Amalgam Engine 1.1 Release Notes

Motivation

This update was focused around improving the build mode experience. I'm really happy with how it turned out, we now have a powerful "Sprite Set" abstraction that lets project devs group sprites into a higher-level context (Floors, Floor Coverings, Walls, and Objects). With that context, the engine is now able to automatically provide a ton of functionality that the project dev would otherwise have to implement themselves.

These build mode improvements set us up perfectly for the next feature: Imagine using build mode to place an object, writing its onUse behavior in a lua script, then updating it live. This will soon be possible, with Dynamic Objects!

Release Notes

New Sprite Editor Workflow

To import your art for use in The Amalgam Engine:

  1. Open the Sprite Editor and import your sprite sheet.
  2. Draw bounding boxes on your sprites.
  3. Add your sprites to a sprite set.

Improved Build Mode

Build mode has new and improved tools:

  1. An easy to use "Remove" tool.
  2. A context-aware "Wall" tool.
  3. Simple tools for Floors, Floor Coverings, and Objects.

Behind-the-scenes Improvements

  1. (AUI) Refactored the Image widget to be really easy to use.
  2. (AUI) Added nine slice support to Image widget.
  3. (AUI) Big refactor to support widget clipping.
  4. (AUI) Added smooth-scrolling list widget.
  5. (AUI) Added collapsible container widget.
  6. Refactored SpriteDataBase and SpriteData to support sprite sets.
  7. Updated SpriteData.json format to support sprite sets.
  8. Refactored TileMapBase and TileMap to support sprite sets.
  9. Improved TileMapBase's interface, taking advantage of sprite sets (it's now really nice to use).
  10. Refactored tile map update messages to be closer to TileMapBase's interface.
  11. Added Ray concept and Ray/BoundingBox intersection.
  12. Added WorldObjectLocator, which lets the UI cast a ray from the mouse and get the intersected world objects (tile layers, entities).

These changes are now live in The World of Repose. Feel free to walk to the build area and play around with them.

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