next week comes the Finalrelease Gamecore 2.0

GameCore Features

Now to the fun stuff - while a good part of the Release Candidate cycle has been to identify bugs and issues with the release, a huge amount of effort has gone into adding and improving the functionality and capability of the engine. Our internal dev team has also gone through a full commercial release cycle with a game for a client, which always helps spur bug fixes and feature improvements ;} Either way, everyone gets to enjoy the benefits of these improvements.

New Features
OpenGL / No Shader Renderer

Ideal for those that are targeting lower-end hardware, the new OpenGL 'No Shader' (or Fixed Function) renderer allows you to create GameCore titles that literally have not a line of DirectX code. While some of the advanced features aren't available in this version, those of you looking for the largest possible hardware base for your games now have a solution.

Configurable / layered post-processing filters

While previously we had a couple of post-filters hard-coded into the engine (Namely 32 bit HDR / Bloom), we have now added a layered / stackable filter system that allows you to add any number of filters to your scenes, some of which can be seen in the image slideshow on the site's new front page.

Some of the new Post filters that are bundled with the engine:

- Screen Space Ambient Occlusion
- 64 bit True HDR / Bloom (with full 64 bit rendering / lighting)
- Monochromatic filter (for sepia / B&W scenes) Can also be stacked with other filters to produce a pretty good night-vision look ;}
- Thermal
- Film Grain
- Depth of Field

And more will likely be coming down the pipe as well.

Another benefit of the layered post filters is that each is comprised of a stand-alone set of shaders, so it 'should' be fairly straightforward for users to create your own custom effects as desired.

Final 2.0 Release Date?

We're aiming for Monday, April 20th. Hopefully all goes according to plan and it's not in Valve time ;P

Anyways, that's about it for now. Don't want to spoil all of the surprises.