NJORD Engine v0.2.0: three genres, a New Project wizard and Save As

v0.2.0 sharpens what NJORD Engine is for. Instead of spreading thin, the engine now focuses on three genres it can take from an empty project to a playable build, plus a blank canvas for everything else. Getting started is faster too, with a New Project wizard, and your projects are now yours to put wherever you like.

Three genres, and a blank canvas

NJORD Engine now aims squarely at three kinds of game, each backed end to end by the crew and the runtime:

• Platformer , responsive jumping with coyote time and jump buffering, moving platforms, hazards, checkpoints and collectibles.
• Shooter , health and damage, weapons with ammo and reload, per-bone hitboxes for headshots, AI enemies that chase and shoot, plus explosive barrels.
• Racing , drivable vehicles with drift and handbrake, tracks with checkpoints and lap racing against AI opponents.

Anything outside those three starts from Blank, the minimal player, floor and goal, and grows from there through prompts.

Start from a genre

File ▸ New project… is now a short, two-step wizard. First pick a genre card, then set the name and location. Each genre seeds a ready-to-play starter scene built entirely from built-in primitives, no imported models, no external assets. Press Play right away, then prompt the crew ("add a second enemy", "make the platforms taller") to grow the starter into your own game without losing what is there.

• Platform starts you with a safety floor, a lava hazard, elevated platforms, coins and a goal.
• Shooter drops you into an arena with cover, ranged enemies, an ammo pickup and a rifle.
• Racing gives you a player car, an oval track and an AI opponent, winning on three laps.

Save anywhere, with Save As and versions

Projects are no longer locked to one hidden folder. In v0.2.0 you decide where they live:

• Choose a location. New projects default to Documents\NJORD, or pick any folder on disk. Open any project folder from wherever it sits.
• Save As. Make a named copy of the current project at a location you choose, without touching the original.
• Save version. Drop Blender-style sibling copies (MyGame_v001, _v002, and on), so you can branch off a safe point. A save never overwrites your existing work.

Older projects from before v0.2 still open in place with File ▸ Open project, no copying or migration needed.

On the RPG plans

Focusing on these three genres means the previously planned RPG systems are off the near-term roadmap for now. The building blocks are still there (dialogue, NPCs and quests), and deeper story tooling may return once the three genres are where we want them.

Try it

Grab the build from the releases page and see the Getting started guide to set it up. This is early development, so expect rough edges, and please report anything you find on GitHub.