Changes to Eclipse

[jcsnider]

Eclipse,

I think it was three days ago that the purchase of this site occurred (I really don't know I am running on very little sleep XD) and this site has been taken under new ownership. Now, most of you all are just curious (or concerned) about what is going to change around here so here we go. There are going to be many sets of changes, some which involve this site both feature and content wise and some involve the engines that float around this site so here we go.

First, here is a little information about the official Eclipse Origins game engine both Silver and Gold versions. (Aka EO 4.0). Eclipse Origins 4.0 is simply a largely modified version of my latest released engine Eclipse Origins 3.0\. In the transition from 3.0 to 4.0 a ton of bugs have been fixed, optimizations have been made, and a ton of features have been added. The biggest concern for most users about EO 4.0 is that it is closed source. Most users on this site have no programming knowledge at all and in their attempts to add basic game functionality such as an option for full screen have resulted in advice to go grab an illegal copy of Visual Basic 6 and then attempt to follow a guide for a random version of Eclipse that would never work for the user anyway, this is who EO 4.0 will appeal to.

Now, I am getting slightly carried away, I could go into a massive list of changes that have been made to EO 4.0 but I am going to save that for another post. The first and biggest change that is going to be made, is that we are going to be adding a downloads page, a gallery page, and a store page all for the easy access of EO 4.0\. New boards will be added to the top of the forum index for changelogs and development diaries of the engine. With that said, EclipseVB (the past official version of Eclipse) is going to be moved to custom versions in its own sub board where the download link will be available. At this point in time it appears that both Carim and Matthew have no intention on further development of the engine however that may change or another programmer may step up, we are unsure at this point. All the other custom versions will stay where they are and will continue to be developed at the owners discretion.

As for the site, we want to keep this a community the shoutbox is still open to all members to talk about random subjects, play text-based rpgs or whatever. All of the current forums are still going to be open and running as they have been. Temporarily, the forum shop has been hidden but is still accessible [here](http://www.eclipseorigins.com/community/index.php?app=ibEconomy) as we want to attempt to re-balance the economy and possibly add new items. We are also planning on adding a site arcade for random flash games and of course, winners will have bragging rights :D.

Marshy Dearest is still with us. Marsh sold the site for many reasons but he is finally getting out of school and he is moving on with his life. He is still going to develop his C++ engine which is now being called Mirage++ and he will often be around the site providing updates and hanging out. 

Furthermore, we are unsure, we have plans to re-do many of the tutorials around the site based around the new engine, we have some really nice graphics in development we will be sharing with you all soon and we are hoping to continue to grow this community as we continue forward. We are happy to hear your thoughts and ideas but we ask that they are directed to us in the form of PM to keep flaming from those who are extremely opposed to change at a minimum. We will be posting more information shortly about the new engine and any information I may have missed in this update.

Thanks!

JC

[azkanan]

Good stuff. :)

[crzyone9584]

> As for the site, we want to keep this a community the shoutbox is still open to all members to talk about random subjects

My subject was random. You all just didn't approve of it.

BTW: Yall might want a new theme. Marsh I of owned the License to the IP.Board but not the custom skin that was the default… Also my point in the Shoutbox was to get a ToS... You can mut/ban me all you want. It won't stop othe people.. Although it seems those people's who opinions/sites are now silenced... It is a sad day.. For real it is a sad day when an open source engine goes close source...