To Do list - anyone can edit

Hello-o Everyone!

I know I forget stuff. So many people give great ideas, ask for things. And then I forget.

Let’s make a to-do list so that we can easily, quickly and informally keep track of some of the ideas, my unfulfilled promises and progress on some things.

Rules:

  • This list is a Wiki, meaning anyone can edit
  • There is no formal way to make an entry. You have an idea/request, and want me to remember it? Make a note here.
  • Things will be done in random order, when possible
  • Other people are free to do stuff on the to-do list as well, just remember to make a note
  • To-do list is for short descriptions of bugs, requests, ideas etc. If you want to describe your idea in a lot of detail, make a note on the to-do list and then create a new topic for that subject (for example, using Platformio with PokittoLib)
  • Be patient!! Running the Pokitto project takes alot of time. Everything will eventually be done, it only takes time to get to some things

To-Do list

  • Tutorial for making a game, step-by-step
  • Update mbed online code examples with latest PokittoLib
  • Create an PokittoCookie manager that allows you to see the cookies that are saved and possible delete/copy them
  • File manager for making favourites lists etc
  • Make all Pokitto widgets (keyboard, menu etc) into similar style (PETSCII?)
  • Pok15 art contest (Pharap)
  • Some super simple step-by-step tutorials focussing on specific aspects of the API (Buttons, Display, Sound, PEX) and explaining a bit of the hardware and C++ on the way (Gho).
  • Confirm drawPixelRaw bug status
  • Add open-source/CC licenses to games/programs/materials that are meant to be shared and/or studied and/or modified.
  • Solve the outstanding issues with the library.
  • Provide electrical schematics
  • Make porting Arduboy games easier & port various Arduboy games (e.g. “Square Nose” by @JuiceLizard) (@Pharap & @JuiceLizard)
  • Split PokittoLib and PokittoSim into two repos?
  • Tutorial/overview/cheatsheet of Pokitto/ARM specifics for programmers who already know C++.
  • Fix the issues with the file APIs (@Pharap)
    • “Last I checked, writing with PFFS was broken” - @FManga
    • “SDFS’s seekdir is completely broken” - @FManga
    • “SDFS should only be used directly, never through fopen/fclose/etc. Looks like those leak memory.” - @FManga
    • “SDFS sets up an InterruptIn for the Card Detect switch… which is not connected (pinName = NC) on the Pokitto. I don’t think InterruptIn was meant to be used with NC, I have seen it interfere with other interrupts.” - @FManga
  • Resolve PokittoLib licensing issues.

Completed list

  • Find a suitable C++11-compatible IDE setup that runs on all OSes (Pharap) PlatformIO and Code::Blocks are available options.
  • post a working makefile here (@FManga)
  • New gamedisk (v09) with latest binaries (Jonne)
    - Add Loader code to GitHub (@Pharap)
  • Fix bug in loader when loading 80+ files (@Pharap)
  • change Piskel to generate .h header files directly

Tracker

  • Fix saving files in Tracker
  • Release PC version of Tracker
5 Likes

Should we put our names next to the suggestions/reminders?
And should we have some kind of mechanism for indicating which things people think are the most important?

Let’s just go with the flow and see what happens

Looks like we’re going to be ‘signing’ our additions.

i would like to chip off parts of this to-do list like tutorials and step by step guides but would need to know if theres a coss platform IDE we considering swapping to else ill just stick with good old mbed since it has served me well even with its limitations

I am busting my ass trying to get Platformio to work

I’m sure with a standard Arduino it works just fine but otherwise its a broken piece of … aaargh… Couple of hours in, I’ve gone through bug after bug after bug. Both in the mbed framework and in the Platformio core scripts.

Can’t even get the jLink to work.

Some other IDE’s have emerged. More on that soon.

I’d also like to do tutorials, but I keep inventing new projects for myself.

