Gideros 2016.8 released! (WITHDRAWN: 2016.8.1 in testing)

john26 · August 2016

@antix

"Do you think other competing frameworks allow people to not upgrade the code-base that they are responsible for? "

Yes, Unity certainly allows and encourages 3rd party programmers to write plugins and takes no responsibility for the code or its maintenance. It's well known if you write a Unity game you need to buy a couple of plugins from 3rd party websites to do things like social media, advertising etc. Notice I said "buy"! Unity has a thriving 3rd party market place for plugins which has nothing to do with Unity developers.

The whole point of plugins is 3rd party programmers can add functionality to an SDK. Corona users complained for years that there was no plugin capability so Corona couldn't be extended but Gideros has always had this. You can write a Gideros plugin for your own use or sell it to others (or give it away).

But what seems to have happened with Gideros is that community has, in the main, not written plugins but rather waited for Gideros devs to write all necessary plugins. In particular Arturs has written dozens of extremely advanced plugins (we should be grateful for this!). In future it would be better for developers to get involved and write plugins too as Arturs cannot write every conceivable plugin for every OS. That's the whole point of plugins, you can spread the load, people can add features they are experts in. A situation where every plugin is written by one person is a plugin "market" which is not really working.

"like admob reward video adverts"

That's an example of a plugin someone could write and perhaps sell to other users. Perhaps you should consider doing it?

simwhi · August 2016

@john26 I agree that the community should be more involved in maintaining plugins. I would really like to help, but I do not know where to start. Would it be possible to create a tutorial (possibly video) on creating a plugin from start to finish? This may also encourage other developers to get involved.

antix · August 2016

There is a quite difference between allowing others to update something, and actually having somebody responsible for updating it if nobody else does.

If you just expect every noob out there to come and add functionality that should already exist, your community will never grow.

Unity AFAIK does not require an extra purchase to implement rewarded video adverts

If I had the skills to implement Rewarded Videos in AdMob I would have done just that but unfortunately I don't posses those skills. So here I am stuck without something I need.

At the end of the day it's your framework and you manage it how you like. Please accept my apologies and I'll just keep right out of it :x

antix · August 2016

@simwhi great suggestion, maybe a bit of empowerment would be good.

simwhi · August 2016

@antix. Spreading the knowledge is essential. Some up-to-date guide would really be helpful. We could start with a simple plugin to grasp the basics.

One potential problem would be developing for both Android and iOs. Maybe we could partner with someone.

Xman · August 2016

As far as I know, for some reason,atlim make a change that libgideros.a was updated even if Export assets only is checked on, but now, this makes the export takes so much time to finish,It may be much faster if just export the assets if this option is checked on.

hgy29 · August 2016

@antix, no problem I see your point as a end-user and I understand your frustation.

The fact we either are too few developers to manage Gideros or each of us doesn't have enough spare time to do all the required work. We contribute to Gideros mostly for free (or totally for free except for Kickstarter), but we otherwise need to earn our living from regular jobs. I somehow manage to work on gideros on my job-time, at least partly, and only if I can prove that the work I do for Gideros is in fact needed for my company's projects. I frequently contribute things not strictly needed though, and try to help all of you as much as I can because I love the tool, and all in all people on this forum really deserve it.

@simwhi is right, building gideros and plugins should be better documented. I am not even capable to fully build Gideros myself yet, but slowly I manage to build more and more parts, and eventually I'll be able to build it all soon.

Lastly, I finally started to work on a game, with Gideros of course, and it will display ads for monetization, so I'll finally have a chance to better look at ads,iab,iap stuff and put my two cents on that matter too

hgy29 · August 2016

@Xman, libgideros.a is updated because of encryption, even if encryption isn't used, because the encryption key is stored within libgideros.a and needs to match the one used when exporting assets for everything to run properly.
The rationale for doing it even if encryption is not enabled is that the output directory may contain a previously encrypted version which must then be reset.

I think I can speed up export when not encrypted, because the longest part is actually replacing the keys within libigideros.a. If not encrypted, then there is nothing to replace and a straight copy should be enough.

BTW is the white screen / freezed UI fixed for you ?

