The Daily Click

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Interview With Clickteam's Yves Lamoureux on all things HWA

Author:

Rob Rule

Submitted:

14th May, 2009

Views:

6979

Rated:

3.25

Yves Lamoureux of Clickteam kindly agreed to answer a few questions on all things Hardware Acceleration (HWA) for Clickteam products Multimedia Fusion 2 and The Games Factory 2. What follows are the questions The Daily Click posed:

TDC:
Salut, Yves, and thank you for taking the time to answer TDC's quick questions on all things Hardware Acceleration (HWA) for Multimedia Fusion 2 (MMF2) and The Games Factory 2 (TGF2).

For those of your customers who are unsure, what advantages does HWA give to users currently making games with the standard versions of MMF2 and TGF2?

Yves:
HWA = graphic hardware acceleration. Basically HWA stores the images in the memory of the graphic card and these images are transfered to the screen by the graphic processor, freeing time for the CPU, while the standard version of MMF2 uses the CPU to transfer the images on screen. The graphic processor even handles rotations and stretching, anti-aliasing, etc, the program doesn't have to do it, unlike the standard version of MMF2/TGF2. It's usually much faster, even if there are some drawbacks and some applications have to be modified to work fine with HWA (some objects don't work in HWA mode, others may be slower or have to be adapted, etc). In addition to speed increase, the HWA version also allows you to display images with programmable effects (pixel shaders).

TDC:
As I understand it, you are currently working on HWA whilst Francois concentrates on Flash and other upcoming runtimes. When did you first start work on the HWA builds?

Yves:
You understand correctly.

I started working on HWA 3 years ago before the release of MMF2. And then I paused it as it would have delayed a lot the release of MMF2. I restarted it after the first MMF2 update patches, when MMF2 was stable enough. I also paused it a few times last year after the 1st beta versions, to work on update patches for the standard version, work on the Bluray version with Francois, start the development of the Unicode version of MMF2 and work on the current and next versions of Install Creator, etc.

TDC:
Has the development process been an enjoyable one, or has it presented unexpected difficulties along the way?

Yves:
As with any development you enjoy what you do, and at some point you encounter huge issues you hadn't planned at the beginning, but that's a part of the job you must deal with.

I must say though that this version has been hard to do.

TDC:
A quick visit to the clickteam.com forums reveals there are many users very excited at the potential of Clickteam products with HWA, and some interesting games and applications have already been made with the beta versions that have been released. How important is HWA to Clickteam, and with so many other projects in the works (such as the Java and Flash runtimes) why did Clickteam choose to concentrate on HWA first?

Yves:
Yes users start making very nice applications with MMF2 HWA. We concentrated on HWA first for 2 reasons. (1) It's a well known fact that the standard version of MMF2 is limited in speed and more the time passes, more graphic cards become powerful and more the standard version becomes limited for certain types of applications. So it was very important to release the HWA version. (2) We said to beta testers we would release the HWA version as a free patch after the release of MMF2, so we did it. They were asking for it during the beta tests, but for material reasons this was not possible (releasing a stable build requires lot of time and effort already).

TDC:
The current beta versions are all seperate executables. What are Clickteam's plans for the final release of HWA - will it remain a seperate version of MMF, or will MMF2 HWA replace the standard version?

Yves:
I think MMF2 HWA will remain a separate version for MMF2 and will be integrated with the standard version in MMF3 only. There are many differences between both versions so there is a risk they might have slightly different behaviors in some cases and could make existing applications stop working correctly. Better keep it safe and keep 2 separated products until the next major version.

TDC:
Next up is a question you will be very familiar with; beta releases are becoming more and more frequent, with less time between each release - is this a sign that MMF HWA is coming close to being completed? Will we be using the final release by the end of this year?

Yves:
I hope the next update will be the last beta version. If it's OK, it will be the final version. If it's not OK, we'll release another update, but we are very close to the final version anyway.

TDC:
Excellent news! And finally: when the final MMF2/TGF2 HWA builds are released, what will be your next big job? What will you be working on?

Yves:
I'm actually also working on the Unicode version of MMF2/TGF2. When it's done I'll make the MP3 add-on for the Flash and Java mobile runtimes and I'll complete Install Creator 3. And then we also have other development projects for MMF/TGF.

TDC:
Thank you for your time.

