Re:Ask HN: Low Code tools like Webflow, what's my role in th...
by muzani on Sunday February 23, 2020 @09:57PM
(#22401265)
I started programming on a low code tool. We went pretty far - games like Knytt Stories, Spelunky, Five Nights at Freddy's are built on low code tools.
The downside is that it's often harder to communicate with the software. Drag and drop is much slower than typing. These tools often have bugs and bad design. You end up building long winded hacks around them. Like we'd end up building our own physics engine, collision detection, and so on. Knytt Stories has a level split into many different screens, rather than continuous scrolling, because of some limitations. You eventually get the Ionic/Cordova effect - you can build things fast, but have to hack a lot to get what you really want. The more layers there are, the more work you need to debug every layer.
I've bought tools like Bootstrap Studio and eventually just gave up and went to HTML. They work as training wheels, but if you're here to race, you won't want them.
The downside is that it's often harder to communicate with the software. Drag and drop is much slower than typing. These tools often have bugs and bad design. You end up building long winded hacks around them. Like we'd end up building our own physics engine, collision detection, and so on. Knytt Stories has a level split into many different screens, rather than continuous scrolling, because of some limitations. You eventually get the Ionic/Cordova effect - you can build things fast, but have to hack a lot to get what you really want. The more layers there are, the more work you need to debug every layer.
I've bought tools like Bootstrap Studio and eventually just gave up and went to HTML. They work as training wheels, but if you're here to race, you won't want them.