When I used to talk to you guys more regularly, I always made clear that a lot of people wouldn't be too happy with a lack of backwards compatibility with reference to the native engine.
While progress does have casualties sometimes, it's good to hear you're trying to minimise any issues with how GS works now, and how it will work in future!
It seems like you are really making a huge difference with GS @Codewizard and am very excited about what you've already done: engaged users in a timely fashion, brought a lot of the roadmap rumors more out in the open, etc. It's good to know that within a couple months we will be seeing some incredible improvements to GS. Although I realize dev time will vary I feel that GS should do a better job of analyzing when they can actually deliver what they say they can. I bought PRO back when they announced the LUA-free engine drop would happen around jan-feb. Here we are 2-3 months past it and it seems like it still has no relatively concrete release date. To me, I can't understand how they could have said jan-feb when it seems more plausible it will be august and maybe beyond. Personally, I would rather be given the hard truth that it won't be coming for a long while yet and be prepared, rather than given an exaggerated short time-frame that gets our hopes up. This would lead to less angst on the forums, imo.
gyroscopeI am here.Member, Sous Chef, PROPosts: 6,598
edited April 2013
How did I miss this post? Excellent stuff, @CodeWizard, terrific that we're all going to be "kept in the loop". :-) And exciting times ahead for GSC; Thank you!
@Fajlajp When will the engine be done? That's a big question. Hard to answer because we're going to be working on improving it for a long time.
The goal is to keep iterating on the engine and tool. That means more fixes, optimizations and features on a regular basis. Getting the nightly builds will let you see this progress more rapidly. If you haven't upgraded to pro, you might want to consider it!
Hate to keep beating this horse, but can you elaborate? Will there be a final, completely Lua-free engine, or will the engine gradually over many months/years shed Lua? Forgive me but I don't know the logistics. I don't want to update my existing game until I know the engine is Lua-free, but it sounds like that might not be the case for a "long time". I am just as excited about optimizations and new features as everybody else, but really, how will we know when GS is truly ready to handle graphic-intense games with little to no loading time like the most popular games on the App Store do? And thanks @CodeWizard, for all you're doing to improve GS.
I think from reading all of @codewizard's posts over the past few weeks that there will be no LUA free engine. @codewizard stated he is an expert in LUA code and thinks the engine can meet the goals they want without dropping LUA. His plan is this as I understand it. To keep and refine the engine based on the new LUA architecture they implemented in 10.2. His new plan is pretty clear to me. They are first debugging and stabilizing the current build. Then they will be working to a two week release cycle of new builds for pro users to use and function as beta testers. Once the flaws of each two week build cycle is solid they will release it as an official build to all users. I imagine some features will be pro only. So basically there will never be a final engine only constant evolution and improvements basically every two weeks! I think this is a very wise plan and makes total sense to me. So sit back relax and wait for the routine to set in as he get's the plan rolling.
So just to be clear, the lua-free engine project has transitioned to a hybrid native/lua-optimized engine? The project of a full native engine has been scrapped?
@selectsoft I wouldn't call it a hybrid. We're simply focusing on iteratively optimizing and improving the current engine. The end result is the same: a much faster engine that has the sweet features you're looking for. I'll provide more on the plan here in my next status post.
Will we ever see features such as: access to the camera/camera roll, xcode styled keyboard/date scrollers etc, GPS location services, login via Facebook? Or is it just not possible with this architecture.
@poisenden No, it's not scrapped. We're just changing how we're delivering the improvements to you. The end result is the same: a super-fast engine that has all the features we all want to see. The difference is how we're rolling out the improvements.
@Doguz We definitely are aiming to provide external SDK support. That will enable us to give you access to all kinds of extra device-specific and external features. There's nothing about the current architecture that makes that impossible.
@Doguz We definitely are aiming to provide external SDK support. That will enable us to give you access to all kinds of extra device-specific and external features. There's nothing about the current architecture that makes that impossible.
@CodeWizard - Are you saying that the SDK's that a built for use with XCode would work in GS? Or that we'd have to get special GS made SDK add ons? I would expect the latter, but nevertheless, awesome. - Thomas
what really consist of a "better engine" i dont really understand that... so does that mean that my games wont lag as much or something (hopefully) cause im working on a big one right now
@digitalzero yes, a better engine would mean better more stable performance. Having said that if one was to badly code any engine would choke so there's always a balance to think about. Good engine+good coding=good running game.
@singlesparq thanks so much i appreciate it! cant wait for it to come out then i can start programming my damn game lol cause its going to have a TON of actors and images!
@CodeWizard - what concerns me particularly is compatibility - for example on my current project I am working on Windows creator, but need to now do some stuff on Mac creator. So if I save in version 1.0.2 Mac creator will it still load OK on v1.0.0 Windows creator without issue?
@CodeWizard do you know when the issue with games not displaying any images on load will be resolved, I'm getting close to finishing an app and can't release it until I know that it will work smoothly. Cheers.
@jamies15-3 I've seen that issue with a user's game I was looking at for premium support yesterday. I'll take a closer look at it over the next day or so and see if I can get a fix for next week.
GS has gone from great to mega great. Having two week releases is fantastic news, having communication is fantastic. Optimization is clearing important to the team which is fantastic. It's everything I have ever wanted
GS has gone from great to mega great. Having two week releases is fantastic news, having communication is fantastic. Optimization is clearing important to the team which is fantastic. It's everything I have ever wanted
GS has gone from great to mega great. Having two week releases is fantastic news, having communication is fantastic. Optimization is clearing important to the team which is fantastic. It's everything I have ever wanted
GS has gone from great to mega great. Having two week releases is fantastic news, having communication is fantastic. Optimization is clearing important to the team which is fantastic. It's everything I have ever wanted
Comments
When I used to talk to you guys more regularly, I always made clear that a lot of people wouldn't be too happy with a lack of backwards compatibility with reference to the native engine.
While progress does have casualties sometimes, it's good to hear you're trying to minimise any issues with how GS works now, and how it will work in future!
Nice one!
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- Thomas
How did I miss this post? Excellent stuff, @CodeWizard, terrific that we're all going to be "kept in the loop". :-) And exciting times ahead for GSC; Thank you!
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Currently it seems everything is focused on the Mac version.
So just to be clear, the lua-free engine project has transitioned to a hybrid native/lua-optimized engine? The project of a full native engine has been scrapped?
I wouldn't call it a hybrid. We're simply focusing on iteratively optimizing and improving the current engine. The end result is the same: a much faster engine that has the sweet features you're looking for. I'll provide more on the plan here in my next status post.
No, it's not scrapped. We're just changing how we're delivering the improvements to you. The end result is the same: a super-fast engine that has all the features we all want to see. The difference is how we're rolling out the improvements.
@Doguz
We definitely are aiming to provide external SDK support. That will enable us to give you access to all kinds of extra device-specific and external features. There's nothing about the current architecture that makes that impossible.
Good question. Can't say much about the Windows creator right now. I'll share when I know more.
- Thomas
"So what if its not wearing the Ferrari badge....doesnt mean it wont be as fast or as good as a ferrari."
Our goal is to solve those compatibility issues. It's going to take some time though.
My recommendation would be to use Windows only or Mac only for now. Mixing between them may have issues for the foreseeable future.
I've seen that issue with a user's game I was looking at for premium support yesterday. I'll take a closer look at it over the next day or so and see if I can get a fix for next week.
Cheers man, with the speed of your replies I'm 99% sure you are wizard :P.
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