• by Thomas Cashman
• 2019-08-04 19:00:00 +0000

mini2Dx 2.0.0-alpha.1 released

I’m excited to reveal the first alpha of mini2Dx 2.0 :)

As previously announced, 2.0 de-couples LibGDX to allow for more platforms. A special thanks to Augusto Zanellato for his major contributions to the new MonoGame-based runtime on games consoles. For anyone using 1.9.x, the upgrade path should be easy as we’ve aimed to keep the API as close as possible in 2.0.

New Library Structure

The following is the new library/dependency structure for mini2Dx.

• mini2Dx-core (Cross-platform APIs)
• mini2Dx-libgdx (Common code for LibGDX-based runtimes)
• mini2Dx-libgdx-desktop (LibGDX runtime for Windows/Mac/Linux)
• mini2Dx-libgdx-android (LibGDX runtime for Android)
• mini2Dx-libgdx-ios (LibGDX runtime for iOS - Note: This is not release in alpha.1 but will be in alpha.2)
• mini2Dx-monogame (Common code for MonoGame-based runtimes)

Upgrading to 2.0

mini2Dx 2.0 now provides cross-platform APIs for Sprite, Texture, TextureRegion, etc. However, if you use a LibGDX-specific API not provided by mini2Dx, you’ll need to find/implement a cross-platform solution. If you don’t plan on porting to consoles, you can simply add a dependency on mini2Dx-libgdx to your core project and continue using the LibGDX APIs.

Simply follow the updating mini2Dx page and set your version to 2.0.0-alpha.1

Desktop/Mobile Runtimes

Since the desktop/mobile runtimes are based on 1.9.x, these should already be stable. As always if you find any issues please add them to the Issue Tracker.

Console Runtimes

mini2Dx 2.0 will add games console support via MonoGame. However, please note the following:

• You must be a registered developer with the console provider to gain access to the runtime for that platform
• The console-specific runtimes are held in private repositories
• You will need to purchase the appropriate development hardware as required
• You will need to purchase a license for a cross-compiler to target the platform (more info available soon)

Future

We’ll be continuing with bug fixes until 2.0 is stable on all platforms. We encourage developers to test the alpha/beta builds and help us find issues. As previous stated, 1.9.x will only receive bug fixes and optimisations going forward. Once 2.0 is released, 1.9.x will be 100% community-driven on the mini2Dx Vintage Edition repository.