Leaving Novice Mode
In order to access pages beyond page 1, you must switch from Novice
Mode to Normal Mode. To see if you need to do this, look for the
words "Novice Mode" in green near the bottom right corner of the
screen. To turn off Novice Mode:
- Call up the Home menu by pressing the Start button on the gamepad
or the Home buton on the keyboard, or by left-clicking on the blue Home icon
in the top right corner of the screen.
- Select "Settings" from the Home menu.
- The first entry in the Settings menu will be green and say
"Novice Mode". Use the gamepad, keyboard, or mouse to change it to
Normal Mode, which is blue. Then exit the Settings menu by pressing
the B button on the gamepad, or Escape on the keyboard.
The Current Page
When you begin a new program or load an existing program, you start
out on page 1. The current page number appears at the top of the rule
editor display. Your program can have up to 20 pages.
Each page has a distinct background color. It's light blue for page
1, pink for page 2, light green for page 3, and so on.
A character can only be on one page at a time. In execution mode, you
always see the page it's currently on. According to the Second Law,
any rule on the current page that can run, will run. Rules on other
pages cannot run.
Moving Between Pages in the Rule Editor
There are several ways to move between pages in the rule editor, using
either the game controller, the keyboard, or the mouse.
- Using the game controller: the left and right shoulder buttons move to
the previous or next page, respectively. If you press one of these buttons and hear
a tweeting sound, that means you're still in Novice Mode.
- Using the keyboard: On Windows, the Page Up and Page
Down buttons move to the previous or next page, respectively. )On
the Mac, use option+UpArrow and option+DownArrow.) If you press
one of these keys and hear a tweeting sound, that means you're
still in Novice Mode.
- Using the mouse: Left clicking on the page number at the
top of the rule editor will bring up a page menu, allowing you to
select the page you want to visit. Alternatively, to the left and
right of the page number are two arrowheads. Left clicking on an
arrowhead will take you to the previous or next page. In Novice Mode
these arrowheads are not visible.
The "Switch to Page" Tile
When you want a character to switch pages, use the "switch to page"
tile, which goes on the DO side of a rule. This must be followed by a
tile that specifies the page number to switch to. For example, whenever
we bump a cube we might want to switch to page 2:
WHEN bumped cube DO switch to page 2
When a "switch to page" action is performed, the effect is immediate.
No further rules on the current page will run. The character jumps
immediately to the new page and begins a new rule cycle.
This applies even if a character switches to the page it's already on.
The current rule cycle is terminated and the character enters the page
afresh. All "once" flags are reset, and a new rule cycle is
begun.
Viewing The Program As A State Machine Diagram
Calypso offers three views of your program:
- When you start out, you're in the rule editor view.
- In the map layout you can define the initial positions, orientations,
and colors of cubes, and the initial positions and orientations of some other things as well,
such as custom markers.
- In the state machine view you can see your program
represented as a state machine diagram. Each page is drawn as a circle, and each "switch to page" action is
drawn as an arrow from once circle to another.
To enter the state machine view using the game controller, press
"up" on the D-Pad. Using a keyboard, press control-UpArrow on
Windows, or function-UpArrow on the Mac.
In execution mode, you see the rules on the left side of the screen
and the world map on the right side. The same commands work for
switching views, except that you can only switch between rule and
state machine views while in execution mode. In the state machine
view, the current page is indicated with a thick dashed line drawn
around that circle.
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