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C++11 Shared Pointers Make Leadwerks 5 Simpler

This shows the fundamental difference between shared pointers and manual reference counting. Leadwerks 4: void Material::SetTexture(Texture* texture, const int index) { if (this->texture[index] != texture) { if (this->texture[index]) this->texture[index]->Release(); this->texture[index] = texture; if (this->texture[index]) this->texture[index]->AddRef(); } } Leadwerks 5: void Material::SetTexture(shared_ptr<Texture> texture, const int index)

Josh

Josh

Building Multiplayer Games with Leadwerks

A new easy-to-use networking system is coming soon to Leadwerks Game Engine.  Built on the Enet library, Leadwerks networking provides a fast and easy way to quickly set up multiplayer games.  Each computer in the game is either a server or a client.  The server hosts the game and clients can join and leave the game at will.  On the other hand, when the server leaves the game, the game is over! Creating a Client You can soon create a client with one command in Leadwerks: clien

Josh

Josh

Blender exporter for Leadwerks now available

Leadwerks Software has released an official Blender exporter for the Leadwerks model format. This allows Blender artists to export their models to Leadwerks with automatic materials generation and full animation, without going through the FBX format. The Blender exporter comes as the fulfillment of a stretch goal reached during the Leadwerks for Linux Kickstarter campaign, which achieved over 200% its goal of $20,000.     The Leadwerks exporter for Blender can be downloaded on the Leadwerks

Admin

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Beta Branch Updated

The beta branch has been updated. The following changes have been made: Rolled beta branch back to release version, with changes below. Added new FBX converter. Fixed Visual Studio project template debug directory. Fixed Visual Studio project template Windows Platform SDK version problem. If everything is okay with this then it will go out on the default branch soon.

Josh

Josh

Announcing Leadwerks Projects

We've added a new website feature called Projects to help teams collaborate on their games. A project can be created with several privacy features so you can use this for public open-source games everyone can participate in, or for your team's secret project. I myself have started a project I intend to develop to demonstrate Leadwerks multiplayer capabilities: You can add a forum, blog, and downloads section to your project and use it to host files, carry out discussions, and post updates

Josh

Josh

Announcing Leadwerks Game Engine Enterprise Edition

Today we are pleased to announce the release of Leadwerks Game Engine: Enterprise Edition, a standalone version of our popular 3D development software. The Enterprise Edition allows business users to install and use Leadwerks without the need for the Steam client. The new product joins the existing Standard Edition with Lua scripting and the Professional Edition with C++ and Visual Studio support, both sold on Steam. The Enterprise Edition has already been approved for sale through N

Josh

Josh

AMD Releases Driver 15.3 beta for Leadwerks

AMD has released a new driver which fixes a compatibility problem with Leadwerks. You can download the driver from their site here: http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/latest-catalyst-windows-beta.aspx   Resolved Issues: [412702] Screens may blank out when enabling a 3x1 SLS with 3 HDMI monitors [411847] Leadwerks : Project Manager crashes with a "Pure Virtual Function Call" error [413076] Second Life : Rigged mesh objects are not rendered correctly when hardware skinning

Admin

Admin

A Second Date with Leadwerks Software

The Leadwerks team will be hosting our second Google Hangout on Sunday, July 22, at 17:00 GMT (that's 10:00 AM in California). We'll spend 30 minutes talking about all the cool things happening in the community, and answer your questions about our upcoming new game engine.   Follow us on our Google+ page before Sunday and check back to join the Hangout. We're limited to ten participants, so first come, first serve. See you then!

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A look at C++11 Weak Pointers in Leadwerks 5

Previously, I talked a little bit about shared pointers in C++11.  These use automatic reference counting to track how many variables are pointing to an object.  When the object is no longer being used, it is automatically deleted.  This is similar to garbage collection, but doesn't involve the massive overhead of garbage-collected systems.  In fact, shared pointers simply automate something we were already doing with the Release() and AddRef() commands in Leadwerks 4. A weak pointer is lik

Josh

Josh

A Look at C++11 Shared Pointers in Leadwerks 5

C++11 introduces shared pointers, a powerful language feature that provides easy memory management without the overhead of garbage collection.  The example below should look familiar to you: #include "Leadwerks.h" using namespace Leadwerks; int main(int argc, const char *argv[]) { shared_ptr<Leadwerks::Window> window = Leadwerks::Window::Create(); shared_ptr<Context> context = Context::Create(window); shared_ptr<World> world = World::Create(); shared_ptr<Camera&

Josh

Josh

A first look at the terrain editor

I'm starting to get terrain integrated into the Leadwerks 3 editor. For the most part, it stays pretty close to the design of the terrain tools in Leadwerks 2, and you should have no trouble figuring it out. I'm implementing the critical features first: This will be added into version 3.0 before the release of 3.1.     As I described in my previous blog, my goal is to take all the lessons learned from Leadwerks 2 and come up with something more refined and powerful.

