So far, I've adored this program. I'm such a fan of it--bought it and bought the custom themes pack, too. It's genuinely so pretty, so easy to get into the spirit, and I've hit my goal every day I've used it. I catch myself looking for excuses to use it. You did a wonderful job.
I've talked elsewhere about wishing the "secondary emojis" were more customizable, as an autistic girl with a personal discomfort around faces who very much likes a simple, pleasant, faceless setup. I swear, if an emoji pack ever releases with more emoji options and customizability, I will pay $50 on it and immediately go and write 4,000 words. That's my pledge. It would make my day.
That being said, I've been cranky enough about this one tiny silly thing. This program has wonderful sounds (big fan of the ASMR options, I'd love more expansion of the soundscape in the future, too!) and a great, simple UI. The backup feature saved my bacon last week, and everything is almost completely stable and pleasant to use. Aside from the "timer" others have requested, this program is everything I ever wished Write-or-Die could have been, and I'm going to keep using it for a long time to come. I'm going to use buying the rest of the themes as an incentive for finishing my projects.
EDIT: Okay, it's definitely a bit finicky so far, but I'll figure it out! I just gotta find a good set of pixel emojis like the Vaporwave theme, then only add the ones that don't have faces.
The main bug I'm finding is that choosing custom emojis instantly breaks the normal emoji selection. If I have the Vaporwave theme selected with default emojis, or any non-default emoji set selected, and then I enable custom emojis, it instantly resets to default. Turning off custom emojis does not fix this; I have to restart the program in order to get anything other than Default Hearts, or a mix of Default Hearts and my own custom emojis.
That on its own is an obvious bug, but my biggest issue is that it means I can't really pick and choose with the standard arrays. I can't open the Vaporwave theme to get the pixel heart, then add in a trans Minecraft bee as a party emoji--it'll just become default hearts + trans bee. Like I said, I really like the emoji sets, I just want to replace a couple emojis in each set that I don't like! So that's a problem.
EDIT: This bug seems to trigger from opening the Display Customization interface at all. I opened it to hide the progress bar and then had to restart the program to get the fire-themed emojis back.
EDIT x2: Actually, I'm getting inconsistent results with this bug. I just managed to get rid of it just by changing the emoji set, but I swear that didn't work earlier. Sorry, I wish my data were more helpful!
Getting more into the realm of "request" than "issue", I think my ideal would be like, a row of dropdown menus where you choose from all the normal emojis on offer (including the vaporwave emojis), and if you want, you can pick "custom" and mix your own with the standard options. That way, I could just pick a heart emoji, a vaporwave heart emoji, a mushroom, a flower, and a custom trans heart or whatever. That sort of thing. I really do like most of the standard emoji sets, and having to reverse engineer them is a bit of a pain! I also love the pixel hearts, but I'm not huge on the Vaporwave theme itself
That being said, the above idea sounds like potentially a huge hassle, and I'm happy with what we got! I just gotta track down my own pixel heart somewhere.
This is still helpful! I'll see if I can reproduce it, it may just be appearing in certain situations. And thank you for the feedback! As for the Vaporwave emoji, these are the ones I used, if you want to have them to import for yourself, sorry there's no way to do it through the interface: https://kazzter-k.itch.io/interface-icons & https://kazzter-k.itch.io/pixel-emoji-pack
I've fixed a bunch of bugs in the latest version (2.3) that has just been released re: the custom emoji behavior and also made some interface changes to make it more clear! It was a bit of a mess, thank you for your patience
I have a lovely story to share with you. A few months ago, me and my best friend were working on our Master's thesis-i (what is the plural, anyway). They have ADHD and I struggle with getting things done because I want to do all the things. We both got the version of StimuWrite available at that time. They used Stimuwrite for most things, I used it when I needed to breeze through a keyboard monkey stage - translation: our workspace was filled with StimuWrite noises. Before long, most of our cohort was using StimuWrite. It was a thing of beauty to see.
See I wrote this in my review and then I actually started using it 😅 I don't know why, but I can use a word counter on Stimuwrite but no where else. Maybe because no other word processor is able to do what Stimuwrite does lol
I just downloaded it today and I've gotten 700 words down for the first time in months!! The different themes, backgrounds, and ambient noises really helped me to get more comfortable while writing. I'm not a professional writer by any means and I was getting uncomfortable with just my notepad staring back at me waiting for me to type. You can bet I'm coming back once my paycheck rolls in to donate for this awesome tool!!
I usually like to do my first drafts on paper because it's just too difficult for me to focus through a first draft when I'm sitting in front of a computer. So many distractions, and the blank document screen always feels so intimidating and unwelcoming. I still love my notebooks, but StimuWrite has made it possible for me to do first drafts on my computer with a fraction of the distraction, paralysis, and general anguish! More than that, it actually makes the process fun, comfortable, and rewarding. The "waves" background is my favorite, but I think I may buy some of the add-on themes too. Thank you, Ms. Harms!
I have not had any issues with the app crashing, but so far I have only used it for shorter writing projects (less than an hour at a time).
Payday came for me, so a little payday comes your way as well!
Now, in light of Unity's recent insertion of their foot into their mouths, I'd like to try and learn Godot. I've also had an idea or two for a Stimuwrite theme. Would you be okay with me attempting to develop my own themes, or would you prefer to just hear it as a request or commission?
I may put together a theming guide and template soon and will let you know if I do! I wouldn’t attempt without one unless you love reverse-engineering things because it’s not straightforward.
Love this!!! I haven't really been able to use it much yet, but I'm pretty sure it'll definitely be of some use (I thought the emojis would be distracting but they're very useful actually). My only two issues are as follows: is there perhaps an option for non-motion backgrounds? Sometimes they can be a little distracting. Second, and the most important thing for me, is that an option to hide the progress bar would be incredible. Seeing wordcount / word progress while I'm writing makes me focus on that instead of the words. (But seeing a progress bar for the project itself or for the project as a whole (much like nanowrimo does it) is definitely very satisfying.) Thank you, and I love the work you've done!!!
