Still a late-ALPHA or early-BETA release but still a good progress. As most backlogs for v0.3 has already been implemented in previous release, didn’t really expect to implement last few needed changes in achieving version 0.3 soon given the difficulty compared the first set of v0.3 backlogs done.

Demo, you say? Have you seen this timelapse of me illustrating a frame from Your Name (Kimi no Na wa)‘s MV.

For overview, I’ve published the project’s Roadmap last week. And if you check the roadmap, you can see v0.3 is just the first half of v0.8. Nonetheless, just got more time to start working on v0.4 backlog (which is basically the second half of v0.2 backlog).

Of course, this release isn’t bug-free just yet. That means v0.3 will be in Maintenance Mode and will probably have several bug-fix releases before v0.4 comes out.

~creek23

UPDATE: Originally released a very buggy v0.3.200410. Had to re-release 0.3 series with v0.3.200411

Changelog:
– fixed KageFrame::isEmpty()
– fixed canReUseNextFrame (previously, canDuplicateNextFrame)
– fixed Makefile.gnu to properly compile
– implemented saving/loading of Frame extension
– implemented Remove Frame
— different to Delete Frame which deletes content of Frame
— Remove Frame decreases number of Frames from the last
– made Add Frame to add New Frame if Next Frame is not reusable (empty/extension)
– made New Layer get focus after Layer->Add
– revamped handling of switching frames
– removed constraint on Cut/Copy/Paste since Copying/Pasting Frames have different shortcut key (Ctrl+C vs Ctrl+Shift+C)
– added Onion-rendering if modifying shape
– added File->Close as alias of File->New
– added propmpt before New/Close if current content is unsaved
– added Doxygen file for dev docs
– removed use of KageFramesManager::currentFrame
– moved split/trim to StringHelper
– renamed framemanager.cpp to frameset.cpp to avoid confusion with framesmanager.cpp

And I kid you not, this release is packed with 65 CHANGES mostly related to Timeline Pane.

Source code is available via SVN, at SourceForge.

As a quick preview, here’s a timelapsed screencast of me illustrating a frame from Japanese Anime, Your Name (Kimi no Na wa).

With the help of my kids and nieces, I was able to do heavy testing and we were able to identify 16 bugs, 12 missing functionalities needing urgent implementation, and 12 optimizations, which were all fixed/implemented/optimized on this release.

As well as fixes of 6 Bug Reports; implementations of 15 Missing Functionalities; and lots of code clean-ups.

Please note that despite all these changes, Kage is still under Alpha Release.

~ceek23

Changelog:
– Fixed Issue #9 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/9/
– Fixed Issue #24 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/24/
– Fixed Issue #15 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/15/
– Fixed Issue #16 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/16/
– Fixed Issue #20 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/20/
– Fixed Issue #26 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/26/
– Implemented Issue #12 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/12/
– Implemented Issue #14 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/14/
– Implemented Ticket #18 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/18/
– Implemented Ticket #19 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/19/
– Implemented Workaround for Issue #25 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/25/
– Implemented Issue #27 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/27/
– Implemented Issue #29 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/29/
– Implemented Issue #30 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/30/
– Implemented Issue #32 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/32/
– Implemented Delete Layer (Issue #34 https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/34/)
– Implemented Issue #35 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/35/
– Implemented Issue #36 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/36/
– Implemented Issue #37 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/37/
– Implemented Issue #38 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/38/
– Implemented Issue #39 – https://sourceforge.net/p/kage/tickets/39/
– Fixed Timeline->Play
– Fixed items in Properties Pane showing upon opening KSF file
– Fixed missing icon to “Straighten”
– Fixed ffmpeg missing but Export AVI still proceeds to generate PNG Sequence having no AVI in the process
– Fixed layer renaming via double-clicking where rename dialog pops-up when double-clicking via visibility/lock icons
– fixed zoom issue where shapes on hidden layer are deleted
– fixed zoom issue where selected layer is not synchronized to frame
– fixed exporting PNG/AVI where only one layer is rendered
– fixed exporting AVI where file already exists and Kage Studio freezes
– fixed exporting HTML5/KS locked/hidden layers are not exported
– fixed Undo/Redo where layer is locked/hidden
– fixed Delete Layer when only one item is remaining
– fixed top layer not rendering when drawing/modifying shape
– fixed message when saving/exporting failed
– Fixed scrolling of Layers/Frames
– Fixed Node Properties Pane not showing
– Implemented use of GResource
– Implemented workaround for “FIX inability to select Frame 1 due to HPane” since, newer HPane-handling problem isn’t present no Ubuntu
– implemented Extend Frame
– implemented Shift/Control Zoom to Zoom-out
– added toBoolean in StringHelper
– added setCurrentLayerByID for use of KageFrame via KageFrameManager->Kage
– added KageStage::setSelectedShapes/getSelectedShapes to support code revamp for VectorDataManager
– added shape-selection via stroke
– Added File->Save As
– added overwrite prompt if saving/exporting filename already exists
– added Onion of Layers
– added guide when using Poly
– added Check Update but landing page is pending
– added separate Copy/Paste/Cut/Delete Frame under Timeline menu
– added Quit-App handler if content is unsaved
– added some formatting when saving KSF file
– optimized Timeline->Play
– Improved Fill/Stroke Alpha from Gtk::Entry to Gtk::Scale
– Improved File->Save
– layer/layermanager code revamp
– major KageStage/VectorDataManager code revamp: moved Vector-editing functions from KageStage to VectorDataManager
– revamped code from Kage to FramesManager/FrameManager/Frame
– Extracted string helpers functions to util/string/stringhelper.cpp as static functions
– Removed static KageFramesManager::currentLayer; use Kage::getCurrentLayer() instead
– reflected saving/loading of layer’s visibility/access(locked/unlocked state)
– disabled Double-Click-shortcut from SELECT to NODE when nothing is selected
– addressed Cairo deprecating write_to_png (added CairoKage)
– Renamed ‘shared’ to ‘share’

