almostLua Development
Last updated
Last updated
This page has no meaningful tech content, only read if you're interested in knowing how almostLua came to be.
In 2022, I have firmly said that it's impossible to run Lua within RetroStudio.
In late December 2023, I began trying to figure out how RetroStudio's VisualSource scripting format works (it's a hidden property every script has, that contains all blocks inside). At the time, it was pretty simple, and using an outdated compression method. However, my attempts were not successful.
In November 2023, the algorithm in use by VisualSource has been revealed thanks to a dear friend of mine, NicePotato. Immediately, I got to work reverse engineering the format, and I proposed a project that would convert VisualSource to Lua code (quite the foreshadowing). The project was 60% done before ultimately being abandoned.
I had not heavily worked on anything related to VisualSource for the first half of 2024, until the topic got picked up again with the release of tuples and VisualSource V3 in August. In the same month I wrote VisualLibrary, a library that helps create our very own VisualSource V2 scripts using Lua without necessarily needing RetroStudio. This opened a door to a lot of exciting projects, since now we weren't limited to just the built-in block code editor, but we could generate any script we'd like programmatically.
Later in August 2024 I got to work on a text programming language that would compile into RetroStudio code. It was scrapped shortly, but it became the foundation for what we know now as Powerlang.
The project has been completely restarted from scratch in early September 2024, this time with a completely new plan and goal: a language that felt like Lua, but had syntax adapted to the needs of RetroStudio's Visual Scripting. Eventually the project was given the name "Powerlang".
Powerlang remained in development for slightly more than a month, and was released to the public on October 17th, 2024. The project was a huge success for the first few weeks and gained temporary widespread adoption. Eventually, people got tired of Powerlang, and soon enough it was discontinued due to lack of demand and a poor coding strategy.
