I haven't posted on the boards for a long time, but I have been lurking around regularly. One of the reasons for this is because I've been involved with the development of a 2D game engine along with my partner. I will plug the engine by posting here periodically with updates about our latest progress

AGen was built in C++ but runs Lua scripts directly from a source file. There's no need for a compiler as you'll be writing your games entirely in Lua. You don't have to know anything about DirectX, OpenGL or other graphic libraries.

2007.12.7
http://www.2dengine.com/

download alpha build 2007_12_7
After quite a bit of work, we've released our first build. Needless to say, the project is far from complete. The current build shows a simple demo of our graphics plugin. It can render vector graphics quite similarly to Cairo or Flash. It can bevel lines of different thickness which is actually pretty difficult to acheive with DirectX alone

You can find out more about the engine at http://2dengine.com/
Looking forward to all feedback, especially if the engine fails to run on your machine

This is an update to the project.
http://www.2dengine.com/download.html

The most important changes in this demo include the addition of two new plugins: OpenGL and DirectInput
You can change the number of rotating triangles using PageUp/PageDown (by default they are only 100). The little red circle is a vehicle that can be controlled using the arrow keys. All of this is scripted and you can alter everything by changing the "Scripts/main.lua" file. I tried to comment as much as I can in the script file, so please check it out.

Edit: Removed the images from the URL tags, because I think it was causing the thread to hand. (Dial-Up)

I have another update on the project. We've made a lot of progress with the video/input plugins. Sound support is still unavailable.


Download 2007_12_24 alpha build zip

Check out our new alpha build demo. It's a 'Breakout' clone in only 300 lines of Lua code. You can play using the mouse or keyboard keys. Again, you can change everything in the game by editing the "Scripts/main.lua" file. I have to point out however that collision detection is done in Lua and is totally atrocious! When objects start moving fast or the frameskip kicks in, collisions will be missed. There's no point in me writing sphere-vs-AABB algorithms in Lua. Remember, the demo is supposed the demonstrate the engine's features not collision detection/physics/math in Lua. Plus, AGen will probably have a built-in collision system in the future.

I'd love to hear what you think and also, please let me know if the game doesn't run on your machine. Merry christmas to you all

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2d engine | 8-bit commando | chains

Finally, there's an update on the project!
We have been focusing our efforts into designing the scene graph and world partitioning of the engine, however both are still incomplete.

This demo is a lame attempt at a game where your goal is to destroy the evil red piranah by clicking on them with your crosshair. Although it's far less impressive than our last release, this particular build showcases a number of new features including audio playback, raster graphics, z-ordering and native mouse support.


Download 2008_01_23.zip

PS. The music and art are both by moi

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2d engine | 8-bit commando | chains

Update time again. The engine has come a long way since the first demo.
Here's a short list of features that have been implemented so far:
-vector & raster graphics (sprite rotation and scaling)
-z-ordering (works correctly with both transparent and opaque sprites)
-native windows cursor input
-direct input (keyboard/mouse/limited joystick support)
-audio support (still incomplete, WAVs only)

NEW:
-space partitioning (levels can have hundreds of thousands or even millions of sprites)
-layer support (allows scrolling and parallax)


Download 2008_02_02.zip

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2d engine | 8-bit commando | chains

millions of sprites? I don't think so. The plane demo is only running at 50fps on my system. Looks VERY good though!!

Could theoretically be VSYNC ofcourse, your monitor's refresh rate.

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Serious game developer

http://www.persistentrealities.com
http://www.persistentrealities.com/vbfibre
http://www.ambiances.nl

Hey, thanks for the comments.
If you open the "scripts/main.lua" file you should see a global variable near the top "WORLD_SIZE = 500". At 500 it generates 6500 sprites. Try to crank it up and you will notice that it won't affect the FPS (however it may take a while to initially generate the world)
We've tested it with insane numbers of sprites and it works although it eats up a lot of memory (about 200 MB for 130000 sprites). But even at 130000, you can reduce the memory cost to just 80 MB by sharing one canvas across multiple sprites. There's no need for two identical 'ground' sprites to 'reserve' unique canvases:
shared_canvas = Canvas ( )
sprite[1].canvas = shared_canvas
sprite[2].canvas = shared_canvas

VSync is disabled by default in this demo, and I think the max FPS is set to 60. What is your configuration, by the way?

