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--- cppdev:gamecodeoverview [2011-09-26 10:10]
Carsten Completed section about game dir contents
+++ cppdev:gamecodeoverview [2017-05-08 11:15] (current)
Carsten deleted obsolete section (it's superseded by the component system)
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ====== Game Development Overview ======
+/* Should we say something about the term "MOD" somewhere on this page?
+Cafu separates the core engine (the technical framework that is the common basis for each game or app) from the program code and the resources for each game.
+MODs:
+like plug-ins / architecture
+multiple at the same time
+each mod can be game or application
+not let this stop you from modifyin the core engine
+ */
 The Cafu Engine can be used both for developing single- or multiplayer games that ship as individual products,
@@ Line 13: / Line 22: @@
 ===== One directory per game =====
-In order to achieve these goals, all files, data and program code for a game are stored in one common directory, which in turn must be a subdirectory of ''[[http://trac.cafu.de/browser/cafu/trunk/Games/|Games/]]''.
+In order to achieve these goals, all files, data and program code for a game are stored in one common directory, which in turn must be a subdirectory of ''Games/''.
-For an example, see the ''[[http://trac.cafu.de/browser/cafu/trunk/Games/DeathMatch|Games/DeathMatch/]]'' directory of the DeathMatch example game that ships with Cafu:
+For an example, see the ''Games/DeathMatch/'' directory of the DeathMatch example game that ships with Cafu:
 {{:cppdev:deathmatchdirectory.png}}
+(Also see [[cppdev:startnewgame]] for help about creating a new game directory.)
 Although you're largely free to organize the contents of the game directory as desired,
@@ Line 25: / Line 36: @@
 The following sub-sections list and explain most of these "fixed" files and directories.
-==== EntityClassDefs.lua ====
-File ''EntityClassDefs.lua'' defines all entity types that can occur in the game.
-The file is read both by the world editor CaWE and the actual game code.
-For each entity type, it specifies details like names, dimensions, properties, etc.
-==== Code/ ====
-Directory ''Code/'' contains the source code for the implementation of this game.
-The source code is compiled into a program library that the Cafu Engine dynamically loads and binds to at runtime whenever it initializes for a new game.
-The program libraries are known as "DLLs" (dynamic link libraries) under Windows, and "SOs" (shared objects) under Linux. Independent of the platform, this library with the binary code is referred to as "DLL" in this documentation, and it is kept in another subdirectory of ''Code/'' as well.
-The DLL is expected to have the same name as the game, and thus expected to be found in
-    Games/DeathMatch/Code/build/.../DeathMatch.dll     (Windows)
-    Games/DeathMatch/Code/build/.../DeathMatch.so      (Linux)
-where ''%%...%%'' is a path that is automatically created by the build system according to your platform, compiler and build variant.
-The ''%%...%%'' path is also known to the Cafu Engine so that it can load the library.
-See section [[#the_game_source_code|The game source code]] for more details about the game source code.
@@ Line 66: / Line 54: @@
   * ''GUIs/MainMenu/MainMenu_main.cgui'' -- implements the main menu that is shown after program start.
-In addition, the DeathMatch game code in [[http://trac.cafu.de/browser/cafu/trunk/Games/DeathMatch/Code/HumanPlayer.cpp|DeathMatch/Code/HumanPlayer.cpp]] loads
+In addition, the DeathMatch game code in ''DeathMatch/Code/HumanPlayer.cpp'' loads
   * ''GUIs/HUD_main.cgui'' -- implements the players head-up display (cross-hair, ammo count, etc.).
@@ Line 76: / Line 64: @@
 Contains the map files as saved by the CaWE Map Editor.
-You don't actually have to save your map files in this directory, but we may merge ''Maps/'' with ''Worlds/'' sometime in the future, and thus ''Maps/'' is still the recommended place to save ''.cmap'' files.
+You don't actually have to save your map files in this directory, but we may merge ''Maps/'' and ''Worlds/'' sometime in the future, and thus ''Maps/'' is still the recommended place to save ''.cmap'' files.
@@ Line 84: / Line 72: @@
 Materials are often reused in several maps of a game, and thus ''Materials/'' is where all map materials are centrally stored.
