THE CONTEST IS OVER!
This is for anyone who has technical questions or issues that they would like answers to. Examples:
NOTE: This thread is for help but you are still responsible for solving the problem if you get no response.
My game is written in Ruby and that means it needs it installed on the computer. Also I only tested it on MRI Ruby 1.9.3 and rbSFML needs MRI Ruby(may also work on Rubinius I read on http://groogy.se ).
I think its relatively easy to install on Windows, go to http://rubyinstaller.org/ and click the huge button, then get the installer for Ruby 1.9.3 and on same page the Devkit-tdm-32-4.5.2 . Use the installer and make sure it is not installed into a directory with a space in name, the default C:\Ruby193 is fine. Then install the DevKit package, like in the QuickStart paragraph at https://github.com/oneclick/rubyinstaller/wiki/Development-Kit , that unfortunately requires typing 3 commands into a console window.
You can try if it worked by typing "gem update" into a console window and the output indicates no error compiling a gem.
I prepared dll files for SFML and a Ruby gem file for rbSFML already, but only for the Ruby version and DevKit version above, to spare you from compiling it on Windows.
I sincerely hope thats not too much to ask from the judges.
If anyone would want to try on a different OS or Ruby version that would be more involved (and I did not try although the game should be crossplatform) as you would also need to get MRI Ruby, SFML and rbSFML and you should try getting it from the usual channel for your OS first and likely need to go also to https://github.com/Groogy/rbSFML and follow the instructions there for compiling the git version of rbSFML.
Hi, similar question to the one above - my game is made in Ruby. I could probably compile it to .exe and .app, but it would be preferable if I could just submit the Ruby source code for the competition.
I am using the Gosu gem. There are different system requirements:
On all systems, Ruby 1.9.3 or 1.9.2 or 1.9.1 (preferably 1.9.3 or 1.9.2) would be required.
On Windows, there are no other dependencies, just the gem install. On Windows it's really easy.
On Mac, it's really easy IF you have XCode or DeveloperTools installed. Otherwise you would need to install XCode. DevTools and Xcode are included on the Mac OSX install disk. Not sure whether all the judges would already have XCode installed or not... (If you've lost your install dvd, XCode can be downloaded for free from developer.apple.com.)
On Linux, some basic dependencies have to be added with apt-get (routine for Linux users):
sudo apt-get install build-essential freeglut3-dev libfreeimage-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libopenal-dev libpango1.0-dev libsdl-ttf2.0-dev libsndfile-dev libxinerama-dev
Once the dependencies are in place, it's just a simple gem install. This can be performed with bundler, or with a simple:
gem install gosu
In case any of the judges want to check it out and see it works on their system or not, here is a link to a basic Gosu tutorial on github: Tutorial Link
The tutorial is simply called "loader". In order to try it out, one would:
cd into the "loader" folder
bundle install
ruby loader.rb
Not sure if this is asking too much of the judges?... If this wouldn't work out for most of the judges, we could try to compile to .exe and .app.
<<EDIT: It sounds like we will easily be able to create a .app of the game. Not 100% sure about .exe... >>
On very rare occasions, Gosu doesn't work properly on some Windows environments, which causes everything to "stutter" and move really slow.
I'm just posting here to try to get some advanced feedback so I can ensure that I've got everything all sorted out before the eleventh hour.
There are some additional instructions on the Gosu wiki (mac users skip past the C++ instructions to the Ruby instructions).
How are you planning on making an exe? I'm new to Ruby and from what I read it is not compilable. From searching I found there was something to package a source(maybe bytecode) program with the interpreter into a exe file, but that thing is old, unmaintained and only for Ruby 1.8.x. One a little newer gem for this also seemed not promising to me, considering I also need asset files and some dll files which additionally could give licensing problems.
Ruby installed on the computer and only shipping a zip file feels really like the best way; and its not much different from having to install the JRE.
A little feedback from the judges would be nice.
Ya, it shouldn't be too hard for the judges to install Ruby, especially if they're on Windows.
I've heard that the ocra gem makes it really easy to compile to .exe (at least with Gosu). This is what someone told me:
"I've been just using ocra to make an .exe for windows friends. It works fine for Gosu games on Windows. Just "ocra gosu_game.rb" and then exit the game after it starts, spits out an exe. "gem install ocra" to get it. Dunno if it works on other platforms, but it works great on Windows."
I've never been successful at compiling to .exe and .app, but I think the other guys on my team might be able to do it.
Ya, I'm really on pins and needles to hear from the judges on this. I assume that if it takes a lot of effort, some of the judges will look at it and some of them won't. But it would be helpful to know if a) most of the judges already have Ruby installed or b) none of the judges already have Ruby installed - that sort of thing.
For me, sending a github link seems better than sending a zip file, but I guess it's a matter of personal preference.
- Jason Astle-Adams
I can't speak for the other judges, but I'm a Windows user and am more than happy to install Ruby to try your games as long as the process of getting your game running is simple.
I'm also happy to install from GitHub if you want to do it that way, but remember that I'll be pretending I'm not a developer and judging the experience as an end-user; if you don't provide nice clear instructions that work early your score may be impacted.
What he said. With emphasis on the bolded.
I would feel better compiling it to an *.exe file if I were you all--I see it less likely to have an error (especially a third-party error due to Ruby settings or file directories or whatever else could go wrong...
But if it doesn't have to be compiled to qualify, that's up to you all.
Thanks for the feedback. Are any of the judges using Mac, or only Windows?...
I read in the rules that all debugging must be taken care of prior to the deadline. Not sure if I understand correctly, but I take this to mean that I can submit my incomplete game ahead of time to see if there are any bugs which might prevent the judges from being able to check it out.
If this is the case, should I post the work-in-progress for bug detection here in the Technical Questions section, or would it be better to post the work-in-progress to the main contest thread?
I am also hoping to clarify: should I place the final submission in my original registration post (by editing it), make a new post on the game contest forum, or submit in some other way?
I have a problem: javascript can't close tabs it has not created itself, so the mandatory requirement becomes impossible: exit key and screen. I can close down the application and quit from game sessions properly, but the last part is impossible :(