Thank you! I will take into consideration about hiding the progress bar. As for still backgrounds, the video backgrounds have a “pause” button above the dropdown you can use to make them still :)
I love using Stimuwrite but I was mid way through writing something around 700 words when my computer bluescreened, I tried the recovery feature but nothing that I typed showed up, is there another way to check or is it gone forever?
Also, if you find the app is crashing, please try turning off GPU particles. Click on the link at the bottom titled Options, then Advanced Settings > GPU particles. Toggle this to OFF. This feature causes crashing on some user's machines and will be disabled by default in future versions.
Thank you so much for getting back to me! I couldn't find it again but I think that's just my computer's problem as it's getting quite old. I managed to re-write most of it, so nothing really lost! Thanks again for getting back to me, and I hope you have a great day.
Found this through a Tumblr post and it looks really cool but it doesn’t seem to work on my computer? I’ll download the files and everything will download good and I’ll get past the Anti-virus thing but when I go to run it it says (and this is the exact pop up I get)
“Your video card driver does not support any of the supported OpenGL versions.
Please update your drivers or if you have a very old or integrated GPU update it.”
I use a Windows 11 and I will admit this may just be a problem on my end because I am not at all tech savvy so I have no clue what this means but I looked and it doesn’t seem like anything needs to update? Again sorry if this is a problem on my end that I’m not understanding
So unfortunately because StimuWrite was created with a game engine there are certain video cards it won't work with. I will look into creating a version that's backward compatible. In the meantime, there's an app called WriteRush on itch that is inspired by StimuWrite and should work on any graphics card that you could check out.
I was looking at my analytics, and found that the top URL referrer to WriteRush was StimuWrite — which initially confused me. I looked into it and found that this comment was why, which is pretty amazing.
not exactly sure how this works or if it can be figured out but i have one issue with this, is that it uses curly quotes, and whenever i export or copy text, the curly quotes are mixed up/backwards... as in, the closing one is where it should be a starting one, vise versa. i keep having to replace all of them. is there a way around this? or a potential for just using straight quotes?
I really like the program and I wanna make some custom themes and sounds for it to make it feel more personal and engaging, but I'm not sure how I would go about doing that if I could. Is there any way for someone to make their own custom themes or add-ons? If it's a hassle I'd be willing to go through it, but as I said before I don't know how to do it if I can
Very cool! I can look into creating a theming guide and template, but for sounds and add-ons there's currently no way for me to enable other people to be able to make/add them to the program.
Hi meowcifer! I've created a custom theme template and documentation for it, and put it on github. Give it a try if you like. You'll be a bit of a guinea pig here as it's a work in progress and you'll be one of the first people to use it https://github.com/beastly-eve/stimuwrite-theme-template
Fantastic application that definitely helps me do my daily writing. One minor issue is that I can’t get the alt codes to work in the app (so I have to copy some of the special characters I use regularly from notepad), but otherwise it’s remarkable and easily customisable.
Yes, unfortunately, due to technical limitations of the engine alt codes currently don't work. May I ask what special characters you use? There's an option to turn double dashes into em dashes, maybe I could implement something similar for other ones.
Hi, sure. I’m a bit obsessive about typography, so I use ellipsis (…), Polish quotation marks („”), rounded apostrophe (’), en and em dashes (—, –) on a more regular basis. It’s really not this big a problem though: as I said, I can copy them over from Notepad, or use the Windows Emoji panel (it has got a section with special characters).
i was super excited to give this a try, because well... like for many others here i've been struggling to write while battling with my adhd - and i just can't seem to get it to work. not sure why it's persistent on not opening after downloading but is it because i have windows 11? it seems to work fine on my mac devices but not for my windows powered ones. i wonder if its something im missing--
Ooh this is wonderful! Giving it a go for the first time and the sound combined with the other elements makes it so much easier to get that draft out! Thank you so much!
Do you have any plans to add the ability to import fonts in the future? (I have a few favorites [*cough* comic sans *cough*] that I'm finding I miss!)
Due to technical limitations of the engine I used to build it, it’s unlikely I’ll be able to add this feature. If you have a comic sans alternative you like that’s open source I’d be happy to include it in an update :)
Nice! Late reply (I went down a typeface rabbit hole and then subsequently forgot) but I think I've found some good ones!
Google Fonts does have its own Comic sans version, but like, it looks too *nice* and I feel like the point of typing in Comic sans is for it to look too silly to take seriously. Instead I'm going to recommend Playpen Sans.
Also, my other request would be Flow Circular. It's a really nice unreadable font that also still looks like proper paragraphs.
Thank you again for making this! You still save my life all the time!
this is amazing! writing with ADHD can truly be the worst, however i'm having trouble with my BG selections not sticking after closing the program.. perhaps i've got a setting on or something? no idea!
So it’s an intentional design decision that the background doesn’t save, the idea is that setting the background acts as an intention setting ritual. I’m wondering if it’s not actually helpful though 🤔
So my computer got shut down while I was writing, and I lost 700 words. I'm seeing in other comments that there's supposedly a recovery feature, but I can't find it. Can I get some directions? Can it be recovered after a computer shut down?
Edit: I found the recovery feature! I had to go digging pretty far in the comments, though. Do you think you could mention the feature somewhere in the app description for easier access?
I'm glad you were able to find it! Some more detailed documentation is a good idea.
EDIT: For anyone finding this comment before additional documentation is added the recover feature is found here: Options (link at bottom of writing window) > Recover Session
I've been trying Stimuwrite 2 for around two weeks and it was working wonderfully (in fact, it helped me to overcome a block so only for that I love it.) But lately it has crashed both on my tablet (surface go) and on my computer (both with Windows 10.) So each time it has crashed I lost what I had written up until that point. In the first two times I was able to more or less rewrite what I had lost because it was still fresh in my head, but not the third time. I'm so sad because this app is really a great tool and I'm willing to buy it but I need to be sure that it won't crash like this, and if it does, it would be nice if the app could somehow still retain what you wrote on the last session so that when you open it again you can recover it.
ETA: Ok, I hadn't realized there was already a recovery feature, sorry.
Oh geez, that's not good. I'm glad you were able to find the recovery feature but it shouldn't be crashing on you like that.
