Whorld V2 Alpha released

An alpha release of Whorld V2 is now publicly available.

The author reserves the right to make breaking changes, and in particular, to change file formats such that previously saved files become unreadable. Your mileage may vary. You have been warned. If you wish to be an official alpha tester, please contact the author via their website, social media, or GitHub. Note the system requirements below.

Requirements:

• PC running Windows 10 or 11 with DirectX 12 (or higher)
• Whorld could conceivably run on Windows 8 or even Windows 7 if the necessary service packs are applied, but performance will likely suffer. Direct2D 1.1 is required.
• Whorld may work satisfactorily on a Mac via virtualization software such VMWare or Parallels, but this is unproven. Note that virtualizer-induced misbehaviors will be considered features, not bugs.

It has been nearly twenty years since the last release. The main design goals of Whorld V2 are listed below. The first six of them are fully accomplished in this release.

1. Improve rendering throughput by leveraging Direct2D’s hardware acceleration. [done]
2. Implement anti-aliasing (line smoothing), which is a core feature of Direct2D. [done]
3. Improve accuracy by drawing in floating-point coordinates, another Direct2D feature. [done]
4. Modernize the user interface via dockable panes and similar enhancements. [done]
5. Move rendering to a worker thread, to avoid glitches and tearing. [done]
6. Redo the MIDI mapping, to improve usability and flexibility. [done]
7. Streamline the application, preserving what’s valuable and discarding what isn’t. [in progress]
8. Eventually, implement transparency (alpha) and other visual effects.

V2 has its own issues list, HERE. V2 does not necessarily agree with the V1 documentation, and this will be addressed though not immediately.

“There’s the way it ought to be. And there’s the way it is.” —Sgt. Barnes, Platoon

“I mean it like it is, like it sounds.” —Mike, Twin Peaks, “Cooper’s Dreams”