Is SmileBASIC Source Dying? (Late 2019)

[poll=p645][/poll] After taking a break I've come back and noticed that the same five people ever are in chat, new submissions only getting 2 votes maxiumum, and something with barely any views getting to the top of the front page. Is this the end for the community? I still have a project I want to make and share before everyone moved on.

I check on my profile every day, and once in a while, I get a notification or two. In other words, all I've uploaded for my projects is the one and only thing that gives users a sprite sheet of Bomberman.

I would hope not, but the community was much bigger 2 years ago. I have some projects I'm working on and want to submit, so people better play them! Also, maybe SB4 coming to US and UK (if at all) will get more people active.

How dare you! I feal discluded by you saying "the same 5 people". I certainly was not around while you were at your most active, so... also people are making new accounts, they just may not comment anything until they feel more comfortable doing so. sorry i got a little... TRIGGERED. I'll walk myself out.

I wouldn't say it's "dying," but it is EXTREMELY inactive atm. If more people came, it would probably be more active and less "dead." I mean, this site is only 5 years old, right? Plus, there's a new update coming out for the site soon (revamp for SB4), and hopefully this site will start to get more attention once SB4 releases in the US. After all, the Switch is way more popular than the 3DS/Wii U.

garbage dump of thoughts: I feel like it's resting. I'm hoping that once the fancy new site and the Worldwide version of SB4 are released, this site will go back to the amount of activity it had 2-3 years ago _{^{(god it's been that long?!?)}} which honestly wasn't that much. Still, the reality is that SB4 has already been released, to little fanfare. There's a dozen people that bought it _{^{(according to the discord a bit ago)}} and it seems that they're all busy with other things right now. I'm worried that F4NS stole SB4's thunder quite a bit. Media coverage billed F4NS as "finally, a programming language for your Nintendo Console," never stopping to realize that there already is one, and it's more mature (to the point of being used as middleware for some of Nintendo's games!!!). I still feel like SB4 needs a few extensions to help bring it up to a viable competitor to F4NS, like some sort of "struct" functionality, and maybe a 3D polygon library akin to the sprite library already built-in. But of course, SmileBASIC is very good in that it's easy to both write and understand. It's extremely comfortable to program in. I don't mean that the touch keyboard is brilliant, but I mean that you can easily get into that wonderful "flow" where you just keep programming, without having to get bogged down by ridiculous structures.

But of course, SmileBASIC is very good in that it's easy to both write and understand. It's extremely comfortable to program in. I don't mean that the touch keyboard is brilliant, but I mean that you can easily get into that wonderful "flow" where you just keep programming, without having to get bogged down by ridiculous structures.

Calculators

But of course, SmileBASIC is very good in that it's easy to both write and understand. It's extremely comfortable to program in. I don't mean that the touch keyboard is brilliant, but I mean that you can easily get into that wonderful "flow" where you just keep programming, without having to get bogged down by ridiculous structures.

Calculators

look out, graph 2 in the works (for wrong platform , but he

Everybody, please calm down. Smile Basic never belonged to the mainstream games. Just finding it in the e-shop is only possible if you search for it _{(at least that's the case with SB3 in Germany).} The popentzielle user base is thereby already quite small. Last but not least, programming is a hobby for most people, for which they don't always have time and desire _{(especially on a console)}. The user behavior may change, but as long as there is still someone who runs the site, the site is not so quickly dead. Much more devastating will be the shutdown of the e-shop, because then there will be no possibility of a (new) installation. _{(Should SB4 be released outside Japan, it can easily take 10 years or more.)}

I'm worried that F4NS stole SB4's thunder quite a bit. Media coverage billed F4NS as "finally, a programming language for your Nintendo Console," never stopping to realize that there already is one, and it's more mature (to the point of being used as middleware for some of Nintendo's games!!!). I still feel like SB4 needs a few extensions to help bring it up to a viable competitor to F4NS, like some sort of "struct" functionality, and maybe a 3D polygon library akin to the sprite library already built-in.

Interesting... I've never actually heard of FUZE before until you said something about it. I'm really curious about it now but $40 is quite a high price tag. Is there a dedicated forum/community-driven website for it like there is for SB? Edit: Despite how powerful FUZE looks, you can't share your creations online... bummer. I guess I'll be sticking with SB then lol

On the fun info page it says there’s something like 55 active users so there’s still SOME people left. Some polls can also still get up to 20 votes so I think you could get some people to see your program. Also, a few people seem to be thinking a new SBS is coming (maybe I’m not reading it right). Not to say it isn’t coming, but it does seem random doesn’t have much time to work on the new site.