If you don't mind helping me debug this, please email stimuwrite@distant-tundra.com so I can send you a debug version that will log the error. I'm happy to send you free theme packs if you are able to help. Thank you!
I love everything about this app! I would like to suggest tho that with the typewriter sound, there could be a extra sound added for when you hit the enter key
I love this but I think I might type too fast or something, it crashes on me pretty consistently :( That said, it seriously is a wonderful program so thank you for the time+effort put into it!!! it's a lovely idea!!
Oh no! I'm sorry to hear it's crashing for you. If you don't mind helping me debug this, please email stimuwrite@distant-tundra.com so I can send you a debug version that will log the error. I'm happy to send you free theme packs if you are able to help. Thank you!
This is nothing short of wonderful. My favorite feature has to be the Illegible font making it impossible for my internal editor to kick in and kill my momentum. The only thing that could turn my experience from great to perfect is if maximize/fullscreen could stretch the backgrounds to fill my entire screen; the black borders on either side are unfortunately very distracting and make it hard to concentrate! If it were possible to add a small, unobtrusive timer to help with time-blindness, it would be my absolute DREAM writing app.
I appreciate that you’re so responsive with feedback and I plan on buying those extra themes as soon as I can! My current favorite setup is the StimuWrite 2 theme with Day background, short stack font (or illegible if I’m feeling particularly yucky), and the sparkle emoji! ✨ No typing noises or soundscapes for me, but lately I’ve been listening to Lunar Drive by Mondo Loops and it’s been a fantastic vibe for writing!
Hello! You can turn on a setting in the latest version that will cause the background to fill the screen. I did also change the two fonts you mentioned to similar but improved versions, I hope you like them, please let me know!
I really really like the soundscape feature on the new version, but I have to confess I was so attached to the original wave background from ver 1 I ended up downgrading again. Is there any chance the old wave background will be made available again in ver 2? (Or by chance have I missed the option somewhere?)
Okay, this is perfection. The text box itself is exactly simple enough as to not be distracting, while adding the perfect amount of background distractions in my peripheral vision. The animated backgrounds and emojis have just enough movement to make sure my brain doesn't wander off staring out the window, and the keyboard noises and progress bar give me just enough of that instant-reward my brain craves. Oh no, the emojis have stopped! Must press keys more to make the emojis keep going! And look at the progress bar! Must type more, make progress bar go up!
I also love the button that appears on reaching goal to add more to it. Having an option to click a button to instantly add 500 more words means that I'll keep clicking the button, whereas I might not go to the effort of raising the word goal manually. That's the sort of instant gratification feature I need!
Current setup: Sunset theme and background (from the add-on -- so worth it!), brown noise, keyboard typing sounds, mushroom emoji.
This is such an amazing writing program. I'm DEFINITELY going to be using this.. I was actually thinking of making a program similar to this, but you did it way better than I could.
The main improvement I would make is to edit the sounds being used to have them play instantly, instead of at a slight delay. Currently, whenever I press a key, there is about a third-of-a-second delay until the sound plays. This is likely in the sound files themselves, and you could edit the empty space before them so the sound plays immediately when a key is pressed. In my opinion, this would make it more satisfying.
Hi! I love stimuwrite but wanted to let you know I may have noticed a minor bug. When I put a closed quotation mark after a period, the quotation mark counts as its own word in the word count. This makes it difficult to track my word count in scenes with a lot of dialogue, and to keep consistent track of my progress in a larger project.
hi, ive been using stimuwrite for a little bit now and i really like it, it makes writing feel so much more stress free and ive been looking for alternatives to google docs and i really like this.
i just wanted to let you know i've been having pretty consistent problems with it crashing seemingly randomly while writing. thankfully you have the session recovery feature (it really gave me a heart attack the first time because i hadn't backed up my work anywhere else) but it can be a little distracting having to constantly reopen the program and put my work back into it.
im really not sure what could be causing it as it doesnt seem related to anything i'm doing but wanted to let u know! thanks so much for making an amazing free app!
hmm that’s no good. Do you mind providing your system info? Have you tried changing the particle system setting? Is there a combination of features you are using when it usually happens?
im using a windows 10 laptop, and i havent tried changing the particle system setting yet. usually i pause the moving backgrounds and dont use the soundscapes, just the typing sounds, which i didnt think were that resource intensive so i wasnt sure if they'd be causing the crashing or not. if you need more info about my computer, just let me know.
Hi! This looks like a really cool program, but I can't find any privacy information about it. Does it send anything back or does everything stay on my computer after I download it?
It doesn’t connect to any server or send me or any company info from your computer. In the future I may have it connect to the itchio server to check the version for update notifications but beyond that I don’t have any plans for any features that would require networking.
Hello! I love this program so much and use it every time I write, if it's available <3 It really helps me write more and feel accomplished!
One thing I've noticed, and I'm not 100% the cause, but the program crashes from time to time. Not a huge problem, since I can find the writing in the session recovery feature, but I'm starting to think it's related to the soundscapes? As far as I can tell it only happens when I'm playing the sounds, and I use the Ocean one. I always use the fun bubble keystroke effect, so I don't think it's that, but yeah! Just wanted to mention that!
I love this program a lot! I was super curious to try it even though I write my first drafts by hand. (I got two of the theme packs as well because I couldn't help myself, they were so beautiful.) It's really great! Even when I'm writing in my notebook I have this pulled up for the soundscapes and background, and when I am typing I really enjoy the clicky-clack sounds we can add to our typing. I have also been raving to all of my friends about it lol.
One question, I was wondering if there is a way to install our own fonts that I may have missed? Either way, thank you for your time! This program is wonderful and I'm really glad I downloaded it!! <3
Thank you so much! Unfortunately there is no way to install your own fonts, and due to technical limitations of the engine there probably never will be. If there's an open source font that you like, however, feel free to let me know and I may add it in a future update.
thank you!! it's not super pressing, the fonts provided are lovely! I was just curious. I appreciate your response and the work you've put into this program <3
love this program and use it frequently, thank you so much for making it! also I noticed you don´t have cyrillic letters for some of the fonts, maybe you can add them in next update?
