CEGUI Project Status Update - August 2010

[CrazyEddie]

This post is an announcement to update everybody on the current situation with the CEGUI project, as well as to inform a little as to the direction that things are going to be taken from now onwards.

Developer Team
For quite a while - since around mid 2008 - development and developer support had consisted of myself and scriptkid.

Unfortunately, at the start of August scriptkid decided that it was time to move on from CEGUI and find other interests. I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly thank scriptkid for all his efforts over the years, and to reiterate my belief that there would be no CEGUI project without his efforts to keep things going during some difficult times in 2007; we salute you, sir

So this means that I am now the only developer and team member active on CEGUI and it's related projects. However, this does not mean that things are going to slow down at all.

CEGUI Library and CEGUI Releases
Work on the core library continues as normal - for my part this currently consists of mainly bug fixes and other maintenence work. However, Kulik has been contributing some great new code for us, and so we now have layout window support and integrated animation support within CEGUI - and we'll be improving things further in this area as time goes on.

For releases, it is my intention to have an official 0.7.2 release before the end of this month, and then move over entirely to time based releases (so future releases will not be feature driven). Currently my intention if for releases every six weeks (although the final decision may end up being eight weeks, a definite decision on that will be made a little bit later on).

CEGUI Tools
As the only developer, development and support for the CEGUI related tools also falls entirely on my shoulders now. The existing C++ based CEImagesetEditor and CELayoutEditor will not be developed any further, meaning that no new features and no bug fixes will be made to that existing code - although the code and existing released packages for those will, of course, remain available.

All the tools will be moving from C++ / wxWidgets based implementations to python / PyQt based implementations. For the layout editor, there will be a preliminary port of the existing editor available shortly. The imageset editor will no longer exist as a separate tool, but instead will be integrated into the up and coming skin editing tool - there is no realistic time estimate as to when initial versions of this will be available (though it is likely to be very late 2010 or early in 2011).

In the thread regarding the skin editor, I had stated my intention to charge for that tool, and that the tool would not be open source. This situation has now changed somewhat, as has the situation regarding the other tools. Basically, all the tools will now be free to download and use, with source code available under the GPL v3. However, there will be no free support given for those tools; support will be provided via a closed forum only accessible to those forum members who have made appropriate donations / contributions to the project - discussion of support related matters for the tools will be forbidden in the open forums on the CEGUI site.

Other
This is all I have to announce at the moment, though there are other things in the pipeline, including changes to the site and related things, although I have made no final decisions there and have nothing to announce yet

Thanks to all for reading and for your continued support of CEGUI.

CE.

[harr999y]

Hi,CE.
Sad to hear that.But,we all salute scriptkid and thank him for all his efforts over the years.
What I can only say with my bad English is,very thanks for your before and following devotes.And you are a so enthusiasm man with what you like,so keep on going.We all pay close attention to you,Come on!

Harry

PS:我谨代表中国广大CEGUI的爱好者给予你们最衷心的祝福，并献上最诚挚的谢意！

（上面那段英文真不太会表达，希望不会引起歧义~_~）

[spracle]

It's always exciting to hear that a new version will be released soon，

Sorry to hear that scriptkid decided to leave.He is a wonderful guy,and we all thank him for all his efforts to CEGUI.

Come on,CE . I beleive you will make CEGUI better and better！Of course, withs lots funs ,all together

[CrazyEddie]

Thanks for the kind thoughts and support, guys It really is appreciated. I do think that we have yet to see the best CEGUI can offer; hopefully with each new release we can move to bigger and better things

CE.

[Mikademus]

CE, you are most definitely not alone! There are many of us who not only appreciate the effort you're putting into CEGUI but also admire your spirit and dedication! As with any forum there are sources of frustration and we people are hard-wired to react stronger to these, but remember than you have staunch supporters with you all the way!

Well, enough ego stroking! *cracks whip*

[CrazyEddie]

Thanks!

Mostly, I am keeping busy here I should be able to release a new CELayoutEditor soon (a week, maybe two). I think this will blow your socks off, so keep your eyes open for this!

CE.

[jacmoe]

A bit late, but I find it interesting that it's going to be done using Python.
I remember Centipede and Baxissimo and their skin editor, made with wxPython:
http://www.cegui.org.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=809

[CrazyEddie]

Wow! That's a blast from the past

Python is definitely the right choice for tools; it's far easier to work with than C++ and also allows other easier access for hacking purposes

The existing alpha stage code for the replacement layout editor is already pretty usable, and offers a few quite important usability enhancements over the previous version. Of course, being alpha code, it also offers some nasty bugs

CE.