@Morphtroid sadly, the manual was the part that I got lost at. So I suppose it's off to google...

I'm starting to regret buying this now. I can't seem to do anything other than display text. The manual is poorly put together, it's a very non user friendly program.

It is definitely not user friendly. No arguments there.

I think I'm going to attempt a text adventure first, before trying my main idea.

The included image/graphic editors are awful, does anyone know of any better ones?

They are hard to get used to but they're actually pretty good. Any other option is probably in japanese anyway.

And yeah, if text is all you can do, you may as well do something text based

is there a way to experience programming with BASIC without petitcomputer?

i know it is a VERY stupid question but i have no idea how programming works xD
how can i programm something with basic on my PC? do i need a programm for that first?

I guess it helps if you know what each program does and how to use it's products.

I'm currently using QB64 (QBasic for 64bit computer.); and there's a Youtube channel called Schoolfreeware that has a QBbasic/QB64 tutorial. I've been using that to learn QBasic, and I imagine QBasic and SmileBASIC aren't that much different.

CHRED lets you edit CHR files, these are the ones that you can use as sprites AND background tiles.
The CHR files you create with this can be loaded to a game to replace one of the following default settings:
BGU0-3 (background tiles)
SPU0-7(sprites)
BGF0(text characters)
Example, the comand LOAD "SPU1:mysprites" will replace the default SPU1 page of sprites (the one with the warrior and the witch) with those on the CHR file named "mysprites".
It doesn't matter where in the program you create your sprites, once you save them as a CHR flie, you can use them for any of these purposes.

Note: saving will only save the page of sprites shown on the upper screen, if you edited more than one page you need to save each one manually before leaving the program.

SCRED allows you to create SCR files, SCR files are actually just "premade" backgrounds you can load directly to your game and use them without the need to set every single tile manually by code, backgrounds can use two layers, layer 0 and Layer 1. You need to be very careful with these, L0 is actually the top-most layer and L1 is under it.
The SCRED program start asking if you want to load a character, saying yes brings up the oportunity to load the CHR files you created with CHRED.
To save your background just press X to bring up the menu and then A to pen the File Menu. If you type just S it will only save the layer you're working with right now, type SW to save both (the program will save 2 files, one for layer 0 and another for layer 1)
To use them on your game you need to load both files using LOAD "SCR0:background0" and then LOAD "SCR1:background1"

GRPED lets you create and edit GRP files, which are pretty much just drawings you can load to your game to use instead of backgrounds or something idk. GRP files can be loaded to 1 of 4 layers by using LOAD "GRP(0-3):grpfile".

I don't really fully understand the other one though.

Written on an iPad, sorry if it's hard to read.

After reading Morphtroid's post I'm too scared to buy this game. .____.

UPDATE: This is not a bug, it's a feature
You can only write the bank of graphics currently visible. Similarly you can only read into the currently visible bank. For example, if I write out bank 7 of the Sprites, when I want to load it back in I must first switch to bank 7 of the sprites PRIOR to doing the load.

Original Post below:

I'm going nuts here with what I feel is a bug in CHRED.

Can someone try out these steps, and let me know if they get the same result:

1. Run the CHRED from the gallery
2. Switch to the Sprites - Tap the SU button
3. Switch to page 7 - Tap the 7 button on the row of buttons below the sprite

You should see all black in the editor, as this area has no graphical information

4. Chose a color other than black from the color choices on the top row
5. Draw anything in the sprite editor, a simple X through the 4 boxes is sufficient
6. Tap the file folder button to get to the file management screen
7. Tap S and then Enter
8. Enter a filename - say bugtest then tap Enter
9. Chose yes to save the file
10. Press the select button and return to the main screen

11. Run the CHRED from the gallery
12. Tap the file folder button to get t0 the file management screen
13. Tap L and then Enter
14. Enter the filename you used for step 8 then tap Enter

Here is where I see the bug. Although I edited Page 7 of the Sprites, now Page 1 of the Background is totally messed up. The simple X that I drew in the sprites, along with all of the spaceship shows up on this background page.

Can anyone please confirm this? Did I do something wrong, or is this a bug?

Thanks for anyone who tests this out.

I tried, and I got only the top half of the X showing up with some other non-black sprite stuff underneath, and then the bottom half of the X is to the right of it rather than below.

Edit: if you switch to SU before loading, it appears normal though.

@Morphtroid Thanks, that makes it a lot easier for me.

After I posted, I re-read what Morphtroid had to say about CHRED and it clicked for me. You need to have whichever bank you want to load into active before doing the load. Problem solved. I must have scratched my head over this one for 3 days straight.

Yeah, that's because CHRED auto-arranges anything you load as background tiles (BGU) in 8x8 squares, so anything you draw in sprite mode (SPU, which by default is 16x16) and load as background tiles (BGU) looks different.

This

QW
ER

Becomes this

QWER

I'm glad I could help.

Has anyone managed to make their own music yet?

I managed to get a simple tune to play by editing the MML sample, but I don't think I'll ever get too far with music

@Morphtroid Could I trouble you to post the code or QR code of that tune, please? I just cannot figure out how to do it myself, and I haven't seen any games with examples of MML yet.

This is a great post! I've never done much work with graphics, and appreciate the discussion around using the built-in tools. Thanks!

I've seen a couple of posts on the GameFaqs forums discussing MML coding. Try checking these links:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/663843-petit-computer/63524945
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/663843-petit-computer/63484250
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/663843-petit-computer/63497779

There is also someone there who talked about making a tool to help create MML a bit easier - something I've also considered, but am unlikely to get around to in a reasonable amount of time.

I'm not sure how it works, I just edited the string with the notes, but here it is:

@ejamer: Thanks