Forums » Impact Engine » Impact 2.0 release date?

I think it would be reasonable to stop Ejecta development and get that extra time for the framework/engine development. With other more universal options blooming (CocoonJS) that seems like a viable choice. We get our engine better, you dont need to open source it to handle the load and we can just use CocoonJS to deploy our games to different stores.

Hey all,

maybe my post shouldn't be here but I have to say personally: impact.js is a great framework which born to be a commercial product, it's not like the Flixel.

Recently released another framework called Panda.jshttp://www.pandajs.net/ which is inspired by impact.js and looks very similar. If anyone want an open environment you could try that, and I think it's also promising(Pixi.js for rendering, same module and class system, p2.js and more plugins already available)

Because Dominic just released a small update and the cool 2.5D plugin, I think this is a good time to ask about the future of ImpactJS. Will there be a next version that can compete with the other engines, or was this the last update and it's time to move on?

The Impact community is slowly dying off. The technology behind the engine is outdated compared to other modern HTML5-2D-engines. Especially in terms of WebGL rendering. New users are scarce because of the paywall. And on top of that the closed source mentality makes it difficult for the community to help with improvements and bugfixes.

On the other hand we have other HTML5-2D-engines out there made with the latest technology, that are open source, free, with active communities and updates available every few weeks. Phaser is a good example of that. Phaser even has a level editor (LREditor) that is almost as good as Weltmeister.

But I personally don't like Phaser because of the lack of a module and class system and some of the other design choices. But there is also Panda.js which is highly inspired by Impact. I'll have to say that developing games with Panda feels very natural, when you are used to making games with Impact.

I think I'll go with Panda in the future, but giving up on Impact is a very hard and sad thing to do. Especially because I contributed a little bit to Impact++ with code and tutorials. Collin Hover, the lead developer behind that extension, is the man and kind of a role model for me. I really wanted to see that project grow. But that really depends on what Dominic wants to do with Impact in the future.

Hi pattentrick.

In response to your comment about the lack of updates:

There is a well-known physics engine library called Box2D which rarely receives any updates. Does this mean it's time to move onto a new physics engine? Not necessary. Not if it's still a useful tool.

Re-inventing the wheel for the sake of re-inventing the wheel (ie. switching to something else just because it's newer) is not necessarily a good idea.

If you find Impact is holding you back, then you should use something else.

However, "missing WebGL" is the only functionality you mentioned, and this guy apparently got that working years ago.

The real question is, what's more useful for you, Impact or another engine? Decide for yourself and use whichever.

The Impact community is slowly dying off. The technology behind the engine is outdated compared to other modern HTML5-2D-engines. Especially in terms of WebGL rendering. New users are scarce because of the paywall. And on top of that the closed source mentality makes it difficult for the community to help with improvements and bugfixes.

My answer to that is: Show me the money. Nothing worth noting has been built using those other "modern" HTML5 engines.

- There are at least 4 successfully crowdfunded projects that used Impact, 2 projects that made it through Steam Greenlight, and 1 that got published by Devolver Digital (tho it was ported to Game Maker, the original prototype was made with Impact).

- Impact has the greatest customer support I've experienced, painless Ejecta integration, and Wii U support (Sadly I can't get a dev kit in my country, but that is Nintendo's self imposed limitation, not Impact's).

- If your game so desperately needs webgl support, there are at least 3 already built solutions; the one Joncom linked to, this one, and this one. Not including the already built solutions that do 3D and Pseudo 3D.

By the way pattentrick,

open source !== free as in beer.

I'm willing to pay for a properly built tool. Maybe you are not, but that is your prerogative.

@patterntrick I know what you mean about the forums not being very active. I'm partially to blame because I don't post much anymore (maybe because I figured out most of the things I want to do).

I hope there are incremental improvements (like there have been) but I don't want Impact to totally change or become bloated.

Those other game engines look good and I'm sure they have more resources to develop. I also worry that Dominic will tire of this project and then it'll gather dust. If he were able to release it as open source, maybe that would ensure it lives on. But maybe it would also lose the simplicity and cohesiveness that makes it great.

Instead of more and more features, I'd like to see Dominic release some basic plugins that help with the HUD and saving data, and maybe built-in Node.js & socket.io with working examples. Things that build on the core code, through plugins.

I don't know why I missed it, but I just discovered Impact++, a set of plugins that extend ImpactJS.

This demo frankly looks like the Impact 2.0 everyone was asking for.

(I think I ignored it because I thought it was a C++ port of ImpactJS, and that doesn't interest me. I love that Impact is in Javascript)

One thing I think we all need to remember is CrossCode (originally made with Impact, and still has Impact left over in their source code) is one the most advanced html 5 2d games in the world currently. Now, compare this to other games utilizing other game engines. Think of Phaser, PandaJS, and even 3d ones like PlayCanvas / Goocreate, and others. They don't even come close. Although, you could argue that the team of developers behind CrossCode is what made it happen, but you have to remember they started out using ImpactJS; and Weltmeister most likely gave them the confidence and motivation to continue development.


I agree with mostly everyone here about the current implementation and features of Impact and how we don't really necessarily need a full 'WebGL renderer'. But, I do just want to say WebGL is the future and the 2.0 draft is already up and the future of web based gaming is just getting started. I think dominic realizes that, and that's why Impact had such a large influence (as evident in CrossCode).

Also, John Carmack's blatant disrespect towards Javascript and WebGL is very disheartening. Even after the letter Dominic sent to him. Very sad! I bet if he played CrossCode via NW.js or Electron he wouldn't even know it was JS based :P.