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  1. Admin
    In collaboration with Arteria3D, we are pleased to announce the release of the SciFi Interior Construction Kit for Leadwerks Game Engine on Steam. This DLC provides all the props and textures you need to create your own high-tech sci-fi game environments. All content is ready to use with Leadwerks Game Engine, with no tweaking or adjusting required. Objects are designed to be easily aligned so you can build your scene quickly and revise it as often as you like. The included objects can be reused in many different ways to create a variety of science-fiction themed environments.
     


     
    Distributed through our Workshop game content system, the DLC contents appear immediately ready-to-use in Leadwerks upon purchase.

    Package Contents
    25 environment models including panels, pipes, supports, machinery, with predefined physics shapes for each object.
    56 materials with 1024x1024 textures, including model skins, with diffuse, normal, and specular maps for each.
    Example scenes to demonstrate usage and provide ideas.

     
    Get the SciFi Interior Construction Kit now for just $9.99 on Steam, with a 10% launch discount during the first week of release.
     

     

  2. Admin
    Summer is here, and you know what that means! Yes, it is time for another LEGENDARY game tournament. This year the theme is "Retro Gaming". Create a modern take on an arcade game hearkening back to the days of NES, Neo Geo, Sega, or just make anything you want. Either way, you get this totally radical poster as a prize!

    How does it work?  For one month, the Leadwerks community builds small playable games.  Some people work alone and some team up with others.  At the end of the month we release our projects to the public and play each other's games.  The point is to release something short and sweet with a constrained timeline, which has resulted in many odd and wonderful mini games for the community to play.
    WHEN: The tournament begins Thursday, June 21, and ends on July 31st at the stroke of midnight.
    HOW TO PARTICIPATE: Publish your retro-or-other-themed game to the Games Showcase before the deadline. You can work as a team or individually. Use blogs to share your work and get feedback as you build your game.
    Games must have a preview image, title, and contain some minimal amount of gameplay (there has to be some way to win the game) to be considered entries. It is expected that most entries will be simple, given the time constraints.
    This is the perfect time to try making a VR game or finish that idea you've been waiting to make!
    PRIZES: All participants will receive a limited-edition 11x17" poster commemorating the event. To receive your prize you need to fill in your name, mailing address, and phone number (for customs) in your account info.
    At the end of the tournament we will post a roundup blog featuring your entries. Let's go!
  3. Admin
    Today we are rolling out three new paid model packs by artist Nova Dimension.
     
    The Urban Interior Pack contains everything you need to populate your decaying urban settings with fixtures, furniture, and survival supplies.
     

     

     

     
    The Morgue Model Pack provides a creepy setting for horror or apocalyptic games. Just imagine how scary this could be with the right lighting and music.
     

     
    Finally, the Old Furniture Pack provides an extended collection of every type of furniture prop imaginable, along with some old electronics like retro televisions and a radio.
     

     
    All items are ready to use in Leadwerks. You can get each of these model packs now for $9.99.
  4. Admin
    Today we are releasing three new model packs in the Workshop Store.
     
    The Candles Pack provides beautifully detailed candles and sconces to bring atmosphere to any horror game.
     

     
    The Modern Furniture Pack includes numerous chairs, sofas, and a bar stool to populate any residential setting with.
     

     
    The Old Wine Bottles Pack gives you a variety of bottles with two texture variations. Decorate your map with them or use them for target practice.
     

     
    You can get these items by opening the Workshop interface in Leadwerks by selecting the Workshop > Browse Workshop menu item in the main window.
  5. Admin
    Ultra App Kit 1.1 is now available on our website and on Steam. This free update brings cross-platform development to our fast resolution-independent GUI toolkit. To download the new installers, click on your account purchases.
    In addition to Windows, Mac and Linux are now supported, which means you can code once and compile everywhere to easily create cross-platform GUI applications.
    Builds on Linux use minimal dependencies and will work on virtually any distro without any additional libraries to install. This effectively solves the Linux user interface problem forever and provides us with a strong foundation on which to build new game development tools that look great and run everywhere.

