Setting Up A Lowerdash Project

Lowerdash is extremely easy to get up and running with. This tutorial will cover downloading and setting up a basic project (without LPM).

Download Lowerdash

From the TOP MENU go to Publish/Download Projects and select Download using Public Key. Enter the Lowerdash download key. This will add a new project on your 3ds: LOWERDASH_BETA. You can find the latest download code for Lowerdash on its Program Page

Create your Project

From the TOP MENU go to Manage Projects/Files and select Add Project Folder. Fill in your project name and make sure to set it as the active project! Once you have your folder made, you should still be on the FILE MENU. Select Copy, go into the LOWERDASH_BETA project, and select the following files:

• LDC
• LOWERDASH
• TEMPLATE

Copy them into your the project you just created. Once the files have been copied, select Rename, and change TEMPLATE to whatever name you want. I keep it simple with GAME. Your project folder should look like:

Manage Imports

Imports are the separate files you load into your program. They may come from libraries you download, or you might write them yourself. Imports from libraries you download have to be copied into your project folder. If you are using LPM, this is done for you. To register imports with your program, place an import statement in the part of template with:

IMPORTS GO HERE

For example: I want to add ColeslawProductions' excellent Defy library to my project. I download the project from his download code. Using the FILE MENU I can copy the DEFY.LIB file from the downloaded project to my new project folder. After copying the file, I can then add the line:

import "DEFY.LIB"

Now when I run my program, all the helper functions from Defy, such as GBLUR, will be available to me. Remember!:Since Defy is a function library with global functions, I cannot reuse any of the function names it uses for my own DEFs.

Write Your Entry Point

The MAIN section is the code that bootstraps objects and calls one or more methods. Add your program code to the part of the template with:

YOUR MAIN PROGRAM

For example:

VAR game = "AsteroidsGame"
CALL _(game, "run")

Remember!: This first file can only use syntax level 1. It might be beneficial to do very little actual logic here, leaving the complex stuff for imports that can use syntax level 2. In the example, AsteroidsGame comes from an import, and most of how to "run" a game of Asteroids is defined in that separate file.

A Completed Template