Time to talk about the current state of the NEW SP-Studio! I did not do this earlier because I wanted to wait until the important parts actually work. I already noticed a decline in donations, because of course you want to SEE that I am working on something. So I am very happy to tell you: We have a beta version!
Before I go into more detail I want to thank Kai Wegner who is helping me with the development. Luckily for me he is an absolute pro when it comes to the things the SP-Studio needs, like doing magic with svg files. Kai is coding the base for the SP-Studio remake in Angular2 and helps me to understand as much as possible for being able to edit it by myself. Since I am no actual coder there was no way for me to manage this without help, because building it in Flash was completely different.
The current beta version looks great so far and the basics are working smoothly. It will also offer new features in the future, but I want to stick to my plan to not reveal anything I am not sure about yet. So here comes a closer look at the current state.
What’s already working:
- The design you see here is optimized for mobile devices because I felt it’s easier to start with this. The design is not final.
- Yes, the beta version works on smartphones and tablets. No need for extra plugins anymore.
- The user interface was improved, the buttons match and the categories are reorganized with fresh new icons.
- All categories and subcategories are prepared and already hold some items for testing.
- The most basic feature works perfectly: You can click on a thumbnail of an item to add it to the picture! 🙂
- Certain items replace each other while others don’t, depending on what makes sense for the category.
- You can delete an item from your picture.
- Individual info boxes for each category are possible.
- There is a new button for “locking” an item. This way you can combine multiple items from one category. This function replaces the “freestyle” clothes and will work for every item.
- Partly working: Color changing, moving and rotating of items in your picture.
First look: The beta version of the new SP-Studio (optimized for mobile)
Overview: The newly organized categories with better drawn icons
The next big steps:
- Every item has to be changed. They might look the same for you in the end, but the image files work differently when you use .svg instead of .swf. I am not sure yet how long this will take me to finish but it is a ton of work to change and improve every drawing. Unfortunately it’s not possible to just say “copy – paste”. So for me this is by far the biggest amount of work.
- Regarding the coding an option to export image files seems to be the most essential one.
- The implementation of layers to position the items correctly is another important part.
- I hope for being able to build a respsonsive design to make it super comfortable for you to use the SP-Studio on mobile devices AND big screens.
Of course there is more to be done, but I think those are the most important things. The survey helps a lot! For example I learned from it that the text tool is the less important part for the SP-Studio visitors. I will remember your feedback when we work on the new version.
When will it be finished?
Even though the important parts of the SP-Studio remake work it will take me several more months until I have changed all the items to make them work with the new version. I feel like this will even take longer as the coding and don’t want to set a deadline I cannot meet. But as soon as I can tell you about a launch date I will announce it here.
We plan to let the Patreon supporters test the beta version as soon as possible. If you have supported the SP-Studio in other ways please drop me a quick note if you want to be a beta tester as well.
What about the money?
The first month after I announced the SP-Studio support campaign was amazing, but the donations dropped a lot after that. I guess that’s natural after the first buzz. But I hope new people decide to help now since I can show what we already achieved for the new SP-Studio. I can also tell you more about what exactly your money is used for:
- The main purpose of the Patreon + PayPal campaign is to buy me time from my regular job as a freelancer. This way I can afford to spend more time on the SP-Studio without worrying about my rent or food. For example if I’d earn about 500 € per month with the SP-Studio I could even work on it on a daily base. This would mean more updates and the remake would be finished way quicker. It’s an utopian wish right now, but it worked in January and this was a huge help already.
- I have to use a new version of Adobe Animate now, which costs 23,79 € per month. My old version was not able to save my drawings as .svg files, which are essential for the SP-Studio remake.
- I also need additional software for coding in Angular. Right now I am testing the JavaScript IDE WebStorm (129,00 € for the first year), which was recommended to me by several developers.
- I also use the money to pay coders who are willing to help me with the development of what I cannot do on my own. Even if they offer their help for free, like Kai did, I want to give something back because I believe this is fair.
