Crash BASIC — Release Summary, 1.42.0 → 1.44.0

Headline features

Type-bound methods — types that do things (1.44.0)

The marquee addition. A TYPE is no longer just a bag of fields — it can carry
methods, and a method knows the instance it was called on through a new
implied reference, SELF. No classes, no inheritance, no ceremony.

TYPE Player
    health AS INTEGER
END TYPE

SUB Player::TakeDamage(amount)
    SELF.health = SELF.health - amount
END SUB

FUNCTION Player::IsDead()
    IsDead = SELF.health <= 0
END FUNCTION

DIM p AS Player
p.health = 100
CALL p.TakeDamage(30)
IF p.IsDead() THEN PRINT "game over"

A method is an ordinary sub/function plus SELF — so every call form works:
CALL p.Method(), x = p.Method(), methods on array elements
(CALL enemies(i).Hit()), methods as THREAD/TIMER/RENDER/EVENT
callbacks, and methods called on SELF from inside another method. DIM x AS Player now creates a real, pre-populated, type-tagged instance. And in
multiplayer, a typed object keeps its type across the network, so its methods
resolve on the receiving machine without shipping any code — every player runs
the same program.

Self-animating polygons — Polygons Come Alive (1.43.0)

SET POLYGON binds a polygon's vertices to a MUTATION. Put a behavior on the
mutation and the shape animates itself on the GPU, every frame, above its
layer like a sprite — no per-frame redraw. Fill it, texture it, animate the
texture with a second mutation, or run a sprite shader on it. Concave shapes
(stars, arrows, crescents) now fill correctly via ear-clipping, and mutation
coordinates went floating-point so motion is smooth instead of stepping.

Build for every desktop, from any desktop (1.42.0)

Package a game for Windows, macOS, and Linux from a single computer,
whatever you're running — one machine, all three desktops. The first time you
target a platform whose build tools aren't installed, the packager offers to
fetch them. Audio and video libraries are now built in, so a packaged game is a
tidier, more self-contained bundle.

FM synthesis grows up — FM Finds Its Grit (1.42.2)

Custom instruments gained the two things the FM chips of 16-bit consoles were
famous for: operator feedback (the warp from clean sine toward a gritty
sawtooth) and FM envelopes (the timbre moving over a note — the classic
electric-piano "ping," a swelling brass note, a decaying bell). Modulators can
now stack, too, for the more aggressive voices a single modulator can't reach.

JMES() — query your data in one line (1.42.0)

JMES(data, "query") runs a JMESPath query over
JSON-shaped data and hands back a normal Crash value — reach a nested field,
run a function over an array, filter and take the first match, without
hand-walking a tree.

Notable fixes & refinements

Graphics & collision

• Uniform collision geometry (1.44.0). The automatic FOR … COLLISION
  loop now uses each sprite's bounding box and scale, matching the explicit
  collision checks — every collision test point shares one definition.
• Aseprite per-cel Z-Index honored (1.42.6). The direct .aseprite loader
  now composites cels in the same front/back order the editor shows, frame for
  frame.
• SET SPRITE n FRAME f (1.42.0) — change a sprite's frame on its own,
  without re-stating position and image.

Audio & music

• Instrument Volume actually works (1.42.3). The slider had been silently
  discarded on every keypress; it now holds, layered correctly on top of note
  velocity.
• No ceiling on custom instruments (1.42.4). Instruments numbered above 66
  in a custom .cbi pack are reachable from music instead of snapping back to
  I66.
• Loops land on the downbeat (1.42.5). Song loops are measured against the
  whole pattern (drums included) and snapped to whole bars by time signature —
  no more frantic double-time first bar.

Text, platform & runtime

• TEXTTOIMAGE matches PRINT spacing (1.42.1). Baked text now lines up
  exactly with printed text (fractional advances carried, rounded only at draw).
• Signed macOS builds notarize (1.42.1). Inner pieces are signed in the
  correct order with the hardened runtime, so downloaded copies open cleanly.
• IMPORT anywhere in the browser (1.42.7). The WASM runtime now expands
  IMPORT on any line, matching native.
• ANIMATE with no frame list animates (1.43.1). The "use all frames"
  shorthand now cycles the whole sheet instead of freezing on one frame.
• Reliable packaged-game launch (1.42.0) regardless of how the build is
  started; friendlier iOS cloud-save messages.

Multiplayer correctness

• SET POLYGON is client-only (1.43.1). Bound polygons render per-client,
  so a server-side SET POLYGON in a CrashNet game is now a clear error.

Version-by-version

Compatibility, in one line

Every release in this span is additive or a correctness fix. The only
behavior changes worth a regression glance: mutations are now floating-point
(1.43.0); DIM x AS UndeclaredType is now a loud error rather than a silent
untyped object (1.44.0); and the FOR … COLLISION loop now respects a sprite's
BBOX/scale (1.44.0). Nothing else alters the shape of code you've already
written.