nKast

  The new version of KNI 3.11.9002 brings performance improvements, bug fixes, and implements missing features from the XNA. A more detailed list of the changes is available on the changelog.

Download KNI v3.11 today.
See migrate to v3.11 on how to upgrade your current projects.

Architecture

  The restructuring of the framework continues, with Content, Graphics, Audio and Media namespaces moved to their own assemblies. Input and Game classes are still in the platform assembly MonoGame.Framework.dll. 
   Those changes affect the Content Pipeline as well, where the entire dependency tree is core framework libraries. The dependency to MonoGame.Framework.dll that we had in v3.9 is eliminated.

FontDescriptionProcessor

  FontDescriptionProcessor has a couple of changes and fixes. It is now required to include the extension when you specify a local font file in FontName tag. Otherwise, the font name has to be a valid FontFamily name. The tricks that worked until now like, 'Arial Bold' will not work anymore. Instead you can now specify the style in the FontStyle tag like 'Regular', 'Italic', 'Italic, Bold', or 'Bold'.
e.g.

  <FontName>Calibri</FontName>
  <Size>16</Size>
  <Style>Bold, Italic</Style>

 
Content.Pipeline.Builder.Task

   The asset builder is now a self-contained nuget package. Instead of the Kni.Content.Builder.targets import, we now have a package reference to nkast.Xna.Framework.Content.Pipeline.Builder.3.11.9001.
See Migrating Content Builder.

net8.0, trimming and AOT

The templates, libraries and tools are upgraded to net8.0. The old targets are still supported via multitargeting (net6.0, netstandard2.0, etc).
Trimming has been enabled for the core libraries Framework, Content, Graphics, Audio, Media and Platforms when targeting net8.0. 
Trimming is also enabled on the iOS, Android, DesktopGL templates.
PublishAOT is enabled on the DesktopGL templates.
With trimming the resulting builds are smaller, which can benefit Mobile and Web games. See Enable Trimming. Bellow are screenshots of a small sample app build for Android and BlazorGL. Not only the libraries of the framework are smaller, but this has a cascading effect on the core .net libraries as well.



 


Sponsors

While KNI is free and open-source, maintaining and expanding the framework requires ongoing effort and resources. We rely on the support of our community to continue delivering top-notch updates, features, and support.
By becoming a Sponsor, you can directly contribute to the growth and sustainability of the KNI Game Framework.