State of GameSalad on 4-24-2013
CodeWizard
Inactive, Chef Emeritus Posts: 1,143
Hello! It's that time again... time for another weekly state of GameSalad post. There's a lot happening in the kitchen, so let me dig right in:
Estimated Stable Build Schedule
If all goes well in the kitchen, expect build 0.10.2b this week.
Similarly, 0.10.2c is queued up for release late next week, chefs willing!
What We've Accomplished
1. We've fixed a bug that caused seams to show between tiled actors in some cases. [ETA: 0.10.2b]
2. We've implemented some fixes for memory footprint during loading. [ETA: 0.10.2b]
3. We've fixed a spurious crash related to null pointers being referenced in some cases. [ETA: 0.10.2c]
4. We've found and fixed an issue with image loading that caused white actors on occasion. [ETA: 0.10.2c]
5. We've found and fixed an issue with asset loading that negatively affects FPS of your games. [ETA: 0.10.2c]
6. We've fixed a bug that caused out of memory crashes at improper times. [ETA: 0.10.2c]
What We're Working On
1. We're continuing to profile the game engine looking for CPU bottlenecks and RAM hogs. We've identified several places that should receive immediate optimization. This effort will continue for the foreseeable future.
2. Speaking of optimization, we've identified two areas of loading that can be readily improved: texture and sound loading. We've got an engineer queued up to do an optimization pass on this. Once completed, this should reduce asset loading time by 50% in the average case.
3. We've got an engineer working on OpenGL optimizations. These optimizations will have a positive effect on FPS on devices that support OpenGL ES 2.0. There are some particularly impressive optimizations coming for particle effects.
4. We're still working on getting the new nightly build process in place for Pro users. We have some creator changes we want to get in place before releasing this to you guys. These changes will help ensure that you won't accidentally corrupt your game projects when working with nightly builds. Once this is complete, we'll roll nightly builds out to line cooks and sous chefs to make sure all is well. Once everything looks good, we'll open it up to all Pro users. [ETA: 2 weeks]
5. We're putting the finishing code touches on supporting a new publishing platform. This will be in QA for a while. It won't be part of the coming nightly build process until we've prepared our proper marketing message, etc. The engineer working on this will be rolling onto engine optimizations shortly.
6. We're wrapping up the major Mac Creator improvement pass. These improvements will greatly enhance the stability and performance of the Mac Creator. We'll be rolling this out to all Pro users for feedback once the nightly build process is ready for use. [ETA: Nightly Build]
What's Coming Down The Pipe
Our primary focus will remain code cleanup, bug fixing and engine optimization for the next several weeks. Once we're satisfied with where the core engine is at, we'll begin turning our attention to new feature development. The top things on my list are: creator workflow improvements, custom fonts, automated texture atlas support, improved render batching and async multiplayer support. Some other odds and ends may come up first as necessary, but those are the main points I'll be pressing for. ETA of those features is not available yet, but they're top on my list to tackle as soon as feasible. More news as we make progress on our existing workloads.
Summary
We're working hard in the kitchen to get some significant improvements underway for you. I've personally been spending my time investigating bugs and profiling user games to identify issues for the team to tackle. I'm still ramping up, but I'm a fast learner!
I'm really looking forward to the nightly build process for Pro users so that we can get more rapid fixes and improvements in your hands. Once that's ready then we'll be able to start closing the feedback loop between you and us more rapidly. And that's a great thing!
Until next week...
Estimated Stable Build Schedule
If all goes well in the kitchen, expect build 0.10.2b this week.
Similarly, 0.10.2c is queued up for release late next week, chefs willing!
What We've Accomplished
1. We've fixed a bug that caused seams to show between tiled actors in some cases. [ETA: 0.10.2b]
2. We've implemented some fixes for memory footprint during loading. [ETA: 0.10.2b]
3. We've fixed a spurious crash related to null pointers being referenced in some cases. [ETA: 0.10.2c]
4. We've found and fixed an issue with image loading that caused white actors on occasion. [ETA: 0.10.2c]
5. We've found and fixed an issue with asset loading that negatively affects FPS of your games. [ETA: 0.10.2c]
6. We've fixed a bug that caused out of memory crashes at improper times. [ETA: 0.10.2c]
What We're Working On
1. We're continuing to profile the game engine looking for CPU bottlenecks and RAM hogs. We've identified several places that should receive immediate optimization. This effort will continue for the foreseeable future.
2. Speaking of optimization, we've identified two areas of loading that can be readily improved: texture and sound loading. We've got an engineer queued up to do an optimization pass on this. Once completed, this should reduce asset loading time by 50% in the average case.
3. We've got an engineer working on OpenGL optimizations. These optimizations will have a positive effect on FPS on devices that support OpenGL ES 2.0. There are some particularly impressive optimizations coming for particle effects.
4. We're still working on getting the new nightly build process in place for Pro users. We have some creator changes we want to get in place before releasing this to you guys. These changes will help ensure that you won't accidentally corrupt your game projects when working with nightly builds. Once this is complete, we'll roll nightly builds out to line cooks and sous chefs to make sure all is well. Once everything looks good, we'll open it up to all Pro users. [ETA: 2 weeks]
5. We're putting the finishing code touches on supporting a new publishing platform. This will be in QA for a while. It won't be part of the coming nightly build process until we've prepared our proper marketing message, etc. The engineer working on this will be rolling onto engine optimizations shortly.
6. We're wrapping up the major Mac Creator improvement pass. These improvements will greatly enhance the stability and performance of the Mac Creator. We'll be rolling this out to all Pro users for feedback once the nightly build process is ready for use. [ETA: Nightly Build]
What's Coming Down The Pipe
Our primary focus will remain code cleanup, bug fixing and engine optimization for the next several weeks. Once we're satisfied with where the core engine is at, we'll begin turning our attention to new feature development. The top things on my list are: creator workflow improvements, custom fonts, automated texture atlas support, improved render batching and async multiplayer support. Some other odds and ends may come up first as necessary, but those are the main points I'll be pressing for. ETA of those features is not available yet, but they're top on my list to tackle as soon as feasible. More news as we make progress on our existing workloads.
Summary
We're working hard in the kitchen to get some significant improvements underway for you. I've personally been spending my time investigating bugs and profiling user games to identify issues for the team to tackle. I'm still ramping up, but I'm a fast learner!
I'm really looking forward to the nightly build process for Pro users so that we can get more rapid fixes and improvements in your hands. Once that's ready then we'll be able to start closing the feedback loop between you and us more rapidly. And that's a great thing!
Until next week...
Comments
Thanks for all the other updates. Just knowing what's coming is awesome.
Awesome!!! looking forward!!!
Noted!
- Thomas
All in all, I'm very excited to see what the next two weeks have in store, and I look forward to a more steady release schedule with more great features and improvements. Great job @CodeWizard and the entire GS Dev Team!
- Alex
Roy.
---
Benjamin
Can we play sounds from tables ? It's very hard to do now with 50+ sounds. But If we can play sounds from tables, It's just a few clicks
Appselly Marketplace - Buy & Sell App Source Codes
Guru Video Channel | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS
Thanks @CodeWizard