Thank you! Unfortunately that's up to the author of the font to add in those characters, so you will have to use the ones that already contain them. If there's an open source font that you like that has cyrillic characters please let me know and I may add it in a future update.
Hi! I just wanted to let you know about a bug I found. I have a Swedish QWERTY keyboard. When the Smart Quotes function is on, it turns shift+ä into “ rather than the expected Ä. I'm assuming this is because the ä key on a Swedish QWERTY is in the same spot as the " key on an English QWERTY.
I love that this exists! Thank you. I have one question and one suggestion though. How do I adjust the font size? From the screenshots, I'm assuming there's a way to do it and I'm just missing it because...well...ADHD lol.
As for my suggestion, I tend to get hung up on perfectionism while I'm writing and start editing before I finish. More often than not, leading me to not finish. Could you possibly add an option to toggle off the delete and backspace functions in the app til the goal is reached during a session?
That in my mind, would make this app PERFECTION :D
That's a cool idea! I will look into it, thank you. When you open the font selection dropdown there is a plus and minus button at the bottom of it that you can use to adjust the font size :)
What a cool program! I grabbed the latest windows version of this a little bit ago and I've been clickety clacking away with the typewriter sound turned on. Not sure about the emojis but the sound really helps my AuDHD brain Brrrrrrrr away while I write.
The only trouble I've encountered has been the following: - The program lags like crazy when it's not Full Screen. I even closed everything running in the background and it still lagged. The lag got substantially worse if I ran an animated background and running the background and emojis made it practically impossible to use. --- Once I switched it to Fullscreen the lag went away.
- I had the program up for about 20 minutes while I handled something in another window. It was behind the window and when I went to move StimuWrite 2's window up front again it crashed on me. When I opened the program again all of my previous writing was gone and I couldn't figure out a way to retrieve it. For someone that has to juggle multiple programs or get up and walk away from the computer for anywhere from 5-30 minutes I can't always take the extra time to export/copy my work onto another document and save it (Also I have AuDHD so sometimes I forget outright to do things like this. --- Some kind of autosave feature might be a good idea so that writing can be retrieved if the program crashes.
- The volume for any kind of sound seemed to be set SUPER HIGH by default. It was genuinely painful when I first started looking at the different typing sounds and 'soundscapes'. --- I realize this might be more my own fault but I tend to run my main computer volume around 50%, never had my ears hurt from turning the sound on in any program til now. Maybe default it a little lower and let people turn it up if they need to? Idk.. This one's really nbd.
I'll admit, I didn't pay for this. I'm living paycheck to paycheck and when I saw someone post about this on Twitter, I decided to check it out. I don't know what I was expecting, but I'm genuinely impressed with what I'm seeing so far and I've 'followed' you (the creator) on here. I've ever intention of setting aside some money when I can and paying for the next update properly. Especially if it promises a bit more stability or some kind of autosave feature.
Hi there! If you click on the "Options" link button next to about and then select "Recover Session" you may find the writing that was lost. As for the fullscreen issues, try going to "Advanced Settings" in the same options menu and turning off the GPU Particles setting. You will have to restart the app for that to take effect. Let me know if that fixes the issues you had with lag and instability.
And don't worry about getting it for free! Donations help of course, but I made the app available for free so that anyone could get the benefit from it even if money was tight.
So, I have tried the program and I will say that it really works. Sounds help me a lot, especially the sound of the fireplace. It just does an incredible job. I hope that in the future there will be many new wallpapers for the program and many new sounds.
I LOVE StimuWrite, and I've been using the original version for a long time now; however, having just downloaded StimuWrite 2, I can't get it to open, at all (I'm on Windows btw). And I don't think this is a problem with the new version specifically, because I went through a period a while back where the original inexplicably wouldn't open either, and now I can't get either version to open (my cursor just spins for a bit but ultimately nothing happens). If it's anything like the last time, it'll fix itself on its own eventually, but I wish I knew why it does this..... I was in the middle of working on something new when I found out that StimuWrite 2 was out, and I was really looking forward to seeing the updates, but now neither of them will open for me :(
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So far, I've adored this program. I'm such a fan of it--bought it and bought the custom themes pack, too. It's genuinely so pretty, so easy to get into the spirit, and I've hit my goal every day I've used it. I catch myself looking for excuses to use it. You did a wonderful job.
I've talked elsewhere about wishing the "secondary emojis" were more customizable, as an autistic girl with a personal discomfort around faces who very much likes a simple, pleasant, faceless setup. I swear, if an emoji pack ever releases with more emoji options and customizability, I will pay $50 on it and immediately go and write 4,000 words. That's my pledge. It would make my day.
That being said, I've been cranky enough about this one tiny silly thing. This program has wonderful sounds (big fan of the ASMR options, I'd love more expansion of the soundscape in the future, too!) and a great, simple UI. The backup feature saved my bacon last week, and everything is almost completely stable and pleasant to use. Aside from the "timer" others have requested, this program is everything I ever wished Write-or-Die could have been, and I'm going to keep using it for a long time to come. I'm going to use buying the rest of the themes as an incentive for finishing my projects.
I'm so glad the app has been a help! I will look into adding more emoji options
Hello! In the latest version you can import emojis from your image library :D
!!!!!!!! hot DOG I was midway writing!!!
EDIT: Okay, it's definitely a bit finicky so far, but I'll figure it out! I just gotta find a good set of pixel emojis like the Vaporwave theme, then only add the ones that don't have faces.
Please let me know of any issues you encounter, so I can improve it :)
The main bug I'm finding is that choosing custom emojis instantly breaks the normal emoji selection. If I have the Vaporwave theme selected with default emojis, or any non-default emoji set selected, and then I enable custom emojis, it instantly resets to default. Turning off custom emojis does not fix this; I have to restart the program in order to get anything other than Default Hearts, or a mix of Default Hearts and my own custom emojis.
That on its own is an obvious bug, but my biggest issue is that it means I can't really pick and choose with the standard arrays. I can't open the Vaporwave theme to get the pixel heart, then add in a trans Minecraft bee as a party emoji--it'll just become default hearts + trans bee. Like I said, I really like the emoji sets, I just want to replace a couple emojis in each set that I don't like! So that's a problem.
