Papika

sorry about the delay nya i've been really busy trying to refactor and optimize my code! the animation for the operator switching was actually really buggy and not working as intended. on top of that i had to move the animation logic to its own class and create my own animation engine, that way, aligned with my vision for flashy graphics, i could easily create and add new animations to any object i wished with full customization.

i have drastically simplified and optimized all the code for Papicalc, but im still working on separating the animation logic and refining the animation engine
(p.s. it's the coolest thing ever to create my own animation engine!!! )

through cosine and tears i have made smooth easing animations for switching operators..! learning how to create animations in WinForms is a big milestone for this project, as i plan to have many animations for pretty visuals (although winforms might be a bad choice for executing that, I'll give it my best!)

I'll now begin working on the simple gameplay: entering operands that equal to a predefined answer, and being rewarded based on speed and precision.

The idea of adding satisfying sound effects, popups, and awarding style points for input combos has been very prominent in my mind. I'll be implementing a style meter, similar to that found in games like Ultrakill, either next devlog or the one after. Additionally I wanted there to be a rhythm aspect to the game. Since there currently aren't many ways to build style, it could make for a simple yet engaging system! although I plan on adding more depth to the calculation aspect of the gameplay later. its also necessary that i make a tutorial bit that teaches how to use the controls before i ship it, which i look forward to! I'm also very concerned about how to even ship a WinForm, as i cant just send a .exe file to people hehe.

here's the list of the features i want to implement in chronological order:
1. Simple gameplay: entering operands and verifying outputs
2. Sound Effects / Tactile Response
3. Combo/Style Meter
4. Flashy Graphics
5. Tutorial

we have achieved take off

animations are hard..

uuu i spent all night coding this.. hackatime didn't want to recognize my project for ever so this devlog is being published significantly later than i hope i would, although you can check the GitHub commits for a better perspective of when things were added <3

I'm using google fonts for the symbols seen in the demo. As shown in the gif, you can use the left/right arrow keys to select operands, and use the up/down arrow keys to cycle through operators! this is a very big step in the direction i want to move in, as now i can accurately translate key presses!

My next goal is to add a transition animation for when the operators switch, i think that'll be quite hard though as WinForms kinda sucks for that, but its important that i learn it so i can make cool animations elsewhere in the game! After that I'd like to start on making actual gameplay rather than a tech demo

obkie followed the tutorial! learned a few things nyasises~ I'm going to move onto the actual project now! the main thingy i have to learn is how to automatically fill out the correct blanks and allow the user to switch between them at will ( _ + _ = x) without having to use the mouse at all!

almost done with the basic functions nya~~ going to bed nowsies~~ update tomorrow..

following a tutorial i found on youtube~ relearning how to use WinForms! I'll have to figure out how to add translating key presses into button presses if it isn't shown in the video.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYfXE40bsYs

obkie~~ time to start work on the graphical calculator in WinForms! super excited! I've made a clicker game demo and experimented with features in the past~~ so this shouldn't be too bad!

currently just getting back into the flow of programming in c# and programming as a whole! it's been almost a year since I've last engaged in the hobby nya~

in order to get a better feel for how calculators are programmed, I'm studying and recreating one in the terminal to begin with. After I plan to remake the calculator with a GUI in WinForms!

You can view the code for this in the GitHub repository, under 'simple terminal calculator!'