PixelBasher Update - Wonderland

Hello everyone, it's been a while since I last updated PixelBasher. Life events have kept me busy (in a good way), but I think it's about time I got back on the horse. This is a relatively small update, which basically amounts to some bugfixes and quality of life updates. The biggest change would be that the NWJS runtime was updated to support Apple silicon chips.

Below you will find the changes made in this build and below that I'll talk a bit about the future of the application.

Changes:

• Alpha transparency is now correctly clipped for exports using the mirror function
• objects can now be excluded from being mirrored. Note they are still cut off by the mirror axis.
•  transform handles have been given some attention. They now scale up when the mouse gets near the selected object. This makes it less likely to mis-click when you want to resize something. They also disappear when the object is dragged around (so they don't block the view of the surrounding objects).
•  the application can now go exclusive full screen. This is different from maximized which still displays the task bar. You'll find the button next to the standard minimize, maximize buttons.
• Various basic parts with a 2px outline have been added
• Apple silicon support (tested on M2)

The Future of PixelBasher

I've been working on PixelBasher as a side-project for about 2 years now. In my daily life I have a job, I'm trying to build a game studio (Blastmode) and somewhere in between I make this tool. When working on it I've always tried to add cool features the fastest way possible, because the time I have to work in it is limited. Sometimes this means features work like a charm, but sometimes it just doesn't (ahem, undo system). It's safe to say that the PixelBasher project is a mess and it's very cumbersome to add any new functionality.

So we've come to the inevitable point: I'm going to completely rewrite the program from scratch. This has already happened in the past, just take a look at the application name 'PixelBash2'. Yes, the current version is one of those complete rewrites! So the next version will be the third iteration :)

The philosophy of this new 3rd version will be to give the user complete control over the kitbashing library and how brushes are constructed. Currently only '9-Slice' style brushes are supported, but the idea is to set up a flexible system to allow for many types of brushes.

In some ways version 2 of the application was the real proof of concept. The system works, now I feel it's time to ditch this prototype and rebuild it in a proper way. So it can be maintained for a longer period of time.

It'll probably take a while before version 3 is released. But I'm already working on some promising prototypes for that super flexible kitbashing system. 

Sorry for the lack of updates in the past months! I hope this post provides some clarity over what's going on over here. Meanwhile I'm also working on Mighty Goose 2 and Sea Sniffers, you can check out my Twitter/X for some work in progress footage of those.

Cheers!