    Ultra App Kit is gorgeous on macOS and works with both Intel-based Macs or running natively on Apple Silicon.

    Along with various small bug fixes, version 1.1 adds the following new commands:
    Display::ClientArea() returns an iVec4 defining the usable area inside the screen, minus any bars the OS uses. Widget::SetFontBold() allows you to display bold text on a widget. Command() allows easy interaction with the system console / terminal. You can get the standalone version now for just $1.99 a month, or get a Steam key for $19.99. Both versions will give you support to build GUI applications for Windows, Linux, and Mac:
    Updating Ultra App Kit 1.0 Projects
    The move to cross-platform and ARM support only requires small changes in your existing projects. In Visual Studio, right-click on the solution name and open the Properties editor. In the Linker > Input field, change "App Kit.lib" (release configuration) and "App Kit_d.lib" (debug) both to "AppKit.lib", with no spaces.

    In the release configuration, change the linker search path from "$(UltraEnginePath)\Libs\Win64" to "$(UltraEnginePath)\Library\Windows\x64\Release".
    In the debug configuration, change the linker search path from "$(UltraEnginePath)\Libs\Win64" to "$(UltraEnginePath)\Library\Windows\x64\Debug".
    If you are using a 32-bit build, repeat this process with the 32-bit platform selected, replacing "x64" with "x86".

    New projects will be generated with correct paths for linking to the engine library.
  6. Admin

    Ultra App Kit Released

    By Admin,


    Articles
    Built to power a new generation of game development tools, Ultra App Kit provides an easy-to-use C++ programming SDK for creating desktop GUI applications.
    Unlike other alternatives like Dear ImGui, the Ultra App Kit GUI renders in retained mode rather than immediate mode, and is specifically designed for desktop GUI applications. This makes applications snappy and responsive when resizing or refreshing a window.
    DPI scaling is baked into the design for resolution-independent graphics on any screen.
    The GUI can be combined with an embedded OpenGL viewport, or combined with a 3D game engine to make custom editors and game development tools.
    Check out the video tutorials and read the documentation to learn more.
    Ultra App Kit can be purchased in our store.

    API Design
    C++ shared pointers everywhere Extensible widgets system Extensive documentation with examples for each command UI Features
    Resolution independent for any DPI scale Load SVG vector images Set widget icons Change mouse cursor Custom color schemes stored in JSON files Supported Widgets
    Label Button (push, checkbox, radio, and toggle styles) ProgressBar TextField TextArea ComboBox ListBox Slider (scrollbar, trackbar, and stepper styles) Draggable multi-select TreeView Create your own custom widgets Additional Features
    File I/O File system watcher Memory allocation and management Image loading, saving, processing Package system for loading files from compressed / encrypted archives Plugin system Thread management String manipulation (split, search, conversion, etc.) Message boxes and file / folder requester
  7. Admin
    The foundation of our new game development tools is here, with a close-to-the-metal framework for building desktop applications.
    Close-to-the-Metal Framework for Desktop Applications
    We're approaching the end of a loooooooooong cycle of research and development...several years, in fact, have been spent building the fastest game engine in the world. A great game engine needs a great user interface, and Ultra App Kit provides exactly what we need. This will provide the backbone of our new game editor, as well as a mechanism for user-created extensions. You can get your hands on this technology and start building your own desktop applications by backing our new crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. (You have the option to purchase through IndieGoGo or directly through our website at a later date.)

