After a 4 month pause, there has been a new Moai release.  They also removed sign up requirements to download the SDK ( which was misleading before, so nice move ) as well as added nightly builds for those that like to walk on the wild side.

 

The biggest new features are android keyboard support ( finally! ), better threading and off screen frame buffering.  The full changelog is below

 

tTerrainMask () to MOAIPathFinder; renamed setTerrainScale () to setTerrainWeight ()
* Some work has been done on threading. Check MOAIThread.
* added support for default texture; finished async load; samples for async texture load
  and default texture
* added support in MOAIDataBuffer to detect zip files, inflate on load; added inflate on load
  support to MOAIDataIOTask
* moai coding style guide in .doc format
* first phase of offscreen rendering architecture completed
* added setClearColor () to MOAILayer
* samples to test multiple viewports inside an offscreen buffer
* integrated sfmt random number generator
* Merged playnomi contribs to MOAIImage, MOAIImageTexture, MOAIParticleSystem and MOAIParticlePexPlugin

 

by Adam Villalobos ( https://github.com/adamvillalobos )
* Adding GCM support ( replacing C2DM ) to Android host.
* Adding file not found log if a texture file fails to load
* Fixing build errors for DataTaskIO
* Fixing issue with setting visibility not properly updating dependencies
* Fixing bug with Font reloading on Android
* Added Android keyboard support

 

by John Copic ( https://github.com/JohnCopic )
* Adding sfmt lib to android build.

 

by JoakimBlomberg ( https://github.com/JoakimBlomberg )
* Script node apply of attributes should unpack attribute id or it will not be applied

 

by Bogdan Tatarov ( https://github.com/btatarov )
* adding MOAIUnitzSound::_getFilename()

 

by mxttie ( https://github.com/mxttie )
* updated box2d physics sample adding mouse manipulation using mouse joint

 

by Tommo Zhou ( https://github.com/tommo )
* fix edge case that new-created-paused action cannot receive further update
* fix: MOAIImageTexture not override OnInvalidate

 

by Antonio ( https://github.com/antback )
* Initial Camera Support for iOS

 

by sporksmith ( https://github.com/sporksmith )
* Log file-open failures

 

by Clement Farabet ( https://github.com/clementfarabet )
* Fixed VSYNC issue for OSX host.
* Added missing files to iOS (XCode) project.

 

by Francisco Tufro ( https://github.com/franciscotufro )
* Several fixes in build systems for all platforms
* New release script in bin/distribute

 

by Stephen Belanger ( https://github.com/Qard )
* Recommended to enable this with C-Ares
http://curl.haxx.se/libcurl/c/curl_easy_setopt.html#CURLOPTNOSIGNAL

 

by Ben Borowski ( https://github.com/typeoneerror )
* Adds call to FMOD update to iOS sample project.

 

by Robert Wahler ( https://github.com/robertwahler )
* GlutHost will run "main.lua" if host binary is called without arguments
* add Lua global 'arg' that mimics the lua/luajit built-in global 'arg' to GlutHost

 

by Alexey Zankevich ( https://github.com/Nepherhotep )
* MOAIJsonParser fix - checking if lua number is integer has been added
* Added EVENT_PAUSE, EVENT_RESUME events to MOAISim
* Fixed MOAIEnvironment.screenDpi nil issue for Android
* Fixed MOAIEnvironment.screenDpi nil issue for iOS host

 

by Seebs ( https://github.com/seebs )
* Clarify description of textbox color escapes, fixing one typo and reducing confusion
  between number of bits and number of values represented.
* build.sh: Terser output
* add (untested) support for controlling GL blend equations.

 

by ChairGraveyard ( https://github.com/ChairGraveyard )
* Add support for collideConnected flag to MOAIBox2DWorld::_addRopeJoint
by out-of-pixel ( https://github.com/out-of-pixel )
* Fixed last Key Error from MOAIAnimCurve

 

by superquadratic ( https://github.com/superquadratic )
* Fix Clang 4.2 (Xcode 4.6) Compiler Warnings

 

They also changed the file structure as follows:

bin/ Development binaries for Windows and MacOSX, Linux will be added soon
docs/ Documentation for this release and attribution images
hosts/ Source and IDE projects for the different platform's hosts
include/ Include headers
lib/ Compiled (static and/or dynamic) libraries for all the supported platforms
samples/ Moai SDK feature samples

 

Head on over to the Moai website to download.

News Moai, LUA

 

Just saw this pop up on Reddit and I thought I would share.  Yesterday a new engine was released, Loom.  (Nothing to do with the excellent game from LucasArts).  Loom works on Mac and Windows and can target Mac, Windows, iOS and Android.

