ness2d - Open source 2D engine

Hey there!

So, recently I started programming a new 2D engine for Windows, Windows phone and the XBOX (XNA). I've mainly been focussing on the rendering aspects for its early development. Modularity is one of the key focuses of this engine, and I hope for people to be able to create their own games with it easily. I like to think of it as a 2D source engine.

Onto the features, it currently has:

Cull testing
Advanced lighting support with shadows
A custom particle system that runs on the GPU and CPU
Threaded/XNA update method "update manager"
A janitor "instance" to help garbage collection
Mutiple player input choices handled through a class (XBOX, KeyboardAndMouse ect.)
"Draw flags" which are used for custom rendering (shader supported)
Multiple types of "render target" - for example, you can have custom options such as hud or no hud
Multiple camera systems
Custom world matrix class - no use of XNA's Matrix class
XML map format - simple and lightweight
Sprite Z-coordinate sorting (lower z at back)

It is rather incomplete right now, I am planning to implement features such as a basic physics engine (collision, velocity, gravity and multiple body types), multiplayer support, XML entity support (for example, weapons would be in XML), animation system using bones and XML data and much more. The project has been in development since the 17th of June 2011, and I am currently spending all of my spare time working on it. Although it does not sound impressive, I hope to use the engine for commercial uses.

The main focus of the engine would be platforming games. However, since it is adaptable and modular anybody could change a few things around to allow top-down shooters, rpgs and other types of 2D games. I am going to create a free to play (perhaps pay what you want) shoot 'em up (multiplayer and single player with bots) game entitled "Ness fortress 13" (a mockery of TF2, just to showcase the engine really).

The engine will be released for free under the proprietary license, this means that you (as the consumer/client/company) may modify and redistribute for free, however if you intend to sell a game using the engine you would have to pay for royalties or a custom license which allows you to do so. Since I support open-source software and collaboration, the costs will not be expensive (somewhere between £10-£20 for a full license, not decided).

As you may be able to tell, the project is rather similar to Source Engine. This is because I love the model of source engine (its modularity and ease of use) aswell as how it is distributed. I am not looking to make a living from the engine or games, it is being created so people may enjoy the games. I will end with a short video showcasing the rendering system as it is (this will be improved however, and I am using freeware graphics found online mixed with programmer art).