v0.9.0 released - LBA2 now runs natively on Linux, macOS, and Windows

[noctonca]

We've gone from a 1997 engine that wasn't designed for 64-bit modern hardware to a portable native source port that runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows - pure C/C++ against SDL3 without needing DOSBox, a Watcom toolchain or an ASM build dependency. Folks are already running it on handheld devices in the wild!

We've achieved excellent portability and wonder how many platforms LBA2 can run on natively.

What's in v0.9.0:

• Native engine binaries — Linux AppImage (x86_64 + aarch64), Windows portable ZIP (x64). Single static-linked .exe; drop it next to your retail install and run. More targets to come.
• Long-standing crashes fixed — magic-school grand wizard, endgame credits, Linux exterior draw-order, Bezier memory corruption.
• Easy discovery of retail game data — The engine probes the folders around it and there is always ./data, --game-dir, or LBA2_GAME_DIR env var.
• Quake-style debug console that allows you to fiddle with the engine (F12, configurable toggle key), SDL3 gamepad support, optional follow-camera, menu mouse QoL.
• Save-format compatibility — legacy 32-bit .lba saves load safely on 64-bit builds, with a corpus harness preventing regressions.
• Host-only tests running on Linux/macOS/Windows in CI; ASM↔C++ renderer-equivalence framework underneath.

Release: https://github.com/LBALab/lba2-classic-community/releases/tag/v0.9.0
Full changelog: https://github.com/LBALab/lba2-classic-community/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md
Discord: https://discord.gg/jsTPWYXHsh

Thanks to 2.21 for open-sourcing the engine in the first place, and to every contributor who helped us get here - code, bug reports, play-testing, handheld experiments. Our goal for a 1.0 release is to make sure that the game is completable without any major issues. Beyond 1.0 we can look at new features and other ways to experience this amazing game.