Losing my virginity
Apr. 13th, 2007 02:34 pmI installed vmware[1] with an Ubuntu[2] distribution, installed the game framework[3] built over SDL, downloaded the example code, installed gcc[5] and some X libraries[6], built them[7] -- and they worked[8].
It is now possible to turn a description of how pictures should move on the screen directly into a program that shows that. I felt sure all, or at least some of those steps would explode horribly, but apparently not.
I was sure *each* of the numbered steps would go horribly wrong, but no, each worked out of the box. Vmware worked straight off, even down to sharing the internet connection. Ubuntu clear and easy to use. Once I installed the necessary packages, the code built, and produced executables that -- worked.
(Why was I doing this at all? Writing a simple action game. However, I haven't done any linux programming ever, and no graphics programming since I was a teenager, and didn't fancy writing all the cross-platform backend from scratch before I started.
(SDL is a fairly well known cross-platform graphics api. CRM32Pro is layered on top of that providing sprites and the like. If anyone can suggest what I should be using instead, please do. (But saying where I ought to have started from can't possibly help.)))
It is now possible to turn a description of how pictures should move on the screen directly into a program that shows that. I felt sure all, or at least some of those steps would explode horribly, but apparently not.
I was sure *each* of the numbered steps would go horribly wrong, but no, each worked out of the box. Vmware worked straight off, even down to sharing the internet connection. Ubuntu clear and easy to use. Once I installed the necessary packages, the code built, and produced executables that -- worked.
(Why was I doing this at all? Writing a simple action game. However, I haven't done any linux programming ever, and no graphics programming since I was a teenager, and didn't fancy writing all the cross-platform backend from scratch before I started.
(SDL is a fairly well known cross-platform graphics api. CRM32Pro is layered on top of that providing sprites and the like. If anyone can suggest what I should be using instead, please do. (But saying where I ought to have started from can't possibly help.)))