Revision 530738505 of "Fenix Project" on enwiki

{{multiple issues|lead too short=September 2010|notability=September 2010|refimprove=September 2010}}
'''Fenix Project''' is the [[codename]] for a [[GNU]] project to create a free [[compiler]] for a [[scripting language]] derived from the one created by Hammer Technologies for the [[game development]] suite, DIV Games Studio. However, several features have been added which make it incompatible with most games programmed with [[DIV Games Studio]].

==Features==
Fenix is an interpreted language focused on [[2D computer graphics|2D video game]] development. Its main feature, inherited from DIV, is the pseudo-parallel programming similar to [[Coroutines]], i.e. it gives the developer the chance of programming different processes (enemies, characters, etc.) separately, and the engine will synchronize them. This makes video game developing much easier.
Most of its features are now based on [[Simple DirectMedia Layer]] (SDL) which makes Fenix a very portable project.
Other features include full 2D support ([[image scaling|scaling]], transparencies, blend ops...), 16 bpp color, sound (.[[ogg]], .[[MOD (file format)|mod]], .[[IT (file format)|it]], .[[S3M|s3m]], .[[wav]]), joystick support, [[mode7]] and extensions via [[Library (computing)|libraries]].

==Supported platforms==
Official: [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[Linux]], [[Mac OS]], [[BSD]], [[BeOS]]

Unofficial: [[GP32]], [[GP2X]], [[GP2X Wiz]], [[Dreamcast]], [[PS2]]

==Status==
Its current version is 0.92a ([[Development stage#Beta|beta]]) and no project maintainer is currently taking care of updating it. The old 0.84 branch — which happened to be quite unstable — was retaken by SplinterGU, a developer from [[Argentina]] who cleaned of all known [[Software bug|bugs]]. Also a [[GNU]] default [[Automaker]]/[[Autoconf]] build system, which increases portability, has been implemented, making it very easy to add support for [[BSD|BSD systems]] in Fenix.

Although SplinterGU mainly focused on stabilizing the 0.84 branch, he has also added some new capabilities to Fenix, like a better control of the [[Debugging|debug]] console (also making it display more information).

Some of the Fenix 0.8 developers have started a Fenix 2 branch, which should feature a completely rewritten core, on top of which users ([[Video game developer|game developers]]) may plug the required [[Library (computing)|libraries]], thus increasing flexibility and modularity. However, this second effort seems to be taking a long time, and no [[Estimated time of arrival|ETA]] or further news about the project has been given by its developers, so it might not be made public soon.
SplinterGU, after publicly showing interest in separating the Fenix core from the rest of the interpreter,<ref>[http://forum.divsite.net/viewthread.php?tid=4853#pid46277 Fenix Forum SplinterGU's post on modularization] (Spanish)</ref> and some disagreements with some members of the community, decided to fork Fenix into [[BennuGD]] and continued working on this.

BennuGD has come a long way and is currently in a much more advanced and stabilized state than the current version of Fenix (0.92a). The program has been separated into a core and multiple modules. The core has been much improved, for example by optimizing the process handling, the modules have been tidied up and many bugfixes have been done. In addition to these improvements, the language itself has been expanded with more functionality, like error handling and goto. The [http://forum.bennugd.org Bennu Forum] is quite active and the [http://wiki.bennugd.org Bennu Wiki] is a good source of documentation.

==Running Fenix==
Fenix comes as a console program. There are several [[Integrated development environment|IDE]]s around, being the most popular [[FBTwo|FBTwo_Project]]. Many other general-purpose IDEs can be easily adapted to it.

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://fenix.divsite.net Official Site]
*[http://forum.divsite.net Official Forum]
*[http://fenixdocs.com English Wiki]
*[http://fenixworld.se32.com/fenixwiki/index.php?title=Portada Spanish Wiki]
*[http://fenixworld.se32.com Resources]
*[http://dariocutillas.wordpress.com/ New FlameBird 2]
*[http://fbtwo.sourceforge.net/en/home.php FlameBird 2]
*[http://booleansoup.com/index.php?p=32&mode=viewforum&id=15 Another English forum]

[[Category:Video game development]]
[[Category:Video game development software]]
[[Category:Scripting languages]]

[[es:Proyecto Fenix]]
[[fr:Fenix]]
[[gl:Proxecto Fenix]]
[[nl:Fenix Project]]