A fresh update for 001 Game Creator is just around the corner, bringing key fixes and improvements, while Open Dev Kit has some new and very exciting things in the works. Plus, with Valentine’s Day approaching us, we’ve got some lovely deals you won’t want to miss.

A new version of 001 Game Creator is just on the horizon, bringing with it a bunch of fixes for improving overall stability, and addressing long-standing issues.

Some key highlights include new map options that improves alpha blending support for tiles. Android users will also see a major fix where certain older/lower-end devices could not render 3D models properly at all, meaning way better 3D model rendering compatibility on all devices now! Additionally, we've fixed an item function "Maximum Value" for "Statistic Impact on Target", and newly created Custom Events now execute properly without requiring the project to be closed and reopened.

This update was actually released as a beta on our Patreon a couple weeks earlier. If you'd like to be part of the early birds that get first-access to future software betas, consider joining our Patreon community. Apart from software Betas you also get other benefits like devlogs and polls that let you shape the future of our products: https://www.patreon.com/softweir

We've been hard at work cooking some interesting things recently that we'd like to share with all of you in this announcement. Since the last update, Open Dev Kit has seen HUGE progress! The amount of fixes implemented has definitely helped its stability come a long way, and it has received numerous improvements to so many aspects, from Box2D physics, object pointers, VR, HDR, to the sprite sequencer itself, which by the way will only keep getting better.

A couple utility improvements you will also find useful are enhanced navigation controls to scene, sprite and keybind editors via WASD, with a complementary user option to change camera speed and step when using keyboard. Also check out the added navigation tools (same system as toolbar tools) to project options that allow custom navigation tabs. Finding things should now be a breeze, as we've added searching to all panels: API, resources, instances, sprite tiles, sprite poses, sprite assets, scene tiles and local variables!

Moreover, you can now access "Resource" properties for scenes, keybinds, windows, shaders and sprites, and double-clicking script nodes gives you access to user properties/functions. We've also made it display the name of a tile in tool-tip when hovering over them, and added painting of rotated and tinted tiles (color, specular, and layer color).

You will surely enjoy a bunch of these sweet additions too, like a "Default Axis" Box2D physics option to choose between XY and XZ projection of 3D co-ordinates, the "Additive" coloring mode sprite/hologram option, and infinite sprite pose sequence duration (via -1) allowing infinite length tracks (useful for ongoing effects), and a "Draw 3D Ellipsoid" render context function.

There are also a few neat audio-related things like audio listener position/orientation global variables that can change the location of how 3D positional sounds will be heard (volume and panning), new parameters to the "Play Sound" function (position, relativity, range, attenuation) and a game audio listener object to automatically update audio listener position/orientation. And for our VR devs out there, we've added "Get VR Position/Orientation" functions to GameCanvas and Camera to allow access to VR locations of head, left/right eyes and left/right hands.

Starting Open Dev Kit, you will find the addition of 2 new demos that we've already announced a couple of times. Enter, the 3D Platformer, as well as the Space Shooter demo! Yes, starting today you will be able to use them as templates for your own projects, or to take them apart and learn more about how Open Dev Kit works. We are also working on creating documentation for all the individual template/demos in order to help you more quickly understand how they work, and even guide you on expanding on them a bit.

Don't miss all these new goodies waiting for you here: https://opendevkit.com/

In case you missed our last major post, we actually teased a little something new that we're going to start doing later this year. We're not ready to reveal many details, but basically, if you want your project to shine in future showcases of ours, make sure to join our Discord server and share your progress in the #show-off channel. Be it screenshots, videos, trailers, or updates... we want you to give us a chance to celebrate your work! Join our awesome community of over 1000 members here: https://discord.gg/4sTJVV5

We're very much looking forward to seeing your creations!

Valentine's day is looming, and starting today up until February 18th, you can enjoy these lovely deals of 75% off 001 Game Creator and 25% off all DLCs! This is a great opportunity for you to get into the game development scene and create games that touch people's hearts. So take advantage of this sale and get creative!
https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/347400/001_Game_Creator/