    Usage

    Supported Widgets
    Label Button (push, checkbox, radio, and toggle styles) ProgressBar TextField TextArea ComboBox ListBox Slider (scrollbar, trackbar, and stepper styles) Draggable multi-select TreeView Create your own! API Design
    C++ shared pointers everywhere Extensible widgets system Extensive documentation with examples for each command Can be made to interface with C# and Lua UI Features
    Resolution independent for any DPI (16K+) Load SVG vector images Filter and sort widget items by name Set widget and item image Change mouse cursor Custom color schemes stored in JSON files Other Features
    File I/O File system watcher Memory allocation and management Image loading, saving, processing Package system for loading files from compressed / encrypted archives Plugin system Thread management String manipulation (split, match, conversion, etc.) Message boxes and file / folder requester Stretch Goals
    $20,000: C# and Lua programming support $50,000: Linux and Mac support $80.000: Visual UI Designer Other Ways You Can Help
    Some people just can't contribute, but that doesn't mean you can't help. Get the word out and make some noise about this campaign!
    Thank you for your support!
    About Leadwerks 5
    Leadwerks Game Engine 5 is in development, with an initial release scheduled 2021, with Vulkan graphics and 64-bit floating point support, Join our community and help shape the final design of our most advanced technology yet.
  8. Admin

    Ultra Engine 0.9.3 Released

    By Admin,


    Articles
    Ultra Engine 0.9.3 is here, with usability improvements, bug fixes, and new AI-powered features to make game development easier. You can get a discount now in our store or on Steam all week.

    "Futuristic Room" by Dennis Cliofis
    Object creation has been overhauled with a more visual approach that lets you easily select the object you want to add to the scene.

     
    You can also insert a new object into the scene tree, under the selected node, or in the scene root.

    A new component creation tool simplifies new component creation for C++ and Lua.

    A new smoked glass effect will appear behind some windows. Besides looking great, this provides additional visual cues about the transparency of an image or model. It's disabled by default, so just go to the Tools > Options menu and you'll see an option to enable this effect.

    AI-powered features are now available on the Steam build with support for text-to-image and seamless texture stitching.

    Additionally, more than 60 bug reports have been resolved since initial launch.
    New commands:
    Camera::SetOrder Camera::SetSweptCulling You can get a discount now in our store or on Steam all week.
    About Ultra Engine
    Ultra Engine was created to solve the problems we saw while working on virtual reality projects at NASA. We are developing game engine tools to provide order-of-magnitude faster performance for 3D and VR applications in entertainment, defense, and aerospace.
  9. Admin
    A few years ago, some folks at NASA asked for my help with some VR projects they were working on. They had switched to Leadwerks and were getting better performance with that, but it still wasn't fast enough for what they were trying to do. I flew from California out to Goddard Space Flight Center to meet with them. When I saw what NASA was doing with my software, my jaw hit the floor.

    Goddard Space Flight Center
    Rendering performance in VR is critical because if the framerate drops, it creates a discontinuity between what your visual and vestibular (sense of balance) systems perceive. This causes instant and severe motion sickness and can result in nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. The work NASA was doing with VR involved loading engineering CAD models with tens of millions of polygons and thousands of articulated sub-objects, and displaying them in VR. Naturally, the VR rendering performance for these types of models absolutely crawled. If we were making a VR game we would just optimize the models and design everything to fit within a polygon budget, but engineering requires complex models with many fine details. We couldn't just "optimize away" important details the engineers wanted to inspect in VR.

    NASA model of International Space Station
    I came away from that meeting thinking it was an impossible problem to solve, and I flew home to California. Over the next weeks I started thinking "I know this is impossible, but if it were possible, what would it look like?" This lead to the development of a new game engine designed specifically to maximize performance for VR.
    Today I am happy to reveal performance benchmarks of the new Ultra Engine compared to Leadwerks and Unity. These tests reveal different performance bottlenecks that can occur in real-time applications that would cause slow performance. Testing was performed on Windows 10 with an Nvidia GEForce 1080 GPU.
    Instanced Geometry Test
    In this test, a 3D grid of 32,768 instanced cubes is created. This evaluates how the renderer handles a large number of objects with CPU frustum culling enabled. Frustum culling on the CPU is important because it allows the engine to discard large parts of the scene from processing in the rendering loop. It also allows the engine to skip animation for offscreen objects.

