The first version of the AGKWorkbench has been released.
This software is planned as an aid for military simulation developers who want to create such games.
One of the features that is lacking in such endeavors is that of formal database support for such work. In this first version of this package, such support is provided for the definition and storage of Orders of Battle, which is more commonly known by its acronym, OOB.
These data definitions are defined on a “simulation” basis, which means that as many simulations as one would like to develop, OOBs can be defined and stored for each.
As a result, data for complete OOB hierarchies can be defined and stored in a highly, popular embedded database system. In this case, the freely available and Open Source Firebird Database Engine.
The AGKWorkbench is planned as an ongoing project will eventually include basic AI algorithms that military simulation developers would require along with the ability to graphically visualize the processing of such routines where applicable. This latter feature is planned as a map-board development aid using the well-known graphics engine from the The Game Creators Team in the UK, who offer this product in the form of the AppGameKit Studio.
Access to this graphics engine is provided through the use of the freely available, third-party extension, AGKSharp, which allows .NET developers to use the graphics engine from either the VB.NET or C# languages.
The current version is completely written in VB.NET with the only exception of the included database ADO.NET provider, which is in C#.
However, if there enough requests for a C# version, I will consider a conversion of the entire system to C#.
To download this package, please go to the following link… https://blackfalconsoftware.com/agkworkbench/
Please note that two HELP files are included ion the package to assist developers with its use. There is one HELP file for the AGKWorkbench itself, as well as a second HELP file for the Firebird data access layer that is used for all of the database tasks.
