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[Patreon Exclusive] The LOOPY Beta!

🕑 Added 2017-02-24 14:29:58 +0000 UTC

Comments

Jonathan Bobrow

Haha, I wonder if that *discrete typo made it discreetly into my thesis :)

Nicky Case

Thanks Jon! Yeah giving step-by-step a speed slider might be the best of both worlds! > discreet step-by-step the most subtle, secretive step-by-step

Jonathan Bobrow

Seems like it is preaching to the choir at this point, but yes, discreet step-by-step has a really nice aspect of allowing the user to digest the relationship. One possibility for bringing back the organic feeling of the continuous model could be to include a knob for the speed with which they update. i.e. slow is good for seeing discreet components, cause and effect, but fast can be good go for seeing the overall effects and potentially emergent behaviors of the system. It is true that the easiest point of entry is modeled more closely after what we are used to, with a mechanistic viewpoint, but this tool is definitely building a bridge to systems thinking and comprehension. Note: one fun aspect could be drawing to speed up, or speed down, really enjoy that interface decision :)

Emelin Ringuette

Coming up with it is much more involved than saying "yeah, I like that better" :P Hindsight 20/20 and all that jazz.

Nicky Case

Thanks Aimee! Yeah it seems like step-by-step is the crowd favorite by a landslide, dunno why it took me so long to finally come up with that new design

Emelin Ringuette

I like Step-by-step better. It's much easier to understand where the changes are happening.

Nicky Case

Thanks Joe! And hm, charts may be a good idea! I'm thinking – to avoid multiple lines obscuring each other – maybe I could do something like Bret Victor did for circuit diagrams: show the graphs *IN* each node: <a href="http://www.smallapple.net/blog/pics/inventing_on_principle_demo4-med-auto.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.smallapple.net/blog/pics/inventing_on_principle_demo4-med-auto.jpg</a>

Nicky Case

Thanks for the feedback! And yeah, the "flipping" is still a bit weird, hopefully I can figure out a better way to convey it. (A tangential but similar problem: the phrases "positive feedback loop" and "negative feedback loop" are also confusing)

Nicky Case

Thanks Philippe! That was my reasoning when I decided to try making step-by-step instead of continuous – the continuous version *did* feel more "organic", but it was just as opaque as real life, while still not being reasonably accurate. Glad to hear that step-by-step actually made a difference!

Nicky Case

Thanks for the feedback on these feedback loops, Peter! :)

Joe Mako

I would love to see it paired with a line chart, one line for each node, x-axis for time/step, and y-axis for size. This line chart could work as a timeline scrubber, so when you say something like "causes a temporary increase" we can see it in the line chart.

Making Play

I like Step-by-step better as well, but being able to change the speed would be nice. Also the arrows changing colors and directions feels a bit weird. Maybe having (+) and (-) would be more clear? I really like Loopy and think it will be a great tool!

Philippe Vallotti

It's an awesome tool! For me, the step-by-step version is A LOT clearer and would avoid a lot of confusion as to what is causing what. By removing the arrows, it removes a visible causality, leading to a simple but completely opaque organic result (which is more true to life, but is also like life: puzzling and obscure).