[C#] Moment (Engine/Editor)

[winkio]

Moment is planned to be a free 2D and 3D game engine and editor for Windows, using C# and Monogame, built with the idea that creating games and other interactive software should be streamlined and intuitive.


Features

• Mix and match pre-built templates that implement basic systems (Save files, auto save, sidescrolling, gravity, grid movement, pause menu, networking)


• Design UI elements and game logic elements using the same interface in the Moment Editor


• Edit and add to your games C# source code directly


• Edit multiple types of content files (vector graphics, maps, etc.)

Download

Not even close to ready yet.


Progress

Current Tasks

• Developing Editor GUI

Latest Screenshots: ShowHide

Full progress album: http://imgur.com/a/Klwn6

[Soulshaker3]

This certainly looks a great project. Unlike my past project... *looks into the past and cries violently*, when do you plan to show us some action?

[winkio]

It will probably be 2 or 3 months until the editor will be able to create a new game and let you edit it (which is when I will put up a download link).  There's a lot of editor work to be done like tabbed files, file explorer, undo/redo, etc. before I actually can make it do something.  I have a very good idea how the engine itself will be done, so that part should go quickly.  But for the next few months, I will only have screenshots and comments.

[Soulshaker3]

Ah I see, nice to see you're on the right track, if you need any help, don't hesitate my C# skills are 1% sharper than 1 year ago

[whitespirits]

any chance of an mmo feature?

[KK20]

Online multiplayer appears to be a feature as there will be networking. An MMO would be asking for too much.

[winkio]

Yeah, definitely no MMO networking.  The two networking models I am thinking of are a UDP delta-state protocol for things like shooters and action games, and a TCP input-log protocol for things like RTS and turn-based games.  Both would be p2p focused instead of server based.

[ForeverZer0]

Couple questions :

Open source?
Approximate time until beta?

[winkio]

Yes, both editor and engine will be open source.  I also do a good job of intellisense commenting, so even without looking at the source, every class, method, property, etc. will have a good description of what it does from intellisense.

Beta won't be out for a long time.  Maybe 3 months until the alpha, another 6 months until the beta, and another 6 months until release?

Alpha should have the most basic functionality possible, beta should have a good workflow and all the basic tools, and release will have more advanced tools and better usability.

EDIT: added screens of the multi-tab view.  For any tab control (including the ribbon and documents), you can hold Ctrl or Shift while selecting tabs to select multiple, and the corresponding panels will be displayed side by side!

[winkio]

I'm working on making the editor have smart instances now.  Behavior goals are as follows:

• If the editor is run with no command line args (normal way a program is run), it will open up a new instance.


• If the editor is run with command line args and another instance is already running, the args are processed by that instance instead.  For example, if the editor is running, and then using windows you open another file, it will open as a new tab in the same window.


• If an instance is busy, it will wait to process the args until it is no longer busy.


• No load times or splash screens.  The editor should be able to start up right away.

[Soulshaker3]

Oh boy that seems to be going great, I can't wait to mod the shit out of it

[PhoenixFire]

Since I know it will be something of a demand, I would be interested in looking into working with you on this, and creating a module for future release that takes into account server-client networking, making MMO style systems a bit easier to implement.

[winkio]

There are quite a few reasons to avoid server-client implementation:

• Most developers don't have the resources required to run a large server


• Most developers don't have the time/energy to make a game large enough to fully utilize a server


• Network architecture changes frequently depending on what hardware you use and what service you host on.


• Some platforms like steam have their own networking packages


• There are tons of existing networking packages available as dlls that people will be free to use, because the engine is open source

Granted, I could change my mind on this in the future, but for now I definitely do not think that a server-client implementation is a good idea.