This is just going to be a quick update post to let everyone know what's going to be happening with Clipnote going forward. So if you're new here, or you aren't very active in our discord server, this is post for you.
Firstly, where is the new update? As you may know, Clipnote was developed completely in Game maker, I'm very happy with how much I was able to push the engine. However GML, the language Game maker uses, and Game maker as a whole are pretty restrictive. So i set out to find a new engine/language to use going forward. After all was said and done, I settled on c++ for a few reasons, chief among them: openness and flexibility.
For the past few months I've been working on learning c++ and redoing all my code from the ground up (again). As you might imagine, this has taken awhile. I'm slowly getting better at, thanks in large part to Jaames and "worm time" for being patient with me and pointing me in the right direction.
As for the next update, that will be out when it's out, I have a full time job now, so I have far less time to dedicate to Clipnote. Hopefully it wont take too long. The next update will focus mostly on improving the engine and getting things back to where they were. Please do not expect some of the more requested features in the update, I'll do what i can, but my main focus is on getting everyone on the new engine.
Beyond that, I'll update the next release to a point I'm happy with, squeezing in as many quality of life improvements and features as possible. Once that is done, it's on to the fun part. My end goal for Clipnote is to be more than just an animation software, it will eventually become a celebration of everything we love about Nintendos (and other similar publishers) large library of obscure and forgotten projects. I'm doing my best to make Clipnote into something anyone can enjoy.
All that being said, when I do release the larger version of clipnote with all the extra side content, I'll release just the animation portion separately as "Clipnote Lite". That way, people who just want the simple and lightweight animation software Clipnote is known to be can stick to that, while I can move forward with the project. I will still update Clipnote Lite as I'll be reusing all the code for the larger version. i have no idea how long this will take, but I'm making fairly good progress overall. Of course my main focus will be getting the new engine up to snuff and released to the public before I worry too much about the larger vision.
As always, all of this will be free to use, so you don't have to worry about that at all. I hate the idea of muddying our memories and good times with monetary gain. Any donations are appreciated and are super helpful, but if you can't pitch in for whatever reason, that's totally fine too!
One last huge thank you to all of our new followers and fans! I'm very grateful to have you all!
If you want to stay up to date with Clipnote development, you can follow us on Twitter or join our discord, links are on the store page.
Thank you all for an amazing 2019, and here's to more updates in 2020!