What about a VegaStrike SVN Launcher?

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Voronwe

What about a VegaStrike SVN Launcher?

Post by Voronwe »

As title topic.

Here is my idea.

I play Minecraft and I found really smart that the guys just let you download a easy launcher which check the last available version for you, update the game ecc.

I think that VegaStrike SVN should have a little graphical auto-compiler for Linux, Windows and Apple too (I'm a Ubuntu user).

It should check as a first install if you have the required packages to compile the game, download it and compile it, after that it should be able to check the SVN server for updates and, if the vegastrike folder is updated, re-compile the game, all automatically.

It would be fine if it would have the vegastrike and vssetup button on it after the installation.

Pros for this idea. I think that the best thing in VegaStrike is that this game is continuously under development, so an automatic launcher would be easy to host in the most important repositories (Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE, AppStore, the future Windows 8 Store), the app itself would be something very simple and lightweight, in this way the game should have more visibility by comments, ratings ecc.

I hope I made my point clearly, do you think it's a total waste of time or something easy to do (I think it would be a great opportunity for VegaStrike to have more fans).

As I said I'm a Ubuntu user and this page gave me the idea...

http://developer.ubuntu.com/

What do you think?

EDIT

I completely forgot to say that the launcher should be a double version one, it would be nice if you have the possibility between the last stable version or the last SVN or even more experimental versions... like Spoutcraft (an alternate minecraft client) if you know what I'm talking about...
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Re: What about a VegaStrike SVN Launcher?

Post by pheonixstorm »

Nope not really, but sounds like soemthing (at least linux side) that can be done with a python sh script combo. Not sure about the windows side of things.. shuttig down for the night so will have to pick up on this tomorrow. hmmm.. if you have the time can you look up the code and such that minecraft uses so the rest of the class can see how they did it and possibly build something VS can use.
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Voronwe

Re: What about a VegaStrike SVN Launcher?

Post by Voronwe »

Well, I just know that Minecraft is written using java libraries, it was the "idea" of the launcher that I would like to propose to you, I don't know if it would be useful for you...
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Re: What about a VegaStrike SVN Launcher?

Post by charlieg »

It is a good idea Voronwe. The problem, as with many good ideas that pass through the forums, is that it needs a motivated developer to dedicate time to it and do it well / "The Right Way (tm)".
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Re: What about a VegaStrike SVN Launcher?

Post by klauss »

charlieg wrote:It is a good idea Voronwe. The problem, as with many good ideas that pass through the forums, is that it needs a motivated developer to dedicate time to it and do it well / "The Right Way (tm)".
Not only the right way (tm).

In windows land, probably mac land too, building from source is not trivial, and it requires tools we don't have the right to redistribute. So while such a script is trivial in linux, windows and mac are different beasts, and it remains to be seen if it can be done without extensive user intervention.
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Voronwe

Re: What about a VegaStrike SVN Launcher?

Post by Voronwe »

My proposal was obiviously as a linux user (proudly linux user only since five years :P ), I thought would be good for this game to be hosted in the main linux repository (at least). I think that the most famous the game becomes, the more help you'll find to develop it.
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Re: What about a VegaStrike SVN Launcher?

Post by klauss »

We have binary releases for many distros already.
In linux, I think that is the best way to distribute game releases.

The script would be good only for those wishing to always follow the cutting edge.
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Re: What about a VegaStrike SVN Launcher?

Post by pheonixstorm »

java is enough like C++ that it wouldnt be hard to read over to figure out how it was done then see if its soemthing for VS. All in all a good suggestion though. Just not sure when we would be able to build soemthing like this for VS.

I have been toying with the idea of using something close to how wow handles updates or even Neverwinternights. NWN used a launcher for the game. Options being for Play, Toolset, Update, Config, etc.
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Re: What about a VegaStrike SVN Launcher?

Post by charlieg »

klauss wrote:
charlieg wrote:It is a good idea Voronwe. The problem, as with many good ideas that pass through the forums, is that it needs a motivated developer to dedicate time to it and do it well / "The Right Way (tm)".
Not only the right way (tm).

In windows land, probably mac land too, building from source is not trivial, and it requires tools we don't have the right to redistribute. So while such a script is trivial in linux, windows and mac are different beasts, and it remains to be seen if it can be done without extensive user intervention.
This is what I was alluding to by "The Right Way (tm)" - it is not immediately clear what that is.
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Re: What about a VegaStrike SVN Launcher?

Post by travists »

I for one think that a Linux script to automate the build process would be nice.

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Re: What about a VegaStrike SVN Launcher?

Post by klauss »

Such a script can be found in the .spec files used to package ;-)

It basically amounts to: svn up, cmake with tons of config options, make, and install (or not).
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