Hello SunBurn community!

Last night we rolled out a development preview of the SunBurn Game Engine’s new community plugin and resource system! The update provides tools and an SDK that makes it even easier to develop and share SunBurn plugins, examples, code snippets, tutorials, and more.

SunBurn Resource SDK

There are two parts to the system – first is the SunBurn Resource SDK, which allows resource developers to build plugins, examples, code snippets, tutorials, and more that can be used with all SunBurn editions and platforms regardless of the edition the resource developer uses.

As an example: a resource developer using SunBurn Indie edition can share resources with community members who are using Pro and Studio editions, and vice-versa.

The SDK includes the Resource Packager, which is a combination resource compiler and testing tool. It packs resources into a common format that’s easily shared, downloaded, and installed by community members or between members of your own team. The Resource Packager also performs test builds when packing resources to ensure they compile correctly against all SunBurn editions and platforms.

SunBurn Game Engine Enhancements

The second part of the system includes enhancements to the SunBurn Game Engine for installing and managing resources within your projects.

SunBurn’s resource installer unpacks examples, code snippets, tutorials, and more into a directory you choose, and unpacks only the projects necessary for the SunBurn edition installed on your machine. This avoids any confusion from extra project and solution files meant for other SunBurn editions.

If the resource is a plugin the installer registers its assemblies with SunBurn, so the plugin can easily be added to your SunBurn projects.

The update also includes a plugin manager for SunBurn projects, which is integrated into Visual Studio (all editions, including Express and the WP7 Dev Tools edition – please see the Tools menu), and makes it easy to add and remove plugins in any SunBurn solution.

Even better, you have complete control over which assemblies are assigned to each project within the solution, allowing you to choose only the plugin features and classes you want to use.

Some Background

We’ve envisioned a community resource system like this for a long, long time. However when we first launched SunBurn 1.0 a simple community resource wiki was more than sufficient for sharing code and ideas. Now that the community has grown significantly and there are many developers creating feature-rich resources the old wiki is no longer flexible enough.

The new community resource system takes over for the older wiki and provides a much easier way to create, share, and use community resources. And in the very near future we’re rolling out a section of the community site for uploading and browsing resources. :)

If you have any questions or comments let us know!

-John Kabus

Other SunBurn 2.0 Blogs:

1. Announcing the SunBurn 2.0 Game Engine - free upgrade, new editions, and updated features
2. SunBurn 2.0 Collisions, Scenegraph, and Components - new collision system, components, and more
3. SunBurn 2.0 upgrade for our Torque customers - upgrade path for all of our previous TLK technology customers
4. SunBurn 2.0 goes Mobile on Windows Phone 7! - full Windows Phone 7 support, light mapping, and more
5. Holiday, Components, and more! - read about the new components and more
6. SunBurn 2.0: components, perfabs, and more! - more details about SunBurn's new component system
7. Festive SunBurn 2.0 Starter Kits, yum, yum! - first release of the new SunBurn Starter kit
8. SunBurn 2.0.10 update available - streamlined user experience and integrated starter kits
9. SunBurn Dev Journal: Scenegraph Optimizations - faster scenegraph and City Demo with 10,000 buildings
10. SunBurn 2.0.12 Update Now Available! - edit components and custom scene object types in editor
11. SunBurn Update: Windows Redistributable - ship Windows games using only the XNA Redistributable
12. SunBurn Dev Journal: Workflow Enhancements - background importing, shared materials, Visual Studio templates, and more
13. SunBurn 2.0.13 Update: Get it Now! - the latest goodies are now available
14. SunBurn 2.0.14 Update Available! - extended materials and sprite rendering on Windows Phone 7
15. SunBurn Dev Journal: Reflections and Clipping Planes - the return of the Reflection / Refraction example
16. SunBurn Game Engine: Audio System, Drag-Drop, and More! - announcing the new SunBurn audio system!
17. SunBurn 2.0.15 Released - Audio System, Reflections, and Auto-Unwrap! - check out new the audio system and more
18. SunBurn powers British Airways demo at Microsoft's WP7 Mango event - Microsoft and British Airways chooses SunBurn for huge Mango event demo
19. SunBurn Game Engine Storms into Dream Build Play! - see the awesome SunBurn games in Dream Build Play 2011!
20. SunBurn Game Engine: Advanced Static Lighting - as awesome as SunBurn's dynamic lighting only faster!
21. SunBurn Game Engine: Transparencies, Player Controller, and More! - see the latest upcoming features

 

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Posted 10-16-2011 3:16 PM by JohnK "bobthecbuilder"