-The CaWE Map Editor loads the material definitions from this folder in order to provide the map designer with the choices in the Material Browser dialog. The Cafu Engine loads the material definitions fro ''Materials/'' as well in order to render the materials in the game.
+The CaWE Map Editor loads the material definitions from this folder in order to provide the map designer with the choices in the Material Browser dialog. The Cafu Engine loads the material definitions from ''Materials/'' as well in order to render the materials in the game.
 ==== Music/NextTitle.txt ====
-Whenever the player enters a new map, the client calls console function ''StartLevelIntroMusic()'', that in turn is defined in the ''config.lua'' in the Cafu top level directory and that uses file ''Music/NextTitle.txt'' in order to play the next title from the list of files in ''Music/''.
+Whenever the player enters a new map, the client calls console function ''StartLevelIntroMusic()'', that in turn is defined in file ''config.lua'' in the Cafu top level directory and that uses file ''Music/NextTitle.txt'' in order to play the next title from the list of files in ''Music/''.
@@ Line 103: / Line 91: @@
 The world files generated by compiling are stored in ''Worlds/'', where the main menu GUI (''MainMenu_main.cgui'' in the DeathMatch example game) looks for ''.cw'' files that the player can choose to enter.
-It also looks for a matching screenshot image to show in the maps list.
+It also looks for a matching screenshot image to show with the maps list.
+The ''Worlds/'' directory is also the right place for [[http://api.cafu.de/lua/|map scripts]]:
+  * A map scripts must be placed into the ''Worlds/'' directory "next" to the compiled world file. That is, the script must have the same base name as the world, but suffix ''.lua'' instead of ''.cw''.
+  * The map script is //not// compiled along with the ''.cw'' file: You can change it at any time, and the changes become effective as soon as the world is loaded/restarted the next time. In fact, it is even possible to [[general:developer_faq#how_do_i_dynamically_reload_the_map_script_in-game|update a map script while the game is running]], that is, //without interrupting it//.
-===== The game source code =====
-The source code for the DLL is in ''Code/'', inside which you can organize and arrange the source files at will.
-The first function that the engine calls in the game DLL is ''GetGame()''.
-For our example game DeathMatch, we have defined this function in file
-[[http://trac.cafu.de/browser/cafu/trunk/Games/DeathMatch/Code/DeathMatch.cpp#L89|Games/DeathMatch/Code/DeathMatch.cpp]]. \\
-//Please check out this file for more information on the function signature and documentation!//
-The next steps to get more familiar with the code is to check out the
-[[http://api.cafu.de/classcf_1_1GameSys_1_1GameI.html|cf::GameSys::GameI]] interface,
-and its implementation in ''GameImplT''.
-The core engine will call the methods of the ''cf::GameSys::GameI'' interface, e.g. those to have new entities created after a map file has been loaded or when another player joins the game, and it's the job of the game code to provide implementations for these methods.
-See the code for class ''GameImplT'' in order to see how it was done for the DeathMatch game.
-With the ''BaseEntityT'' pointers to newly created entities, the engine will also call the virtual methods in the ''BaseEntityT'' interface, in order to let entities know about events or to have them carry out tasks.
-These methods too are supposed to be overridden by the concrete entity implementation, and are in fact the essence of implementing a game:
-An entity is considered a state machine that lives in a virtual world, interacting with the world and other entities, and for example its ''BaseEntity::Think()'' method is expected to update it over a small amount of time whenever the method is called (by the server code inside the engine).
 ===== Exploring the code =====
-This document is not complete, and we will continue to improve it.
+The class hierarchy is shown in ''Ca3DE/ClassDiagram.dia''
-The class hierarchy is shown in
-  - http://trac.cafu.de/browser/cafu/trunk/Ca3DE/ClassDiagram.dia and
-  - http://trac.cafu.de/browser/cafu/trunk/Games/DeathMatch/CodeDesign.dia
-but these two documents need to be merged and updated and completed, where necessary.
-If you have questions about anything that is mentioned in this document (or is missing and should be mentioned),
-please let us know! We will be happy to answer you questions and use the answer to improve this text.

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