Sneak Preview: Custom Tools (Macros)

[zoran]

We are approaching the release of another foldit feature that may well change the very fabric of the game.  Up until now, we have been evolving the tools in order to adapt to the way players tend to manipulate proteins, and according to the way expert biochemists would like to alter the configuration. 

In the spirit of allowing you to shape the course of scientific research, we've been planning to do something much more powerful: allow you to design, share, refine, discuss and rank new tools by combining the low level building blocks into more complicated operations through a simple visual interface.  We are currently working on making the scripting process accessible to gamers who have never programmed before, in hope that all of you will explore this exciting new space.  Here's the snapshot of our visual scripting interface:


The macros will first be released for individual use.  we will subsequently release the ability to share, rank, edit, and see the analytic value of each macro (for example, you can find out that people who have used a specific macro have scored 20% higher on the previous 3 puzzles than the people who did not).  We think that this tool exploration will enable discovery of brand new protocols that could also enable computers to perform better.  Heck, biochemists have published numerous articles just on the discovery of such new protocols.  I'm betting that the folding community can do just as well if not better at discovering new strategies to efficiently fold proteins.

[Brad Taylor]

Not sure what you mean by macros though. Hopefully it will be an easy way to programatic-ly implement a wiggle walk and test side chain tweaks. I can tell you that when I had no patience for  wiggle walks, my rank was generally in the mid 20s'. Lately however I can't resist the extra 100+ points to be made with basically mindless background wiggles and tweaks so my rank has improved a bit.  Still not in the top 10 very often though. ;)

[Migi]

This is fantastic!

According to me, the more room you give the players to grow, the more they will grow. If designing the best tool will get them the most points, you can expect some very neatly designed tools.

<dreaming>
I think the summit of perfection would be if there were a button that would transform the visually designed script into its textual code equivalent, which would allow even more complex tools to be designed (conditions, loops, etc).

I know that that requires an enormous effort, but if you do that, you won't need to program anything else anymore. We would do it for you if that's what it takes to get more points.
</dreaming>

I'm excited by the incredible speed at which FoldIt is evolving.

[zoran]

yes, you should be able to design wiggle walk of any flavor by using macros.  eventually we will also provide a true scripting language, or a script that is authored by an example set of operations, but our initial focus is to provide a tool that players with no  programing skills can use to create new protocols.