No need to keep up with SpriteDeck. From what I saw you beat them hands down. Use Gumbo for your own games and enhance it while you go. That how I will do it. [import]uid: 5712 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24279[/import]
Yes, you’re right. The good part with buildning your own tool is that if you need a function you just implement it. There are still a couple of functions that must be implemented, but overall you can get a lot of work done with it. Look at lots and lots of real game studios - they make their own tools (even though many also buy their tools and engines).
I’m not really that thrilled about SpriteDeck. I’ve even bought a license, but everytime I try to use it I just get irritated for some reason, so I open up Gumbo and make the same layout twice as fast. Sure, it might be because I’m so much more familiar with it, but I do get the impression that Gumbo is much easier to use, even if it’s not as pretty.
[import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24282[/import]
Nerder, you built a tool that people found useful. Don’t give up so easily. Why not just keep polishing it and eventually come out with a paid pro version. I know a really good UX designer. She’s not cheap but she could help bring your tool to a pro level. Competition is always healthy for the community.
You can reach me at zee@spritedeck.com if you need help. Btw, let me know what bothers you about SpriteDeck and I’ll try my best to fix it.
Zee [import]uid: 6463 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24522[/import]
Just keep oon doing what your doing and polish it up a bit and you will have a sale worthy app very soon. I tried spritedeck and others but for some reason even with the niggles I prefer Gumbo myself.
Been busy coding so have been quiet recently but am always watching to see what other features you add.
Mike [import]uid: 9950 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24528[/import]
@zeeyang: Thank you for your feedback. The look of Gumbo is not really a high priority at the moment, and I’m sure I could make it prettier if I spent a few days on it. Then again, I guess most people using Corona are Mac people, and we all know that Mac people love a great interface (including myself).
I guess what bothers me about SpriteDeck, is that I’m more of a programmer than a interface designer. My primary use for a tool such as Gumbo or SpriteDeck is to quickly add my GUI then add code to it, and I feel that there are more steps involved for doing this in SpriteDeck. Plus it generates a lot of code that I really didn’t ask for. SpriteDeck seem to be more targeted against the general user, where Gumbo is more targeted against programmers, i.e. how I’d like such an application to work myself.
I’ll probably use both Gumbo and SpriteDeck in the future though. SpriteDeck has some great features for handling sprites and animations, which I’m sure will come in handy, so I guess I’ll do a bit of copying and pasting from both of the applications. [import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24551[/import]
@Nerderer: I’m more of a visual person than a coder. I’ve tried both SpriteDeck and Gumbo, and I have to say I really prefer Gumbo. It’s a lot easier for me to use and it gives me exactly the code I want. I’ve sent you a small donation in the hope that you’ll keep Gumbo up and running! [import]uid: 35706 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24759[/import]
Yes, I got an email from Paypal. Thanks a lot!
I continue to develop Gumbo. In fact I have an upcoming version, which probably will be released today or tomorrow. The main new feature is that it’ll finally get support for setting the depth/z-index of objects, so you can move them forward and backward in layers. I think it’s one of the most needed things that Gumbo is currently missing. [import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24904[/import]
A Short review of Gumbo on ReviewMe.oz-apps.com
http://reviewme.oz-apps.com/2011/02/i-am-alergic-to-seafood-but-i-love.html
[import]uid: 3826 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24923[/import]
Showing my support for Nerderer and Gumbo. Please keep going with it. I plan on using it for an upcoming project which would have otherwise been cumbersome to do with just code, drawing on paper and continually figuring out precise placement of each object. This definitely makes rapid development… rapid…er. Thanks for making it and sharing it. 
[import]uid: 10622 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24927[/import]
Yes i am very excited about the Layer/Depth control! One other thing that i have thought about is maybe the option to be about to zoom your main view in and out? my levels get rather large and it would be nice to be able to zoom out and see a full view. If this is a easy fix, then great, if its not, dont worry about it, ill live =D [import]uid: 19620 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24938[/import]
@jayantv: Great review! Made my day. But - your link is wrong. It goes to nerder.com, but the real domain is nerderer.com. Just a bit more nerd than nerder.
And you should probably link directly to the application, and not to the start page:
http://www.nerderer.com/Gumbo/
[import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24937[/import]
I tried out Gumbo and it was very easy to get the hang of it. It was straight forward. It is missing some pieces but from what I can see it appears it’s gaining a bit of a following. Great work Nerderer.
I wrote a personal review about SpriteDeck and while the approach was a bit different it too was easy to use. It does have more features and functions to offer. As Zee said, good to see some competition and great to see the prevailing positive attitudes here about it.
[import]uid: 8045 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24949[/import]
So, a new version has been uploaded. What’s in it:
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You can now move objects forward and backward in layers. Just right click on objects to change this. What it will do with the Lua code is that it simply generates the objects according to the layers, starting with the bottom.
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The console now syntax highlights the generated Lua code. This should make it easier to read, if you just want to copy parts of it. I’ve changed it to read-only, but I think that’s okay since it really wasn’t meant for input.
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A little bit cleaner code. Objects that aren’t resized won’t generate code for width and height. No need for it. [import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24989[/import]
Great,
Thanks Nerderer.
I updated the shimp for you.
[import]uid: 6762 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 24995[/import]
@Nerderer, how do you create a mac executable using silverlight. I understand it has to be a webkit enclosed in a native app housing a browser, right?
cheers,
Jayant C Varma [import]uid: 3826 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 25078[/import]
Gumbo is getting better and better!
Been using it for creating my levels and works fantastic, just generating enough code to set everything up.
One question though, is it possible to create display groups within Gumbo or could this be a feature request.
Thanks for your hard work!
[import]uid: 33866 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 25098[/import]
snice! [import]uid: 8045 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 25122[/import]
@mrmdesign: Thank you. Looks really good! At a quick glance they might look the same, but the gradients and shadows really makes it a lot better. And I like that you gave it a mouth - now he looks like a happy shrimp. I’ll try to remember to change it in the next version.
@jayantv: There’s built in support in Silverlight 4 to install your application to the computer. You’ll just have to set some settings, then you’re good to go. I think it just wraps the Silverlight application file (xap) in an executable, and when you run it the Silverlight runtime is started with a reference to the file you want to run. I have no idea if it really runs in a browser window.
@cl-apps: First of all - thank you for your generous donation! I really appreciate it!
At the moment there’s no support for groups. There is an easy workaround though, using the Custom Code property. Adding a line like this should get most of the work done:
myGroup:insert(#this#)
Using the keyword #this# makes it easy to copy to other objects within the same group, since it will be replaced by the object name when generating the Lua code.
In the generated code you’d then have to manually insert the code for creating the group, or you’ll get a crash:
local myGroup = display.newGroup(); [import]uid: 13180 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 25177[/import]
Excellent advice, I hadn’t realised you could put #this# and it would auto add the object name.
This gave me the idea to expand on this and have maybe have a transparent 1 x 1 pixel png at both ends of my Gumbo file and use them to add boilerplate code for my level, saving me further time!
Haven;t tried this yet but I assume this would work although I’d lose the reference aid #this# as the object would be useless. [import]uid: 33866 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 25266[/import]
One quick question, I’m working with some oversized images which measure 1000px in height and width and laying them out as a level which will eventually scroll. However, I add just two images and set them to touch each other and set both not to resize etc in the simulator there is a large gap indicating the coordinates are wrong.
Have I discovered a bug or is there a way to use larger, off the main stage images within Gumbo?
[import]uid: 33866 topic_id: 5505 reply_id: 25268[/import]