I am not sure what eXpl0it3r is aiming for, but I would suggest that another module should be created in SFML.
Instead of destroying the current modules completely, I believe we should keep them in the same path (fixing little things, improving here and there.). However, as everyone can see, SFML doesn't give you a lot for making games, we rarely see someone come to SFML Projects with an actually polished project because it takes lots of work on top of SFML to make one.
A new module could solve this by starting to introduce additional things, usable at the beginner level. On the top of my mind, I can think of therocode, binary1234, lolz123, Nexus and other people's awesome code to put together a nice set of additional features. The main motto for my approach is that beginners have been starting out with SFML for years and always posting the same vanilla projects with a simple View and a movable character etc. Why can't those beginners still post vanilla games, but with quality taken up a notch?
The additional modules didn't need to be a part of the core SFML library, but also collaborative extensions supported officially. I can think of many features that could be really useful, could be exposed through a simple API and make all the sense for all kinds of multimedia programs. But let's not forget SFML is probably used for games 99% of the times..
Here are some features that could be added:
- A entity system (component based)
- A premade renderer for that entity system
- A nice state manager approach
- Promote one of the great UI extensions as official or build upon one of them a new Ui system
- Model loading and a basic scene format
- Particle system behaviors
I can relate these to libraries like Ogre for example. A scene format for example, it could be forcing the users down a specific road to some extent, but it would also give a lot of new possibilities. If there was a SFML spec for a format along with a parser, it would be enough that someone builds a graphical editor (and it would happen for sure) and everyone could benefit of it. It would be a nice way for beginners to have more complex and interesting scenes from the start.
I defend this kind of extension approach a thousand times more than the little adaptations to the graphical API, like the shader and blend modes change upcoming next. This is because most people will still write custom opengl instead of using the SFML graphics library once they get serious about their projects. Everyone would benefit from simply having more raw power from SFML.
It's just my opinion
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