Introducing StarLogo TNG Version 1

Major Changes from Beta 1to Version 1

Changes

• The look and feel of the Version 1 release of StarLogo TNG has greatly changed from Beta 1. The "factory" from which commands are pulled remains similar in functionality but now has buttons instead of vertical tabs and opens a drawer to the right of the button. This same change can also be seen in “my blocks” and “subsets.”

• The drawers have been greatly enhanced with updated animation, new block organization, and new colors.
• Navigation of the canvas has been updated. Now instead of just using the scrolls on the side, you can now click and drag anywhere you want.
• Vast improvements have been made to typeblocking such as a smarter search that yields results that can be told apart by sockets.
• Switch blocks now expand to include more instructions for performing a specific case.

• Collisions and graphs now no longer run when forever blocks aren’t running.
• Edit Breeds now has a new redesigned interface with the addition of “Pac-Man”, “Firefighter”, “Carrot”, “Bunny”, and “Fire” breeds.

• Adding comments has been made easier with labels appearing on the desired block. After resizing and moving, the new comments can now be saved. The question mark icon on the block indicates that a block has a comment.
  

• Changes have also been made to the runtime window. Now the locations of runtime blocks can be saved after being moved. You can now save the data from runtime recorders (tables, line graphs, and bar graphs) and also clear graphs after use.

• A new skybox has also been created so that the terrain is now integrated into the mountain backdrop instead of floating in space.

Additions

• Tooltips are currently implemented so now whenever you mouseover blocks, information about them appears.

• The camera in Spaceland can be returned to the default view and zoom or to its last saved position by clicking on the Reset Camera button at the top right

• Stop all execution while running your project by pressing the Stop button in the Spaceland Window.

• "Subsets" are a new feature that allow you to create your own block groups. Now you can organize the blocks you choose to use frequently in a project into a customizeable category for easy access to later.

• Shape images now appear on both the breed pages and in the minimap.

• "Yield" blocks have been introduced in Version 1 and can pause the execution of a command for one cycle.

• New blocks have been created in both terrain ("wall ahead?", "slope ahead") and other agents ("shape width of","shape height of", "shape length of").

• A zoom bar has been added to let you zoom in and out of the canvas. A collapse feature has also been added to the canvas so that various sections of it can be minimized for easier use.

• Output blocks (makes a procedure report) have returned to Version 1 and can now be used with procedures.

• Procedures now have the ability to be collapsed, hiding all of the blocks below.

Subtractions

• Multiplayer has been completely removed, removing all network blocks from the Version 1 release.

Known Bugs

• Infix blocks (like + and - that have blocks inside of them) don't render properly when they have a lot of operations nested within them. They still functional correctly so in general it works just to make the page wide enough to accommodate the large infix blocks.
• Deleting a breed can leave around some stray blocks on the canvas. You will need to delete them manually.
• Attaching a "yield" block to an "ask agent" block may potentially crash TNG on Macs.
• Variables with duplicate names can cause problems while running TNG.