Roadmap

Roadmap for Kage

by Mj Mendoza IV

As of current, I'm the only developer of Kage, so this is how I will implement features in shaping-up Kage and exit from early-BETA phase to Release Candidate phase.

Each one being checked off, versioning will increase by 0.1. For example, if current version is 0.7.yymmdd, will later become 0.8.yymmdd

Timeline Pane (Phase1): DONE

This has been the focus since the release of v0.2.200220. Major parts of this are already available in v0.2.200330. But still need to make it possible to Adjust Frames across Layers via Add/Extend/Remove Frame (UPDATE: already implemented in v0.3 Maintenance Packages)

UPDATE: Released v0.3.200411 with backlogs for Timeline Pane completed
UPDATE 2: Released v0.3.200512 as first Maintenance Package for 0.3.x series
UPDATE 3: Released v0.3.200727 as last Maintenance Package for 0.3.x series

Properties Pane: DONE

Improve editing of shapes via Properties Pane, especially Node editing (update: DONE in revision 751); create custom Color-selection Widget, etc
UPDATE: Released v0.4.201024 with most backlogs for Properties Pane completed
UPDATE 2: Released v0.4.210416 as first and last Maintenance Package for 0.4.x series

KeyFrame: DONE

Simplify animation process by adding KeyFraming. Will only add LINEAR, EASE_IN, EASE_OUT. Other KeyFraming requests will be added to Missing Features
UPDATE: already implemented in v0.4 released last October 2020
UPDATE 2: reiteration mostly but with some Features from future Feature-set

Revamp of Zoom In/Out: DONE

Current implementation of Zoom-In/Out is very basic but performance degradation is obvious when working with Kage for long hours.
UPDATE: already implemented in v0.7 released last December 2022

Revamp Undo/Redo: DONE

Current implementation of Undo/Redo was designed for 1 Frame only. Working on several Frames is somewhat working but buggy, even more when working with Layers (add/delete/re-order)
UPDATE: already implemented in v0.8 released last Feb 2024

Timeline Pane (Phase2): ONGOING

Still need to make the Timeline easy to manipulate, like draging layers and frames around as animator see fit.; Target Date: 2025

Missing Features

• Gradient Fill
• Importing/manipulating of Image (PNG) (update: 14 of 15 sub-tickets are already implemented)
• Importing of Video
• Saving to Zipped file to support saving project file with imported Images/Videos
• Addition of Asset which is like Grouped shapes but has its own Timeline and can be instantiated multiple times as user desires. Sample use: Birds in the background where user will only animate once then populate the background with several instances of it.
• Importing/Exporting of Inkscape file -- tickets already raised (update: Export already implemented; Import already implemented)
  Target Date: 2026

Missing Tools

• I plan to add Pencil tool which can be used for quick layouting of animation; will still be vector/not raster (update: DONE in revision 762)
• Text tool is also considered
• And Rounded Rectangle too, I think is nice to have
• Any other tool request will be listed here.
  Target Date: 2027

Scripting

This will be the very last to be implemented -- once all items above are done and stable. As of this writing, plan is to still use KonsolScript since this tool existed for that purpose but I'm not closing doors to JavaScript since Kage currently supports Exporting to HTML5 as well.; Target Date: 2028+n

Conclusion

All Feature Requests and Bug Reports will be prioritized against this list, assuming it PASSED the Mantra screening. Reported Bugs will be reviewed for impact and will be reconsidered especially if it's a quick-fix and high impact.

Of course, help is welcome.

Note

If it's not yet obvious, I'm only working on this project on my free time. The COVID-19 pandemic made me stay home even on weekends thus the time to work on the backlog, but now that world has come back to normal, it's taking a lot of time to tick off open tickets. Depending on my availability, above Target Dates will be adjusted.