Hello SunBurn community!

Last night we released the latest SunBurn 2.0 Game Engine update (version 2.0.10). The update is focused on enhancing the user experience, but also includes fixes and api updates.

Streamlined Experience

While SunBurn already has a fairly streamlined api, we’ve been working on a number of little touches that improve the experience even more. One great example is the new SunBurn 2.0 Starter Kit, which provides a clean project and the minimal code necessary for a SunBurn project. Compared with the older starter kits it’s even easier to read, follow, and understand.

Following that cleaner, easier design philosophy SunBurn 2.0.10 includes a number of seemingly small changes that improve the experience even more:

Editor Now Included in Default Managers

The SunBurn editor component is now automatically added to the project when calling SceneInterface.CreateDefaultManagers(). This allows you to remove most if not all editor related code from the project (the change is reflected in the SunBurn examples and starter kits).

Access to the editor is still very easy, simply use the property SceneInterface.Editor to access the default editor created by the scene interface.

The editor can also be removed from the scene interface using SceneInterface.RemoveManager(SceneInterface.Editor).

Add New Platforms to a Project in Only Two Clicks

In the past adding a new platform was relatively simple, but did require the following steps in Visual Studio:

• Right-click on the current project and select “Create Copy of Project for <platform>…”
• In the new project’s references (no longer necessary)
  • Remove the SunBurn assembly for the old platform (no longer necessary)
  • Add the SunBurn assembly for the new platform (no longer necessary)
• Set the SunBurn assembly’s Copy Local property to True

We’ve reduced this to the following two steps:

• Right-click on the current project and select “Create Copy of Project for <platform>…”
• In the new project set the SunBurn assembly’s Copy Local property to True

We’ve also made sure these steps are covered in the new SunBurn 2.0 Starter Kit (please see the readme.htm page for details on this and other topics).

Please note to support this feature the SunBurn Xbox and WP7 assembly filenames no longer have a platform suffix, now the assemblies for all platforms are named “SynapseGaming-SunBurn-<edition>.dll”.

New SunBurn 2.0 Starter Kit

The SunBurn 2.0 installer now includes the new simplified SunBurn Starter Kit, which was designed around the community’s feedback. It features:

• Minimal SunBurn code necessary to run the engine and editor (easier to see the base requirements)
• Getting started guide, on-screen instructions, and in-code guide (easier to see how it works and what to do next)
• A single empty scene (no assets to remove or delete)
• Regions to hide non-SunBurn code (like controller code - makes the code easier to read)

And Lots of Other Goodies

Be sure to check out the SunBurn 2.0.10 release notes for more information and a full list of fixes and enhancements.

If you have any questions or comments let us know!

-John Kabus

Other SunBurn 2.0 Blogs:

Announcing the SunBurn 2.0 Game Engine - free upgrade, new editions, and updated features
SunBurn 2.0 Collisions, Scenegraph, and Components - new collision system, components, and more
SunBurn 2.0 upgrade for our Torque customers - upgrade path for all of our previous TLK technology customers
SunBurn 2.0 goes Mobile on Windows Phone 7! - full Windows Phone 7 support, light mapping, and more
Holiday, Components, and more! - read about the new components and more
SunBurn 2.0: components, perfabs, and more! - more details about SunBurn's new component system
Festive SunBurn 2.0 Starter Kits, yum, yum! - first release of the new SunBurn Starter kit

 

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Posted 01-07-2011 1:32 PM by JohnK "bobthecbuilder"