving some of the files, forgetting to save a character file is the worst

I also just wanted to say that my (at the time) 7-year-old sister learned how to use GFX designer, so it probably isn't that hard to learn, but this tool sure helps a new user to get the basics right. It looks way less overwhelming. Once a new user knows how to use it, GFX designer will feel somewhat familiar to them.

I also just wanted to share this bug report:

• when you are editing palettes, the "back" button doesn't work
• when changing the BG drawing mode the palettes of the underlying background are a bit off, this is not a problem for the functionality of the program, but it may not look as good

Timo 2022-08-10 13:20

Nice to hear :) The bugs are known and will be fixed eventually.

Maybe I will change the map size to 128x32 cells. Most scrolling games are more horizontal and it might be handy to have space for several screens next to each other. Also it works well in Pico-8...

SP4CEBAR 2022-08-10 14:26

Was lowresCoder inspired by Pico-8?

Timo 2022-08-10 14:29

When I created the original LowRes Coder app, I didn't know about Pico-8 or the whole "fantasy consoles" topic. Then I found it and decided to start again and created NX.

Timo 2022-08-10 14:49

I'm also working on a reduced manual with less commands. For graphics there will be only BG/CELL and text commands, no sprites, no pixel scrolling, no parallax. Like a DOS computer without graphics card...

The idea is to have a subset of LowRes NX which is easier for beginners and forces them to keep things really simple. Technically it's still the full LowRes NX, but looking at it from another perspective :)

Ericisonit 2022-08-10 17:05

It won’t just be for beginners, I like the idea of having a more limited toolset, it often times for me inspires more creativity. I feel more inspired running GFX designer on my phone than I would sitting down to adobe illustrator with a Wacom tablet and all the plugins or something.

Timo 2022-08-11 09:42

I fixed the known bugs and did some polishing. A 1-color font is now always set by default on page 4.

G-9 2022-08-11 10:54

wow that is so amazing

Timo 2022-08-16 09:53

I added saving of sound presets (0-7 pulse, 8-15 noise). So you can use the PLAY command easily in your programs.

SP4CEBAR 2022-08-16 10:09

That's a really nice addition