I'm starting a new game project. First, I made a list of my goals (which mainly involve trying out new things). Then I sketched out the idea for a game and thought a little about how it would play and what I would learn by programming it.
Before starting to program though, I started by setting up my programming environment:
- Version control. I set up a Subversion repository on local disk. Later: set up a remote repository, either on a web server or using some code hosting service like Sourceforge.
- Makefile. I set up a simple Makefile that should work on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows/Cygwin, using conditional compilation to isolate the platform-specific rules. Later: figure out automake or makemake or one of those other cross-platform build configuration systems.
- Notes file. I created a text file where I will keep all my notes. It needs to be something easy to edit and search through. Later: use a wiki?
- Backups. I have a script that uses
rsyncoversshto copy the Subversion repository to another machine. Later: get an off-site backup solution. - Install VMWare. VMWare offers their Player for free, and they also offer an Ubuntu Linux image for download. It was very easy to set this up. After Ubuntu started up (inside VMWare, running inside Windows XP), I had to install a few more packages (g++, OpenGL+GLUT development libraries, GNU make), but after that I was able to test my code on Linux. I don't have a similar setup to test on the Mac. Later: set up a script that will periodically sync with the Subversion repository, attempt to compile, and email any error messages to me.
After setting up the development environment, I wrote a simple 3D application. I find it much easier to extend existing code than design everything up front and write it all at once, so I start by writing a very simple program that I can then extend.
My next step on the design side will be to write down a more detailed description of the game world, what the player is supposed to do, and why the task is fun/challenging. My next step on the implementation side will be to figure out how I want to represent the game world.
Labels: project
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