Coming one year after the Raylib 5 release, the Raylib 5.5 release is jam packed with new features including the Raylib Project Creator we discussed earlier. Features of the Raylib 5.5 release:
NEWraylib pre-configured Windows package: The new raylib portable and self-contained Windows package forraylib 5.5, intended for nobel devs that start in programming world, comes with one big addition: support for C code building for Web platform with one-single-mouse-click! For the last 10 years, the pre-configured raylib Windows package allowed to edit simple C projects on Notepad++ and easely compile Windows executables with an automatic script; this new release adds the possibility to compile the same C projects for Web platform with a simple mouse click. This new addition greatly simplifies C to WebAssembly project building for new users. Theraylib Windows Installerpackage can be downloaded for free from raylib on itch.io.NEWraylib project creator tool: A brand new tool developed to help raylib users to setup new projects in a professional way.raylib project creatorgenerates a complete project structure with multiple build systems ready-to-use and GitHub CI/CD actions pre-configured. It only requires providing some C files and basic project parameters! The tools is free and open-source, and it can be used online!.NEWPlatform backend supported: RGFW: Thanks to thercoreplatform-split implemented inraylib 5.0, adding new platforms backends has been greatly simplified, new backends can be added using provided template, self-contained in a single C module, completely portable. A new platform backend has been added:RGFW.RGFWis a new single-file header-only portable library (RGFW.h) intended for platform-functionality management (windowing and inputs); in this case for desktop platforms (Windows, Linux, macOS) but also for Web platform. It adds a new alternative to the already existingGLFWandSDLplatform backends.NEWPlatform backend version supported: SDL3: Previousraylib 5.0added support forSDL2library, andraylib 5.5not only improves SDL2 functionality, with several issues reviewed, but also adds support for the recently released big SDL update in years:SDL3. Now users can select at compile time the desired SDL version to use, increasing the number of potential platforms supported in the future!NEWRetro-console platforms supported: Dreamcast, N64, PSP, PSVita, PS4: Thanks to the platform-split onraylib 5.0, supporting new platform backends is easier than ever! Along the raylibrlglmodule support for theOpenGL 1.1graphics API, it opened the door to multiple homebrew retro-consoles backend implementations! It’s amazing to see raylib running on +20 year old consoles like Dreamcast, PSP or PSVita, considering the hardware constraints of those platforms and proves raylib outstanding versability! Those additional platforms can be found in separate repositories and have been created by the amazing programmer Antonio Jose Ramos Marquez (@psxdev).NEWGPU Skinning support: After lots of requests for this feature, it has been finally added to raylib thanks to the contributor Daniel Holden (@orangeduck), probably the developer that has further pushed models animations with raylib, developing two amazing tools to visualize and test animations: GenoView and BVHView. Adding GPU skinning was a tricky feature, considering it had to be available for all raylib supported platforms, including limited ones like Raspberry Pi with OpenGL ES 2.0, where some advance OpenGL features are not available (UBO, SSBO, Transform Feedback) but a multi-platform solution was found to make it possible. A new example,models_gpu_skinninghas been added to illustrate this new functionality. As an extra, previous existing CPU animation system has been greatly improved, multiplying performance by a factor (simplifiying required maths).NEWraymathC++ operators: After several requested for this feature, C++ math operators forVector2,Vector3,Vector4,QuaternionandMatrixhas been added toraymathas an extension to current implementation. Despite being only available for C++ because C does not support it, these operators simplify C++ code when doing math operations.
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You can learn more about the Raylib 5.5 release in the video below. This video was sponsored by TechSmith the makers of Camtasia (which is what I use to create all of my videos). You can learn more about Camtasia here and use code GAMEFROMSCRATCH at checkout for 15% off.