    In this test, Ultra Engine outperforms both Leadwerks and Unity by 20x, with 95% GPU utilization:

    Animation Test
    In this test, 1024 animated characters are displayed. Each character has a unique skeleton and is animated independently with no instancing.

    In this test, Unity outperforms Leadwerks, but Ultra Engine is still more than 18x faster, with much higher GPU utilization:

    Lighting Test
    This test renders a scene made up of 1000 instanced boxes and 25 point lights. This provides a measure of how efficiently each engine handles the interaction between lights and objects, and simulates the lighting overhead of a complex scene.

    In this test the Leadwerks renderer has a significant performance advantage over Unity, but again Ultra Engine is much faster than either:

    Unique Geometry Test
    In this test 4096 unique (not instanced) boxes are created and drawn onscreen. This simulates a complex scene with many unique objects.

    Unity and Leadwerks both struggled to render this scene in real-time, but Ultra Engine ran at an astounding 6000+ frames per second:

    As you can see, a variety of scenarios that would cause the Unity or Leadwerks renderer to bottleneck run with absolutely no problems in Ultra Engine. This technology is being developed into a full game engine with a visual editor, complete with a plugins and extensions system. Ultra Engine will deliver order-of-magnitude faster performance, to eliminate motion sickness and lower hardware costs for VR applications, as well as general game development. There's no need to spend hours and days optimizing your game, because when you use Ultra Engine your game is already optimized.

    New editor work-in-progress
    If you're in Orlando the last week of November, stop by booth #2341 in the small business pavilion during the I/ITSEC 2021 expo to see a live demo of our game-changing new technology.
    If you would like to be notified when Ultra Engine becomes available, sign up for the mailing list.
    Update
    Benchmarks are now available for download.
  10. Admin

    Ultra Engine Early Access is Here

    By Admin,


    Articles
    Ultra Engine unlocks the full power of your GPU to deliver up to 10x faster performance for your game. Ultra Engine is now available in Early Access, both in our store and on Steam. Use coupon code "LAUNCH" to receive a discount before January 1.
    Ultra Engine is a huge leap in technology that provides a new future-proof foundation, while keeping the strengths and general design philosophy we developed in Leadwerks. There were many major underlying changes made to create a better development platform for your games:
    Leadwerks
    Ultra
    Benefit
    Editor written in BlitzMax
    Editor written in C++
    Better compatibility, extensions system
    x86
    x64
    More addressable memory
    Win32 / GTK / Cocoa
    Custom UI
    Consistent UI across platforms
    Raw pointers
    Shared pointers
    No invalid pointer errors
    ToLua C++/Lua binding
    Sol
    Support for shared pointers
    Blinn-Phong lighting
    PBR lighting
    Better graphical quality
    FBX asset pipeline
    glTF asset pipeline
    PBR materials
    Single-threaded
    Multi-threaded
    Faster performance
    OpenGL
    Vulkan
    Future-proofing

    10x Faster Performance
    Have you ever tried to develop a game, only to have the framerate get slower and slower as you add more content and features? This is especially problematic in virtual reality because low framerates cause motion sickness and can make your game or experience unplayable. Ultra Engine is designed to achieve ultimate scalability and deliver blazingly fast performance as your game grows, with a revolutionary new Vulkan-based architecture that unlocks the full power of your GPU to deliver up to 10x faster performance.
    Code Games with C++ and Lua
    Ultra Engine provides an easy-to-learn programming API that can be used with Lua, integrated into Visual Studio Code. Documentation is extensive, with hundreds of code examples demonstrating how to use graphics, physics, raycasting, pathfinding, and other systems to build games and VR applications. Your game code runs on its own thread, so there's no performance penalty for using an interpreted language.
    Royalty-Free License
    What you create is yours to play, sell, or give away. You will never be charged royalties or install fees for any application you make. And because we only rely on free open-source middleware libraries, you never have to worry about purchasing expensive licenses from third parties.

