State of GameSalad on 5-29-2013...
CodeWizard
Inactive, Chef Emeritus Posts: 1,143
Hello! It's that time again... time for another weekly state of GameSalad post. Batten down the hatches for the deluge of info!
Estimated Stable Build Schedule
We have no planned stable build releases for this week. We’re currently focused on whipping the nightly builds into shape -- fixing bugs and optimizing code. More info on the next release timing next week.
Pending Updates
These updates are pending for stable build release. They are available in the nightly builds of the engine and Creator. Once they are well tested they will be pinched off and released to the general public.
1. We’ve done an initial optimization pass on some of the Lua code. Especially related to how we compute delta times in the iOS engine. Should help improve general performance.
2. An optimization pass has been completed for OpenGL rendering. This should help out performance in several cases, especially particles. We’re seeing pretty absurd improvements for particles.
3. We’ve optimized some Lua memory footprint code that has the potential to shave megabytes off of your game’s memory size. At least it’s shaved some MBs off of my test cases. This was mostly done by optionally allocating some objects that were previously allocated all the time.
4. We removed the publishing fireworks sound effect.
5. We’ve addressed some of the Creator stuttering related to looking for Android ADB installations.
6. We’ve fixed an issue in Creator that caused entering non-numeric text into numeric fields. This also has a positive side effect of fixing some possible rounding issues in number constraints.
7. We’ve added WAV file support to Creator and the native engine. This support allows you to choose WAV files as your preferred file format for sound effects. The effect of making this choice is to have much faster loading on iOS. Speed gains are less notable on Android due to the suboptimal way we handle loading data from the device. We’ll be resolving that soon.
8. We’ve added TGA image support to the native engine. This support allows you to choose TGA files for your images. TGA files load significantly faster than PNGs.
9. We’ve updated how the ad bar works in your free games. It now takes less memory (1/30th as a matter of fact) and also takes advantage of some new iOS features to make installing targeted apps easier.
10. We've fixed a bug with pausing the game that messes up your camera. Good fix!
11. We’ve completed an engine reorganization pass that opens us up for easier debugging and development internally.
12. We’ve fixed a bug with Windows creator publishing timeouts.
What We're Working On
1. We're continuing to profile the game engine looking for CPU bottlenecks and RAM hogs. We're continuing to identify places that should receive immediate optimization. This effort will continue for the foreseeable future. This is my main engineering focus for now.
2. We're still 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 soon. We’ve reduced the number of engineers working on this to one so that more optimization tasks could be started.
3. We have an engineer doing an optimization pass on the HTML5 engine. This should help improve general performance of both engines. Lots of good progress has been made on this over the past week. This work will be continuing for the next week or two.
4. Looks like one of our engineers will be resurrecting the old "stretch" mode to complement overscan and letterbox for universal resolution support. More news as progress is made.
5. We're also working on upgrading the ad bar to provide better cross-promotion opportunities to Pro users. We've got some irons in the fire here and will have more news as work progresses.
6. You may have seen a recent poll asking you all for information on Creator improvements.@BlackCloakGS and team will be digging in on these requests in a prioritized way. Expect them to start showing up in the nightly builds on a regular basis.
http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/56981/are-these-fixestweaks-what-youd-want
7. We have an engineer starting to breakdown the work involved in implementing asynchronous multiplayer support. Initial designs are taking shape. Pot’s on the stove on this and we’ll be simmering it for some time now.
8. We’re working to get Windows Creator in the nightly build process so that we can start iterating on fixes and improvements with it as well. More news as it’s available.
What's Coming Down The Pipe
Our primary focus will remain code cleanup, bug fixing and engine optimization for the foreseeable future. Once we're satisfied with where the core engine is at, we'll begin turning our attention to new feature development and additional platform support.
The top things on my list are: creator workflow improvements, custom fonts, automated texture atlas support, improved render batching, Android IAP 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.
Looks like we may be biting off a virtual file system implementation relatively soon. This will help us better secure your projects, reduce their size when installed and improve load times. More news soon.
Custom fonts are getting some attention in the next couple of weeks. More news soon.
Render batching is getting some attention in the next couple of weeks. More news soon.
Summary
Now that we’ve got nightly builds out for all Pros, expect improvements and optimizations to show up on a regular basis. If you aren’t Pro yet, you might want to consider it now. Time to get back to the code now!
Until next week...
Estimated Stable Build Schedule
We have no planned stable build releases for this week. We’re currently focused on whipping the nightly builds into shape -- fixing bugs and optimizing code. More info on the next release timing next week.