Here’s a sneak peek of the beloved character of Mr Berlin Manalaysay.

Just to be clear, rather than screencast of me drawing Combatron, the video above is a screencast of me doing Edit->Redo after Undo-ing — over 380 Redo. That’s because I haven’t placed a limit yet to the number of Undo Stacks that Kage Studio will have — that’s purpose of this stress testing. Although, I’m testing it under a 12GB RAM laptop. So, if someone can test it on lower RAM, please provide feedback.

With the technical topic over, so, what do you think of my retake on Combatron — I know the first one is a bust.

Also, you may have noticed the website indicated at the end of the video. Yes, it’s true. More on that later.

~creek23

I could draw Kisi one more time but I already tried that last time. So, this time, I drew a character created by a Filipino comics creator Berlin Manalaysay for the now-defunct Funny Komiks — called Combatron.

Disclaimer: the drawing is sketchy because I needed to limit the running time of the recording. Rest assured, one can draw even better with the current state of the tool.

What you see below is Kage Studio 0.2.191022 running on a 64bit Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, recorded by Gtk-RecordMyDesktop at 8fps. And yes, Kage Studio also compiles/runs on 64bit Windows 7.

The recording demonstrated the following tools:

• Oval — to create oval, oblong and the likes
• Rectangle — to create rectangular shapes
• Poly — to create free forms (as recording captured, it’s still a bit buggy)
• Select — to select a shape that needs further editing
• Node — to edit the shape

I was not able to demonstrate the following but they are readily available as well:

• Fill — to change the color of the shape
• Stroke — to change the color/thickness of a shape’s outline
• Eyedrop — to retrieve a shape’s color for use with Fill and Stroke

So, what do you think? Would you like to test the tool yourself?

~creek23

What’s in it? It’s CPP-port of Quixie 0.4 series. Is it faster? Well, I haven’t fully benchmarked it yet but more than being faster than FreeBASIC-port, I’m aiming for Chrome/Firefox plug-in for Web-deployment capability. So, “Why?” …well, why not?

I plan to officially release it once we are on one to one porting of capabilities as current Quixie is heavily dependent on FreeBASIC’s functionality which could ideally be translated to CPP as well but it may take time which is rather scarce — like playing MP3, WAV, OGG — as well as loading BMP, JPG, TGA. Not to mention, the pixel-perfect collision detection. So, yeah, the current state of Quixie 0.5 is somewhat crippled but what a milestone that we actually have a CPP-ported Quixie in the repository that can load and display PNG and vectors, eh? I was actually able to play Smack with it! See screenshot below (just don’t mind the frame rate as my current build has lots of debug prints)

I’m planning to drop BMP/JPG/TGA support and instead, focus my limited free time on enabling Network functionality of CPP-ported Quixie.

If you can’t wait for the release, you can always checkout the current code and compile it yourself. Current code was tested to compile and work on a 64-bit Windows using MSYS2.

Happy hacking!
~creek23

Was gonna clean-up my drive when I realized that the prototype-ish source code of Kage Studio hasn’t been committed, yet.

Didn’t have a working GTKMM-2.0/GCC on my Windows box so I have no idea what works and what does not in the code, so I simply committed the code last week.

