0.8.5.0 - Engine Update

I emerge from the deepest rabbit hole, with a new patch. This update brings the Trollskog game engine to .NET5, with some glossy, shiny tech overhauls. Some of these took a while to get right, so this update will be focusing on landing the new tech stack without bringing about too many gameplay changes - stay tuned for those.

• Performance Improvements - CPU and memory usage have been drastically improved, shaders and renderer have been retooled. Some work remains to be done here, but framerates and memory usage should be improved in all situations.

  I only have the ability to test the game on a fairly narrow range of hardware, so it would help a ton if you get in touch if you encounter visual glitches (and let me know your specs)

• Saving & Loading - The serialization layer has been replaced (now powered by FlatBuffers). Aside from being faster and requiring less disk space, it’s a lot more stable.

• Animation Improvements - Adjusting the game speed properly affects animation timing (Did you know you can fast forward or slow down by pressing the + and - keys on your keyboard?)

• More architectural improvements - Some of these will be plainly felt in-game, others harden the engine and lay the foundation needed for further development, which will continue for a long time.

As mentioned in the preamble, this update wraps up some much needed technical improvements, but with that focus it doesn’t bring much content to the table. This will be coming in the next update, which will be focusing on game mechanics. Read more about it in the forums!

Namaste 🙏 /Andreas