    Physically-based materials

    Entity component system with multiple components per entity
     

    Scriptable editor with plugins system

    glTF model pipeline

    AI-powered texture generation

    Re-projected screen reflections

    Detailed asset inspection tools
    You can get Ultra Engine Early Access now. Use coupon code "LAUNCH" to receive a discount before the end of the year. Please see the development roadmap for detailed information about the software's current capabilities.
    Join us on Discord on Saturday December 23 at 6 PM GMT (10 AM PST) for a special live streaming event!
     
     
  11. Admin

    Ultra Engine SDK Now Available

    By Admin,


    Articles
    I'm pleased to announce that Ultra Engine SDK Early Access is now available. Four years ago, I set out to solve the performance problems I was seeing while working on virtual reality projects at NASA. Ultra Engine is the product of a lot of intense research and development during which I invented a new architecture designed for the way modern graphics hardware works. The results exceeded my wildest expectations, providing Ultra Engine with order-of-magnitude faster rendering performance than Leadwerks or Unity.

    Cyber Samurai by Khoa Minh
    The initial release is a C++ programming SDK for WIndows that provides access to the all new Ultra Engine API. Similar to Leadwerks, but utilizing modern C++ features like smart pointers, the new API features native support for loading all proprietary Leadwerks formats, so you can easily pull your existing 3D content into the new engine with updated graphics and performance.
    In addition to being really fast, Ultra Engine provides a ton of new possibilities:
    The Khronos glTF file format is supported natively, providing an easy way to load thousands of game-ready 3D models. An entity component system provides a formal structure for adding modular game components, and even supports loading and saving of game states. A layer-less terrain system supports up to 256 different materials per terrain. The animation system has a lot of new possibilities you've never seen before, in addition to being incredibly fast. The engine even features documented support for the mythical brush entity, for constructive solid geometry and real-time slicing and dicing. The pathfinding system provides precise creation and control of navigation meshes. Plugins system with plugins for FreeImage, KTX2, and fast BC7 compression. Features that were not very well documented in Leadwerks are clearly laid out with examples, like render-to-texture. Here's a video that goes through some of the new capabilities:
    Continued Development
    We're just getting started! There's a lot more great technology on the way. Here are some of the main features in development:
    New visual editor with customizable extensions VR support Linux and Mac versions C# programming support Lua programming support Advanced global illumination and reflections Box2D physics Newton Dynamics 4 physics Ultra Engine will be licensed at $9.99 a month, with a 20% discount for early adopters. If you would like to join the Ultra Engine journey towards a better tomorrow with maximum efficiency, activate your plan and get started using your new secret weapon.
    See you on the forum!
  12. Admin
    An update for version 4.4 beta is now available. The Newton Dynamics library has been updated to the current version. Vehicles are temporarily unavailable, but everything else should work. The Newton DLLs have been moved into external DLLs, which allows the author of Newton to debug his own physics code in Leadwerks from Visual Studio.
     
    You can get the update by opting into the beta branch on Steam.
  13. Admin

    Version 4.5 Updated

    By Admin,

    An update for Leadwerks Game Engine 4.5 has been pushed out on Steam. The following fixes have been made:
    View projection for Oculus Rift VR headset is fixed. Added VR.AButton, VR.BButton, VR.GripAxis for improved compatibility with Oculus Touch controllers. Fixed terrain collision bug. Added missing Workshop toolbar icons on Linux. Fixed script editor not opening on Linux. Fixed LoadAnimation bug. Fixed missing fall damage on player controller. This update is available now to all users.
  14. Admin
    Leadwerks.com is now hosted on our own dedicated server located in Chicago, Illinois. It was found that this location gave the best overall results for our worldwide user base. We tested the new server in advance for a couple of days, and transferred the database right before switching the DNS, so no data should have been lost. Please submit a bug report if you experience any problems.
     
