Option to switch between graphical and text based programmnig

[Ryzel]

I bought this game before Scott Manley's video had even finished because I wanted to make space probes that perform programmed missions, and this fits the bill. However, after tinkering with it for a while I find that the graphical method of coding gets quite frustrating after a while. (Edit: To be more specific, creating complicated conditionals is the bottleneck, since you are running through multiple menus and dragging various blocks when you could have just typed "x <= 0 or y > 10, counting the if statement that's four blocks, and its assuming x and y or the test values aren't blocks as well. An if - else if with a few layers rapidly becomes a huge pain.)

That said, I can see benefits in it as well, especially for people not as familiar with coding, or outlining a program, certain edits, etc.

So my question/suggestion is that perhaps there should be a button which switches between text and graphics. The syntax could mirror the graphical style so they look similar, and then a player could hit a button to move back and forth between both modes as they compose their program.

Might this be something already in the planning? And if not, what is the chance it might be added in?

Thanks for the fun game!

[cofibot]

I think the devs are more likely to see your comments on the forums at www.simplerockets.com

But there's also been talk of a mod that would enable coding in text on Discord: https://discord.gg/pUEPkj

I think they went with a Scratch-like graphical interface because they support mobile.

[Ryzel]

Thanks for the heads up cofibot. I hadn't considered the mobile support as a factor, a very good point.

[cofibot]

And welcome to SR2!

I'm really impressed with how far it's come, and look forward for it becoming even better.

[Kizrak the Hokie]

I too would like to see a text based programming language. Ideally a real one, like LUA, Python, JavaScript, Java BeanShell, VBScript, etc would be awesome. Even better if it is saved to disk so I can version control it. Basically, I want kOS: Kerbal Operating System[ksp-kos.github.io] but for SR2, or the ability to add something like it via a mod.

[cofibot]

I think a lot of people would like a text programming language instead of the blocks.