Is it possible to lock the desired programming language translation (or disable the screen altogether, reclaiming some much-needed working space)? While the feature is extremely impressive, I find the constant switching distracting, especially whenever the output becomes... abstract art.
It may be twenty years too late to change the art style to use less saturated colors, but there's still hope! Here are a few things you can try:
1. Lock the language for the current level by changing it in the Settings. You may need to repeat the process after switching levels.
2. Make the distracting art smaller by zooming out (ctrl+wheel).
3. Get more horizontal space by dragging the splitters to the right.
4. See more commands in the editing area by zooming out.
5. Get more horizontal space by playing full screen, or alternatively, in a wide window.
I don't mind the art style itself; in fact, I quite like it. My main issue is that Piet is a particularly distracting translation whenever it pops up. That said, I got used to it quicker than I expected. Regardless, I think it would be nice if it was possible to permanently set the language.
I didn't realize ctrl+scroll did anything. I was probably told about it during the tutorial, but I must've forgot... Thanks for the tips.
Banner blindness to the rescue!
I actually agree with all the points you made - I just don't have a good solution at the moment. In particular, locking a language indefinitely could have an impact on the unlocking of words. Will update here if I come up with something.
Edit: you can now set the language to persist across levels - follow the instructions in the tooltip.
I have to say I agree with alion here, it would be nice to disable the code window entirely. As he mentions this is quite impressive, but it is also quite distracting. For me personally it does not contribute to the fun of the game in any way, and I can't say I would care much if I wouldn't unlock any words. I don't mean to be offensive in any way, just trying to give you my honest thoughts.
It definitely seems to be quite an improvement in terms of usable screen real-estate :D
If your goal is to not hinder the unlocking of words, it might not be a bad idea to remove the 'visible' constraint on unlocking them since they are currently almost always off screen.
Also, I think this is a bug, but everytime I refresh, it seems like the game thinks I have zero unlocked words and they pop off until I've collected them all again (which is a bit distracting also :P)