14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s visual programming language designed to simplify game development has moved yet another step forward. A new testing release of Kodu, formerly codenamed Boku, is now available for download for users that are running Windows PCs. The Kodu Game Lab - Technical Preview is also available for Xbox 360, however, the two downloads are offered separately by the Redmond company. Kodu Build 1.0.64.0 is now live on the Microsoft Download Center, delivering a range of new content, as well as fresh features and bug fixes.
A member of the Kodu team enumerated some of the changes introduced with the latest release of the game lab: “Minor UI changes involving text on buttons changing color when hovered over. Reordered some tools in toolbars to be more consistent between gamepad and mouse experience. In the programming UI, when you are using a mouse, right click now bring up a Cut/Copy/Paste menu rather than just performing a Cut. This works on the tiles, the whole row (click on the row handle where the number is) and on the whole page by clicking on the page handle at the top of the screen. This better matches the behavior in ObjectEdit. Updated more of the built-in games to work better with keyboard and mouse.”
Users already familiar with Kodu are also bound to notice that new training content has been added to the game lab. Microsoft has put together a new introductory video which will play once, the first time that customers will run Kodu following installation. Still, the intro video will continue to be available, and can be reloaded through the toggle setting at the bottom of MainMenu, Options. At the same time, there are also fresh tutorial games. Users can make their way via the "Lessons" tab in the LoadWorlds menu to get to the new content.
Microsoft also offered a list with the bug fixes introduced:
“- Fixed bug that allowed TerraCannons to fall through the ground. - Fixed bug that allowed inheritance lines to show even in run mode. - Fixed bug that prevented "ghost" bots from being selectable with mouse. Fixed bug where sometimes terrain wouldn't visibly change until you changed tools. - Fixed bug causing tooltips to stay visible over programming help. - Fixed bug with multi-line version of "say" action when no text was present. - Removed cone cursor from terrain edit mode. You should just see the brush. - Fixed crashing bug caused by starting up full screen (some systems, may still be others with problems). - When removing water it didn't totally disappear until the button was released. Now it goes away as soon as the level goes to 0. - Fixed bug that was causing a newly created Kodu to lean to one side while in edit mode. - Cleaned up some of the help overlay text. (That's the help text on the upper left hand side of the screen) - Found the missing icons in the AddItem help. - Fixed terrain raise/lower issues when using a gamepad and snap-to-grid is on. - Fixed bug with hitting undo/redo while editing paths.”
Kodu is available for download here.