FlashPunk hasn’t changed too much in the last two months but things are about to, quite radically. Last week, Chevy posted an extensive list of updates for the next version of the library, most of which I really liked the look of.

Because the modifications are so radical, there will be next to no chance that any existing FlashPunk projects will be compatible and you will probably have to almost relearn many aspects of the library. When the new version is released (probably quite a while, yet) it will surely attract a host of new users with the greater range of useful features.

For more insight into the future of FlashPunk, see this interview with Chevy, conducted by Digital Tools.

Following feedback, Chevy has released version 0.83 of FlashPunk. The update contains a couple useful additions as well as some bug fixes and removals, as described by Chevy:

• FP.delta property temporarily removed and suspended due to bugs. May re-include in a later version.
• Added collidePoint() and collideRect() to Entity, which allows an Entity to check if it is intersecting a particular point or rectangle.
• Added collidePoint() and collideRect() to World, which does the same as the Entity functions of the same name, but will check all Entities of the collision-type and return the first that collides.
• Fixed a problem with Camera which was effecting draw positions in the render loop.
• Cleaned up some minor redundancies in the regular collide() and collideWith() checks in Entity.

The new rectangle collision functions will certainly make mouse-based menus and the like more intuitive to program.

Download version 0.83

On Thursday, FlashPunk was updated to version 0.81, only two days after the previous update. The following changes will not affect compatibility with version 0.8:

• There’s a quick fix in Tilemap so now you can pass a null bitmap into its constructor to have an invisible Tilemap (equivalent of the Grid class from Version 0.74).
• Input Now has checkKey(), pressedKey(), and releasedKey() for checking input for single keyCode values instead of input names. You do not need to define input if you are going to use these functions, you can just check for them at any time.
• FP now has a set of functions for working with seeded pseudo-random numbers.

Download version 0.81

The first large public update to FlashPunk has been released, only two weeks since its initial announcement. Weighing in at a hefty 73.8KB, version 0.8 features a wealth of changes. The foremost modifications are as follows:

• Collision amendments – Pixel-perfect Entity collisions are now improved for bitmap masks. Collision-related functions have been slightly altered for more simplicity and logicality.
• More Entity functions – getNearestClass(), getNearestType() and distanceTo() have been added to the Entity class. This will simplify the implementation of these calculations tenfold. Entity recycling functions are also now integrated.
• Enhanced Tilemaps – As well as the possibility of being much larger, Tilemap classes now have a variety of bitmap loading functions.
  
• Camera class – The camera (or ‘view’) is now a class of its own with movement and boundary functions.
• Font embedding – The text-related classes now use embedded fonts, while functionality with bitmap fonts have been suspended. This should make it easier for fonts to be used, customised and adapted.much
• Colour functions – Functions have been added so that colours can be created from RGB values, which is viewed as amore simple interpretation of colours.
• Better documentation – A docs page has been added to the website, where online ASDoc documentation is stored. This is much cleaner, organised and better commented. It can also be downloaded for offline reference.

Supplementary with the new version is a games page on the website showcasing most games which have already been created utilising the library. However, Chevy promises that the page is not fully finished and that he will update it when new games made with FlashPunk are released.

There are many more useful additions which you will no doubt find, making this a must-download for FlashPunk users. Chevy’s great efforts in bringing us more goodness should certainly be commended. We now look forward to more developments and to games utilising the new features found in version 0.8.

Download version 0.8

Chevy Ray Johnston recently revealed some information about the upcoming version 0.8 for FlashPunk. This will be coming with a whole host of improvements, only a few weeks after the first public version was released.

Here are the most prominent features of the new version, as described by Chevy Ray:

• TileMap class improved to allow for way, way larger TileMaps, added a loadFromArray function, and they have collision functions also.
• Improved collision speeds, pixel-perfect collisions now faster and also will collide properly with Grids and TileMaps.
• Camera is now a class of its own, not just a Point, and has a few functions. I plan on giving it customizable following behaviour, etc. as well. Thinking more on this first though.
• Default FlashPunk preloader.
• Exposing Entities’ collision rectangle and mask properties, so you can manipulate them yourself without using setCollisionRectangle().
• Regular text support for system and embedded TTF fonts.

A new feature of great interest to me that Chevy Ray hinted at including is a native function to rotate the view angle of the screen. This should have the same kind of functionality as the view_angle function in Game Maker.

With the amount of changes to the library, the new version is unlikely to be very compatible with version 0.74, however, it shouldn’t be too difficult to make the modifications required. No date has been set for the release of the new version but with Chevy Ray seemingly working very hard it shouldn’t be too long.

If you wish to suggest more features, you can post here.