If you have discovered Colobot: Gold Edition, you've been missing a great game. It's free as in open source and is available on all operating systems.
The main feature is the possibility to program your robots with real code. The syntax does look like Java or C# and is quite easy to master. I've created a little program that will find the best available power cell in the area and will let the robot find it and use it as it's new power source.
Yesterday, Google Spaces was available on my iPad and my iPhone. I downloaded the new thing to try it out and explore the features.
As you may guess, it's a bit lonely in space... (Pun intended). Basically, you create a "space" about your favourite subject and post links relevent to the theme. I've created one for ScreenStudio and posted a few links.
After a few posts, I then realized that this is Pinterest à la Google. You can post (pin) all kinds of links and comments. You can invite your friends and family to join your own personal space as the only way to join seems to be sharing the "secret" link. I still don't know if Spaces is meant to create small and personal communities or to be a central point for all the stuff that you are interested in.
On iOS, the app does look nice but lacks the tablet format support. I will go explore http://spaces.google.com from my computer to see how it does behave on a large display.
If you want to explore a bit, here's the link to the ScreenStudio space: https://goo.gl/spaces/oLeXGyJbHutGwX5v5
Wondering if you have what's required to create an app or a game? Why not start gently with Scratch Jr. for iPad.
A few years ago, I was showing my kids what I was doing at my job by using Scratch on the computer. Basically, it's a software that lets you create small games and applications using logic blocks that you can drag and drop on you characters. It's a bit like playing Lego blocks with your mouse.
There is an iOS version called Scratch Jr. available in the AppStore. It targets kids but anyone who wants to learn about software programing can start with this little app. Of course, you won't be able to publish your apps or create the latest 3D games with Scratch Jr. It is meant to be a really simplified version of the real thing. But nevertheless, you will learn about conditions, loops and events in a matter of minutes.
The best thing is that Scratch Jr. is free. The MIT has created this amazing app so kids, and grown ups, can learn about software development in a fun way.
There is a more advanced version of Scratch available online at https://scratch.mit.edu.
Select the desired server and secret key from your Twitch account.
Adjust encoding bitrate and format by selecting the profile...
ScreenStudio has already optimized advanced encoding parameters so all you need to set is the bitrate and preset settings to your needs.
Select your video sources
From the Sources tab, select your audio and video sources that you wish to stream.
Display: The screen to stream. If you have more than one screen, a special one will show up combining all of them in to a single super large screen.
Webcam: The webcam you want to use for streaming. Optionally, you can use the "Mouse" which is a zoomed view of your mouse location. You can set the webcam location as you like from the parameter buttons...
Note: Webcam will only show-up if a Panel is selected..
Microphone: Audio source for your microphone
Internal: Audio source for your internal sound system
If you select both Mic+Internal, ScreenStudio will mix them automatically.
Audio Rate: The quality encoding audio settings
Watermark: If PNG files are available in your "Overlays" folder, they will be shown here. This will add the image as a static overlay in your stream in the bottom left corner.
Customize your stream
This is where ScreenStudio shines. You can select a size panel from a pre-configured HTML file.
Instead of cluttering your desktop view with overlays everywhere, ScreenStudio is adding a side panel (top, left, bottom, right) to display custom informations.
All you need to do is to create a basic HTML file to populate your side panel. A default sample will be available on your first run. Not all HTML tags are supported but it does give you a lot of possibilities.
The side panel also supports TAGs as the content is dynamic. For example, @TEXT will show the content of the text entry at the bottom.
Images (even GIF format) are supported and you can update the content of the HTML file with something else. Any update on the file will show up in your stream as it is updated.
For example, you could you a generated template file called "Panel.html". Using a script or any software, you can update that file to update the content as needed, live. Each time the file is updated, the content will show instantly in your stream.
The @COMMAND tag is used to embed the result of an external command in your panel. Enter the command line and its output will be shown where you have set the @COMMAND in your HTML file. That can be useful to create alerts and notifications.
Here's what it looks like when streaming...
Note: Images must be referenced by they full path...
Start streaming
Once everything is setup, you can start streaming by pressing the "Capture" button or by using a keyboard shortcut.
When capturing, ScreenStudio will hide itself and you can either use the shortcut keys to stop the streaming or use the tray icon at the top.
Enable privacy mode
While streaming, you may want to hide your desktop from your viewers temporarily. Use the Privacy Mode from the tray icon menu or by invoking the shortcut key.
While in Privacy Mode, the tray icon will be red and you viewers will only see a black screen. If you add a file "privacy.png" in your Overlays folder, this image will be shown instead of the default back display.
This is a neat way to protect your personal information without having to stop your streaming.
For Support and Help
If you need help, you can post your questions here:
I've been working on ScreenStudio 2.2.0 today as I was stuck in bed with a major backache.
I took the time to rework the compositing of the desktop and the side panel to provide more customization in the future.
With version 2.1.x, the compositing was executed by FFMpeg itself. This is faster to render, but the drawback is the synchronization between the audio and video that does not always work as expected.
As of version 2.2.x, ScreenStudio will take charge of compositing all the video sources and FFMpeg will only have to encode the audio and video.
I was expecting a loss in performances but I was quite surprised to find out that nothing was lost. I even saw better performance in some specific cases.
More tests are to be done but if all goes well, it will open a lot of possibilities for ScreenStudio like dynamic layouts while streaming.
Source code is already available in the Github repository is you feel adventurous....
Just found out that if you use a specific wallpaper for your iOS 9.3.1 device, you will end up with round folders in your homes screen.
If you want to try it out, just follow this link and save one of the image to be used as your home screen wallpaper. You will then have all your folders in a round shape instead of the default shape.