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2d engine | 8-bit commando | chains

New features:
-improved audio support (compressed audio although still unstable)
-basic font output (generates scalable mesh)
-improved scene management (allows layer nesting)
-simplified framework interface

Download 2008_02_02.zip

I have to point out that this will probably be our last release for a long time. We've decided to start work on a commercial title using the engine. This should help us focus on testing and polishing the vital features of the engine as it moves into Beta.

Thanks for your time

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2d engine | 8-bit commando | chains

There's a major update to the project.
The new version of the engine is much more stable and includes 4 tech demos:
-"lion.lua" showcases the new triangulation algorithm in the engine. It's the SVG lion rendered in real time. You can use your mouse to move the camera.
-"bench.lua" is a classic moving rectangles demo. You can remove or add more rectangles using the arrow keys. 1,2 and 3 toggles the different effects used on the rectangles
-"cull.lua" shows how non-visible object are culled from the scene without affecting the FPS. Again, you use your mouse to move the camera.
-"physics.lua" is an experimental tech preview of a physics simulation using box2D as a Lua module. You can apply forces to the red box using the arrow keys as well as move the camera with the mouse.

PS. Don't forget to extract the demo to a local directory before running the "bat" files



http://2dengine.com/bin/alpha/2008_07_04.zip (994 Kb)

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2d engine | 8-bit commando | chains

Hm, I should really pickup Lua again . Your project is looking great!

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Serious game developer

http://www.persistentrealities.com
http://www.persistentrealities.com/vbfibre
http://www.ambiances.nl

Hey, thanks. By the way, what have you written in Lua before? I'm also working on a game with Lua, in parallel to the engine. Lua is cool, but doesn't work too good for advanced things like collision detection and complex data structures. Haven't tried doing pathfinding in Lua, but I have a feeling it wouldn't be feasible. What's the most advanced thing you've done in Lua.

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2d engine | 8-bit commando | chains

Version 1.0 of the engine is finally here. Package includes a number of new demos and tutorial scripts. Also, Box2D is now exported entirely, font support is improved and a variety of other features have been polished as well.
The website documentation has also been updated.

Below is a screenshot of the famous SVG tiger rendered by AGen in one of the demos:

download version 1.0

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2d engine | 8-bit commando | chains

Version 1.1 of the engine is out. Much more stable and easier to use than before. The documentation has also been updated and improved.
Except for the engine, download includes a number of demos, tutorial scripts and CHM documentation.



download

Also, if you didn't know, the first commercial game using the engine was released a couple of weeks ago.

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2d engine | 8-bit commando | chains

From the screen shot of the squares, this thing looks amazing.

Yeah, I know it doesn't look like much but the squares show the culling capabilities of the engine. There's 60000 sprites in that demo.

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2d engine | 8-bit commando | chains

Version 1.2 of the engine is out.
Includes improvements in stability and pathfinding.



2009_02_11.zip (1,104 kb)

We're trying to improve stability so we really need some feedback, in particular if the demos fail to run on your machine.
If the engine crashes on your machine, please post "devices.txt" and "log.txt" so we know where the problem might be.

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2d engine | 8-bit commando | chains

Version 1.2.5 2009.05.26
This version is much more stable than earlier builds. Package includes:

AGen redistributable for Win32
Tutorial and demo scripts
Documentation: CHM manual
Engine plugins: DirectSound 8.1, DirectInput 8.1, DirectX 8.1, DirectX 9, OpenAL, OpenGL and SDL Input
Lua 5.1 with extensions: MicroPather, Box2D, LuaFileSystem, LuaSocket and DevIL


Download 1.2.5.zip (2,284 Kb)

http://2dengine.com/bin/release/1.2.5.zip

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2d engine | 8-bit commando | chains

What I would really like to see is some sort of level editor. That would probably be a nightmare to implement though...what would also be cool is networking for online gameplay. Keep up the good work, this engine is fantastic.

i've made a box2d editor but it's not polished enough for public release
a luasocket module is available if youre trying to do networking and such
thanks

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2d engine | 8-bit commando | chains