Xman · August 2016

Yes,it's now fixed.Thanks.

antix · August 2016

@hgy29 yep I understand totally that you all have regular jobs. I had a regular job too until I took a year off to try and make a living making games. On reflection I should have chosen a different framework, though Gideros is fantastic at what it can do

Xman · August 2016

I am not a perfectionist,but I really think when compile the Lua scripts use a file name instead of the long absolute file path would make the exported script file a little tidier and smaller.
Also it is vulnerable to expose the home dir in the compiled files if the export dir is in the home dir.

totebo · August 2016

Lastly, I finally started to work on a game

Awesome! I'm working on three games at the moment. Maybe it would be interesting to discuss games in production? I would be interested in what other peeps are working on.

ar2rsawseen · August 2016

I will just pinch in here

About Splash, I think Android will be the only one with option to disable it, cause all other require splash (ios, winrt, etc) and yes will add an option to disable it in next version.

But if you have specific problems with splash functionality, ping/mention me and I will take a look at it, cause as is for now I assume it all works great

About plugins, the lack of updates for ads, etc comes from the lack of time for me to work on the games. When I was working on the games in free time I was also keeping it all up to date. But now I am still trying to develop some games, but I never really publish them (in fact I have couple of completed games I could publish) but I just don't want to hassle with the tons of screenshots, app icons, etc submission to the store process.

So for now I am doing everything I can to minimize my work of submission to app stores, thus there are automatic app and tv icon resizing, splash images, more plugin integrations. And when I come to a point that publishing app won't be a burden anymore I hope to update all my current games and publish new ones and of course will need to revisit the ads, etc.

By the way, when Gideros went open source there was a topic raised by me on what to do next, I could keep AdsInterface, IABInterface, etc paid and keep them up to date, or open source them without promises of regular contributions. The results were actually inconclusive, some members, who were also paid Gideros clients voted for keeping them paid, others wanted free stuff and it was basically a tie. So my decisions was to open source them in hopes others would pinch in too.

A little off topic, Ads is actually AdsInterface, meaning you don't have to deal with gideros plugin, lua binding and plugin compilation stuff, all you have to do is to follow Ad network provider's integration guide for specific platform, like Android and modify .java file, add new if statement for reward or video of what every type you will pass in lua and display the ad. I think any developer without any specific knowledge of java or Android specifically could do it. It's all just variable and functions and objects, the paradigms all developers know.

And the last bit about open sourcing. I always was for sharing the libs and code I wrote. And have tons of libs open sourced, not only for Gideros, but also web development, javascript, etc. But lately I've been too lazy to open source stuff, cause even in open sourcing, it becomes too much hassle, with documentation, and examples. And currently in most cases if I am not prepared to do it, I just don't share anything. For example I have a template, platformer base for Gideros, with tuned box2d physics, multiple controller support etc. I am working on this base, cause I have lots of ideas for platformers that I want to try. And I thought to open source it at some point, so others could define levels and put on their graphics and use it. But as I know I won't have time to provide much support on it (read no time at all) and everyone would need to try to understand things by reading my code, I just keep it on my hdd

totebo · August 2016

I could keep AdsInterface, IABInterface, etc paid and keep them up to date, or open source them without promises of regular contributions.

How about keeping it open source, but add new paid features ad-hoc? To me it makes sense to prioritise features that directly generate revenue. I would be happy to pay for new ad networks, for instance. To me it would be a bonus if other people could also use them, rather than a deterrent.

papirosnik · August 2016

Timer's behavior to run as set

Could someone explain me what does it mean.
Just upgraded to 2016.08 and my project became completely broken.
In particular, I used widget_candy for my gui.
Now it refuses to work at all.

.\src/plugins/widget_candy.lua:8696: calling 'stop' on bad self (Timer expected, got table)
stack traceback:
	.\src/plugins/widget_candy.lua:8696: in function '_removeSlideTimer'
...

The lines #8696 and one abobe it are

if self.Timer ~= nil then 
			self.Timer:stop()

In debugger I see that self.Timer is empty table!

And, moreover, I wrote this code:

self.Timer = nil
print(type(self.Timer))

and, guess, what is the output?
table!!!!!!!!!!!

Why nil now is treated as empty table?
what the hell is going on there?
Is the

Timer's behavior to run as set

main guilty?
Or maybe new bitwise operations?
How to fix this?
ps. win7 64bit desktop player

hgy29 · August 2016

Timer's behavior to run as set

Previously Timer could accumulate lag, especially for short repetitive periods. This has been fixed, nothing changed in its API.

