Citrus Engine goes Stage3D with Starling
Hey folks, I’m happy to share a new version of the CE. A new view has been added to target the Flash Player 11, using Starling. It also includes a Level Manager and an abstract class to store the game’s data. This is the first beta of the Citrus Engine V3. For more informations : Aymeric’s blog. Don’t hesitate to become a contributor!
1000 Open Source Downloads
Apparently people like free stuff. The Citrus Engine and Level Architect have seen over a thousand downloads in the first 15 days! Making the Citrus Engine open source has been very successful so far. If you’d like to contribute to the project, help maintain this website, or help out in some other way, feel free to contact us!
Three New Videos by Matthew Murray
Matthew Murray, who has been teaching the Citrus Engine in his class, has been posting videos about the Citrus Engine. I have been adding them to the videos page in the learning section as they come online. They can be very helpful for getting started with the Level Architect, so I thought I’d share them with you on the blog. If you’re looking to get into gear with the Level Architect, check out the new content on the videos page.
Template for PhysicsEditor’s software
Hi everyone, I’m Aymeric Lamboley a new official contributor to the Citrus Engine project. I have made many articles/tutorials on my blog concerning the Citrus Engine. They are available at : http://www.aymericlamboley.fr/blog/category/flash/citrus-engine/.
One week ago, I made a plugin for PhysicsEditor‘s software to export physical objects to use in the CE. You would like to create complex box2d shape, but don’t know how to do that? Don’t panic, here is a quick look.
PhysicsEditor allow users to create easily box2d object from png file. To create complex box2d physical object you need to define vertices which are quite complex, and determine convex / concave polygons. Actually PhysicsEditor do that.
Download the software (you can use its free version), and add my template in this folder on Mac OS X : Contents/Resources/exporters I think it isn’t too different on Windows.
Then launch the soft and select the Citrus Engine template on the right.
Add one or many png files, select the Shape tracer tools (the magic wand) and choose your tolerance. We could also modify density, friction and restitution. Then publish.
It is really easy to use an object created from PhysicsEditor’s template, for example in the State class just use it like that :
var pe:PhysicsEditorObjects = new PhysicsEditorObjects(“Pe”, {x:200, peObject:"muffin", view:"muffin.png", registration:"topLeft"});
add(pe);
Be careful, the registration point is topLeft instead of center!
Don’t forget, don’t use many vertices if it isn’t really necessary. In my case, I’ve put lots of vertices for the example, but it may be quite good with 10 vertices instead of 40. You have to think about optimization, complex shape are heavy to manage for box2d.
I hope this tool will be useful. Tell me if there are something that I can improve!
Citrus Engine Now Free and Open Source
I am pleased to announce that the Citrus Engine is now completely free and open source. You no longer have to pay to use the Citrus Engine in a commercial project. You can visit the Open Source project site here.
Why is the Citrus Engine now free?
It has recently become too difficult for me to meet the demand and support-needs of the Citrus Engine’s users professionally by myself. Since I work a full-time job making other games, I do not have enough free-time to honestly continue to take customers’ money.
By making the Citrus Engine open source, I hope that the community can take the code base in its current state and continue to contribute to it. This will make sure that the project continues to be useful and successful.
The Level Architect’s code is also up on the project site so that it can be contributed to as well.
I will be looking for users who are willing and able to take over the management of this project. Please contact me if you would like to be a contributor to the code base.
The Official Level Editor Has Arrived
After a lot of hard work, I’m proud to announce that the Citrus Engine’s Level Architect is available for beta testing starting today. The Level Architect is a level editor specially designed for the Citrus Engine. While there are other level editors available, you will find that this one is the most ideally suited for designing your levels in the Citrus Engine.
The new Level Architect features
- Start creating levels immediately, without writing a single line of code! Just install the Level Architect and start designing and testing your levels. The Level Architect makes it easy to ease into learning the rest of the engine.
- Live code monitoring puts all the game object classes right into the editor so they can be dragged-and-dropped.
- The Level Architect knows all the properties for all game objects, showing them to you automatically. No more scouring the documentation trying to figure out what properties the hero has. This even works automatically for custom-made game objects using live code monitoring!
- Automatically creates Citrus Engine projects for you by downloading and installing the latest version of the engine. And you can upgrade at any time with the click of a button.