    The Leadwerks server has a 500 gb secondary hard drive where site backups are automatically saved to, in addition to the manual backups I perform. The main site database is being downloaded manually every 3 days and saved on a 2 terabyte hard drive. Additionally, the databases are being uploaded to another remote server. Once a month the entire site will be downloaded (individual files) and burned onto several DVDs, as the ultimate fail-safe. Leadwerks.com and Werkspace are a website for you, the Leadwerks community. We will go to any lengths necessary to make sure your data is safe and protected.
     
    We also have a new version of the website skin with an added search bar, visual improvements, and bug fixes. I'll be fixing up parts of the site and adding the documentation system back in, so keep an eye out for that.
     
    Thanks to WiredTree and Invision Power Services technical support teams for their great support, and to Tom Christian for his work with the website skin.
  15. Admin
    The Leadwerks 2016 Winter Games Tournament is complete! This tournament brought some new types of games we haven't seen before, with a wide range of new games to try. Here's a review.
     

     
    The Adventures of Relic Rick
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/games/_/the-adventures-of-relic-rick-public-alpha-v100-r108
     
    You control the adventurer, Rick, who is on a hunt for an ancient artifact for his museum. During his search in an underground ruin, he feels an earthquake and, before he knows it, the ground caves in beneath his feet! Rick is then swallowed into a secret temple! Trapped inside, Rick must proceed forward through the newly discovered ruin using his wits to solve puzzles, collect keys, and survive to escape the labyrinth. Will he ever find a way out of this secret underground dungeon or will it become his permanent tomb? It is up to you to help guide Rick out of his unfortunate state.
     

     
    Sentinal Defect
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=625497837
     
    Survive against waves of killer robot spiders, armed with an SMG and an endless supply of ammunition. How many waves can you survive? The visual design is simple but consistent and striking.
     

     
    Present Hunt
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=629645154
     
    Gather the presents and bring them to the tree. Heavy post-processing effects and a rich atmosphere make this an environment worth exploring.
     

     
    Dungeon Creeper
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=621811493
     
    You're the pest-control snow-machine repair guy! Your career in life is to visit different places on your trusty boat and fix their machinery. This winter, you've received a special call out to Snow Town - their snow machine has broken down and they need you to re-set it!
     

     
    d4Shmup
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=630002481
     
    An overhead shoot-em-up made with Leadwerks! Pilot your ship through a short level blasting enemies in your path.
     

     
    The Hankinator's Ode to Alpha Dog
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=626762660
     
    The Hankinator is back with another wacky game. You are a dog air-dropped into a viking village on a mission to bite as many people as possible.
     

     
    The Lost and The Fallen
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=630028747
     
    This interesting concept lets you lead your dog to locate a missing person. Locate the missing individual with the help of your dog. Should be possible to 'complete' the first single level but only intended as very early demo.
     

     
    Science Preview
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=605707281
     
    This science fiction FPS pits you against an endless onslaught of terrifying monsters. The level design is reminiscent of 1990's shooters. Try it now!
     

     
    Maze Sweeper
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=630071001
     
    From the author:
    You have gotten captured by evil scientist trying to experement on you, when you find guns and a way out, you find a monster that has not became so crazy as the other monsters, and he knows the way through the maze to the teleporter, you hope he will last, but he may become crazy on the way out.
     

     
    Nennerog
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=627877110
     
    An experimental first-person shooter from first-time author lbxr2000.
     

     
    My Place
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=626851826
     
    Explore the mountain base.
     

     
    3rd Person Controller
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=616558416
     
    This tech demo lets you control a character in third-person view, with lots of level interactions to try.
     

     
    Ice Island
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=610426359
     
    While not strictly a game, this is an interesting environment to explore.
     

     
    ZombScar
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=615676471
     
    Explore the surface of another planet.
     

