[Kde-games-devel] The Future of Game Development in KDE

[Dan Leinir Turthra Jensen]

On Wednesday 09 September 2009 23:24:14 Arturo Silva wrote:
> > That is indeed the goal (i have just finished writing the first bit of
> > stuff about my idea for game object structures, very inspired by
> > Unity3D's version of it, which already shows the potential for something
> > of what you describe above). If you wanna read:
> > http://gluon.tuxfamily.org/wiki/index.php?title=GameObject_Hierachy
> > It's fairly code-ey, so i dunno how hot you'd be on it, but... :)
> 
> Eeeep, I think my brain just exploded. >v<
> 
> j/k, j/k, I did try to learn C++/QT4. so even if I did crash and burn
> so far at least I can recognize bits here and there.  ^^
> 
> I can definitely recognize 3D game concepts in there, which is great
> (something I've always wanted to dabble with). ^^
> Hopefully I'll get to see some 2D stuff too, since that's more up my
> ally at this time.  ^__^b

  Yes, it is entirely likely that especially the rotation thing would make 
sense to change to an axis and an angle in stead - that way you could simply 
default to rotation around the Z axis (being the one going into the screen in 
OpenGL iirc), thus making it transparent for 2D games that the data structure 
would also support 3D information :)

> > Cool. BTW, Unity3D is pretty much state of the art when it comes to 3D
> > game development imo. But I thought you were going to concentrate on
> > 2D first. Isn't this (sprites, 2D elements) one of the things already
> > implemented in Gluon?
> 
> haha, and I guess I'm not alone. ^____^b
> 
> Could just be that since the Wiki page is relatively new, it doesn't
> have everything up there yet.  Assuming how well I can use Creator
> (I'll try it later in the evening if possible), I wouldn't mind
> lending a hand with documentation.  I can at least ensure that it
> becomes appropriately illustrative, as text-only documentation is
> boring.  ;)

  That's be absolutely brilliant - we do need a good lump of help with 
documentation :)

> > This is very true, very much so as well - and it is somewhere OpenSuse's
> > Factory might be able to help us out a bit... A bit of thought and one
> > would be able to set up a daily build of the source on there, so that
> > people would be able to use it without having to poke about with the, to
> > many people, quite scary make commands :) Especially considering the
> > target audience you basically described above - not so much yourself, but
> > the devil's advocate you of course ;)
> 
> Oh, I can be a dunce at times, I admit.  :P
> 
> I've heard but not used Factory,... thought perhaps it wasn't
> distro-agnostic.  ;)

  Factory is normally mostly openSuse, but you can also use it to make binary 
packages for other distributions (most of the major distributions, and a good 
few of the smaller ones), though i've never actually tried it :)

> But having the ability to sandbox development versions of kdegames is
> something I've always wanted to see.
> 
> Whether it exists or not in one form or another, I was always
> interested in having Playground be an actual graphical client
> (KPlayground?) which was something of a catalog for new development
> versions of existing games or a repository for new or alpha-stage KDE
> games.
> 
> The user could browse the catalog and install -- the client would then
> perform the installation in a sandbox environment, taking care of all
> that cmake and dependency stuff in the bg (albeit still visible on
> demand).  The user could play, test, rank, review and comment via a
> forum-like interface.  The user can contribute alternate sounds,
> graphics, documentation, walthoughs, or code patches via an upload
> frontend.  The user can also view the todo list, wishlist items,
> roadmap and release schedule for the game, so it's not a mystery to
> see whether the game is in development, dead, or teetering on the
> brink of obsolescence.  And of course, SVN updates would be regularly
> reported, with ability to "upgrade" the install to the latest SVN
> commit with similar ease, or downgrade if the latest version breaks
> something.  It can all be as simple or as complicated as the user
> wants, but at the end of the day it ensures that active development
> work is not tucked away in some corner of the web.
> 
> In short, I'd love for it to be a playground in the literal sense.  :D
> 
> And sorry, that's really got nothing to do with Gluon, so don't mind
> the tangent.  :)

  Well... it may well have something to do with Gluon... a distribution method 
for games based on a package containing assets and scripts, with no compiled 
binaries... that sounds like something where the GameObject system i mentioned 
might well work rather nicely ;) A distribution system similar to Steam or 
Impulse, but for OS-agnostic packages of assets and scripts, doubling as a 
launcher for them... there's good possibilities in this stuff, but it would 
make sense to wait until we have the rest running before we start that one :)

-- 
..Dan // Leinir..
http://leinir.dk/

                          Co-
                            existence
                          or no
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                          - Piet Hein