Dialogue with cocos author: In-depth exploration of cocos one-stop solution

Chukong Technology released a blockbuster news, announcing the official launch of the cocos one-stop solution, which integrates frameworks and tools such as Cocos2d-x, Cocos Studio, and Cocos Code IDE, providing developers with a full set of game development solutions. The launch of this product is also the realization of the cocos brand announced at the 2014 Fall Cocos Developer Conference. On the eve of the product launch, 51CTO reporters interviewed Wang Zhe, vice president of Chukong Technology, and Zhang Xiaolong, senior technical director of Chukong Technology and author of Cocos Studio, to explain the details of the cocos one-stop solution.

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Zhang Xiaolong, Senior Technical Director of Touch Technology and Cocos Studio author

What is Cocos' one-stop solution?

As we all know, Chukong Technology has many cocos sub-brands, including Cocos2d-x, Cocos2d-html5, Cocos2d-js, Cocos Studio, Cocos Code IDE, Cocos Push, etc. This time, it launched a one-stop solution for cocos. Everyone can't help but ask what the one-stop solution for cocos is. Wang Zhe introduced that the one-stop solution for cocos launched this time has unified all independent products of the cocos engine family, including the whole process from re-establishing projects, game production, and packaging and launching. Developers can quickly generate code, edit resources and animations through cocos, and finally output game products suitable for multiple platforms.

The release of Cocos one-stop solution will effectively improve efficiency and save costs for developers. The game development iron triangle of planning, art and programming can work together better on this set of cocos tools, from game creation, running builds, debugging and compiling, game publishing, to the integration of all services and deployment, can all be completed in cocos.

Wang Zhe gave an example, saying that after setting up the environment, developers can use the launcher to directly build the project, planners and artists can use Cocos Studio to build scenes and design gameplay, debug the code in Code IDE, and then use AnySDK to quickly access and deploy; finally, developers can also choose the plug-ins and services they need, and all steps can be completed in one go.

Highlights of Cocos' one-stop solution

The first version of the Cocos one-stop solution is named cocos 2.1, which is consistent with the version number of Cocos Studio. Zhang Xiaolong said: "The Cocos one-stop solution is not just a simple integration of product lines. We have made many product optimizations. The biggest highlight is the workflow, which brings together the framework, tools, and services of the Cocos family in the same workflow and integrates the complete development workflow."

In terms of function optimization, Cocos has also made a lot of updates:

First of all, Cocos is a cross-platform version, with Windows and Mac versions released simultaneously, unified functions and universal data, which will greatly help the collaborative work of the game team;

Secondly, in terms of user experience, Cocos has made a lot of optimizations compared to previous versions, and the user experience is more in line with the developer's usage habits;

Third, in terms of functions, Cocos has launched many practical functions, and the UI and animation editing functions are more powerful. At the same time, the layout system has been completely redesigned, and multi-resolution adaptation will be easier. At the same time, a plug-in extension mechanism will be launched, and developers can use scripts to extend the controls and functions of Cocos to meet the needs of different users in an optimal way;

Fourth, in terms of execution efficiency, cocos optimizes the export data and supports multiple data formats. The deeply optimized binary data ensures the efficiency of engine parsing, and provides json and lua data for the Js and Lua versions of the engine, making it easier for developers to debug data;

Fifth, in terms of code debugging, Code IDE optimizes debugging efficiency and code prompt speed, giving developers a better programming experience;

Sixth, Cocos 2.1 launched the Cocos Store, which is an integrated resource store that will continuously update plug-ins, resources, tools, examples and other rich resources to provide developers with great convenience. #p#

Cocos is not only about integration, but also about innovation and breakthrough

The launch of the cocos one-stop solution is an integration of the brand and an enhancement of user awareness for Touch Technology, but it is also an innovation and breakthrough that actually solves many problems for developers.

