The Leadwerks game engine just released the very first alpha release of the 5.x branch. Obviously as the very first alpha release, this is not meant for production use and only C++ and debug builds are currently supported.
New features of this release include:
- String commands now accept a unicode overload. Add “L” in front of a string to create a wide string in C++.
- Now using smart pointers. Simply set a variable to nullptr to delete an object. There is no Release() or AddRef() function.
- Exclusively 64-bit!
- Global states are gone. There is no “current” world or context. Instead, the object you want is passed into any function that uses it.
- We are now using constant integers like WINDOW_TITLEBAR instead of static members like Window::Titlebar.
- Now using global functions where appropriate (CreateWorld(), etc.).
- Renderer is being designed to be asynchronous so Context::Sync() is gone. 2D drawing is not implemented at this time.
Access to the alpha is available with a $5 a month subscription that grants you access to the forums and alpha builds of the engine. You can read more about the release here.