G!A programming language for 2D gamesLanguage ProposalRachit Parikh [email protected] Arora [email protected] Lianoglou [email protected] Ray [email protected] W4115: Programming Languages and TranslatorsDepartment of Computer ScienceColumbia UniversitySeptember 26, 2006IntroductionThe minutia of game development is a tedious and complicated affair. In general, game developers are forced to write repetitive code that requires a lot of bookkeeping in order to ensure its proper function. If one takes a moment to think about the details involved in writing code to figure out if two objects run into each other, or moving an object on the screen in response to a keyboard press, the details of this process will quickly come to the light.Enter G! The goal of G! is a game developing language which specializes in making interactive 2D games. G! will enable the game developer to focus on the overall game play of the target game instead of the rote details of the game play implementation.G!G! is a hybrid, simple, high-level, versatile, architecture neutral, portable, Newton-aware, rapid-development gaming language.As the language designers who precede us have done, we have taken the liberty to characterize our language with a set of buzzwords. Each buzzword will be explained below along with the problems we are attempting to solve which resulted in their use.HybridObject Oriented Languages have been rising in language over the past several years. Some argue that this is a result of the expressive power that it lends to the programmer. Others would also argue that the previous argument is a fallacy and its true reason for popularity is to mitigate the impact of poorly written code to affect a larger system. We won't take a stand on this issue, per se, but, in general, we think OO-programming is A Good Thing™.Sometimes OO programming can be too cumbersome and more traditional procedural programming techniques are Good Enough™ to solve a given problem.G! will let you mix the two techniques in order to leave it to the developer to choose which approach is best suited for a given task.SimpleWhat do we mean by simple?The unique selling point of G! is that ANYBODY with minimal technical skills will smoothly be able to develop their own, unique gaming application. There will be a small number of keywords and constructs to remember with easy and intuitive syntax which will expose extensive libraries of functionality in an intuitive manner. This will simplify the process of writing game code.High LevelThe syntax and semantics of G! will allow the programmer to think of the game more on the lines of objects on a 2D plan as opposed to pixels in a Vector Space. The mechanics involved with writing code to move an image across the screen will be hidden underneath higher-level functions that will take care of these details for the developer.VersatileG! is a language which can be used to quickly and easily develop any type of game that can be played in 2D. Its functionality is not limited to writing only board games, card games, or the like.If the game can be thought of as being played on a 2 dimensional plane, then G! is the right tool for the job.Architecture NeutralThe game developer can program the game on the computer of her choosing. G! can be developed using Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux running on x86 or PowerPC architecture.PortableG! programs are compiled into java byte code, thus enabling the resulting programs to run on any machine that can run the Java Virtual Machine (Version 1.5 required)Newton-awarePart of developing games involves working with different bodies and how they react to each other. While Newton was focused on bodies of the celestial variety, G! deals with bodies that move around in the game. Game objects are collision-aware. No need for the developer to figure out how to determine if one thing touches the other, our game objects allow the developer to code up reactions when they are “touched”.Rapid DevelopmentHybrid + High Level = Rapid Development!In a few short lines of code you can have a rudimentary game going and a few short minutes is more than enough to come up with these few short lines of code.Avenue for Productive ProcrastinationG! makes you feel good about yourself. Are you slamming your head against the wall trying to build a linear classifier for data in n-dimensional hyperspace? Take a break and code up a quick game. You'll have all of your friends fooled as they think you're busily solving the problem at hand, when you're really having fun and making yourself a new game!SynergisticAccording to answers.com, 'Synergy' is defined as the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects." We believe that co-operative interaction among the G! language code, the libraries and the compiler along with the JVM, creates an enhanced combined effect makes G! truly synergistic.Basic SyntaxHere’s what we envisioned our language to look like: The following snippet of code tries to define a rudimentary 2 player game. It basically does nothing more than play some sounds, do ‘something’ when one player crashes into another. game = Game(name="Block World", num_players=2)game.board = GameBoard(width=680px, height=680px, background_color=red)#What is a game without some sort of a soundtrack???game.add_sound("path/to/looping_sound_file.midi", key="bground_song")game.add_sound("path/to/BANG_SOUND.midi", key="contact")# Let's make a player object# Load it from a picture -- the Sprite constructor will automatically # Get from the image its size -- and make 'hit borders' to matchplayer1 = Sprite('path/to/player1_figure.png')# So we have a sprite -- need to make it do things -- react to environment# An Action library which defines basic actions# like:# Action.contact# Action.move#my_action = Action.move(distance=5px, direction=Direction.left) # what triggers actions? --> Events.# There are EventHandler's which handle events that# happen to/with spriteshandler = EventHandler()# This handler knows how to react to key presses, in this case# make the sprite move left 5px when left arrow (<-) is pressed handler.on_key_press(key='<-', action=my_action) # the handler also knows about events.handler.add_behavior(trigger=Action.contact, action="Ouch!")## now, make the player1 sprite react to these events.player1.set_event_handler(handler)# Repeat the same thing for Player 2#
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