Saturday 12 February 2011

Gizmo Roadmap & Engine Revamp

First off, there have been several updates for the Gizmo since the last announcement. You can download them on the Source Code-tab on Codeplex.

Most (features and code) has already been implemented by now, however there are still some nice features on the horizon. This includes:

- Grid & Rotation snapping.
- Multi-layer selection. (or click-through selection)
- Reset transform.
- Added support for multi-selection.
- Precision Mode.

Some of these were already part of the old gizmo, and others were already implemented in the internal version of the Gizmo I used in my own editor a while ago. So it shouldn't take long to implement any of these in the revamped public release...Stay tuned for updates!

Next, a quick notification on the Core Engine roadmap. Since there is currently no game in development I can make breaking changes without ramifications. This is something I often do when there are no games actively developed with the Engine. This time it's a pretty huge revamp of the complete engine-structure. So far I have deleted over 110 classes to make room for a new and improved structure including a much better GameState management system that is first on the list.

Not all code is deleted though, I will be using a lot of the old code for new components and managers, deleting them for now makes the re-design a lot quicker and efficient (preventing 100's of errors)

In addition to the new structure I'd like to design components in such a way that it's easier to create external projects for open-source initiatives such as sgMotion & GizmoComponent. If I can just copy/paste my own component to one of the open-source projects, it will be a lot easier to update and maintain. The Gizmo is a good project to fine-tune just that.

A new video should be up soon, once the Gizmo is out of Beta.

4 comments:

  1. Hey Tom, maybe a good place for the IGF GameState system ;)

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  2. Hehe, yes I will have a look :) Already have most of it working tho, just need proper Asynch loading and proper transistions.

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  3. Looks like I'm not the only one doing a complete engine restructure. I mainly have to do a revamp because I realize that many of my classes/methods were implemented in XNA 4.0. The reach Demo on the App Hub site revealed a lot of things I didn't know existed. Looking forward to seeing your updates. :)

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  4. Hi, yeah the Reach demo has some cool stuff, including the environmental mapping. Are you aiming at the phone7 at all?

    I just finished concepting some cool new editor stuff that should really make a big improvement to usability and flexbility to add new components later on, I'm really excited to get working on it. Hope to have something to show soon...

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