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When I'm making games or tweetcarts, I often adjust numbers just a tiny bit, then rerun the whole game. e.g. I change the player speed by 0.1, then change it back, then try 0.05...

This is a bit slow, so here's a library I made to help me do it faster. I also find it useful for analyzing other people's tweetcarts -- if I can easily adjust the values they use, I can quickly figure out what they mean

setup

  • load #twiddler
  • copy the knobs.lua + helpers tabs into your game
  • use kn[1], kn[2], ... kn[8] in place of any number
  • add twiddler() to the end of your _draw function

Now, run your code:

  • press tab and adjust the values (see "controls" below)
  • press tab again -- the values will be copied to your clipboard
  • paste the values into the start of your code to save them

example 1

Start with a tweetcart you want to study. For example, this one by 2DArray: https://twitter.com/2DArray/status/1492566780451205120

 
?"\^!5f10◆█🐱░4웃9♥"
::_::?"⁜1⁜c"
w=t()/8
c=cos(w)
s=sin(w)
n=1800
for i=0,n do
a=i*.618
j=1-i/n*i/n
y=1+j*j-2*j*j*j
r=1-(1-j)^3+sin(a*10)/9
p=(6+sin(a*10)*(.5+r/2))*(.7+y*y/3)
circfill(64+cos(a+w)*r*20,80-y*30+sin(a+w)*r*12,2,p)
end
goto _

Add the knobs, and replace some interesting-looking numbers with knobs:

 
kn={.5,.7,.618,2,0,0,0,0} --changed
?"\^!5f10◆█🐱░4웃9♥"
::_::?"⁜1⁜c"
w=t()/8
c=cos(w)
s=sin(w)
n=1200 --changed -- twiddler needs a little bit of cpu to run
for i=0,n do
a=i*kn[3] --changed
j=1-i/n*i/n
y=1+j*j-2*j*j*j
r=1-(1-j)^3+sin(a*10)/9
p=(6+sin(a*10)*(kn[1]+r/2))*(kn[2]+y*y/3) --changed
circfill(64+cos(a+w)*r*20,80-y*30+sin(a+w)*r*12,kn[4],p) --changed
end
twiddler() --changed
goto _

Now run the code and play around! looks like knobs 1 and 2 control the color gradient, knob 3 controls the spiralness of the circles. cool! Add new knobs, remove old knobs, keep going until satisfied.

example 2

This process works on your own code that you're in the middle of writing, too. Write kn[1] etc instead of a number, open the knobs panel, and edit the value until it looks right:

This is from the dev process of a recent tweetcart of mine (twitter, cohost)

controls:

Press Tab or W to open/close the knob panel

  • LMB - change slider value
  • MMB - pan slider range
  • RMB - cancel current interaction
  • wheel - zoom slider range

When you close the panel (Tab/W), knob values will be copied to your clipboard -- paste them into your code to save them.

Cart #twiddler-0 | 2022-10-28 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
10

When you're done with the knobs, you can replace kn[1] etc with the literal value of the knobs, and delete the twiddler code. This is a tool meant for development, not meant to be used during a finished game. (although, a finished game that used something like this would be pretty nifty!)

10
1

Oooooh this is useful, thanks!



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