We worked on two main topics since the last update:
1. Polish and UI tweaks for the Benchmark release next month.
2. A fancier OOB file format that supports a number of new features.
The first one isn't that exiting.
The second one is!
For saving game-play progress we use a normal, binary dump that contains everything. It makes an exact recreation of the game state possible.
Exactly what you want for a safe-game.
For OOB editing however, you want something else. You want to benefit from any improvement of the simulation and unit-Database without any additional integration effort.
So we devised a "recipe" file format. It contains not exact binary data, but a description of an OOB/scenario.
When loaded we can instantiate that description using what ever the recipe ingredient-state is at that time.
So if we change an ingredient, we automatically benefit from it when we load the recipe.
It is like the MIDI format. MIDI is a description of audio. It uses the described characteristics of audio to recreate analogue sound.
It is not an exact reproduction, and the quality depends on who is doing the interpretation of the audio description, but is very flexible.
We are very pleased with the results and exited about the possibilities.
It is ideal for modding without breaking compatibility when updating the engine.
This brings proper modding support so much closer!