Days past and I’m itching to see if I can compile the code, so I started setting-up a dev box. Fast forward, here it is! Got the code to compile under Windows 7 64-bit using GNU GCC-G++ and GTKMM-3.0!

Also did a fix about the flicker issue which made me stop the development of Kage Studio, back when I was not getting support from GTK+/Cairo developers.

Still won’t be releasing a working binary as the code is pretty bare; no added functionality was made since 5 years ago. It can only draw rectangles and export them in HTML5 or KonsolScript as shown in screenshot below; no animations just yet.

You can compile the code yourself by checking-out the code, assuming you have a working dev box with GNU GCC-G++ 5.3 and GTKMM-3.18.6.

Won’t commit any promises for now. Will blog post as the code progresses.

~creek23

I’m actually happy to make use of KonsolScript with the scenes involving close-up shots of Tony Stark and compositing pre-rendered Ironman against a background image.

Blender was used to animate a 3D Ironman, and have it rendered on a sequence of 1920×1080 PNG files.

Audacity was used for dubbing.

GIMP was used in an attempt to match the background with the pre-rendered Ironman.

Finally, FFMPEG was used to create an HD AVI from the sequence of PNGs.

The rest was done by my co-Visual FX artist, using the software he’s good at — needless to say, it was all proprietary software.

Anyway, enjoy!

I’d soon be releasing the modifications made on Quixie to support 1080p PNG-dumps. As well as experimental particle effects I did, hoping to have it included on the mini-movie above.

~creek23

Yes, is some ways it still is game-related — kind of like scripting an explosion when the player throws a bomb or something. But this use case is basically pre-rendering FX then saving it as frames to be used as a clip on a video.

No, KonsolScript doesn’t have the capability to create an image file on your disk. Yet. But with a few modifications, it does now.

Introducing Screen:Capture(filename) command!

I figured, this function can also be used when you want your players help you debug your game.

Visual FX does sound like an exaggeration to describe my experiment. It’s actually more of automating my task of doing a simple animation for a skateboarding video ad. But still, any one can always script a particle system and use it as a Visual FX of a fire, smoke, or explosion for a clip — and I believe KonsolScript can do that as well.

You may not know this but I’ve long been restraining myself from using proprietary tools (except for Windows so I could make sure Quixie does run on Windows as it does on GNU/Linux, and except for Windows Movie Maker — let’s face it, there really is no other good Free and Open Source video editing software that runs right out of the box and is easy to use).

So I’ve created a 30-second video using only Free and Open Source software namely GIMP, Inkscape, Audacity, FFMPEG, and KonsolScript — with Windows Movie Maker being the only non-FOSS software involved (and Windows, of course).

So where did KonsolScript came in to the view? It was when I needed a transition of the following photo below.

I’m pretty sure that no other ready-made open source video editing tool (not even Movie Maker) could do this simple animation.

With time running out, there’s no way I could learn Blender’s Video Sequence editor and do this simple less-than-two-seconds animation. In less than 5 minutes, I updated Quixie, wrote the script for the animation and I’m done!

It’s not officially out yet — I’m still working on the release-process like committing it on SVN, updating the installer, etc.

Just a side note, we currently have a company activity that includes video editing — I’m excited to see how KonsolScript will help in generating some of the effects/animation.

~creek23

So to realize a KonsolScript for Android, on 7th of April, we started writing libKage for Android which is pure Java (again, Java for Android — not the standard Java).

libKage is a framework which would require you to extend upon to create your Android games. It contains functions and function names as if you’re still writing KonsolScript game for Quixie. This way, you can still retain the game logic you wrote for KonsolScript and run it on Android. And vice versa.

Mouse events, or Touch events rather, are already handled for you — except for keyboard inputs. Only the built-in buttons Up, Down, Left, and Right (also known as BU BD BL and BR) are available.

As a demonstration, we did a test on Smack! and here are the screenshots of the result.

Filipino’s pride, Pacman, on deck.

What better way to test Smack on Android than fighting Droid himself? (him or it? :P)

As part of libKage, we will be writing a KonsolScript to Android translator to make it even simpler to write Android Games. And possibly make use of Android SDK to automagically generate an APK of your KonsolScript game. Fingers crossed.

libKage will be available when it’s ready. It will be ready onced we release Smack for Android on Google Play.

~creek23

While two-day game development has become a phenomenon, the Smack! dev team is taking two-months to go from prototype to this and still the game is not quite finish, yet. But we’re getting close to releasing it, although one can always checkout our SVN repo — you just have to install the latest KonsolScript engine (0.3.111117 as of this post).

(I wonder if we can finish a game if we join the Global Game Jam later this month)

~creek23