Pending Updates
These updates are pending for stable build release. They are available in the nightly builds of the engine and Creator. Once they are well tested they will be pinched off and released to the general public.
1. We’ve done an initial optimization pass on some of the Lua code. Especially related to how we compute delta times in the iOS engine. Should help improve general performance.
2. An optimization pass has been completed for OpenGL rendering. This should help out performance in several cases, especially particles. We’re seeing pretty absurd improvements for particles.
3. We’ve optimized some Lua memory footprint code that has the potential to shave megabytes off of your game’s memory size. At least it’s shaved some MBs off of my test cases. This was mostly done by optionally allocating some objects that were previously allocated all the time.
4. We removed the publishing fireworks sound effect.
5. We’ve addressed some of the Creator stuttering related to looking for Android ADB installations.
6. We’ve fixed an issue in Creator that caused entering non-numeric text into numeric fields. This also has a positive side effect of fixing some possible rounding issues in number constraints.
7. We’ve added WAV file support to Creator and the native engine. This support allows you to choose WAV files as your preferred file format for sound effects. The effect of making this choice is to have much faster loading on iOS. Speed gains are less notable on Android due to the suboptimal way we handle loading data from the device. We’ll be resolving that soon.
8. We’ve added TGA image support to the native engine. This support allows you to choose TGA files for your images. TGA files load significantly faster than PNGs.
9. We’ve updated how the ad bar works in your free games. It now takes less memory (1/30th as a matter of fact) and also takes advantage of some new iOS features to make installing targeted apps easier.
10. We've fixed a bug with pausing the game that messes up your camera. Good fix!
11. We’ve completed an engine reorganization pass that opens us up for easier debugging and development internally.
12. We’ve fixed a bug with Windows creator publishing timeouts.
What We're Working On
1. We're continuing to profile the game engine looking for CPU bottlenecks and RAM hogs. We're continuing to identify places that should receive immediate optimization. This effort will continue for the foreseeable future. This is my main engineering focus for now.
2. We're still 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 soon. We’ve reduced the number of engineers working on this to one so that more optimization tasks could be started.
3. We have an engineer doing an optimization pass on the HTML5 engine. This should help improve general performance of both engines. Lots of good progress has been made on this over the past week. This work will be continuing for the next week or two.
4. Looks like one of our engineers will be resurrecting the old "stretch" mode to complement overscan and letterbox for universal resolution support. More news as progress is made.
5. We're also working on upgrading the ad bar to provide better cross-promotion opportunities to Pro users. We've got some irons in the fire here and will have more news as work progresses.
6. You may have seen a recent poll asking you all for information on Creator improvements.@BlackCloakGS and team will be digging in on these requests in a prioritized way. Expect them to start showing up in the nightly builds on a regular basis.
http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/56981/are-these-fixestweaks-what-youd-want
7. We have an engineer starting to breakdown the work involved in implementing asynchronous multiplayer support. Initial designs are taking shape. Pot’s on the stove on this and we’ll be simmering it for some time now.
8. We’re working to get Windows Creator in the nightly build process so that we can start iterating on fixes and improvements with it as well. More news as it’s available.
What's Coming Down The Pipe
Our primary focus will remain code cleanup, bug fixing and engine optimization for the foreseeable future. Once we're satisfied with where the core engine is at, we'll begin turning our attention to new feature development and additional platform support.
The top things on my list are: creator workflow improvements, custom fonts, automated texture atlas support, improved render batching, Android IAP 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.
Looks like we may be biting off a virtual file system implementation relatively soon. This will help us better secure your projects, reduce their size when installed and improve load times. More news soon.
Custom fonts are getting some attention in the next couple of weeks. More news soon.
Render batching is getting some attention in the next couple of weeks. More news soon.
Summary
Now that we’ve got nightly builds out for all Pros, expect improvements and optimizations to show up on a regular basis. If you aren’t Pro yet, you might want to consider it now. Time to get back to the code now!
Until next week...
Comments
@CodeWizard
Are we going to see that Lua scripting soon?
May want to edit that one, as the nightly's are working now.
I can tell that a giant wave of improvements is coming int he next few weeks. Can't wait to see what happens
- Thomas
Will they also be smaller filesizes than PNG when imported to gamesalad?
My images takes up soooo much space
Sorry..just had to beat on the keyboard for a minute. It's a love hate relationship.
- Thomas
Did you mean illn vf lnav lnkd?
http://goo.gl/c5iH8
Chakku
Chakku