[Package Plugins and Mods]

7-zip (free) does this.  For example, here's the relevant line in an automatic batch file I created to back up a project:

"C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" a -tzip "projectname backup.zip" "C:\Users\user\Documents\Leadwerks\Projects\projectname\" -mx9 -xr!.vs

The -xr! argument makes it so a folder is excluded from the zip.  In my case it's the .vs (Visual Studio) folder which has over a gig of Visual Studio created project files.  The exe has a lot of helpful arguments to choose from.

[Package Plugins and Mods]

I know it's not the same thing but since Leadwerks supports multiple custom password-protected zips (which I appreciate maybe even more that Steam and analytics support), you can make each zip only a few hundred megs or however small you want.

[GUI Resolution Independence 2]

Quote

so the goal should be to create a system that does what it is supposed to do reliably, not to make complicated things simpler at the expense of functionality

Things don't have to be complicated to be functional.  How many functions you create and how many arguments they have are in your hands.  Though I'm sure someone will be happy to create a wrapper.

Edit: you could also have a visual GUI designer but I know that's pushing it.

[Upsampling Textures with AI]

I think this is the situation with everything it does.  It does an OK job estimating (and much better than just upscaling) but it can't make up for all missing details.  The arch and your original image were blurry too; obviously the original images would be much more crisp and detailed.  That said, this might still be helpful if you already have a 1024x1024 image and you want to make it 2048x2048, or from there to 4092.  I suspect the more detail it already has to work with, the better it'll do.

[Upsampling Textures with AI]

Curious how it would do with this grass texture:

This is the original (from here)

Of course, the next natural question is how it does with upsizing seamless textures.  In other words, does it introduce seams?

[Upsampling Textures with AI]

It still has a long ways to go but it's definitely an improvement of just resizing up.  I would encourage you to get a true, crisp, 2048x2048 (or any dimension large image), downsize it, then use the downsized version to scale up.  Then compare your results to the original 2048x2048 texture.

[Custom Shapes for MDLs in Leadwerks 4]

Hmmm.  Here's what generate convex hull creates for a test scene:

And here's what convex hull in the model editor creates:

Edit: it seems like that for the model editor, Josh removed the consideration for multiple children and treats the entire model as one.

[Custom Shapes for MDLs in Leadwerks 4]

It seems to do something similar but gives different results than the options in the model editor.  I'm a little confused.  ?

[Custom Shapes for MDLs in Leadwerks 4]

Neat trick.  Thank you for sharing and the nice, detailed presentation!

[Leadwerks 5 beta Update]

33 minutes ago, Josh said:

If you were loading a larger scene that took more time to load, you could kick off the rendering thread by calling World::Render() immediately after it is created, before the scene is loaded. This would cause the Vulkan initialization to be processed on the rendering thread while the scene is loading on the main thread. This would save the ~2 seconds of rendering initialization time, because it seems like the rest is pretty much instantaneous.

God I hope this is a tip in one of the new tutorials (maybe in an optimization one) because I'm sure I'll forget this.

[Some Changes...]

20 hours ago, rogy said:

Or just Leadwerks engine? Furher updates can be incremented by year, Leadwerks V2021, etc.

This system makes sense on several levels.  For one, if it truly is the last engine Josh will ever write, this will cement that further, while 5 implies that there will be a 6.  Next, the yearly paid updates will also jive well with the yearly labeling.  That said, I'm far more concerned about the new features than the label.

[Leadwerks 5 beta first-person shooter template]

That run seems like a rapid walk to me and the walk seems a bit slow (but maybe those were the speeds in Doom too, I forget).  Looks great otherwise.

[Some Changes...]

On 11/2/2019 at 4:22 AM, Josh said:

I don't plan on ever going back and building a new foundation for our technology, and from here on out I want continuous forward progression, not any rewrites.