- Test your level changes right from the editor. No need to switch over to your code to compile.
- Uses Adobe Air and works on both Mac and PC.
- A detailed Manual helps you get off the ground quickly.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Get the Level Architect.
- Read the Owner’s Manual.
- Grab some quick tips.
- Post some feedback. Being that this is a beta version, it has not been tested with a large audience (thanks to my small group of focus testers for your great feedback!). This full version will be available for free for a limited time. Once the Level Architect reaches a stable state, it will become fully integrated with the Citrus Engine. The Level Architect will become the official delivery platform of the engine, and will likely be split into a free version and a commercial version. So make sure and try it now while it’s free! I have many plans for the Level Architect if you guys make it successful. In the future, I would like to add most, if not all of these features:
- An asset store where people can create, sell, and download game objects, then start using them immediately.
- Improved layer and object management.
- New navigation features such as zooming and snapping.
- Automation of project-setup for FlashDevelop, Flash, and FlashBuilder.
The Level Architect has an auto-update feature (thanks to Adobe Air, this is easy to do). As these new features arrive, you can easily update the Level Architect.
I would love to hear feedback about your experience with the Level Architect. Please visit the forum or social media and join in on the conversation.
Happy designing!
New Announcements Forum Board
I have added a new board to the forum called “Announcements”. This board will be for those interested in the technical changes to the Citrus Engine. It will be useful for updates that are too “techy” for the blog, such as changelist logs, upgrade processes, etc. I have just posted the new version 2.10, so head over to the Announcements board if you’re interested in what’s new.
Citrus Engine Road Map
Someone asked me recently if I could write a little something about what the road map for the Citrus Engine looks like. This is something that is constantly swimming around in my head; but it is more of a loose swirl of features than a hard list with dates. Nevertheless, it couldn’t hurt to let the community know a little bit about what’s going on in my head for the future of the Citrus Engine. Read up after the break for the details…
Pre-made Plaformer Features
The primary goal of the platformer kit is to provide examples of how developers can create their own custom game objects, however I also want to make sure they are as stable and versatile as possible so that non-developers can make a simple Citrus Engine game. Most of the features that I add to the engine will come from the needs of various clients that I work with. For example, when a client required a RewardBox be built for their game, I made it for them and then added it to the engine. I don’t want to bog down the list of pre-made game objects with a massive list of objects that are useless to most people, but if someone has requests that would benefit a lot of users, just let me know!
Simple Physics
Soon I will be adding a new collision detection system that can be used for games that don’t require all the features (and complication) that Box2D comes with. I’m no physics programmer, so the system will be very simple, but should be easy to use and “out of the way”. Box2D alchemy doesn’t run very well on mobile devices (and takes a long time to compile), so it might be good for developers who are looking to use the Citrus Engine for mobile development. And of course, if you need the robustness of Box2D, it will continue to be available.
Stage3D 2D Renderer
With Stage3D (Molehill) now becoming more available, I’d like to include a 2D renderer that takes advantage of this power.
Finally…A Level Editor
I have to admit that, even though I said I was going to, I have been working on a level editor again on the side. I feel like this is the thing that people want the most: a powerful, easy-to-use editor that is perfectly fitted for the Citrus Engine. I don’t want to say too much about it yet, but I am excited about it. Don’t get your hopes up yet though, it’s still a long way out (I want it to be good).
So that’s it. I am always looking for suggestions that make the Citrus Engine easier and more powerful, so feel free to send me a message (email, Facebook, or the forum) with your two cents.
New Citrus Engine Game: Kinessia
French developer Aymeric Lamboley, along with artist Tiffany Francony, have released their new experimental game Kinessia, using the Citrus Engine. The original game requires an interface with an iPhone, but they have now written a version for the web. The Kinessia project has been very helpful to us in finding stabalizations and optimizations in the Citrus Engine code. It will go onto a list of games that have been features on this blog.
New Citrus Engine Tutorial by Emanuele Feronato
The Flash game blogger Emanuele Feronato just posted a really nice tutorial about how to make an easy platformer with the Citrus Engine. His site says that another one is coming shortly after about how to add graphics. This is a great “Hello World” style tutorial that’s really approachable for anyone.