It's definitely still coming. Just the other day notohoho was asking if anyone outside of Japan was using it. The Japanese release was "only" 24 weeks ago. I was expecting roughly a year before a worldwide release, and it's looking like that might be a decent guess. There's a LOT of translating to do. Don't forget the entire manual, all the help files, and more, all need translating. Even things like the internal tools all still have the odd bit of Japanese, and they'll need to work out how to make those sort of things universal. Give it time. Meanwhile, I'll keep making games, so when it does release, you'll have tons to play with :) 24 games so far, more to come. (And I gave up with Fuse)

I'm worried that F4NS stole SB4's thunder quite a bit. Media coverage billed F4NS as "finally, a programming language for your Nintendo Console," never stopping to realize that there already is one, and it's more mature (to the point of being used as middleware for some of Nintendo's games!!!). I still feel like SB4 needs a few extensions to help bring it up to a viable competitor to F4NS, like some sort of "struct" functionality, and maybe a 3D polygon library akin to the sprite library already built-in.

Interesting... I've never actually heard of FUZE before until you said something about it. I'm really curious about it now but $40 is quite a high price tag. Is there a dedicated forum/community-driven website for it like there is for SB? Edit: Despite how powerful FUZE looks, you can't share your creations online... bummer. I guess I'll be sticking with SB then lol

They have a forum and a Discord (IIRC and AFAIK), but I recommend you to read and see the images attached to the last posts of the FUZE discussion in here. It might give you a nudge to what to expect from them in terms of community and software.

I've heard complaints about fuze...

Also, I think SmileBASIC was born almost dead as a result of being a pretty niche and obscure piece of software. It was the community (a.k.a. Us, who spent a big part of the dawn of SBS saying "press enter lumage" and "eat sand" [+65536 IQ memes BTW]) and Miiverse (at least until Nintendo killed it) who did bring it back to life (wake me up inside...) So I don't think this community "died". It's just the inevitable destiny that SmileBASIC has been condemned since it was born that can be slowed it we give it enough attention and eat enough sand.

Maybe kind of related, but with SB4’s (the Switch SB) English translation (not version, you’ll still need a Japanese eShop card) coming out in half a year or so makes any big project on SB3 (the 3DS SB) not worth making anymore? Or will people still use SB3?

Maybe kind of related, but with SB4’s (the Switch SB) English translation (not version, you’ll still need a Japanese eShop card) coming out in half a year or so makes any big project on SB3 (the 3DS SB) not worth making anymore? Or will people still use SB3?

I will still use SB3 until I get a switch (if at all.)

Maybe kind of related, but with SB4’s (the Switch SB) English translation (not version, you’ll still need a Japanese eShop card) coming out in half a year or so makes any big project on SB3 (the 3DS SB) not worth making anymore? Or will people still use SB3?

I will still use it. I favor 3DS over switch for a number of reasons, although i won't say why. I invest in the 3DS, unlike Nintendo.

Maybe kind of related, but with SB4’s (the Switch SB) English translation (not version, you’ll still need a Japanese eShop card) coming out in half a year or so makes any big project on SB3 (the 3DS SB) not worth making anymore? Or will people still use SB3?

I'll stick to SB3 because I'll never get a Switch to use SB4 in the first place... Generally I don't jump e.g. from a Wii and 3DS to the Switch. I still have a few GBAs and a PS2, still used today.

I feel like it's resting. I'm hoping that once the fancy new site and the Worldwide version of SB4 are released, this site will go back to the amount of activity it had 2-3 years ago _{^{(god it's been that long?!?)}} which honestly wasn't that much. Still, the reality is that SB4 has already been released, to little fanfare. There's a dozen people that bought it _{^{(according to the discord a bit ago)}} and it seems that they're all busy with other things right now.

I think it's important to realize that, until SB4 releases outside of Japan, it's not going to bring in new people. Right now, to even consider buying SB4 outside of Japan, you need to:

• Know that SB4 exists in the first place
• Be interested enough in the concept to buy it
• Be willing to program in an environment where all of the documentation is in a language you probably don't speak
• Be too impatient to wait for an English release
• Create a Japanese Nintendo account
• Figure out how to put money into said account
• Be willing to spend 3000 yen on SB4
• Understand how the server ticket system works so that you can even upload anything
• Actually be able to figure it out well enough to even make anything

It's no wonder that the people who bought it so far already own SB3. If you don't live in Japan, SB4 just isn't something you're going to casually run across unless you already know about SmileBASIC. Even if you do, the odds of you buying it without knowing what you're getting into are slim. Even after that, the lack of English documentation will be a huge barrier without prior SB knowledge, and without knowing about the online reference to machine-translate it. Once SB4 is released outside of Japan, however, this should change. A few video game journalists will probably cover it, people will see it when they scroll through the eShop... Of course SB4 is always going to be a niche product, but the first step is enabling said niche to actually be able to find and use it.