Game-Editor Revival

[bat78]

We are aware of the situation. Currently, only sky is working on gE.
If he really wanted team right now, he would gather one already.

He is our source right now, since he is the most capable of gE.
I am working on stuff too.. but generally a lot depends from sky.

[skydereign]

While I really appreciate the work being done on 1.4.x im just curious. What happened to this 1.5 release? Is there a reason to not work on that?

1.5 was makslane and akr's project. The problem with it was that it was left in such a broken mess that I didn't have the experience to fix it until I got further understanding of gE's code. Turns out the code is extremely messy, in that it is using some 3 different SDL versions, with many different SDL subprojects of different versions. When I release 1.4.1, my next big task is to clean up the SDL problem. If this works out, 1.4.2 may very well be turned into 1.5, since SDL was one of the main reasons why 1.5 was so broken. If the unifying upgrade goes well, than importing all the improvements from 1.5 would be pretty trivial. As it stands the SDL issue is also the reason 1.4.1 hasn't been officially released. Fixing the SDL version for the mac port is the last big task for the 1.4.1 release.

I feel there is just so much to do on this development wise. I mean some things with GE are really wrong and will need to be scrapped for something much better. We also have so many platforms to allow export for and port to the newer SDL. Really I hope it can be saved somehow but I mean unless we can gather a team of at least 5 devs who have time to work on it every weekend or something I don't see this revival being a success. Then we also have a new website or website revamp, promotion etc.

If he really wanted team right now, he would gather one already.

This is not true. I've tried convincing people to work on gE, but no one I know is willing to deal with the project. And those that have voiced interest haven't had the skill or showed the determination required to actually start. It doesn't help that it looks messy and hacked together. The code base is almost at the point where I've considered rewriting it from scratch. In retrospect I probably could have produced something better with less work, especially since for something like that I could have easily formed a team to work on it.

At this point my goal isn't to make gE super successful. I'm not principally concerned with gE's revival. I don't mind gE being a small community of aspiring game developers, though I understand for the community's sake that more traffic is better. As of now though my goal is to make gE into a solid tool that I would consider using. With only a few new features gE can be turned into a really strong prototyping tool, and with even more effort a very strong 2d engine. A lot of the changes I'll make are things that would make gE competitive and increase the chance of it becoming successful, but that is only a consequence of my goal.

[bat78]

While I really appreciate the work being done on 1.4.x im just curious. What happened to this 1.5 release? Is there a reason to not work on that?

1.5 was makslane and akr's project. The problem with it was that it was left in such a broken mess that I didn't have the experience to fix it until I got further understanding of gE's code. Turns out the code is extremely messy, in that it is using some 3 different SDL versions, with many different SDL subprojects of different versions. When I release 1.4.1, my next big task is to clean up the SDL problem. If this works out, 1.4.2 may very well be turned into 1.5, since SDL was one of the main reasons why 1.5 was so broken. If the unifying upgrade goes well, than importing all the improvements from 1.5 would be pretty trivial. As it stands the SDL issue is also the reason 1.4.1 hasn't been officially released. Fixing the SDL version for the mac port is the last big task for the 1.4.1 release.

I feel there is just so much to do on this development wise. I mean some things with GE are really wrong and will need to be scrapped for something much better. We also have so many platforms to allow export for and port to the newer SDL. Really I hope it can be saved somehow but I mean unless we can gather a team of at least 5 devs who have time to work on it every weekend or something I don't see this revival being a success. Then we also have a new website or website revamp, promotion etc.

If he really wanted team right now, he would gather one already.

This is not true. I've tried convincing people to work on gE, but no one I know is willing to deal with the project. And those that have voiced interest haven't had the skill or showed the determination required to actually start. It doesn't help that it looks messy and hacked together. The code base is almost at the point where I've considered rewriting it from scratch. In retrospect I probably could have produced something better with less work, especially since for something like that I could have easily formed a team to work on it.

At this point my goal isn't to make gE super successful. I'm not principally concerned with gE's revival. I don't mind gE being a small community of aspiring game developers, though I understand for the community's sake that more traffic is better. As of now though my goal is to make gE into a solid tool that I would consider using. With only a few new features gE can be turned into a really strong prototyping tool, and with even more effort a very strong 2d engine. A lot of the changes I'll make are things that would make gE competitive and increase the chance of it becoming successful, but that is only a consequence of my goal.

Thanks for the detailed information you have provided for us.
Yes.. i was a bit hasty saying you could easy get a team.. That because i though i already agreed on working on gE.