I use WidgetCandy too, so i'll do some tests here and report back.

ar2rsawseen · August 2016

hmm, might have something to do with meta table power patch?
@papirosnik are you using GiderosCodingEasy by any chance?

antix · August 2016

@ar2sawseen if you can point me in the right direction it would be nice.

pie · August 2016

@papirosnik try replacing your Gideros/lua.dll with this one (test2, attached by n1cke)
http://giderosmobile.com/forum/discussion/comment/49635#Comment_49635

antix · August 2016

A little off topic, Ads is actually AdsInterface, meaning you don't have to deal with gideros plugin, lua binding and plugin compilation stuff, all you have to do is to follow Ad network provider's integration guide for specific platform, like Android and modify .java file, add new if statement for reward or video of what every type you will pass in lua and display the ad. I think any developer without any specific knowledge of java or Android specifically could do it. It's all just variable and functions and objects, the paradigms all developers know.

Sorry, it just doesn't look that easy to me. Maybe I should have concentrated on Java instead of lua

jdbc · August 2016

I got an error with Gideros 2106.08 in my gtween.lua file with some of my games:

gtween.lua:225: attempt to call field 'ease' (a table value)
stack traceback:
classes/gtween.lua:225: in function 'setPosition'
classes/gtween.lua:86: in function

Ideas?

jdbc · August 2016

Check syntax is not working in MacOS...

john26 · August 2016

Normally you call GTween something like this

GTween.new(sprite, 2, {x = 240}, {delay = 0.2, ease = easing.outBounce, repeatCount = 2, reflect = true})

the "ease" option has got to be a function, as in the example. Is it possible you are passing a table instead?

If not, on what OS does the error occur? I just tested the GTween demo on Windows desktop and it runs ok in 2016.8

john26 · August 2016

"Check syntax is not working in MacOS..."

Don't understand what you mean by this. Can you elaborate? Thanks!

jdbc · August 2016

Don't understand what you mean by this. Can you elaborate? Thanks!

From Tools > Check Syntax or Tools > Check Syntax All, but nothing appears in Output.

Normally you call GTween something like this
 
GTween.new(sprite, 2, {x = 240}, {delay = 0.2, ease = easing.outBounce, repeatCount = 2, reflect = true})
the "ease" option has got to be a function, as in the example. Is it possible you are passing a table instead?

If not, on what OS does the error occur? I just tested the GTween demo on Windows desktop and it runs ok in 2016.8

It fails in slide.lua file and AceSlide class.

self.conf = {
		orientation = "horizontal",
		spacing = 150,
		speed = 3,
		unfocusedAlpha = 0.75,
		easing = nil,
		allowDrag = true,
		dragOffset = 2
	}
...
local tween = GTween.new(self, switchTime/1000, animate, {delay = 0, ease = self.conf.easing})

It works ok in Gideros 2016.06

john26 · August 2016

It seems this is due to an error in Gideros 2016.8 which means Gideros cannot run correct Lua code in some circumstances. This is very serious and we have taken the decision to withdraw 2016.8. We will get a replacement (2016.8.1) in a few days. Sorry, we are like Icarus, we flew too close to the sun. From now on we will be extremely cautious about "improving" the Lua language as we don't have the manpower for such a task.

antix · August 2016

I uninstalled it pretty much immediately after I experienced the new splash screen

simwhi · August 2016

I'm getting Lua errors with Gtween:setPosition when I test on my Android TV, but it works fine on desktop.

I installed the 2016.08 to test macros and other features, but I unistalled it afterwards and then went back to 2016.06.

Do I need to delete the Gideros folder, too? I think something was left behind.

simwhi · August 2016

@ar2rsawseen Thanks for the information. I will investigate the AdsInterface. I hope you don't mind if I ask you a few questions if I get stuck?

UPDATE: Seen the other thread.

hotbuttered · August 2016

One of the reasons I chose Gideros was comfort in knowing that if there's any bit of functionality I really need, I can ( in theory

) code a new plugin for it.

However, it's not clear to me which plugins are available and which are not available (or broken) at the moment. Is that documented somewhere?

For cases where a valuable plugin is broken or doesn't yet exist, it seems the best tactic is to continue to start a thread on the forum just for that plugin and band together to get it working. The more people who know how to write plugins, the better

Big thanks by the way to everyone who is contributing to the project, both on the forums and through committing to the source code base!

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Top Posters

Gideros 2016.8 released! (WITHDRAWN: 2016.8.1 in testing)

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Categories

In this Discussion

Top Posters

Gideros 2016.8 released! (WITHDRAWN: 2016.8.1 in testing)

Comments