I’m excited to announce a number of improvements to the simulator:
- The sphygmomanometer is now dynamically generated rather than using a static image. It looks much better.
- Window resizing is now possible, and the targeted resolution is now 1920x1080 rather than 1280x720.
- The audio visualizer (helper/scaffold) has been reimplemented in a way that works on the web.
- There is now a popup with instructions upon loading the simulator orienting the user to the control scheme (this does not negate the need to read the tutorial before using the simulator!)
- I am starting to implement helper functions for scaffoliding microskills. Three of these are available to be enabled in the pause menu.
- Key mapping for controls (e.g. Escape = pause menu, I = show instructions) are listed on-screen.
- Damped oscillations have been incorporated into needle movement, increasing realism.
- The needle now “bumps” to the cardiac cycle when the cuff pressure is near the systolic blood pressure, increasing realism.
- The UI on the right hand side has been cleaned up a little.
Additional updates between 0.2.0 and the current version (0.2.x) include the following:
- Pinning the aspect ratio to 16x9 for improved usability.
- Larger font size.
- On-screen buttons for showing the instructions again, and for accessing the pause menu (needed on tablets lacking a physical keyboard).
- Improved image assets for keyboard keys.
- Progressive Web App availability for use on Android/iOS tablets. Tablet usability is decent if there is a physical keyboard, but not as good as the desktop experience, and usability is limited without a physical keyboard. There are challenges in loading the iOS/Android virtual keyboard when using a Godot project exported to the web.
Thanks to the amazing Dr. Amanda Shepherd for offering her time to provide helpful feedback, inspiring many of these improvements.