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Welcome one and all! To the weekly...

🐸🔑 TODEPOND TIMES 🐸🔑

What's new this week?

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I've been working hard on getting CellPond ready for the next video! And there have been some big changes to how the user-interface works!

To recap... CellPond lets you make 'rules' that control how the simulation works. For example, you can make a rule that makes sand fall downwards. To enable the rule, you have to 'lock' it in. When it's locked, the rule can't be edited, and it will start to happen in the world!

It's like there are two modes:
🐸 UNLOCKED (for EDITING the rule)
🐸 LOCKED (for RUNNING the rule)

And this sucks! It's really annoying having to switch between the two modes, and I often forget what mode I'm in (causing mistakes).

So I've made a change: Now, all rules can be edited at any time, and they're always running. You can still turn them off/on by clicking the arrow in the middle, but this doesn't lock them up at all.

I'm enjoying how much smoother the new system feels! And... the fact that rules are 'on' by default has caused me to accidentally come across new behaviours+effects. It's been a fun way of discovering new kinds of simulation!

Unslotted

I've also improved the way that you construct rules in CellPond. Rules are made up of little 'diagrams' that show different cells what to do. The left-hand-side shows what to look for... and the right-hand-side shows what to change it into. It's like a 'before-and-after' picture!

Previously... you chose the 'shape' of the diagram by placing squares on the left-hand-side. After that, you could fill in those slots on the right-hand-side. Editing rules followed this rigid path...

1. Make the left-hand-side!
2. Make the right-hand-side!

However... I found that this isn't how people actually use CellPond. In reality, you might end up placing something on the left, then the right, then the left, then the right, then remove something from the left, and so on...

Basically, there's no strict order to how to make rules. And usually, the most enjoyable experiences come from going back-and-forth, tweaking a rule, seeing what happens, and tweaking some more. Most of the time, I don't know what kind of rule I want to make when I start making it! It feels more like exploration/play (rather than a fixed procedure).

So I've tried hard to allow the user to tweak any rule (however they want) (at any time)! It feels a lot smoother now, and I hope that encourages more tweaking+discovery!

Fidget Spinner

I've started making a new shape for CellPond, that looks a bit like a fidget spinner! It's one of the weirdest user-interfaces I've ever made, and I'm really excited about it! But... we're out of time! More on that next week :)

Thank you so much for all your support + feedback! I can't possibly express how grateful I am! I'm aiming to get the next video released in the next couple of weeks (before I go on holiday). So I hope you're looking forward to it! Have a great week! 🔓🐸