So the title of this post probably sounds a bit more ungrateful than I mean it.. it just astounds me that people still apparently are downloading ZEngine with some regularity.
A little over five years ago according to the CVS logs, I started a 2D game engine which due to my frustration with “all the cool names being taken” was named ZEngine. I was about 16 at the time and it was actually my second attempt at such an engine. ZEngine was designed to be cross-platform, easy to use, and extensible. I guess looking back for a 16 year old it wasn’t a bad job, but I haven’t really looked at the code in about two years, and I haven’t worked seriously on it in much longer than that.
I recently got a request from someone to use the name ZEngine, and I took a look at the Sourceforge project statistics to make sure nobody was actually using it. I knew there were still a few stragglers out there, I do get an email every now and then and usually have to apologize for my own ignorance and inability to answer their question. I found out that in an average month ~100 people still download it. Which may not sound like many but for an obscure and obsolete 2D game library doesn’t seem too bad.
As the chart above shows, most months there have been somewhere near 100 downloads of ZEngine.
The ZEngine front page clearly indicates that development stopped years ago and even redirects to a similar (but also abandoned) project of mine, photon. I haven’t had much luck finding if there are unknown references to ZEngine out there that people are following, or if they are finding it on it’s own. Either way I’d be interested to know who these people are and what they are doing. Is there still such a shortage of 2D game engines that ZEngine compares favorably to any of it’s competitors?
If you’re using ZEngine and find your way here somehow, post a comment or get in touch with me, I’d be interested to hear your answers to these questions. (But no, I probably can’t answer ZEngine questions anymore)
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5 comments ↓
Well a freind recomended this engine so thats how i got here.
i was linked to the zengine thinggy when i went to look for a download for my gaming keyboard made by “ZBOARD”. it is used for MMORB games like “World of Warcraft” ect… when i went to download the new software for the keyboard it said i already had a version of “ZEngine” on my computer and i needed to remove the software to install the newer verson…and that is when i found this site…becuase i (being computer stupid) was not sure how to remove the program and thought this site might be able to help (no such luck…but i did get it erased eventually). so after i finally removed “ZEngine” from my computer i went BACK to http://www.zboard.com/usa where the “ideazon” company logo or what ever that thing is came up and i clicked onto the tab for “new downloads” and FINALLY got the software upgrade i needed to use this blasted keyboard for “World of Warcaft” (which i have been trying to use for 4 months now with no success!). So….long story short….that is how i came here and downloaded another “ZEngine” thing….if it IS your name and the other ideazon or “World of Warcraft” peeps havent paid you “cuttoes” for using your site id get a lawyer or what have you to figure out why they are using it without permission. however they may have purchased it from you for all i know and thus is the reason why i was linked to you…who knows….just thought i’d tell you how i got here since you asked….
Sincerely,
ML Lavallee
I think they are thinking it is a different bit of software. Zengine is a still developed program used for gaming keyboards. http://webstore.ideazon.com/
Haha, thanks for helping me figure this out, that explains a lot.
I downloaded the engine to study it’s code and to find out how certain things were done.
Much better than those shitty tutorials
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