Also I think the priorities for me are:
Cross platform C++11 IDE -> New/Alternate PokittoLib taking advantage of C++11 -> Tutorials

If there’s no cross-platform IDE then there’s going to be limited users for a new or alternate library.
If the library changes after the tutorials, the tutorials have to be rewritten.

I appreciate the effort.
I really wish I knew more about it.

I feel that the gap preventing it working is a gap of knowledge - that it’s possible but none of us know enough how to.

Perhaps it’s worth signing up to the PlatformIO forums and asking for help?

The main reason I think PlatformIO would be useful is because:
A) It gives people flexibility with which editor they use (e.g. VSCode, Atom)
B) A lot of people already use and trust it, so it would be a good selling point

i just wish we had a working command line compiler but just using the arm-none-… watever is not enough or something, not sure why it has to be so complicated. we been fiddling with this problem since release pretty much

Being able to compile via command line would be a good start for getting other IDEs working, I agree with that.

It’s complicated because compilers and IDEs are complicated.
GCC has an incredibly long list of command line options.

That’s exactly what @FManga is doing. Perhaps he could explain the set-up?

I believe @FManga relies on make (or possibly cmake) to compile.
I’ve seen his makefile, but I never got round to learning make.
Maybe I’ll have another look at it again sometime.

theres a working Makefile around?

It was a working makefile. It broke at some point, I can post an updated version later if you’d like. I’ve only been testing on Linux, but it should work with Windows.

1 Like

@jonne: I think I can get Code::blocks to work, based on my makefile. Would that still be useful, considering the PlatformIO developments?

@adekto: Just remembered there’s a working makefile in PokittoLib/Examples/ZBoy. Use the one without an extension. Ignore the ones with .linux/.windows/.dos, those are the original zboy makefiles.

@JuiceLizard, I don’t really think ‘porting square nose’ belongs on this list because it’s not really something @jonne needs to think about doing.

Can I replace it with “make porting Arduboy games easier” instead?

That’s something we’ll hopefully be working towards now anyway since I’m hoping to port Minesweeper, @Vampirics would like to port LoveRush and we’ve still got that castlevania game to port (can’t remember it’s name, but fear not @TokyoBatman, we haven’t forgotten it needs doing) .

1 Like

I don’t mind, as long as its clearly marked as SOEP : someone else’s problem !! :wink:

2 Likes

I’ve had this idea:

Could we make a very simple (like static-HTML-simple), small, free Pokitto asset repository to help beginners get started… make life a little bit easier for them?

You’ve probably been there: you want to learn how this new platform works and just make a small game, or a prototype, tutorial, anything, and you just need a generic enemy sprite, or a ball image for that pong game, or a background to learn how to draw things, or you’re experienced and making a bigger game but just don’t have the nerves to create bazillion of small images for every rock and tree… You either have to go paint something yourself that takes that precious time you’ve allocated for this task, or go Google images that will be in various gigantic sizes and weird formats and colors and will most likely be copyrighted, and you’re just a beginner who knows nothing about converting graphics and copyrights and just wants to learn a bit of programming.

How about instead you have this single site full of images you’re likely looking for, in right sizes, using the Pokitto format and colors, and you can simply take it and use it because it’s public domain, just drag and drop it from the site into your folder and that’s it! Or maybe the image can even be downloaded as preconverted .h file.

For us it wouldn’t be so hard to do. I have a big personal collection of CC0 pixel art from sites like OpenGameArt. We could just select some generic, SFW ones, and maybe throw in a few custom, exclusive Pokitto-themed ones, which would in turn help Pokitto recognition. The goal would be to have only a relatively small collection – let’s say 100 images, that are quality, consistent, right format, dead simple to use, without any burden.

Together with the custom Piskel build that’s already in place I think it would help to create an even more welcoming place for new people. I’d volunteer to help of course.

EDIT:

Examples of some images:

For us it would be a matter of preprocessing the images manually (select, make cutouts, adjust) and automatically with some scripts (map to palettes, generate headers, …).

5 Likes