Siteswap Explorer app

barnesy - 2021-01-19 08:22:01 UTC #

Siteswap Explorer app

My free juggling app Siteswap Explorer for iPhone and iPad has just gone live on the App Store.
Get it here: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/siteswap-explorer/id1549451272

Sorry Android/web app fans: I wanted an Apple app project. Other platforms aren’t on my radar at the moment!

The app is all about using siteswap rules to derive other siteswaps. You don’t type stuff in, you just press buttons to manipulate the numbers. The app will only give you the buttons that apply to the current siteswap. There are no wrong answers: you can just tap around whether you understand the theory or not!

Here's a quick video of some of the app's features in action: https://youtu.be/eT0SDcKKtbs

The app’s very much a work in progress. It does most of the things I initially wanted it to do but I have a big list of things to add and improve. A more immediate and intuitive user interface for swaps is high on that list! It would be great for me to get some feedback, which may help to steer me on the next changes.

The app can do the following operations...

From buttons on the main screen:
- add an object by adding 1 to all throws
- subtract an object by subtracting 1 from all throws
- increase a throw by adding the siteswap’s period to it, so you get something like the last pattern but with an extra ball popping out
- decrease by period (reverse of that)
- delete a throw
- extend the period by inserting another number (the number of objects) at the last possible valid position (e.g. 5353 becomes 53534)
- undo each step

The throw menu (click a number to get there) repeats the throw related operations but with an added ‘look before you leap’: each option shows what siteswap it will produce. It also gives a little more control:
- you can choose where to insert another throw, so for the insertion example above, 53453 becomes reachable.
- swapping. So for example swapping the first 3 of 333 by 2 places to get 531.

The siteswap menu (top right) does stuff to the whole siteswap:
- add object
- subtract object
- double (e.g. 534 becomes 534534)
- halve (e.g. 534534 becomes 534)
- dual
- time reverse
- showerify
- make one handed
- make two handed
- reset to default (333)

Each of those options only show up when they would produce a new and different siteswap and when the app can display that many characters.

Siteswap length is currently limited by screen width. On the smallest devices that’ll be 9 characters.

This first version requires iOS 11 or newer. If that’s too newfangled for anyone who would otherwise have wanted the app please tell me. iOS 11 is a nice limit for me because the code needs no OS version checks. But I can consider supporting some older versions if there’s demand.

The animator uses JMLib from good old JuggleMaster. Thanks for that to Ken Matsuoka, Per Johan Groland and Chunky Kibbles. Yes, the 1s are huge.