So we are well into the New Year now and progress is moving along on with Black Engine.

When I first got back I finished getting BE to compile on both Windows and Linux seamlessly which took a minimal amount of code changes but a lot of time organizing and standardizing the build environment so everything works exactly the same on both platforms. A lot of time was spent getting all the build targets working and standardized as well.

I then got the entire project into SourceForge's SVN which is a big sigh of relief for me since it's not just sitting on my hdd some where now.

Lastly I created post compile scripts for every project which automated a task I had been performing by hand and which had really sucked. So now the build environment is much cleaner and extremely easy to set up and get building.

Why did I do this you ask? Because I have a new programmer helping with development now! Ju2wheels2 will be taking on some tasks as he can to help speed things along. His first task is a complete overhaul of the Logging class which will add some much needed functionality as well as improve logging performance greatly.

In other news I finished the changes to the Kinetic Element system which has resulted in an even yet cleaner and faster system for moving Elements.

With all of that done I had a choice, I could start on the 2d GUI classes which would require a Unified Texture Manger Service, or just jump right into collision detection finally and just get this nasty beast taken care of. So I started researching different approaches and algorithms and identified the one I wanted to use.

It's an ellipsoid-plane collision detection/response algorithm that is very well explained. So after a day of reading and looking at how it would fit into the engine, I began coding it today. I've put down about 300 lines of code for it today and I can already say. This is one of the hardest topics I've tackled yet in the engine. It's going to take some time to get this one right. But it is coming along.

Also there is some very preliminary planning taking place for a Game which will use Black Engine. Chris our lead artist has been working up some concept sketches and we've been talking about game ideas. I think we have some pretty cool stuff brewing.

Unfortunately I'm leaving tomorrow for several days. Going down to Mass to do some Slave labor on my dads boat ;) But when I return I plan on banging out this damn collision detection algorithm and hopefully get a release out shortly after.

- Adam