 

 

 

Loom is a new game engine 2D game engine, written in C++ and powered by their own custom scripting language, which is a mix between C# and ActionScript.  Looking at the code samples, this engine is obviously built over top of the Cocos2D game engine, which is one of those love it or hate it APIs.  Built around a command line interface, you can rapidly create and debug projects.  Additionally it includes a gameplay framework, UI library, Tweening library, Chipmunk physics, unit testing and more.

 

 

 

 

Licensees get the complete C++ source code and right now, licenses are free.  Eventually indie licenses will be 500$, and going up from there, so if you are interested, be sure to snatch up a license now.  You can read full details about the licensing here.

 

There are a good number of demos available with source code.  They also offer paid support, which is always handy.

 

You can learn more about the Loom engine at TheEngine.co.  Clever name that… Sign up for a free license here.

News Engine

 

Samsung and Chillingo have launched their 100% indie campaign.

 

Basically they are offering developers (initially) 100% of revenue of games sold in their app store.  As of writing, there are just under 7 days remaining to submit the (note, not your) application if you are interested.

 

I have a couple Samsung phones and I have to say, I never liked their app store. That said, if you are developing or developed an Android game, I can think of few reasons not to submit it.  Another sales outlet is always a nice thing, as of course are 100% royalty rates.

 

Very few details exist right now, so be sure to read the fine print… when you find it.  You can sign up here.

News Android

 

A new beta release of the PlayStation Mobile SDK has just been released.

 

First off, it’s very important to realize this is a *BETA RELEASE*, meaning you can publish with this version.  This version also cannot be installed side by side with the release version.

 

Key changes in this version are:

 

Changes in Version 1.10.00

• PS3(TM) wireless controller is available on PC Simulator.
• Screen can be scaled and rendered automatically when actual device screen size is different from specified size in the program.
• ADPCM format supported in Sound class.
• New APIs added to SoundPlayer and BgmPlayer.
• Camera and Location APIs added.
• Improved CPU performance on PlayStation(R)Vita.
• Fixed some issues of HTTP/HTTPS connection.
• Fixed other issues.

 

Some pretty nice changes in this release.  The use of a PS3 controller with the Simulator was a huge missing feature, it’s nice to see it added as you can now test analog controls in the simulator.  Adding GPS and Camera SDKs is also quite nice, as of course are performance fixes.

 

You can read the full details here.

News PlayStation Mobile, PSSDK

 

Monotouch and Monodroid ( long since renamed ) are two products that I have *almost* purchased half a hundred times.  If you’ve not heard of them, they are a native port of C# and most of the .NET libraries to iOS and Android.  They have been having a good run and are the underpinnings of a number of very successful projects, such as PlayStation Mobile and Unity3D.  I really like .NET too but… and there is always a BUT.

 

It was 400$ for the basic version.  That’s 400$ for each platform too by the way.  That’s a pretty hard pill to swallow, especially when most of the competing products are free.  Or frankly, you could pick up the full Unity package for less than that!  Monotouch always offered a trial version, but it was limited to the emulator/simulator and if you have ever used the Android emulator on Windows, you know how vile that is!

 

Well, great news! 

 

First off, there is now a free version available that lets you deploy to device!  That said, you can’t p/Invoke to 3rd party code.  I honestly am not sure how much of a limitation that is.  Generally that means you can’t run native code, but still can run .NET assemblies.  If that’s the limitation, it isn’t a huge one.  If it means no libraries though… well, that’s a bit more painful.  I wonder if you can run Monogame, libGDX or PlayN in the free version?  Will look into that and get back to you.

 

Second, there has been a price drop.  It’s now 299$ per platform, per year.  Somehow, that 100$ makes a huge difference for me.  I don’t really like annual subscriptions though, I really wish people would move back towards version releases…  All the same, cheaper is always nice.

 

Third, there’s a new IDE, Xamarin Studio.

A little too XCode for my tastes, but I’ll be sure to check it out.  MonoDevelop is nice enough, but never really felt… comfortable if that makes sense.

 

Fourth, and this one is a biggie to many people.  You can build for iOS from Visual Studio on Windows.  Don’t get too excited, you still need a networked Mac to run the native toolchain, but you can do 99% of your work, debugging and testing in Visual Studio.

 

 

Very cool developments!  You can read more about it here.

 

EDIT:

 

A few points of clarification.

First is regarding the 299/year.  It’s not as bad as it sounds, the tools continue to work after a year is up, just no more updates.  That is much more reasonable and developer friendly.

Second is more details on the free version:

Xamarin Starter allows developer to build and publish simple apps, which contain no more than 32k of compiled user code (IL), and which do not call out to native third party libraries (i.e., developers may not P/Invoke into C/C++/Objective-C/Java.

Still not sure where that would leave Monogame, as it isn’t a native library, but it does no doubt make pInvoke calls to OpenGL.

General, News, Programming iOS, Android, C#