EDIT: This bug seems to trigger from opening the Display Customization interface at all. I opened it to hide the progress bar and then had to restart the program to get the fire-themed emojis back.
EDIT x2: Actually, I'm getting inconsistent results with this bug. I just managed to get rid of it just by changing the emoji set, but I swear that didn't work earlier. Sorry, I wish my data were more helpful!
Getting more into the realm of "request" than "issue", I think my ideal would be like, a row of dropdown menus where you choose from all the normal emojis on offer (including the vaporwave emojis), and if you want, you can pick "custom" and mix your own with the standard options. That way, I could just pick a heart emoji, a vaporwave heart emoji, a mushroom, a flower, and a custom trans heart or whatever. That sort of thing. I really do like most of the standard emoji sets, and having to reverse engineer them is a bit of a pain! I also love the pixel hearts, but I'm not huge on the Vaporwave theme itself
That being said, the above idea sounds like potentially a huge hassle, and I'm happy with what we got! I just gotta track down my own pixel heart somewhere.
This is still helpful! I'll see if I can reproduce it, it may just be appearing in certain situations. And thank you for the feedback! As for the Vaporwave emoji, these are the ones I used, if you want to have them to import for yourself, sorry there's no way to do it through the interface: https://kazzter-k.itch.io/interface-icons & https://kazzter-k.itch.io/pixel-emoji-pack
I've fixed a bunch of bugs in the latest version (2.3) that has just been released re: the custom emoji behavior and also made some interface changes to make it more clear! It was a bit of a mess, thank you for your patience
Dear Eve,
I have a lovely story to share with you. A few months ago, me and my best friend were working on our Master's thesis-i (what is the plural, anyway). They have ADHD and I struggle with getting things done because I want to do all the things. We both got the version of StimuWrite available at that time. They used Stimuwrite for most things, I used it when I needed to breeze through a keyboard monkey stage - translation: our workspace was filled with StimuWrite noises. Before long, most of our cohort was using StimuWrite. It was a thing of beauty to see.
Love from behind the Screen,
BDL
Thank you so much for sharing this lovely story, it makes me so happy to hear and to imagine the room full of StimuWrite sounds!!! 💜
I know answer's probably "no", but, any chance of android app?
I second this. I need it. Please please please
This is in the works! Hopefully soon
Hi I just downloaded this today! It's awesome but how do I turn off the progress bar? I feel that it doesn't help me so much as hinder me.
Unfortunately that's not possible at this time but it's a feature I will probably add in the next version.
See I wrote this in my review and then I actually started using it 😅 I don't know why, but I can use a word counter on Stimuwrite but no where else. Maybe because no other word processor is able to do what Stimuwrite does lol
Hello! The latest version has this feature :)
I just downloaded it today and I've gotten 700 words down for the first time in months!! The different themes, backgrounds, and ambient noises really helped me to get more comfortable while writing. I'm not a professional writer by any means and I was getting uncomfortable with just my notepad staring back at me waiting for me to type. You can bet I'm coming back once my paycheck rolls in to donate for this awesome tool!!
I'm so glad it's been helpful!
I usually like to do my first drafts on paper because it's just too difficult for me to focus through a first draft when I'm sitting in front of a computer. So many distractions, and the blank document screen always feels so intimidating and unwelcoming. I still love my notebooks, but StimuWrite has made it possible for me to do first drafts on my computer with a fraction of the distraction, paralysis, and general anguish! More than that, it actually makes the process fun, comfortable, and rewarding. The "waves" background is my favorite, but I think I may buy some of the add-on themes too. Thank you, Ms. Harms!
I have not had any issues with the app crashing, but so far I have only used it for shorter writing projects (less than an hour at a time).
Thank you!
Thank you so much for adding a native Linux version! Once my next payday comes around, I'll have to slip you a fiver for making something so helpful!
Thank you! I always appreciate the support :)
Payday came for me, so a little payday comes your way as well!
Now, in light of Unity's recent insertion of their foot into their mouths, I'd like to try and learn Godot. I've also had an idea or two for a Stimuwrite theme. Would you be okay with me attempting to develop my own themes, or would you prefer to just hear it as a request or commission?
Thank you so much for your support!
I may put together a theming guide and template soon and will let you know if I do! I wouldn’t attempt without one unless you love reverse-engineering things because it’s not straightforward.
Fellow Linux user who apparently found this program at just the right time!
Love this!!! I haven't really been able to use it much yet, but I'm pretty sure it'll definitely be of some use (I thought the emojis would be distracting but they're very useful actually). My only two issues are as follows: is there perhaps an option for non-motion backgrounds? Sometimes they can be a little distracting. Second, and the most important thing for me, is that an option to hide the progress bar would be incredible. Seeing wordcount / word progress while I'm writing makes me focus on that instead of the words. (But seeing a progress bar for the project itself or for the project as a whole (much like nanowrimo does it) is definitely very satisfying.) Thank you, and I love the work you've done!!!
Thank you! I will take into consideration about hiding the progress bar. As for still backgrounds, the video backgrounds have a “pause” button above the dropdown you can use to make them still :)
Thank you so much!!!
Hello! You can hide the progress bar in the latest version :)
I love using Stimuwrite but I was mid way through writing something around 700 words when my computer bluescreened, I tried the recovery feature but nothing that I typed showed up, is there another way to check or is it gone forever?
Oh no! I'm so sorry that happened. You could check to see if the recovery file has the words, but it's a bit of a long shot. You can find it here:
Windows
>%APPDATA%\Godot\app_userdata\StimuWrite\stimuwrite_recover.txtmacOS:
~/Library/Application</span> <span class="pre">Support/Godot/app_userdata/StimuWrite/stimuwrite_recover.txtLinux:
~/.local/share/godot/app_userdata/StimuWrite/stimuwrite_recover.txtAlso, if you find the app is crashing, please try turning off GPU particles. Click on the link at the bottom titled Options, then Advanced Settings > GPU particles. Toggle this to OFF. This feature causes crashing on some user's machines and will be disabled by default in future versions.