Just to tease you, pretty sure you said something very close to this when you were working on 3.  Something like how it'll be the last engine you'll ever need to write.  But I don't think Vulkan even existed back then.  Who knows what new technology will be out there in another 7 years.  I like all the decisions and thoughts posted, btw.

[Leadwerks 5 beta 2D Redux]

Quote

I'm also not sure how per-camera sprites will be controlled. At this time sprites are stored in a per-world list, but we will want some 2D elements to only appear on some cameras.

One possibility could be linking sprites to cameras?  If they're not linked to any camera, they are visible in all cameras (the default).

[2D Drawing in Leadwerks 5 beta]

You did link it in at least one other blog.

[2D Drawing in Leadwerks 5 beta]

So I take it you could rotate on the Y axis too, like some games and their UIs do?

[Moto cross demo]

Oh OK, I didn't know that.

[Moto cross demo]

7 hours ago, Marcousik said:

If I find a pretty model cc0 I will make a free workshop bike of it.

I don't know about CC0 but there are a ton here available for free even for commercial use: https://sketchfab.com/search?features=downloadable&q=motorcycle&sort_by=-pertinence&type=models

[Leadwerks is so cozy]

Sure it's a tool but a better tool gets better results.  If you can write 10 lines of code instead of 1000, that's hours of work saved and usually more likely that you'll end up with something nice to show off.

[Multipass Rendering in Leadwerks 5 beta]

Appreciate it.  And I think you know I'm not trying to bust your balls.  I just feel like if there's sacrifices to be made, it should be for a good cause, which it sounds like it will be.  And I also appreciate that building a good foundation now, even if the rewards aren't immediately seen, is still a good thing.  Was mostly just curious about what Turbo might be shaping into.

[Multipass Rendering in Leadwerks 5 beta]

Curious: is there a reason this isn't all done under the hood to keep the commands as simple as they are now?  In other words, getting back to my previous question, what extra functionality does this offer the end-user?  What practical things will you be able to do with images and text that you can't now?

[Multipass Rendering in Leadwerks 5 beta]

Ok, it's just a Vulkan limitation that makes things more complex.  So, to draw the layers of a clock in the proper order, for example, we'd have to assign proper Z coordinates to the back, the hour hand, minute hand and second hand?  Is that how the engine would know what goes on top of what?

 

[Multipass Rendering in Leadwerks 5 beta]

2 hours ago, Josh said:

I think my approach here will be to stop trying to hide the fact that 2D is really 3D even if it does not fit our conceptions of how it should be

I'm curious what this would allow the end-user to do in exchange for making a straightforward system more complex.  I know in the past people wanted to play movies on textures and map cameras to textures.  And a lot of games do 3D-ish UI (font and images on textures).  I wonder if this system would let us do them with reasonable ease.

[Leadwerks is so cozy]

Try not to compare your game to those of AAA studios who have dozens of workers and millions of dollars to spend on development and marketing.  Your situation is different.  But just because a game is smaller doesn't mean it can't be popular.  There are a lot of single-man or small-team developers who have had hundreds or thousands of players, some having made millions.  Even a relatively simple game like VVVVVV sold over a million copies.  Sure, you won't make the next GTA or Witcher because you don't have the resources but you can still make a similar, enjoyable game.

[Leadwerks is so cozy]

2 hours ago, Marcousik said:

I wanted to tell I'm not the person for this. I just don't feel good by advertising

...

I'm not the person for that, like I'm lacking in this ability to present things like a customer must think "I want to try it".

That's fair.  It's not for everyone.  I prefer developing to advertising too.  But the more people you want to play your game, the more you have to get out there and show it off and remind people what you have going on.  If you never share your game, you'll never get others to be interested.  And it's good to see it that way too.  Sure, some people won't care and won't want to play it.  That's normal for every game, indie or AAA.  But others will.  And those are the people you focus on, who want to hear from you, assuming you have interesting progress to show.  Just be honest about what the game is and what the game isn't.