There's nothing recent that caused me to post this, but I feel it needs to be said:
Many, many years ago came the first games for the Ti-83--not plus, not SE, just normal Ti-83. Some were written in Ti-Basic, others in ASM. Many of these games from both categories were quite excellent and rocked our world.
Now, how were these games made? Did we have Wabbitemu? Spasm? Ti-83+ Flash Debugger? Na-uh. These games had to be written and debugged either by hand (and calculator) or using primitive software. But the fact remains that, thanks to the sweat and hard work of these game designers, we had awesome accomplishments. But more importantly, there arose a community passionate about designing games.
If these programmers had been given wabbitemu, Brass, etc, I'm sure they would have used them. However, what if they had been pressured for using the tools that were available to them? What if people insulted them, told them to get a life, or showed rude shock at what they were using? Do you think the creators would have continued? Probably not: if you don't feel safe and comfortable using the only thing that's available to you, you can't really do anything else. And then there's no games, nothing to help start a community.
So when I started work on S.A.D., I had only ZDS and TI-83+ Flash Debugger available to me. I knew how to use them, I felt comfortable using them, and I was getting work done. How do you think I felt a long time ago when somebody said "Wait, you're using Ti-83+ Flash Debugger??" Yes, insulted. I had a tool I LOVED using, and I was not paid to switch to something else. I felt like I was an underdog for using something that I knew well, just because other people didn't use it. Sure, there were better tools available to me, but I didn't know about them. Instead of saying "You should try these instead," he said, "What, you're using this?" (As if to say *idiot*)
We all have tools we like to use. And we are so comfortable with these tools, we can quickly and readily develop games that display our passion and keep our community going. We use these WELL, whether they're easy or not. (Come on now, Zeda programs in pure hex better than any of us!) So if we find someone using something we consider "primitive," let's recommend something else, but at the same time remember that their software is not hurting anyone. In fact, using those tools, that person is probably writing something that will change calculators forever.