     
    Pong3D
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=603368404
     
    Play the classic game "Pong" in a bright flashing futuristic 3D setting.
     

     
    Recovery
    http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/page/viewitem?fileid=613979230
     
    A beginning game made with Workshop content, with a cool menu.
     

  16. Admin
    In just three weeks, the Linux community has successfully funded the development of Leadwerks for Linux. This means we're going to bring Leadwerks 3.1 to Linux, with native support for developing Linux games...so Linux games can now be completely free from Windows.

    Greenlight
    It's been an amazing few weeks. During this time, we also successfully completed our Greenlight campaign to make Leadwerks available on Steam and take advantage of features like the Steam Workshop. You can see from the graph below that our campaign did better than any other software in Steam we had data for. The votes look like they would have gone a lot higher, but Valve approved us early! 


    Megatextures
    I also had a chance to prototype the major feature of Leadwerks 3.1 I was most concerned about. I wanted to implement a new terrain system that would remove the limitations of our old one, and thought that a technique I call "dynamic megatextures" would be a good solution. Basically, this works like id Software's megatexture technology, only the virtual textures are generated on-the-fly rather than being paged from the hard drive. This means the entire terrain can be uniquely textured, but it doesn't require the hard drive space megatextures usually need: 

     
    Getting that knocked out of the way makes me confident we can deliver Leadwerks 3.1 for Linux according to our original vision.
     
    Congratulations, Linux community! I'm happy to make Linux a core part of our company's focus moving forward.
  17. Admin
    Visual Studio gives two options for creating C++ applications. Console applications use printed text to communicate with the user, harkening back to the pre-GUI days of DOS. The other option is a windowed application with a GUI interface, simply called "Win32 Project" in the Visual Studio project creation dialog.
     

     
    A console application will use the regular old main function you know and love:

    int main(int argc,const char *argv[])  
    This is cross-platform compatible and runs on any operating system. A "Win32 Project", however, will use a special WinMain() function that only works on Windows:

    WinMain(HINSTANCE hInst, HINSTANCE hPrevInst, LPSTR, int)  
    So if you don't want a black rectangle printing a bunch of lines of text, you have to use the WinMain() function. But, there is a way to fix this. We can change a console application to a windowed application in the Linker settings in the Visual Studio project settings. Change the Linker > System > Subsystem property to a windowed application.
     

     
    There's also a way to force the program to use the cross-platform main() function. Change the setting Linker > Options > All Options > Entry Point to mainCRTStartup.
     

     
    Although the application will no longer show a black text box, the printed output is still detectable by a parent application like the Leadwerks script editor.
     

     
    However, if you create a .bat file to run your application, you can only pipe the output to a text file. The text will not be shown when the .bat file runs:

    MyGame.exe > output.txt  
    Of course, any Leadwerks game will automatically write it's output to a text log already, so this is sort of redundant. Another consideration is you will not be able to see the output when you run your application from Visual Studio. Strange that VS doesn't support one of the most basic needs of an IDE, and has no known method of viewing the printed output of your program when you run it. However, if you want to get rid of that annoying black popup box, and you want your code to be cross-platform compatible, this is the way to do it.
  18. Admin
    Our first character pack for Leadwerks has been released. The Zombie Character Pack DLC is now available on Steam for $29.99, with a 15% launch discount.
     

     
    The Leadwerks Zombie Character Pack provides you with a horde of undead monsters to slay. Fight your way through the flesh-eating mob or pit them against each other in an all-zombie brawl to the death. All characters are fully scripted and ready to use in Leadwerks, with no programming required. Just drop them into your map and press play!

    Contents
    Five zombie character models from various walks of life.
    Idle, death, walk, run, and two attack animations.
    All associated materials, textures, and sounds.
    Integration with default Leadwerks AI script.


    Installing the DLC
    To install this DLC, select the Workshop > Manage AddOns menu in the main window. Select this DLC in the list, press the Install button, and your items will be available in the editor. 

     

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