In the lead up to the semi-annual [[https://itch.io/jam/autumn-lisp-game-jam-2018][Autumn Lisp Game Jam]] I thought I'd look into Phil Hegelberg's approach to last Aprils Jam, using [[https://love2d.org/][love2d]] in concert with [[https://fennel-lang.org/][fennel]]. Phil outlines his approach on his [[https://technomancy.us/187][blog]].
The =make= process as-is will only compile the contents of the root folder and the =lib/= folder+subfolders, so make sure to put your game files in either of those.
Specifically, every =.fnl= file needed at runtime needs to be situated in the root folder, and every file which is not a =.lua= or =.fnl= file needs to be put inside =lib/=.
This build uses =gamestate= rather than Phil's approach to scene seperation and puts all your =.fnl= files into a =/src= directory. It also provides a seperate makefile that handles this layout.
Note, any macros will have to be placed in the root of the project or in the =lib= folder (this can be modified in =main.lua=)
Presently the only layouts are =clone= and =seperate-source=. If you want to make your own check out the =.duplicate= directory to see how they work.
Use =make linux=, =make windows=, =make mac=, or =make web= to create targets for each platform, or =make release= to make all four. Check out the makefile for more commands, and remember to edit your game data in it!
* Targeting the development branch of love (12.0) - LINUX ONLY
You can target the development branch of love (version 12.0) by setting the `LOVE_VERSION` parameter in the makefile to 12.0. Note that because we are working from a github artifact, rather than a release, you will also have to pass in your github username and a github PAT.
** Getting a PAT
To download artifacts created by the Github actions CI you will need to get an access token from "settings -> developer settings -> personal access tokens". The token needs `workflow` and `actions:read` permissions.
** Creating a credentials.private file
By default the makefile looks for `credentials.private` in the root directory of the project. `*.private` is part of `.gitignore` so personal information stored here will not be part of the git history or get pushed to a remote server.
The contents should look something like this:
#+BEGIN_SRC bash
GITHUB_USERNAME=username
GITHUB_PAT=PAT
#+END_SRC
Note: this is presently linux only, however it may be expanded in the future to cover macos and windows.
Phil Hegelberg's [[https://gitlab.com/technomancy/exo-encounter-667/][exo-encounter-667]] is structured using a modal callback system. Each game state has a mode and each mode has a series of specific callbacks.
If you design your game as a series of states in a very simple state machine, for example *start-screen*, *play* and *end*, with unidirectional progression, you can easily separate the logic for each state into state/mode specific callbacks. As an example, in order to have state dependant rendering that differs between start-screen,play and end you could provide a *draw* callback for each of those states. Similarly if we need state dependent logic and keyboard input we could provide *update* and *keyboard* callbacks. As you iterate you can add and remove callbacks and states/modes as needed with very little friction.
