v5.0 releases with a visual programming language Catnip!

Ct.js v5.0.0 is out! 🎉

Visual programming language Catnip! Plus better bitmap font support, Typeface asset type, and more!

The main feature of ct.js v5 is Catnip — a block-based visual scripting language, made specifically for ct.js. It functions similarly to Google Blockly or Scratch, but better, and can do everything other languages can do! Documentation received a new section called Learn Catnip, and tutorials have Catnip code blocks alongside JS and CoffeeScript ones, too.

Besides that, we updated the way ct.js handles fonts — Font assets turned into Typefaces, and Typefaces can house several font files for different weights and styles in one asset for easier programmatic use. Issues with bitmap fonts rendering was fixed, and buttons and textboxes can now use bitmap fonts instead of canvas-based labels, which provides pixel-perfect rendering for pixelart projects. For individual labels, a new base class was introduced.

Ct.js v4 projects can be safely migrated to v5 — but make sure to update your text styles according to our migration guide: https://docs.ctjs.rocks/troubleshooting/migration-4to5.html

Changelog

✨ New Features

• Add a custom error display in games so players can more easily report failures. Add a toggle to disable error reporting in-game and a field to specify a custom repor link.
• Add a method tween.value to the tween catmod, and add a Catnip block to animate arbitrary computed values.
• Add an option to main menu to autoapply asset changes before launching a game
• Add community’s learning resources and games to the starting screen
• Allow using bitmap labels in buttons and textboxes, and introduce a new base class for Bitmap Text labels. Add an option to increase bitmap font rendering that fixes issues with bitmap fonts
• Behaviors: add Behavior added and Behavior removed events
• Context menu item for styles to create a template with a Text base class from it
• Customize debugger’s layout: split-screen, multi-windowed, and automatic (based on the screen count)
• New programming language: Catnip
• New UI themes:
  • Alma Sakura
  • Golden Eye
  • One Dark Pro
  • Synthwave ’84
• room.makeCopyAligned and room.makeCopyAlignedRef methods to dynamically add copies that align to camera’s boundaries, in the same way you set up them in room editor’s UI tools.
• Specify additional typedefs for JS properties of behaviors, templates, and rooms. Available for JavaScript projects only.

⚡️ General Improvements

• 🍱 Update the light catmod for ct.js v5
• Add 'neutralino' case to u.getEnvironment (Closes #517)
• Add additional checks for extended fields and fields in asset types. Fixes not being able to use array fields for asset types in content schemas
• Align table cells to the top
• Improve layout of project scripts
• Improve performance of afterDraw injection of matter.js catmod
• Internal: 'always strict' on ct.IDE’s compiled TS files
• Internal: Enforce stricter type checks in ct.js client library
• Internal: Bundle most node_modules and ct.IDE’s scripts into one file. This makes loading ct.IDE faster, as well as reduces the bundle size and install time. It also drops --mixed-context nw.js flag.
• Internal: Update nw-builder to v4.7.4
• Limit max project name length
• Relayout the debugger screen to open the console in another window. Solves issues with JS breakpoints and “stop on exception” button
• Remember opened assets when a project is saved, and reopen them when a project is loaded
• Rename “editor” to “engine” in the ct.js’ devtools banner
• Replace resedit-cli with resedit for ct.IDE: removes dependency for node.js in desktop exporter.
• Rework ct.js games’ CSS to be less invasive to 3rd-party widgets and such
• Rework font asset type into typefaces
• Update patrons screen and move its logic into a module
• Update QR code generator for game debugger

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Add a safeguard to tween.add to not update values if the animated object was killed.
• Add proper handling of missing event declaration. Warn user about events that use missing catmods when exporting a project and in a template editro
• Fix updateWindowMenu error appearing on non-MacOS devices
• Fix ancient settings for monaco editor that showed errors on ES5+ features
• Fix being able to get several context menus by right-clicking other stuff with an already opened menu
• Fix being able to select game canvas on iOS browsers
• Fix built-in asset gallery not being accessible on Mac
• Fix canvases and code editors in tandem, style, room and scriptable editors disappearing after opening a tab -> switching to another one -> resizing window -> going back to the tab with a code editor or a pixi.js canvas.
• Fix cases when content types’ typedefs were not updated
• Fix copy alignment being bound to copy-pasted copies in the room editor
• Fix copy rearrangement effects resetting upon reopening a room.
• Fix emitter’s rectangular shapes being misaligned
• Fix error spam about uninicialized position and scale changes in room-entities-properties
• Fix monaco-editors hotkeys for changing font size
• Fix old current room name in templates.copy documentation
• Fix SnapTarget in room editor interfering with clicks on canvas
• Fix templates.each method. It can also be used with arrow function now, too, as it passes a copy to the first argument of your function.
• Fix textboxes’ html inputs remaining on screen when a room changes
• Fix the tween catmods throwing errors despite using the silent: true option or .catch handlers
• Internal: Fix gulp docs failing on windows with new node.js versions
• Internal: Fix context-menu tags overwriting their ref attribute with “root”
• Internal: Fix devSetup.gulpfile.js failing on Node.js v20.13+ and Windows
• Internal: Rename properties of context-menu tag so it doesn’t pull in global values
• Make monaco-editor pass Ctrl+S, F5 & Alt+F5 hotkeys to ct.IDE so you can save/launch projects while in a code editor
• Minor visual fixes for tabs
• Prevent dragging sound thumbnails in the sound editor

🍱 Demos, Dependencies and Stuff

• Gallery: Add textures for buttons and panels
• Add tutorial projects ported to Catnip by @firecakes
• Add a Catnip example of LabRaid
• Pull the latest docs
• Rename examples by tagging them with used language, remove two unsupported examples
• Update Comments and Debug translation files
• Update the list of boosters

📝 Docs

• 🐛 Example code error (Follow a copy of a template called “Character”) Fixes #133
• 🐛 Grammar fixes on homepage
• 🐛 Make the patrons list centered
• Add a patron list to README.md
• Add Catnip examples to ct.js tutorials
• Add Learn Catnip category
• 100% russian documentation translation
• Move a couple comments in catnip’s declarationExtractor to a proper place

🌐 Website

• 🐛 Fix the broken “games made with ct.js section”, put a button to submit a game
• 🐛 Set unique names for forms
• 🚧 I may have summoned demons
• 🌐 Add Chinese Simplified translation (#44 by @emaoshushu)
• 🌐 Add Japanese translation (#45 by @taxi13245)
• ✨ Add forms for submitting games and learning resources
• ✨ Create an embeddable widget with supporters
• ⚡ Add a honeypot for all the fields
• ⚡ Add patrons panel to homepage
• ⚡ Update wording on the homepage
• Add a nice language comparison thingie

👾 Misc

• 🔥 Internal: Delete now unused app/projects folder from the repo
• 🔥 Internal: Remove the DragonBones submodule
• 🌐 Update Russian UI translation file

Ct.js is a free and open-source game engine supported by you. Consider supporting us on Boosty or contributing to the project directly by adding new features, improvements, and bugfixes to our repository.