Falling Shortcuts!

[Darren]

During the CLA Summit Americas 2016 I talked a lot about Quick Drop, particularly during my brainless presentation. People are looking for a novel way to learn how to use object shortcuts in Quick Drop, and I was inspired to fulfill that request with my new Falling Shortcuts game. It's pretty simple...objects are falling down a diagram, and you must type the Quick Drop object shortcut for that object in order to score a point and continue playing:

Instructions

1. Make sure your system has some Quick Drop object shortcuts configured. You can easily install mine if you don't have your own.

2. Unzip the attached file and open Falling Shortcuts.vi. Use the '2012' file for LabVIEW 2012, 2013, or 2014. Use the '2015' file for LabVIEW 2015 and later.

3. Select a difficulty and run the VI. Type the object shortcut for the falling object to score a point and reveal a new object.

4. If an object falls off the bottom of the diagram, the game is over.

[Manudelavega]

Nice. Cheated by using a little probing, but the goal is to learn the shortcuts, isn't it!

[Darren]

Version 2 is posted. Changes are:

1. The game now works in Localized LabVIEW.

2. The code is fully documented.

[kennychevans]

Could someone please save this for LabVIEW 2014?

[Darren]

I have uploaded a version that you can use in LabVIEW 2012 and later. Enjoy!

[Darren]

Thanks to Lorenz Casper, I have the following images for Falling Shortcuts. I'll probably add one or both of them to the code somehow on my next revision.

[kennychevans]

When I click the link to install your shortcuts, then I get a message saying "Access Denied". How do I fix this for myself?

[Darren]

I fixed the link to point to the correct document. Note that you only need to download the object shortcuts if you are using LabVIEW 2015 and previous. They are included automatically in LabVIEW 2016 and later.

[kylegullion]

Hacked in timing and a weighted random choice. After playing for a bit, it should prompt your slower quick drops more often. Figured I'd share.

[Bluegraf]

Great trainer, Darren! Thanks!

Also cool idea to add weighted random, kylegullion.

Based on the version of kylegullion I added more features during lunchbreak:

- there is a rookie level that shows the shortcuts of the falling object(s). Really helpful if you have to get to know the shortcuts in the first place...

- after hardcoded (yes I know...) 100 pixels the next object will appear in higher difficulty levels.

VIs saved for 2012 (from 2016)