Josh

Josh

50% reached in less than one week; Work on Leadwerks for Linux begins

Wow! We crossed the 50% mark in less than a week. At this point, the campaign has shown enough strength that I am willing to begin allocating resources to the development of Leadwerks for Linux. (To be clear, we will only deliver a Linux product if the entire target amount is met.) Kickstarter has been fantastic because it allows us to gauge demand before we do the hard work of supporting a new operating system, so we can figure out in advance whether it's worthwhile. Fortunately, it appears the

Josh

Josh

4.6 Beta Available with Multiplayer Support

An update is available on the beta branch on Steam that adds support for multiplayer games with the following features: NAT punch-through with relay server fallback. Connectionless peer-to-peer UDP messages with multiple channels and optional reliable flag. Public server list of available games to play. Voice-over-IP for in-game chat (and taunts). The new multiplayer system will open up a new range of game types that can be easily created with Leadwerks Game E

Josh

Josh

4.5 Beta Now Available

A beta build of version 4.5 is now available on the beta branch on Steam.  This updates the engine to the latest Newton 3.14.  Versions 4.5 and 5 beta are now compiling side-by-side with the same source code.  Because of major engine changes in version 5, some bugs may need to be resolved before the final release.  Some preliminary information on updating C++ projects can be found in this thread. Version 4.5 is planned to include official support for VR (both Vive and Oculus) and a new impr

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4.3 Update Available

An update to version 4.3 is now available on the default branch. This fixes it so the editor is not DPI-aware and will be scaled correctly if scaling on Windows is used. Some small shadow update bugs were fixed, and the animation shaders were improved.   If you are having trouble running your game from the editor in debug mode, you need to install the latest VC++ redistributable from Microsoft found here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53587   The version distribut

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Admin

3 Ways Leadwerks Game Engine 5 Makes Game Programming Easier

Leadwerks Game Engine 5 moves Leadwerks forward into the future with massive performance increases and more advanced features, it also makes game development easier than ever before with three great new programming features. Shared Pointers I could write a whole article about the benefits of shared pointers.  Shared pointers are basically a simple form of garbage collection that relieves you from the need to manually delete objects, but doesn't suffer from the slow speed of full garbag

Josh

Josh

3 Ideas You Must Understand to Use C++11 Shared Pointers in Leadwerks Game Engine 5

Leadwerks Game Engine 5 is being designed to make use of shared pointers.  This eliminates manual reference counting, which has probably been the most difficult part of programming games with Leadwerks.  Here are three concepts you must understand before you start using smart pointers in Leadwerks 5, Don't Create Multiple Shared Pointers from One Object When a shared pointer goes out of scope, it deletes the object it references.  If another smart pointer was created separately that re

Josh

Josh

"The Zone" DLC Released

Explore our reimagining of the Chernobyl nuclear exclusion zone with The Zone asset pack.  This package contains over three gigabytes of high-quality game assets prepared to take advantage of the latest Leadwerks features.  Use our ready-made map (included) to start your game or create your own post-apocalyptic environment. Get it now on Steam with a discount during launch week. "The Zone" DLC includes the following assets: 24 terrain textures 11 buildings (plu

Josh

Josh

"Games of Winter" Tournament

Winter has descended upon the land, and with it comes the frost. The nights are long and the days are cold and grey. How long it shall last we do not know. But we do know it is time for another Leadwerks game tournament!     WHEN: The tournament will start Monday, January 18, and end Sunday, February 21th at 11:59 P.M. (Pacific Standard Time).   HOW TO PARTICIPATE: Publish your winter-or-other-themed game to Steam Workshop or upload it to the games database before the deadline. You can

Admin

Admin

"Concealment" horror survival game released

Developer @Ghost has released his excellent Leadwerks-powered game Concealment. Your life is in your hands Go to an abandoned village to find your missing brother. Explore the objects that come in your way. Solve the terrible mystery of this mysterious place. Concealment is a first-person psychological horror game. A game in which you need to solve the mystery of an abandoned ancient village. Story You receive a strange letter from your brother. He asks that you ur

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Admin in Articles

"Cirque des Jeux" Game Tournament

Ladies and gentlemen, come one, come all, to feast your eyes on wondrous sights and behold amazing feats! It's "Cirque des Jeux", the next Leadwerks Game Tournament! 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 h

Josh

Josh

"Cirque de Jeux" Game Tournament wrapup

The latest game tournament brought in a small number of games, but they more than made up for it in quality. Each title that was submitted was pretty fantastic. The tournament was held during an odd month and there was no banner across the forum to remind people about it, so that is something that can be improved in the future. Each entry will receive an 11"x17" poster in the mail. Please make sure your name, address, and phone number (for customs) are correct and up to date in your Leadwerks ac

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