Thank you so much for getting back to me! I couldn't find it again but I think that's just my computer's problem as it's getting quite old. I managed to re-write most of it, so nothing really lost! Thanks again for getting back to me, and I hope you have a great day.
Found this through a Tumblr post and it looks really cool but it doesn’t seem to work on my computer? I’ll download the files and everything will download good and I’ll get past the Anti-virus thing but when I go to run it it says (and this is the exact pop up I get)
“Your video card driver does not support any of the supported OpenGL versions.
Please update your drivers or if you have a very old or integrated GPU update it.”
I use a Windows 11 and I will admit this may just be a problem on my end because I am not at all tech savvy so I have no clue what this means but I looked and it doesn’t seem like anything needs to update? Again sorry if this is a problem on my end that I’m not understanding
So unfortunately because StimuWrite was created with a game engine there are certain video cards it won't work with. I will look into creating a version that's backward compatible. In the meantime, there's an app called WriteRush on itch that is inspired by StimuWrite and should work on any graphics card that you could check out.
Thanks so much for the shoutout! It really helps!
I was looking at my analytics, and found that the top URL referrer to WriteRush was StimuWrite — which initially confused me. I looked into it and found that this comment was why, which is pretty amazing.
Thanks again!
You're welcome :)
Hello, please try the latest version to see if it works on your computer, it has been updated to be compatible with more machines. Thank you!
not exactly sure how this works or if it can be figured out but i have one issue with this, is that it uses curly quotes, and whenever i export or copy text, the curly quotes are mixed up/backwards... as in, the closing one is where it should be a starting one, vise versa. i keep having to replace all of them. is there a way around this? or a potential for just using straight quotes?
To disable smart quotes, you can go to “Options” > “Advanced Settings” > And disable/Off “Smart Quotes”
thank you so much ^^
Thank you!
I really like the program and I wanna make some custom themes and sounds for it to make it feel more personal and engaging, but I'm not sure how I would go about doing that if I could. Is there any way for someone to make their own custom themes or add-ons? If it's a hassle I'd be willing to go through it, but as I said before I don't know how to do it if I can
Very cool! I can look into creating a theming guide and template, but for sounds and add-ons there's currently no way for me to enable other people to be able to make/add them to the program.
I see, thank you!
Hi meowcifer! I've created a custom theme template and documentation for it, and put it on github. Give it a try if you like. You'll be a bit of a guinea pig here as it's a work in progress and you'll be one of the first people to use it https://github.com/beastly-eve/stimuwrite-theme-template
Woo! Thank you! Didn't see it because I've been busy as of late but I'm gonna try it now!
Fantastic application that definitely helps me do my daily writing. One minor issue is that I can’t get the alt codes to work in the app (so I have to copy some of the special characters I use regularly from notepad), but otherwise it’s remarkable and easily customisable.
Yes, unfortunately, due to technical limitations of the engine alt codes currently don't work. May I ask what special characters you use? There's an option to turn double dashes into em dashes, maybe I could implement something similar for other ones.
Hi, sure. I’m a bit obsessive about typography, so I use ellipsis (…), Polish quotation marks („”), rounded apostrophe (’), en and em dashes (—, –) on a more regular basis. It’s really not this big a problem though: as I said, I can copy them over from Notepad, or use the Windows Emoji panel (it has got a section with special characters).
Thank you for getting back to me!
i was super excited to give this a try, because well... like for many others here i've been struggling to write while battling with my adhd - and i just can't seem to get it to work. not sure why it's persistent on not opening after downloading but is it because i have windows 11? it seems to work fine on my mac devices but not for my windows powered ones. i wonder if its something im missing--
try downloading it through the itch.io desktop client, that usually fixes any issues people may have with opening the program :)
Ooh this is wonderful! Giving it a go for the first time and the sound combined with the other elements makes it so much easier to get that draft out! Thank you so much!
Do you have any plans to add the ability to import fonts in the future? (I have a few favorites [*cough* comic sans *cough*] that I'm finding I miss!)
Due to technical limitations of the engine I used to build it, it’s unlikely I’ll be able to add this feature. If you have a comic sans alternative you like that’s open source I’d be happy to include it in an update :)
Nice! Late reply (I went down a typeface rabbit hole and then subsequently forgot) but I think I've found some good ones!
Google Fonts does have its own Comic sans version, but like, it looks too *nice* and I feel like the point of typing in Comic sans is for it to look too silly to take seriously. Instead I'm going to recommend Playpen Sans.
Also, my other request would be Flow Circular. It's a really nice unreadable font that also still looks like proper paragraphs.
Thank you again for making this! You still save my life all the time!
These are fantastic, thank you!
:3
I've added those fonts in the latest version and thanked you in the About page. Thanks for the great suggestion!
Ohh! Thank you! The new version looks so good! :D
this is amazing! writing with ADHD can truly be the worst, however i'm having trouble with my BG selections not sticking after closing the program.. perhaps i've got a setting on or something? no idea!
So it’s an intentional design decision that the background doesn’t save, the idea is that setting the background acts as an intention setting ritual. I’m wondering if it’s not actually helpful though 🤔
i would really like for setting to stay saved! it becomes more annoying for me than part of a ritual, tho i understand that idea
Noted! Thanks, it helps to know what is and isn't working for people
this looks really fun but I mostly do my writing on my phone! Do you have any plans of making an iOS version?
yes! You can sign up for the email list to be notified when it’s ready :)
oh, awesome!! thank you for the quick reply ❤️
So my computer got shut down while I was writing, and I lost 700 words. I'm seeing in other comments that there's supposedly a recovery feature, but I can't find it. Can I get some directions? Can it be recovered after a computer shut down?
Edit: I found the recovery feature! I had to go digging pretty far in the comments, though. Do you think you could mention the feature somewhere in the app description for easier access?
I'm glad you were able to find it! Some more detailed documentation is a good idea.
