Version 0.5 released!

After long waiting, the newest version is finally there! This first release as Crafter 2D is already a milestone. But this version comes with much more. It contains many improvements and large parts of the engine are rewritten. For example the previously common C++ Actor class will not be there for too long anymore. Instead the Entity class has been extended with a component system. This approach, although very new for me, makes the entities more modular. The new file streamers can now automatically generate entities and its accompanying components.

Improvements
The script engine YAS, also got a lot of love in the past year. An intermediary compiled interpreter language (CIL) has been added as you probably already have read in a previous blog. With the CIL language in between it becomes easier to implement different types of virtual machines or even a just in time (JIT) compiler.

As discussed in a previous blog, the engine is also shifting to the Windows Store and Phone 8 platforms. To support these platforms, some libraries have been replaced by libraries that support these environments. One of the removed libraries is the OpenAL (and accompanying Vorbis OGG) sound library. Its replacement FMOD supports a much wider range of platforms, including the targeted ones. Another addition is the support for DirectX. It is now possible to choose for which target you are building your game. For OpenGL the requirements have been lifted a bit support more modern hardware, which now requires version 3.2. In this version support has been added for uniform buffers, which are used to supply matrices to the shaders.

Planning
All in all, the engine has become much faster and more stable. But we aren't there yet. Currently the engine still doesn't have a proper editor for the UI and worlds. This one is at the top of the list and currently is already being implemented. Next will be a UI implementation written entirely in YAS! So, stay tuned for more features and bug fixes in the future.

If you try the engine, please let me know on in the discussions area what you think of the engine, and what you consider as the weak spots that need more attention.