Marmalade Platform 8.5 Release Adds Updated 2D Editor

 

Marmalade is a cross platform C++ based game engine that just release version 8.5.  The biggest feature of this new release has got to be heavily updated 2D editor, Marmalade 2D kit.  Other features of this release include support for OpenAL and Windows Live Tiles.

 

From the release announcement:

All-new 2D Kit editor experience

Since the first release of Marmalade 2D Kit we have been working hard to improve the editor’s appearance, user experience and functionality, based on feedback from users.

In this release the look and feel of the 2D Kit editor has been completely overhauled, including new style objects, intuitive icons and adjustable colors using a preference panel.

The core user experience has also been dramatically improved with changes such as:

  • Dockable panels
  • Custom editor layout preferences
  • Layout guide helpers
  • Context menu for node creation
  • Clearer animation timeline
  • Multi-key selection
  • Relative animation key frames by default
  • Intuitive zoom control
  • Clearer messaging
  • Easier 9-slice texture setup
  • Improved asset thumbnails
  • Improved animation panel 
  • Improved player interface
  • Improved resource panel
  • Improved object inspector
  • Improved anchoring support for stretching nodes

Rounding out the changes we have added some other useful functionality such as a command line interface for exporting scenes and optional automated upgrade of existing projects.

All of this is accompanied by significantly improved documentation, such as the user manual and tutorials, and a raft of general bug fixes.

New OpenAL support

OpenAL is very popular in the game dev community, allowing you to create immersive sound fields with built-in support for positional audio.

We have now added official OpenAL support, based on OpenAL Soft, to the Marmalade Platform as a cross-platform middleware module.

This new middleware module builds on top of s3eSound and is therefore available to all supported platforms, from iOS and Android to Windows and OS X. 

Whether you’re starting a new project or porting an existing one to Marmalade, providing a more engaging audio experience just got much easier.

For an overview of OpenAL support in the Marmalade Platform, see here.

New Windows live tile support

One way to make your Windows apps more engaging is through the use of a live tile for your app.

With this release we are introducing a new s3eWindowsLiveTile extension to make this as easy as possible.

Interested? Find out more in the overview for S3E Windows Live Tile support.

Improved C++11 support

The previous Marmalade Platform release saw the addition of C++11 support to the main release, with the initial focus on Windows/Mac OS X Desktop and Simulator.

In this release, we’ve made some minor improvements in C++11 support, primarily to provide better support for the latest version of Visual Studio 2015: Update 3.

We have also significantly reduced the size of the C++11 add-on packages so you can now get started with C++11 support even quicker.

Beyond this release, the next major update to C++11 support will focus on iOS and Android so keep an eye out for it!

Improved EDK documentation

The EDK can be one the trickier areas of the Marmalade Platform to master so we’ve improved our EDK documentation in a couple of key areas to help make the learning curve a little less steep.

Please take a look at the updated getting started guide and a new section on debugging extensions.

Download now!

We think there’s something for everyone in this release so head over to the Developer area to download now or check out the release notes for full details.

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