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:
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