EDIT: For anyone finding this comment before additional documentation is added the recover feature is found here: Options (link at bottom of writing window) > Recover Session
I've been trying Stimuwrite 2 for around two weeks and it was working wonderfully (in fact, it helped me to overcome a block so only for that I love it.) But lately it has crashed both on my tablet (surface go) and on my computer (both with Windows 10.) So each time it has crashed I lost what I had written up until that point. In the first two times I was able to more or less rewrite what I had lost because it was still fresh in my head, but not the third time. I'm so sad because this app is really a great tool and I'm willing to buy it but I need to be sure that it won't crash like this, and if it does, it would be nice if the app could somehow still retain what you wrote on the last session so that when you open it again you can recover it.
ETA: Ok, I hadn't realized there was already a recovery feature, sorry.
Oh geez, that's not good. I'm glad you were able to find the recovery feature but it shouldn't be crashing on you like that.
If you don't mind helping me debug this, please email stimuwrite@distant-tundra.com so I can send you a debug version that will log the error. I'm happy to send you free theme packs if you are able to help. Thank you!
I love everything about this app!
I would like to suggest tho that with the typewriter sound, there could be a extra sound added for when you hit the enter key
That's a great idea!
A little 'ding' and zip sound, just as when you need to reset it, would be amazing!
I love this but I think I might type too fast or something, it crashes on me pretty consistently :( That said, it seriously is a wonderful program so thank you for the time+effort put into it!!! it's a lovely idea!!
Oh no! I'm sorry to hear it's crashing for you. If you don't mind helping me debug this, please email stimuwrite@distant-tundra.com so I can send you a debug version that will log the error. I'm happy to send you free theme packs if you are able to help. Thank you!
Hello. Is there an Android version of this anywhere? I prefer to write on my phone rather than laptop.
Not yet, but an android version is in development
This is nothing short of wonderful. My favorite feature has to be the Illegible font making it impossible for my internal editor to kick in and kill my momentum. The only thing that could turn my experience from great to perfect is if maximize/fullscreen could stretch the backgrounds to fill my entire screen; the black borders on either side are unfortunately very distracting and make it hard to concentrate! If it were possible to add a small, unobtrusive timer to help with time-blindness, it would be my absolute DREAM writing app.
I appreciate that you’re so responsive with feedback and I plan on buying those extra themes as soon as I can! My current favorite setup is the StimuWrite 2 theme with Day background, short stack font (or illegible if I’m feeling particularly yucky), and the sparkle emoji! ✨ No typing noises or soundscapes for me, but lately I’ve been listening to Lunar Drive by Mondo Loops and it’s been a fantastic vibe for writing!
Those are great suggestions! I will definitely consider them. And I love hearing about what set ups people use, thanks for sharing!
Hello! You can turn on a setting in the latest version that will cause the background to fill the screen. I did also change the two fonts you mentioned to similar but improved versions, I hope you like them, please let me know!
I really really like the soundscape feature on the new version, but I have to confess I was so attached to the original wave background from ver 1 I ended up downgrading again. Is there any chance the old wave background will be made available again in ver 2? (Or by chance have I missed the option somewhere?)
I will take that into consideration!
Thank you!
Okay, this is perfection. The text box itself is exactly simple enough as to not be distracting, while adding the perfect amount of background distractions in my peripheral vision. The animated backgrounds and emojis have just enough movement to make sure my brain doesn't wander off staring out the window, and the keyboard noises and progress bar give me just enough of that instant-reward my brain craves. Oh no, the emojis have stopped! Must press keys more to make the emojis keep going! And look at the progress bar! Must type more, make progress bar go up!
I also love the button that appears on reaching goal to add more to it. Having an option to click a button to instantly add 500 more words means that I'll keep clicking the button, whereas I might not go to the effort of raising the word goal manually. That's the sort of instant gratification feature I need!
Current setup: Sunset theme and background (from the add-on -- so worth it!), brown noise, keyboard typing sounds, mushroom emoji.
My word count and I thank you!
i love hearing about your setup and I’m so glad that the app is helping you! Thank you!
This is such an amazing writing program. I'm DEFINITELY going to be using this.. I was actually thinking of making a program similar to this, but you did it way better than I could.
The main improvement I would make is to edit the sounds being used to have them play instantly, instead of at a slight delay. Currently, whenever I press a key, there is about a third-of-a-second delay until the sound plays. This is likely in the sound files themselves, and you could edit the empty space before them so the sound plays immediately when a key is pressed. In my opinion, this would make it more satisfying.
Thanks for making this!
i will look into if any of the sounds need further editing! My suspicion is the problem is with lag
Hi! I love stimuwrite but wanted to let you know I may have noticed a minor bug. When I put a closed quotation mark after a period, the quotation mark counts as its own word in the word count. This makes it difficult to track my word count in scenes with a lot of dialogue, and to keep consistent track of my progress in a larger project.
I noticed that this stops when I turn off smart quotes. Under Options>Advanced Settings, it should be the first slider.
this is super helpful for fixing this bug, thanks for chiming in!
i will look into this, thank you!
hi, ive been using stimuwrite for a little bit now and i really like it, it makes writing feel so much more stress free and ive been looking for alternatives to google docs and i really like this.
i just wanted to let you know i've been having pretty consistent problems with it crashing seemingly randomly while writing. thankfully you have the session recovery feature (it really gave me a heart attack the first time because i hadn't backed up my work anywhere else) but it can be a little distracting having to constantly reopen the program and put my work back into it.
im really not sure what could be causing it as it doesnt seem related to anything i'm doing but wanted to let u know! thanks so much for making an amazing free app!
hmm that’s no good. Do you mind providing your system info? Have you tried changing the particle system setting? Is there a combination of features you are using when it usually happens?
im using a windows 10 laptop, and i havent tried changing the particle system setting yet. usually i pause the moving backgrounds and dont use the soundscapes, just the typing sounds, which i didnt think were that resource intensive so i wasnt sure if they'd be causing the crashing or not. if you need more info about my computer, just let me know.
if you don’t mind helping with testing I can send you a debug version to figure out your issue. Please email me : stimuwrite@eveharms.com
Hi! This looks like a really cool program, but I can't find any privacy information about it. Does it send anything back or does everything stay on my computer after I download it?
It doesn’t connect to any server or send me or any company info from your computer. In the future I may have it connect to the itchio server to check the version for update notifications but beyond that I don’t have any plans for any features that would require networking.