A BIG THANK YOU to everybody who supported the new SP-Studio so far!
Your help is very important for me, no matter if it’s actual money, sharing my situation or offering help with the coding. You save SP-Studio.de. And of course a special thank you to Kai who not only does this amazing job with the coding but also is a very patient Angular teacher.
If you want to support the SP-Studio you can visit Patreon or donate via PayPal.
Maybe add new arm positions
Unfortunately this is impossible to include. When you select a body with different arm positions the shirts and hands would not fit anymore, because they don’t “know” which arms you selected. And even if we find a way to code this all the shirts must be drawn multiple times for every arm position. And all the hands and items you hold in hands and hair (because the hair and objects need holes for the arms and hands)… Like different body shapes this would not work out because the updates would take forever.
1. And will there be something like beta testing for users? Or will they be able to play the new version only after it’s finished? And then I know one person who is also developing a new version of a major game, and he has already launched a beta test for users.
2. Perhaps this has already been mentioned, but I do not remember exactly. After adding a new version will the old game (current) be available?
1. Yes, there will be beta testing. We haven’t started it yet because it’s better to have more features included first. But as soon as it makes sense my supporters (Patrons, forum moderators,…) will get the link to the current version of the beta. If you want to be part of it you can too.
If an open beta makes sense will depend on the development proccess, but right now I don’t think so. From my experience with the old SP-Studio there are less possibilities for big bugs than in usual video games, because they need way more coding. But there will be more code now without Flash… so I cannot tell yet how much beta testing will be needed before launch.
2. Yes. The old SP-Studio will stay online as well, so you can still use it as long Flash is running on your computer. But there will be no more updates for it.
Awesome! ^^
Interesting, But are there gonna be new stuff added in the beta version? (Like: New hair styles, new freestyle clothing) Or not?
No, we are focusing on implementing the main functions first and on converting the old items to the new version. When the SP-Studio remake launches I want to add some new items as well, but the beta is just for basic testing.
Not bad. It’s hard to tell the different proportion wise from this site. (I mean that in the good way) I can’t even imagine how long this is going to take to convert all of these items (i think?) into this app. Are you planning doing this yourself or are you going to have some people to help you?
Right now it looks like I am converting all items myself. It involves working in and drawing in Adobe Flash/Animate, and I don’t know anybody who could help me with that, because Flash is not as popular anymore. But I guess it’s okay this way, because I have always drawn everything myself in the past and want to continue this way. It’s just a lot of extra work this time ;). But if I have to touch every item anyway I can improve the drawings a little bit and this makes it interesting.
Those “My Hero Academia” Characters 😀 (Hairs,Accessories cloths etc )
All Might
and
How can we access beta?
Right now it’s not a public beta yet, but I will announce it as soon as there is one.
Will the new one also be free to use like the old one was?
Yes, it will still be free with free updates. This will never change.
Since I rely on voluntarily donations the funding is not safe, but even though it might be tough it’s important for me to always offer a free version. I want to make sure kids or people with difficult financial backgrounds can use the SP-Studio. I won’t promise I will never offer some special add ons for money, because I don’t know how the future of this project looks like ina couple of years. But there are no plans for this right now.
You don’t need to spend 129€ on an IDE for JavaScript when there is Visual Studio Code. Who recommended you this hideous WebStorm IDE?!
Since I have no experience with any of this I trust in the opinion of a very experienced software developer who offered me help. The recommendation looks good so far because the beta version of the SP-Studio works fine and it should be save for the future (that’s very important). In addition I can understand enough of the code to edit it myself – and I am not sure if this would be possible with other coding languages. But I don’t know anything about Visual Studio, so I don’t know the difference to the way I am working right now. I never used any type of IDE before.
But it’s not like I have a choice anyway 😉 Since I don’t earn enough money through donations I cannot hire anybody for this project, so I rely on voluntary help. Sure, there were other people who recommended different approaches and I respect that. But to be honest… every coder told me something different so far. So I listen to the one who actually helps me, because otherwise this project would not be possible at all.