Developing non-game apps with Monkey X, good idea?
Monkey Forums/Monkey Beginners/Developing non-game apps with Monkey X, good idea?
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| Hello, I just came accross Monkey X a couple of days ago. I'll introduce myself so you can understand my doubts better. My name is David, I work as a hypnotist in Spain. I created a company with my brother and we are planning to create several audio and video programs. Because of my experience the content I'm designing is related to personal development, hypnotism, mind conditioning, and so on. We will develop games in the future, but we will do it with Unity because they will be in 3D. But I was looking for something that allowed me to create some non-game apps and I have been researching all the Unity alternatives I could, and that's why I'm here. I just want something that I can use to develop simple apps wich I'll use to promote my audios and as a complement for my clients. I can do it with Corona SDK or Marmalade, but they are quite expensive for this. I can design my apps with Unity fairly easily but they're "heavy" for what they are supposed to do. Example: I just want an app with 4 or 5 meditation/relaxation audios that can be played whenever you want. So after you download it you start the app, and you get to a menu where you can choose which track you want, you select it and the audio starts. With Unity I can prepare some scenes with custom backgrounds and stuff, but this kind of apps should spawn almost instantly, with Unity that doesn't happen. Well, that is not entirely true, in MY devices it starts fast (not instantly though) but I don't think that would be the same with lower end systems. I've been thinking in some quit smoking and losing weight apps with tracking charts, I saw 2 apps made with Corona that do something similar, but I don't like Corona's business model. Could I do the same with Monkey? I mean, is Monkey suitable for a non-game app with let's say 3 screens/scenes, that can play audios, use charts and that kind of simple things or am I crazy? ^_^ (I am anyway) Thanks in advance. |
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| masterneme wrote: I mean, is Monkey suitable for a non-game app with let's say 3 screens/scenes, that can play audios, use charts and that kind of simple things or am I crazy? ^_^ (I am anyway) Monkey is fine for games, demo scenes, graphics app, etc Other thread about non game apps you can see here http://www.monkey-x.com/Community/posts.php?topic=7992 |
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| if you're ok creating your own buttons and dealing with bitmap fonts, then it's good to use monkey, since you can push it to almost any device and it's much more light-weight than Unity. another option is to use Xamarin. |
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| If you want to make non-games, you can either roll out your own GUI system. I've rolled like 5 of 'em or just get one that's pretty well maintained and stable like JungleGUI. I'm fairly sure that Ziggy created his BMI calculator with it. |
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| If Corona is to expensive for you, then Gideros Studio might be an alternative on the LUA side. |
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| Yes, I'm.using Jungle Gui commercialy for small apps and it works well. I'm preparing a first Alpha release soon that should include propper documentation and samples. |
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| Thank you very much for the answers guys. Hey ziggy, I was just right now taking a look at your website, good stuff. So the major problem I would have is dealing with the GUI? Everything I do with Monkey-X has to be done in Monkey Language? Xamarin and Gideros look great, I'll take them into consideration. The main problem I have with these programs is that the cheap/free version always has an artificially timed splash screen, my thinking is, if I have to "force" the user to wait I can just use Unity. |
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| So the major problem I would have is dealing with the GUI? Yes that is the main issue. If there was a GUI framework that was 100% cross platform then I'm sure that it would be in use. So far the only rumblings seem to be coming from the Qt Project. This is the framework that the Monkey IDE uses. |
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| dawlane wrote: GUI framework that was 100% cross platform then I'm sure that it would be in use. HTML |
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| " Everything I do with Monkey-X has to be done in Monkey Language?" Monkey interfaces well to native code, if you want to access specific platform features etc., but it seems to me that since the GUI is often half the work of an app anyway, there wouldn't be much point using Java or whatever for the GUI and Monkey for the other bits. It would be easier to write everything in the same language. |
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| So if I use JungleGUI all those problems are gone? What about some "productivity" apps (time and goals/tasks management), is the Monkey+JungleGUI combo a good choice in that situation? For one of my meditation/relaxation apps I'll go with Unity, and the reason why is because its compatibility with Neurosky Mindwave and Emotiv Epoch. |
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| So if I use JungleGUI all those problems are gone? What about some "productivity" apps (time and goals/tasks management), is the Monkey+JungleGUI combo a good choice in that situation? It's possible, but I think it is better to use native guis for this task. You could try to implement a commom API layer (complicated) or use Xamarin instead |
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