Tadpole Shapes

Hello! and welcome back to the weekly...

🌈 TODEPOND TIMES 🌈

What's new this week?

Tadpoles

This week, I've been working hard on getting the next video ready! It's going to be about making your own cellular automata elements with a 🐉 Drag & Drop user-interface.

The video is themed around all of the SandPond elements going MISSING! They've been STOLEN! This means that we have to re-build all of them using the new system. And by doing that, I'll show you how the element-building system works.

I've tried to choose elements that are simple enough to understand, but complicated enough to show all the different parts of the engine. For example, Sand will show you how symmetries work. Seeds will show you how colour ranges work. Tadpoles will show you how cell-splitting works.

I've planned out the structure of the video, and I've been writing the script!

It has now been a month since the last video, so I'm sorry that I'm behind schedule. I think it will be worth it, because I'll keep on using and refining the new engine in future videos too! :)

Shapes

So far, I haven't actually explained how the Drag & Drop system will work. Let me show you the rough idea!

Instead of typing code... you drag around different shapes with your mouse (or finger). Different shapes represent the different building-blocks of the system.

Squares represent colours!
They're probably the most important shape. You can place them down on little panels on the side of the screen (to keep them organised). You can connect them to each other to make little diagrams or pictures.

Rectangles represent numbers!
Three of them combine together to make a square (a colour). They can also represent ranges of numbers (such as... 'between 2 and 5')

Triangles let you say how something should change (or behave).
They look like arrows - to indicate that something changes into something else!

Circles represent symmetries.
You can attach a circle to a group of squares to show that they can be reflected and/or rotated in different ways. This is useful for making symmetrical rules - like when you make Sand capable of sliding to the left AND right.

Those are all the shapes! It might sound unclear now, but hopefully the video should help to join the dots! This week, I made the 'picker' for squares and rectangles (including the range picker). Next up, it's time for the panels!

By the way, all the code is up at github.com/TodePond/MagicPond 

Thank you so much for continuing to support me with these projects! I hope you are looking forward to seeing more! If you'd like, please feel free to join our discord server by the way! See you next week! 🌈🐸🌈