Wang Zhe introduced: "In the past two years, cocos sub-products have had a high market share, but some products have high configuration thresholds and the supporting tools are relatively scattered. Developers need to spend a lot of time looking for matching tools. At the same time, the workflow is not clear enough, which makes the connection between different development tools unclear. Through this integration, this problem will be solved."

First of all, Cocos solves the problem of difficult installation. Wang Zhe said: "Although there are many tutorials on "how to install Cocos2D-X on a certain platform", many developers who have just started often cannot find the corresponding resources, or even if they find them, they find that the installation tutorial and the engine version need to match. This wastes a lot of users' time and also causes us to lose a lot of beginner users."

Second, solve the problem of scattered supporting tools. Cocos2d-x has a long history of open source community, and engine supporting tools and various editors are flourishing. When choosing, users often don’t know which tool is the easiest to solve a certain problem, and they also have to solve the matching problem of tool and engine version. Wang Zhe introduced: "In the past two years, Touch and its partners have launched many corresponding tools and services for various pain points in cocos2d-x game development. There are many excellent products, including Cocos Studio, Code IDE, Cocos Push and Changsi Advertising, etc.; on the partner side, there are Tile Map for tile maps, Texture Packer for texture merging, Spine for 2D skeletal animation, etc. Most developers still don’t know about so many good products, because these tools and services are scattered on countless websites, and it takes a long time to register, activate and download these tools and services on these websites. So we need a unified entrance, integrated products and cocos plug-in store to tell developers which tool is the most appropriate and effective at what time, and cocos effectively solves these problems."

Third, we solved the workflow problem. Wang Zhe said: "Games have a complete process from creativity, development, testing, to launch. From the perspective of product design, we directly linked these original tools together with a clear thread, and the integrated product is now Cocos."

The integrated product will be easier to use, integrating all tools and services to form the shortest and clearest workflow, solving the problems of high barriers to entry, scattered tools, and unclear workflow. Zhang Xiaolong introduced that at the same time, cocos uses a large number of GUI interfaces to cover up obscure command line operations, making it easier for artists and planners other than programmers to use the cocos tool set for development; providing engine binary precompiled libraries to improve compilation and debugging efficiency; providing a cocos plug-in store that includes various third-party plug-ins and services, and automatically matching plug-in and engine versions, which is of great significance to Cocos 2d-x partners and the ecosystem, and also saves a lot of developer time.

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Wang Zhe, Vice President of Chukong Technology

Cocos: Suitable for development teams of different sizes

Cocos was launched as an integrated one-stop solution. It seems to be a more advanced product. But everyone can't help but ask, is it suitable for my team? Zhang Xiaolong said: "Cocos is suitable for R&D teams of different sizes. The integrated workflow is very suitable for multi-person collaborative work. Using Cocos will standardize the development process and reduce communication costs. At the same time, Cocos is also suitable for small teams and individual developers because Cocos integrates all the functions of game development and is simple and easy to use. For small teams and individual developers, it will save a lot of unnecessary work, reduce various trivial processes in the development process, and maximize efficiency."

Zhang Xiaolong also said that existing users of the cocos series of products can continue to use the cocos one-stop solution without worrying about anything. He said: "Each component in the cocos tool set has existed and developed independently for many years. They are all market-proven products used by many developers. Now these components are just combined and the workflow of calling each other between components is streamlined. All developers can continue to use the knowledge accumulated over the years of Cocos 2d-x and Cocos Studio. It just feels more convenient to operate and there is no need to learn anything new."

postscript:

Cocos' one-stop solution continues the free model, which is very worth looking forward to. In addition, we will reveal some new features that will be released next: Cocos will launch one-click deployment around the game development workflow. After editing the game scene in Cocos, you can directly package and deploy it to the mobile phone for real-time preview; Cocos will integrate code editing functions in the resource editor to make the interaction between resource editing and logic code smoother; Cocos will integrate popular third-party tools to meet the full range of user needs; Cocos will launch 3D functions and 3D editors, and will fully support all types of 2D, 2.5D, and 3D games.

[Editor: Lao Men TEL: (010) 68476606]