Sv: Hmm...

["Bjarke Hammersholt Roune" <asmild@post6.tele.dk>]

>>  > So the new agenda for PPlay is to round up all the libs out there and
list
>>  > their strengths and drawbacks. There hasn't been any major objections
from
>>  > anyone about this (I have a bad memory, I didn't forget something,
right?).
>>  >
>>  > Well, if that is the case, I propose we do something about it! Someone
>>  > should be set up as the coordinator for that, and we should get some
people
>>  > on a team doing that. There really isn't very much to plan in this
regard...
>>  > Atleast not to gather the information.
>>
>>
>> Here we come back to demo programs.  I feel we should be trying to
>> write our own game.
>>
I agree wholly, but I don't think the time is right just now. I think we
should wait untill we have mostly complete information on all the libs that
might be apliccable to games. Being able to use PenguinFile and Penguin2D
(or any of the other PenguinX libs) in the game would be a major boon, too,
and that too will take a little while to happen.

I think perhaps the time will be right somewhere between 3 weeks to 6 weeks
from now. I strongly suspect that we will have a usable, if perhaps not
perfect, PFile by then. I don't know about any of the other PenguinX libs. I
thinkt the lib list will also be reasonably "mature" by then, in that it
will give a good overview and allow us to make informed decisions.

Of course, this doesn't mean we can't make up out minds about some quite
crucial questions, like what kind of game we want to create. What kind of
architecture. C or C++. Wheter we will make something up, or clone a simple,
well-known game (think Tetrix).

Personally, I think we should create something that is simple, as a proff of
concept of the libs we are using (aswell as getting used to and knowledable
about them), and to get past the initial hurdles of using the various libs
(I really do doubt any of us have tried them all).

I propose we start out with Tetris. Tetris is good because everything in it
is simple:

* IO
Practically non-existant. Only thing is the possible high-score list and
perhaps some graphics.

* Display
We have to be able to draw to the screen, but things are pretty simple.

* UI
The interface is extremely limited. Support for "new game", "pause",
"rotate", "down", "go left" and "go right".

* Misc.
We have to be able to do timers, and some limited program logic (blocks stop
on collision downwards, but not side collision, blocks can't go off the
field, lines disappear if they are full and new shapes appear whenever a
shape is placed).

And that's it.

On another note, I think we should do things the way that we first create a
game, and then port it to the different libraries. This makes it nessecary
to do alot of encapsulation of everything, as else this will get hairy. With
good encapsulation, though, things should be pretty easy. Tetris is simple,
so we have a very limited amount of components, all of which can be coded
without inter-component dependencies. That's another reason Tetris is IMHO a
good idea.

Of course, other simple games would probably serve our porpurse well too. I
like Tetris best, though.

PS.
I just discovered LaTeX. I'm in love. Ahh, the bliss of free software :)