OpenXTalk Forums

What a bloody silly word . . .

. . . BUT the point has been made, again, and again, and again.
- -
https://eraseallkittens.com/
-

I'd like to "Gamify" OpenXTalk. One big thing my gamer kids like is Game Controllers.
There is an OpenXTalk HID Extension wrapper for the HID API already, which is the same lib PyGame used. It works pretty well with the Wii and Playstation style controllers (both USB and Bluetooth) that I've tested with it, and it is compatible with the three big desktop platforms (and probably Android too although not tested).

Maybe we could get ChatGPT to help write the thousands of lines of Builder code it would take to wrap Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL), that could be really interesting since there's decades of work that's been put in on that highly portable, cross platform library (and in fact Emscripten engine uses the WebAsm port of SDL already). Or maybe some other Game Engine, Unity or Box2D or any other that have an GPLv3 compatible license available. Writing out all of those binding strings is tedious work that is ideally suited for AI / ChatGPT language model. I'm trying to use that as much as possible before they end the free public beta / preview access.

My experience with USB game controllers on Mac and Linux over a 20 year period is that they all
deliver raw KeyCodes that OXT can pick up: therefore there is no obvious need for any fancy drivers at all.

Personally I feel the idea of 'Gamifying' programming as such is a load of old shit.

Especially if one tries to make children learn programming via playing games: my experience in this direction has been
that children have got so engrossed in the game-play that the object lesson has got 'lost in the wash.'

What I DO think is valuable is to make things easier for children (&&&&&) to be able to make simple games inwith OXT,
and that instead of the ubiquitous and cruddy 'Hello World' type of starting exercises, any courses should start with
implementing the functionality of either a physical game, or another computer game.

I have had some success with children 'reconstructing' a SnailBob game; what is 'fun' in this respect is that children can have the
game open on their telephones next to the computers where they are imitating it, so can keep refering back and forth.

It is perfectly reasonable to have a USB game controller hooked up to the computer a child is working on so that they can, via keyUp & rawKeyUp
commands set their imitation game up in such a way that the end result can be played via the game controller.

The first thing one needs to do is to connect one's USB game controller to one's computer:
- -
Then press every button to get 2 read-outs: a possible key signal and a possible rawKey signal

[I have used 'possible' because, on a Mac, for the sake of argument, not all keys send a KEY signal]:
- -