| Q&A |
 ZGameEditor,
Ville Krumlinde
March 2010, |
| |
 |
“Software
like ZGE exists to remind people that software can be
small and efficient. There is no need to swell with
unnecessary features just to fill the limits of the
current hardware.”
<ZGameEditor |
|
| |
|
| Q1 |
ZGame
editor can create lightweight games : is it true that you can
build 64 kb games? |
| A1 |
Yes
ZGameEditor (ZGE) generates executables that optionally can
be compressed using Upx-compressor. Currently an empty application
compresses to around 30kb which leaves plenty of room up to
64kb if you use procedural content generation of graphics and
audio. |
| |
|
| Q2 |
In
a context where program footprints are always larger ; why is
it so important for you to produce optimized programs? |
| A2 |
It
is to prove a point. If developers just gave a little thought
about footprint and efficiency then programs would not need
to grow as much as they do. ZGE is definitely not built in optimized
assembler or anything wild like that, instead it use a clean
modern and structured object oriented design with readable and
highly modularized source code. So you don't need to be an optimization
expert to make efficient software, you just need a little bit
of knowledge about the technology you use so you can pick the
path that leads to the smallest footprint. This would make all
the software we use much faster so we would not need to upgrade
hardware as often.
The race to upgrade is driven by the hardware industry. It's
always the same procedure for me: I buy a new PC once every
three years. This PC has got specifications that are 4 times
more powerful than the one I had before. All software runs lighting
fast. Then a couple of years later the software has become too
slow to use so I need to upgrade the hardware again. Simple
maths would then suggest that the software I use have become
at least 4 times more demanding in memory and cpu requirements
during this time, and yet I sure haven't noticed any improvements
in the software that would justify this increase.
For at least the last 10 years personal computers are really
ridiculously overpowered for the tasks most people use them
for: surfing the web, email and office applications. So the
software houses try to think up new features that will use the
extra performance and motivate people to upgrade the software.
But in reality I cannot think of a single feature in those software
packages that I really need. Instead I upgrade my computer because
later software are more compatible with the ever-changing environment
of internet standards and also because they keep fixing security
holes (as well as introducing new ones of course). So I upgrade
because the old software deteriorates, not because I need any
new features.
So to summarize you could say that software like ZGE exists
to remind people that software can be small and efficient. There
is no need to swell with unnecessary features just to fill the
limits of the current hardware. On the Linux platform people
are much better making use of limited hardware and of course
on mobile devices this is always an important concern. |
| |
|
| Q3 |
Is ZGame Editor capable of displaying rich graphics 3D objects
? |
| A3 |
Yes,
you can generate complex 3d-objects using procedural techniques.
Either by using the built-in components or by typing mathematical
expressions. You can also import geometry from files. |
| |
|
| Q4 |
What
is the typical workflow with ZGame Editor (importing 3d assets,
programing, generating exe...)? |
| A4 |
It
works best with a iterative approach. Say you want to create
a game. You create some content you want to use, perhaps using
simple placeholder graphics to start with, add some scripting
to make it interactive and then when you are pleased with the
result you can fine tune the content and adding detail.
ZGE does not enforce any specific order of tasks so you can
work in any order you want. Perhaps you want to start with designing
the sound effects, or developing a fragment shader, or simply
choosing the colors of the background. All changes to the content
are displayed in realtime in the ZGE designer. You can also
at any time generate an exe-file, just press F9 and you instantly
have a freely distributable self-contained executable. |
| |
|
| Q5 |
What
is the language of ZGame Editor? |
| A5 |
ZGE
use a simple scripting language based on C-syntax. It currently
supports strings, integers and floating point datatypes. You
can write your own functions or import functionality from external
DLL-files.
You can read about the details here:
http://www.zgameeditor.org/index.php/Main/WritingExpressions |
| |
|
| Q6 |
As
a very optimized engine, do you target embedded devices or web
publishing? |
| A6 |
ZGE
can currently generate executables for Windows, Linux and OS
X. The ZGE runtime is very portable because it use no other
external references except OpenGL, so we are investigating other
platforms. It is important to note that ZGE is a non-profit
driven project completely developed by enthusiasts in their
spare time. The source code is free and we welcome anyone to
help in making ZGE a better product. |
| |
|
| Q7 |
What
is you plans for the next release? |
| A7 |
There
is no large scale roadmap. We just pick the features that seem
like a logical step to the next release. The scripting language
needs more functionality so that is highly prioritized, also
we could support more features of the latest OpenGL standards,
and we must also think of additions that can make ZGE more intuitive
to use. |
| |
|
