Next Steps
Previously, I talked about my plan for Leadwerks for the next 6-12 months:
Leadwerks Editor
- Adding new tools to make life easier.
- Refining the workflow to eliminate any remaining"sticky" points.
- Bug fixes, to make it a super slick and polished experience.
The Engine
- New features in graphics, physics, networking, etc.
- Performance optimization.
- Improved compatibility across all OpenGL 4 hardware.
Third-Party Technologies
- Blender, SteamOS, Steam Workshop, virtual reality, etc.
With C++ support now added on Steam, I am getting ready to add the Linux build on Steam and elsewhere. This week will give me a chance to fix some minor problems and streamline the installation process a bit.
The Blender exporter has not been done yet. I originally underestimated the value that having a bridge between various third party modeling applications can add. In order to make it easier to write exporters for various modeling packages, I am creating a C library that has commands for adding model limbs, mesh data, and animations, and then saving the resulting structure as a .mdl file. This library can then be used with lots of different plugin systems to create export plugins for various programs. (For Blender support, I will hire a contractor to write this and make the source code available for tinkering.)
This month will mostly be about addressing any outstanding bug reports and making small improvements to the workflow and art pipeline. This is a necessary prerequisite to support for Steam Workshop; if I can find a few small ways to make the art pipeline more efficient, it will provide a big reduction in time spent prepping models for the Workshop. So it's time to eat my own dog food, as they say. Although the Leadwerks 3 art pipeline is largely frictionless, there's a few sticky points I would like to make easier in the workflow.
OSX support is also on my list for the near future. I don't anticipate any problems here, as I just have to go into Objective-C and set up some OpenGL 4 contexts, which are only possible since OSX Mavericks was released last November.
As always, this is an intended development plan, and may not be exactly what gets implemented as things change.
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