Scratch style Action groups

[MKI]

now, for those of you who do not know what scratch is,it's a graphic building block style programming language.

look here: http://scratch.mit.edu/

so around the forums lately there's been a hubbub all about programmable autopilots and the sort, and I doubt anything of that kind will ever get into the stock game.

currently, action groups do only one thing and one thing only- that is, trigger actions at the press of a button.

now, this is handy and all, great for doing exactly that, but when some sort of chain is needed, then this is where the system lacks.

for instance, say you want a probe's solar panels to deploy, then 5 seconds later to have its engines fire up to 75% for 10 seconds then shut off.

now, in the stock game you would have to assign '1' to the solar panel, wait 5 seconds later throttle up to 75% and wait 10 seconds.

but say it were easier.

using the scratch node stule it could go something like this:

http://i.imgur.com/jCBx90F.png

you see how easy that is?

that achieves all of what is needed with just 8 commands. KSP could teach programming as well as all of the other thing it does, not to mention the insane utility of this setup!

As a Computer Science Major that deals with code all the time at school I like the idea of having programming in a game such as KSP. Adding something like scratch would open doors to many non-programmers to the wonders of programming.

It would also open doors for much more complex tasks to be done within the game.

Now personally I do not feel like the game really needs "chains" of commands currently. The whole programmable action groups would need much more impact in the game to be really useful. I always loved the idea of making an autopilot, or programmable flight system in KSP. With mods such as kOS going more or less under-developed there really is a massive void in mods to look at.

To really make this sort of implementation useful it needs 2 things:

1. Simplicity - scratch is a good platform to learn, but won't make it to the big time if it is not ....

2. Dynamically capable - I'm not talking about object oriented programming or anything complex. Rather I'm talking about the ability to handle a large amount of functions of the game. To the point you COULD make a programmable launch, from launch to orbit or beyond.

If there will ever be any sort of autopilot in this game, it should be programmable. Not like mechjeb which isn't a learning experience, rather just a tool. Players should have to build this tool themselves.

If anything this would be a great mod, or something the devs could focus on post-release, since I believe KSP is an excellent platform to teach programming.

I

Edited November 17, 2014 by MKI

[tuckjohn]

This would be great in the education world. KSP already has a very large potential for teaching and inspiring younger folks in spaceflight, and this could extend that into programming; and any good game that teaches 2 things is a amazing game.

Devs take the hint ^

Edited December 5, 2014 by tuckjohn
Smile

[mattinoz]

This would be incredibly nice. Of course, at that point, why not go all the way and use KOS? Sure, it doesn't have scratch's block-based simplicity, but it is certainly not overly complex and does let you do exactly what it shows here, and substantially more.

Of course, what you've shown for scripts are quite simple. I think my scripts would be more like...

http://i.imgur.com/AVHANdy.png

No way will that fit in the 4kB memory of an Apollo ear space hardened guidance Computer.

Then again it would be easy for the dev's to tier how capable the system is by having a max word count/ memory and speed at different levels

[klgraham1013]

Thumbs up to this. It would open people up to programming, even if they don't realize it. It would allow even more creativity in a game essentially about being creative. I can think of many times where I could reduce 5 action groups into one with this sort of addition.

[skrit manfrat]

Anything to make something similar to KOS more accessible to billy, and gently push him away from mechjeb is a good move in my books. this would be amazing. i'd use it.