Yves:
No problem

Follow the link below to visit Clickteam's official HWA beta forum.
http://www.clickteam.com/epicenter/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=64&page=1

Posted by maVado

14th May, 2009

Thank you

Posted by ~Matt Esch~

14th May, 2009

Lets just say this

HWA - Bueno

Java: interpreter on a virtual machine = fail

Flash: interpreter on a smaller virtual machine = fail

Not only that I think these people were looking to get MMF2 or TGF2 into schools because of the flash requirements. "Use our program that just so happens to output to flash... and teaches you nothing about it... and it runs slower too!" As far as porting the runtimes are concerned: it will be nice if they actually work. I wonder if they have explored alternatives to running everything on their runtime. Sure it makes it a simple process to port it to another language, there are programs that will do that for you, but why not consider generating native java code so we can test it and poke it? That would be more work... but so much better, and there are no issues with compiling because the compiler is freely distributable.

After HWA I think the next singlemost import thing we need is a standard file format, or some way to generate a standard file format. I don't want my creativity locked into 1 program, I want to be able to make something in MMF2 and have all of the levels and graphics and even the code in a standard text-readable format (XML please). Many people want to use MMF2 as a stepping stone onto programming, and MMF2 could actually be helpful in this respect if it didn't rope you in. If I made a game in MMF2, I would like to be able to use that game when learning another language. If I have my resources neatly bundled, it gives me time to focus on the programming. The nice thing about MMF as a developer tool is that you can visually see your program as you're making it and you can test the logic of it at the same time, but it's no use if you have to do everything twice.

Posted by markno2

14th May, 2009

HWA will be integrated with MMF3 because that version is going to have 3D capabilities, I hope.

Posted by Muz

15th May, 2009

MMF3 will have stable HWA. MMF3.5 will have 3D

Posted by Ricky

15th May, 2009

"I want to be able to make something in MMF2 and have all of the levels and graphics and even the code in a standard text-readable format (XML please)."

You can! Everything aside from code can be stored in external files. I'm currently working on a game that loads levels from ini's and has all the sounds external, as well as the backrounds.

Posted by Ricky

15th May, 2009

Actually, with lua, you can even externalize some of the code.

Posted by Zoglu

17th May, 2009

Sphax told today on a French Klik forum that MMF3 won't have 3D.

http://www.clikmag.fr/site/index.php?page=forum&view=responses&idsubject=638&idcat=3&PHPSESSID=ce7ee349bf96ce7f7f249051b4044c0d&debut=10

Posted by Disthron

18th May, 2009

- Zoglu

If you say so, I can't read french. A fully working hard ware accelerated version of MMF2 would be pretty cool though.

Posted by 3kliksphilip

18th May, 2009

Argh, why won't MMF 3 include 3D? I can't honestly think of anything I'd like in MMF3 that there isn't already in MMF2. More than 32 directions would be nice, along with more alterable and global values, but those were the only real things I wanted from MMF2 before it came out.

Let's face it, MMF3 was the perfect opportunity to be called MMF 3D. I've ended up splitting my time between MMF and the Hammer Editor for Source to get my fix for 3D things. With other game makers out there on the market, Click Team really needs to do something drastic. They've stuck to the same old Klik n Play formula for over a decade. It won't be long before other better equipped game makers come out. I really see 3D as Click Team's way of keeping their edge.

Posted by Zoglu

18th May, 2009

Well, for MMF3 I think they could include a better event editor, like Construct's one for instance, with more useful special conditions (else, for each, while, stuff like that). The possibility to create several event sheets and include them into other would be good. And a better debugger would help too. In fact they could use a lot of ideas from other game-making software

Actually in my opinion MMF2's "problem" is not HWA, it's the outdated interface and event editor. As you said they're stuck to the Klik 'n Play formula.

Yet they have some ways of "keeping their edge" : MMF2 exports to Java, Screen Savers and soon to Flash. And a 3D extension (in fact, a set of 3D extensions) is on its way, using the Irrlicht Engine

Posted by 3kliksphilip

22nd May, 2009

Yeah I guess so, though those 'edges' are mainly just plugins which weren't included in the original MMF2.

An experienced user of MMF2 can things possible with Construct in the event editor. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why I don't switch- I'm so used to the K n P layout. If they made it too similar to Construct it could actually cause people to switch if Construct comes out with a killer plugin- 3D, for instance.

I'm not saying that the event editor shouldn't be changed. I'm just saying that for a sequel to MMF2 it deserves more than just a couple of tweaks. Does anybody REALLY feel limited by MMF2? I mean, for the games which are made on this site it does the job perfectly. A bit of experience allows for work-arounds to the weak points of the program.

Come on, it's 2009. 3D games have been the norm for over 10 years, it's about time game makers have the same privilege.

Posted by Nicholasbeason

2nd June, 2009

^I agree. If MMF 3 doesn't include some form of built in 3d, I feel they'll have a difficult time getting users to upgrade to have things integrated that have already existed in the form of extensions.

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Rob Rule
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