[Lacotemale]

Thanks for the huge response Sky! Very detailed and informative. I admire your determination on this project. It certainly takes lots of effort to do this pretty much by yourself (Not sure how involved you are Bat78)

I guess effort on the software should be priority for now, stuff like an updated website can come later if we make enough progress perhaps. I do have interest in helping im just not sure do my skills fit developing the GE. My full time job involves mostly web development but that isn't to say I haven't been working on desktop applications or other platforms.

I would be interested in getting documentation on how the project works in general as a top down overview. (almost like a class diagram) Also I would be interested in how I could get setup with the codebase via version control or whatever you are using. First I will look through the code myself though.

Lets do this!

[koala]

Hi, everyone!

I would like to help in GE development one day, but for now my vote would be "I just want this to happan." However, I didn't vote, because I don't want to stop there.
My opinion is that new games would make GE more popular. Here are plenty of great and interesting games, some of them need to be moved to Showcase, or at least Game Demos, from Game Development, like Zivouhr's "Tomb of Twelve", because it is a huge and finished project, and very interesting. If people start playing games made in GE they will become aware of GE and its capabilities.

I have been using GE only for a month, or even less. Before GE I've never used any other game engine / developing tool. So my first games are made in GE. However, it seems to me that GE is oriented to programmers. You need to code a lot of things, so you need to know C. Script Editor needs to be improved. And there need to be some tutorial on how to use it. All of these require patience, work, knowledge and effort, and that is probably reason why GE is losing popularity. But again, I might not be right, because as I said, I am new in GE and game making.
Nevertheless, these things won't stop someone who loves programming, has idea and wants to make something in GE, and someone who realizes that GE is really really powerful tool. I like GE and I've managed to overcome some of these weaknesses, so I don't pay attention to them any more. GE is perfect tool, you can do anything with your game. I want GE it to become more popular, I would really like to see more people making games in GE.

[bat78]

INFORMATION

Honesty. This is what all the people rely on.
This particular project didn't stop for a moment. The first planned steps were a few finished projects.
If one or more of these projects are finished, gE will be known as extremely powerful tool. With a little bit of adverting, users will intensively join from around the world.

• LcL's project - SABRE
• bat78's project - Bitfox (Main thread not update)
• bat78 + thecpu's project - gE Multiplayer (Main thread not updated)

I am planning to make gE sources code compilable by gcc. If that happens I am free to develop it.
Skydereign's help was a key thing. But now due to his absence.. things might get more complicated than the expected.
So the plan B is start gE from scratch. For that, I'll open an addition thread, asking people for features, look etc.

[skydereign]

I am planning to make gE sources code compilable by gcc. If that happens I am free to develop it.

gE doesn't require visual studio to compile. gE uses gcc, there is a makefile that from my last attempts builds without error. The visual studio project is also there and should work, it was makslane's preferred method of building gE if I recall correctly.

So the plan B is start gE from scratch. For that, I'll open an addition thread, asking people for features, look etc.

I should have done that a long time ago. Everything would have been much further along, though it wouldn't be gameEditor anymore.

[bat78]

I am planning to make gE sources code compilable by gcc. If that happens I am free to develop it.

gE doesn't require visual studio to compile. gE uses gcc, there is a makefile that from my last attempts builds without error. The visual studio project is also there and should work, it was makslane's preferred method of building gE if I recall correctly.

So the plan B is start gE from scratch. For that, I'll open an addition thread, asking people for features, look etc.

I should have done that a long time ago. Everything would have been much further along, though it wouldn't be gameEditor anymore.

I think it would be gE as long as you/we are the developer(s) and you're sticking with the gE rules of non-oo, menu control and flexibility. Not less but more of it.
Also if you call it Game-Editor, have the logo and credit it to makslane. Copyright-transmissions are possible too, but that wouldn't be necessarily.
The interface and the new features doesn't matter, neither that it is coded in different way, compiler, language specifications etc.

I left with the info that gE is VS-specific. I think it was fairly long ago with a guide "how to compile Game Editor source code". It explicitly pointed out VS.
If I ever re-write gE, it will be using GTK+ not SDL. While SDL provides more multimedia support, GTK+ is faster with graphics and io in general (drivers in that count) and much more advanced.
And is the library I am mostly familiar with. (alongside Qt, but I prefer to code in C).
I will see then which toolkit I'll be using for networking and sound.

