Goals doc

[Christian Reiniger <warewolf@mayn.de>]

I've written up a proper "What is PenguinPlay" doc for the revamped
homepage. Please read carefuly through it and give me some feedback, as it
suggests a shift in focus for PenguinPlay.

This is a result of some thinking I've done lately - How PenguinPlay 1.0
will look like, in what way PPlay is different from other Linux game SDKs,
in what ways it is *better* etc.

The expressed ideas are not new - they are almost all taken from existing
texts. But they are stated more explicitly, more clearly. And the resulting
picture is, well, different.


Anyway, here is it (just ignore the HTML tags):

------------------
<b><i>Abstract</i></b>  <br>

<p>PenguinPlay aims at creating a consistent, universal, efficient set of
tools for game developers, taking as much work of their shoulder as
possible.</p>



<b><i>Details</i></b>  <br>

<p>We want to create a package of everything game developers will need -
this includes both a library of code common to most games and a set of
utilities for game software and content development.</p>

<p>The <em>code library</em> will contain primarily mid-to-highlevel
functionality, including things like
<ul>
        <li>a multiplayer network protocol implementation</li>
	<li>2D sprite / layer / region / ... management</li>
	<li>3D engines for the most common environments</li>
	<li>support for file archives (like Quakeīs PAKs</li>
	<li>...</li>
</ul></p>

<p>However, proper lowlevel functionality will be provided as well, for
those people who prefer to work with the bare metal</p>

<p>The <em>utility collection</em> encompasses (expr?)
<ul>
        <li>compiler(s)</li>
	<li>source management tools</li>
	<li>build tools</li>
        <li>painting / image manipulation software</li>
	<li>3D renderers</li>
	<li>sound mixing / ... software</li>
	<li>3D mesh / scenery editors</li>
	<li>...</li>
</ul></p>



<b><i>How will this be done?</i></b>  <br>

<p>Well, of course we canīt code everything ourselves, and it would be
foolish anyway as there already exists a multitude of excellent
free libraries, utilities and applications. So our main work will be
looking around, determining what existing packages are suited well enough,
filling the gaps with our own code and compile a nice package of
everything.</p>

<p>Most likely we will also create some &quot;PenguinPlay Vx.y
conformant&quot; specification, perhaps as part of the Linux Standard Base
project.</p>

<p>Examples for existing packages that are likely to be included in
PenguinPlay are:
<ul>
        <li>The low level <em>GGI</em> graphics, input and sound libraries</li>
        <li>The <em>CrystalSpace</em> 3D engine</li>
	<li>The <em>libsigc++</em> event distribution library</li>
	<li>The <em>Gimp</em> image manipulation application</li>
	<li>...</li>
</ul></p>



<b><i>Target Group</i></b>  <br>

<p>PenguinPlay primarily targets hobbyist game developers for now. Thatīs
not because we were not serious about delivering the highest possible
quality and power, but because professional game developers usually already
have their good collection of code and applications and thus wonīt be
interested in PenguinPlay.</p>

<p>Until we get significantly better than what they have that is ;)</p>



<b><i>Supported Platforms</i></b>  <br>

<p>Our primary development platform is Linux/x86, but parts are already
being ported to Win32 and we definitely plan to support many more
platforms.</p>
-----------------------------


	Christian
--

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