There has definitely been quite a lot of activity among developers in the SMBX community. The most notable would be the LunaDLL and PGE projects, as well as those who have made utilities like the world manager and NPC script editor. There has been outstanding development in SMBX research as the PGE project has reverse-engineered the SMBX file format and pretty accurately recreated the physics of the game; but of course, PGE is still in its very early stages and has some glaring issues with SMBX compatibility in some worlds. LunaDLL has also allowed us to have additional ways of extending SMBX. So I've had a thought come to me...
As several different SMBX "revivals" have sprung up, the different engines could really start to fragment the SMBX community based on the engine used. Besides that, there's a large amount of work that goes into these projects and it takes substantial effort to make any progress. Many of these projects are well-documented and some, like PGE, are open-source. Imagine if we had a group of these developers who are knowledgeable about SMBX and anyone else who wants to contribute to SMBX development, come together in a collaborative, open-source effort to make one SMBX engine that would take the best of all these engines and unify and expand the SMBX platform.
Now I know some people may say this is unnecessary due to PGE's and LunaDLL's progress, but PGE has a bit of a different goal in mind even though it would like to have backward-compatibility with SMBX. LunaDLL is a little complex for some people who aren't that interested in scripting and just want an easy-to-use Super Mario Bros. level editor. Most of the current levels made are still using SMBX 1.3.0.1 anyways. Details for this idea are below:
- New and updated engine to replace the old VB6 version currently used.
- PGE has strong replication of SMBX's physics. The implementation for physics could be based off of PGE's SMBX config
- Modern Game engine to increase performance and capability. (one possibility would be Cocos2d)
- Rewrite in newer programming language and have cross-platform support
- C# and C++ for a more modern language and cross-platform support, mobile support would be possible
- Allow more devices to run SMBX
- Unified Engine for SMBX
- Integrate features that people are used to that are found in current developments (ex. LunaDLL and PGE)
- An actual update for SMBX that maintains focus on the original game
- More efficient content system
- Updated world save format
- World, graphics, and sound manager built-in
- Upgraded level editor
- Increase expansion of the SMBX community
- Updated content provides an avenue to growth. The more updated something is, the greater the community growth and activity
- Active development brings in more members to the community
What does everyone else think? Do you want an actual official update to SMBX? Should we get the programmers around the SMBX form to form a collaboration and work together to reach this goal?
Leave your feedback and opinions in the comments. I'd be happy to answer any questions from anyone or clarify. I've also put a poll up so if you'd like to leave feedback there, please do!