[bat78]

For all wondering what "EiC" stands for and how is that related to Game-Editor.. you have a good reason to wonder.
That because it is EXTREMELY unpopular.

Even though I've learnt a lot about it. Don't ask how.
"EiC" stands for Extensible, Interactive C-interpreter
It is a complete and clean ANSI-C Interpreter.
It is very fast, it has its own stack machine inside, but it depends on UNIX (POSIX headers).

This is how you can write codes inside game-editor.
Now there are more modern approaches such as emulating Clang.. but EiC is certainly.. well.. beautiful.

[Zivouhr]

Good to know, thanks.

[Azou]

Hi
Haven't posted on the forum since 2012. I logged today to see what's new over here (and also to see where my old buddies at ), and this thread is worthy. I don't know if it's still "in the news", but I would like to toss my 2 cents in:
I was using GE from 2007 to 2013, and happen to make many projects with it. But since 2013 I changed and started to look on other softwares. Bottom line, here are my conclusions:

1/ There seem to be some unresolved bugs on GE. I don't know if it has been solved since then, but back in 2013 GE couldn't properly work on Mac. It would freeze every now and then. Exporting would also not work for a fuzzy reason.

2/ GE has wonderful functions, however they requiere a basic understanding of programation. Maybe rewriting Ge to make it more "casual" (like Gamesalad for example), would be onerous, but it's something worthy in my modest opinion.

3/ The following is common to many game-dev softwares I came accross. I can't see why (maybe because I do not know much about programing and stuff), but it seems like game-dev engines cannot handle big projects (Unity and the alike aside). I am currently working on a project, for now only the 1st level is done, but the game's size is 650Mo. Everytime I tried to edit it, it either crashes, or runs mad slow. Now if GE could handle big projects, that'd really make a difference, as it would save developers from frustation (lol, writing a 50 lines code and loosing everything, that isn't the best feeling I ever had...)


However, it still stays a wonderful tool to make games. I started with it, and if I was asked to recommend something, it'd definitely be in the list!

[koala]

GE truly is amazing.
Yes, GE can slow down if your project is big, or you have to many actors, or some animation are huge gifs, or you have huge canvas, but nothing too serious. GE freezes while opening such projects and it needs a minute or two to open it. But again, it is worth waiting, all you need is some patience. After all, patience is crucial for every project, every game developing tool, for every job you want to get done.

[bat78]

GE truly is amazing.
Yes, GE can slow down if your project is big, or you have to many actors, or some animation are huge gifs, or you have huge canvas, but nothing too serious. GE freezes while opening such projects and it needs a minute or two to open it. But again, it is worth waiting, all you need is some patience. After all, patience is crucial for every project, every game developing tool, for every job you want to get done.

And again... BitFox (if properly used) can protect you from being insulted from gE because of your project being too large.
That because BitFox can load data in runtime and whensoever you want it to happen.
One bonus to have gE handle bigger projects is your skills in C-programming.
Koala there is a project upcoming that might grab your interest. But everything in its time. On a first point I must finish the Multi Player support and the addition I am working on right now.

[koala]

GE truly is amazing.
Yes, GE can slow down if your project is big, or you have to many actors, or some animation are huge gifs, or you have huge canvas, but nothing too serious. GE freezes while opening such projects and it needs a minute or two to open it. But again, it is worth waiting, all you need is some patience. After all, patience is crucial for every project, every game developing tool, for every job you want to get done.

And again... BitFox (if properly used) can protect you from being insulted from gE because of your project being too large.
That because BitFox can load data in runtime and whensoever you want it to happen.
One bonus to have gE handle bigger projects is your skills in C-programming.
Koala there is a project upcoming that might grab your interest. But everything in its time. On a first point I must finish the Multi Player support and the addition I am working on right now.

Good to know.
Thank you and everyone who are making GE better and easier software.

[DeltaLeeds]

With dedication from bat78, thecpu, Skydereign, and the rest of the gE community, I bet this thread will be history (because gE is better than revived.)
Online support, less space in projects, chatrooms, syncing between host and clients, and other tons of new features. GE is awesome enough, but with these extra features, especially online support... It will rule the game making engines everywhere! If this happens soon I'll just have to scrap unity (not that I ever used it anyway, but in college I'm forced to. >_<) and make my game making carrier in gE instead! I support you all, gE will reign once again! I'm really sorry I couldn't help the development though, I don't have the skills yet, and life is on the way constantly.
Best of luck to thecpu, Bat, Skyde and other people I haven't mentioned helping gE!