From: Julian Raschke Date: 2007-12-12T09:24:57+09:00 Subject: [ANN] Gosu 0.7.8, also: Ludum Dare timed gamedev compo this weekend! Hi, first, I want to announce the newest version of Gosu, the free 2D game development library for Ruby and C++. Version 0.7.8 features: * Working font fallbacks, i.e. chars outside of the selected/default font can be used. No more worrying about which font contains Kanji characters or pictograms, just use UTF8 and be amazed at the correct output. * Mac, Windows: In addition to system fonts, all of Gosu's text system can use .TTF files referenced by filename, effectively allowing you to bundle your own fonts with your game. (On OS X, .OTF files should work just fine, too.) * Another cool Chipmunk/RMagick demo by Robert Sheehan is included. * The Ruby port has gotten the same support for RGB/HSV conversions that the C++ version had for a while. * Bugfixes. It is available via `gem install gosu` on OS X and Windows, but also on http://code.google.com/p/gosu/, which is also the place to go for documentation. * Second, I would like to mention the Ludum Dare X competition here, an 48 hour, solo game development competition. The website has moved once again to http://www.imitationpickles.org/ludum/. For those who are new to the concept: There are three rounds of theme voting (the second one is currently open). The results of the last round will only be visible when voting is over, which is Friday evening in US time zones. From then on, you have 48 hours to write a game around the chosen theme, completely from scratch. Every participant then gets to vote on all the other entries, and virtual trophies are given for being among the top entries. The competition website shows some of the innovative entries from the past compos, but even if you end up with a buggy game and programmer art, you probably have learnt a lot about productivity and time management. Oh, and if you're like me, you had fun :) With a range of Ruby gamedev libraries being available, this should be a nice weekend. Julian