   FIFE - open source cross platform framework for isometric games
About FIFEThe mission of the FIFE project is to create a cross platform game creation framework. Exact engine feature list changes over time, but the following lists the main guidelines for development* Games can be created with combination of engine, editor tools, game specific scripts and game content (e.g. maps, graphics and sounds).* Framework is not tied to any type of game (e.g. RTS, RPG), but instead provides flexible platform for all of them.* Framework supports different isometric views with addition of pure top-down view.* Instead of full 3D flexibility, engine focuses mainly on using high quality 2D graphics. This puts less demands on target platforms and also simplifies the framework and game development.* Purpose of the editor tools is to help to bind the game content with the engine and scripts.Download* Source package (FreeBSD, Linux, Macintosh)* Win32 binariesScreenshots2008.0 editor tool:2007.2 techdemo:2007.1 techdemo:Fallout support:Youtube promotion trailer">FIFE 2008.0 promo videoTheme of this releaseFor the 2008.0 release we decided to pick up the island_demo concept again. Right: again. We already used this concept for the 2007.1 release but we put it on ice as we worked together with the Zero-Projekt developers on a different example game for the 2007.2 release. The cooperation didn't work out as planned for either side and so both teams stick to their own projects again now.After the cooperation has ended we considered all possible options and finally decided to flesh out the old island_demo concept and base our future example game upon it. Although we were able to finish the initial planning work for the new island_demo game some days ago, there is almost none of the new planned content in place yet. On the other side the engine itself and the editor tool that ships with it now made _huge_ steps forward since the last release about 4 months ago. Therefore we decided to release the current status as stable release although it offers not many new aspects on the content side and the content that is in place is very likely to change with the 2008.1 release.The milestone itself seems to be a very important step into the right direction. You can build your own maps now with the help of the editor tool. Furthermore a basic application structure is in place that should give you an idea how can create your own FIFE-based game. We'll surely adjust the structure of the island_demo client over the next months but this release is stable enough to start working on your game now.This release is surely not the beginning of the end of the road for us, but it's the end of beginning for the FIFE development team. Enjoy it as we do :-) Important changes since the 2007.2 release* New audio module with support for some more advanced audio features.* Optimized view code to improve the performance and resolve map instance z-order issues.* Switched back to island_demo concept; this will be the example game that ships with future FIFE releases as well.* Ability to save maps* Routing pathfinding (previous release only had linear pather)* Pluggable rendering system with several new plugins included.* New editor tool, which can be used to layout maps* XML-format improvements: stack position, z-position, camera definitions, animation x/y offsets* Vastly improved pychan extension; XML based GUI definitions* Quadtree adjustments * Ability to define own settings formats and interpret them from scripts* Ability to attach cameras to instances (so that they are tracked while they move)* Separate x/y scaling for cellgrids, allows more flexible geometry definitions (e.g. rectangle)* Basic mouse map instance picking.* Improved engine-script exception reporting* Mouse cursors can be changed from scriptsFew non-code related changes* Rough task list for the whole island demo has now been created* Vastly improved documentation with nightly updates for engine core & scripts* Lots of new content gathered and created for island demo e.g. agent definitions, clouds graphics, music...Read the full release announcement at the FIFE developer blog.   