Hello! I love this program so much and use it every time I write, if it's available <3 It really helps me write more and feel accomplished!
One thing I've noticed, and I'm not 100% the cause, but the program crashes from time to time. Not a huge problem, since I can find the writing in the session recovery feature, but I'm starting to think it's related to the soundscapes? As far as I can tell it only happens when I'm playing the sounds, and I use the Ocean one. I always use the fun bubble keystroke effect, so I don't think it's that, but yeah! Just wanted to mention that!
i will look into that, thank you!
Love this! Would it be possible to add the ability to make custom backgrounds with videos and/or gifs/images and custom sound?
i will consider this, thank you!
Hello! In the latest version you can upload a custom image background :)
I love this program a lot! I was super curious to try it even though I write my first drafts by hand. (I got two of the theme packs as well because I couldn't help myself, they were so beautiful.) It's really great! Even when I'm writing in my notebook I have this pulled up for the soundscapes and background, and when I am typing I really enjoy the clicky-clack sounds we can add to our typing. I have also been raving to all of my friends about it lol.
One question, I was wondering if there is a way to install our own fonts that I may have missed? Either way, thank you for your time! This program is wonderful and I'm really glad I downloaded it!! <3
Thank you so much! Unfortunately there is no way to install your own fonts, and due to technical limitations of the engine there probably never will be. If there's an open source font that you like, however, feel free to let me know and I may add it in a future update.
thank you!! it's not super pressing, the fonts provided are lovely! I was just curious. I appreciate your response and the work you've put into this program <3
i absolutely adore this program. thank you so much for making it! <3
thank you!
love this program and use it frequently, thank you so much for making it!
also I noticed you don´t have cyrillic letters for some of the fonts, maybe you can add them in next update?
Thank you! Unfortunately that's up to the author of the font to add in those characters, so you will have to use the ones that already contain them. If there's an open source font that you like that has cyrillic characters please let me know and I may add it in a future update.
Hi! I just wanted to let you know about a bug I found. I have a Swedish QWERTY keyboard. When the Smart Quotes function is on, it turns shift+ä into “ rather than the expected Ä. I'm assuming this is because the ä key on a Swedish QWERTY is in the same spot as the " key on an English QWERTY.
Strange! Thanks for the info, I'll see if I can fix this in a future update
I love that this exists! Thank you. I have one question and one suggestion though. How do I adjust the font size? From the screenshots, I'm assuming there's a way to do it and I'm just missing it because...well...ADHD lol.
As for my suggestion, I tend to get hung up on perfectionism while I'm writing and start editing before I finish. More often than not, leading me to not finish. Could you possibly add an option to toggle off the delete and backspace functions in the app til the goal is reached during a session?
That in my mind, would make this app PERFECTION :D
That's a cool idea! I will look into it, thank you. When you open the font selection dropdown there is a plus and minus button at the bottom of it that you can use to adjust the font size :)
Sweet! And thank you so much :3
hehehe clicky bubbly noises make brain go brrrrrrr
What a cool program! I grabbed the latest windows version of this a little bit ago and I've been clickety clacking away with the typewriter sound turned on. Not sure about the emojis but the sound really helps my AuDHD brain Brrrrrrrr away while I write.
The only trouble I've encountered has been the following:
- The program lags like crazy when it's not Full Screen. I even closed everything running in the background and it still lagged. The lag got substantially worse if I ran an animated background and running the background and emojis made it practically impossible to use.
--- Once I switched it to Fullscreen the lag went away.
- I had the program up for about 20 minutes while I handled something in another window. It was behind the window and when I went to move StimuWrite 2's window up front again it crashed on me. When I opened the program again all of my previous writing was gone and I couldn't figure out a way to retrieve it. For someone that has to juggle multiple programs or get up and walk away from the computer for anywhere from 5-30 minutes I can't always take the extra time to export/copy my work onto another document and save it (Also I have AuDHD so sometimes I forget outright to do things like this.
--- Some kind of autosave feature might be a good idea so that writing can be retrieved if the program crashes.
- The volume for any kind of sound seemed to be set SUPER HIGH by default. It was genuinely painful when I first started looking at the different typing sounds and 'soundscapes'.
--- I realize this might be more my own fault but I tend to run my main computer volume around 50%, never had my ears hurt from turning the sound on in any program til now. Maybe default it a little lower and let people turn it up if they need to? Idk.. This one's really nbd.
I'll admit, I didn't pay for this. I'm living paycheck to paycheck and when I saw someone post about this on Twitter, I decided to check it out. I don't know what I was expecting, but I'm genuinely impressed with what I'm seeing so far and I've 'followed' you (the creator) on here. I've ever intention of setting aside some money when I can and paying for the next update properly. Especially if it promises a bit more stability or some kind of autosave feature.
Keep up the great work!
Hi there! If you click on the "Options" link button next to about and then select "Recover Session" you may find the writing that was lost. As for the fullscreen issues, try going to "Advanced Settings" in the same options menu and turning off the GPU Particles setting. You will have to restart the app for that to take effect. Let me know if that fixes the issues you had with lag and instability.
And don't worry about getting it for free! Donations help of course, but I made the app available for free so that anyone could get the benefit from it even if money was tight.
So, I have tried the program and I will say that it really works. Sounds help me a lot, especially the sound of the fireplace. It just does an incredible job. I hope that in the future there will be many new wallpapers for the program and many new sounds.
I'm so glad to hear it's helping!
I LOVE StimuWrite, and I've been using the original version for a long time now; however, having just downloaded StimuWrite 2, I can't get it to open, at all (I'm on Windows btw). And I don't think this is a problem with the new version specifically, because I went through a period a while back where the original inexplicably wouldn't open either, and now I can't get either version to open (my cursor just spins for a bit but ultimately nothing happens). If it's anything like the last time, it'll fix itself on its own eventually, but I wish I knew why it does this..... I was in the middle of working on something new when I found out that StimuWrite 2 was out, and I was really looking forward to seeing the updates, but now neither of them will open for me :(
Weird! I wonder if trying to download and launch it from the itchio client would make a difference? The new version is compatible with it.