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TIGSource ForumsCommunityTownhallForum IssuesArchived subforums (read only)TutorialsA Beginner's Guide to Installing PlayN
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Author Topic: A Beginner's Guide to Installing PlayN  (Read 4196 times)
Serapth
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« on: October 14, 2011, 08:35:53 AM »

This is a crosspost from this conversation.

Google recently released PlayN ( formerly ForPlay ) a write once run anywhere ( if by anywhere you mean Java, Android, Flash and HTML5 ) game development library.  The library itself is very Java-centric, so if you do not have experience using Eclipse and Java, the install process will be more than a little daunting.

I put together this installation guide which explains in extreme detail the installation and configuration process.  It will walk you through installing the IDE and GiT, configuring PlayN to the point you will have a running game project to start your development from.

Hopefully you find it useful. Cheers.
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Player 3
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« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2011, 08:46:52 AM »

You are a holy man, ascending to the holy temple of Games From Scratch. Was just on there the other day. Very useful.
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Serapth
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« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2011, 08:59:19 AM »

Please don't feed my ego, my wife already finds me obnoxious. Smiley

And thanks!
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Serapth
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« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2011, 05:54:57 PM »

So I looked into PlayN a little deeper and went to run the HTML5 target I generated from the earlier tutorial and ran into all manner of problems.

Simply put, the Maven install process in Eclipse seems to be broken.  The easiest solution seems to be to ignore Eclipse and use Ant ( and Maven ) from the command line.

I did a follow up post that explains how to install Ant, use it to configure PlayN then run your game's HTML5 target.  Additionally I followed up with how to run Ant within Eclipse for those that are afraid of the command line.  Hopefully some of you find it useful.

Building and running your PlayN HTML5 game.


On the bright side, once completed, you can actually see your game running in a web browser:

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Player 3
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« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2011, 08:55:54 AM »

You should probably also state that you cannot build or run to Flash or Android with ANT. It may be obvious, as this is for HTML5.

Source:
https://developers.google.com/playn/gettingstarted#working-with-ant
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Serapth
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« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2011, 09:11:51 AM »

You should probably also state that you cannot build or run to Flash or Android with ANT. It may be obvious, as this is for HTML5.

Source:
https://developers.google.com/playn/gettingstarted#working-with-ant

Very good point.  I actually think the Flash build is still a WIP as it is anyways.  I will also say, after wasting about 6 hours of my life, App Engine deployment seems to be horrifically broken, and the process is garbage. Pure pain.
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Serapth
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« Reply #6 on: November 06, 2011, 08:25:26 AM »

So, I am quite enthused by PlayN while being equally appalled by the installation process.  Simply said, for those with a Java bent, PlayN is the perfect technology for Indie developers.

So, I did something about it, I created a one-click installer!

Although, by one click, I mean more like 6 or 7, but compared to the earlier instructions ( or Google's non-working instructions ), it is night and day!


Installer can be found here.

Install with an extreme amount of detailed instructions can be found here!


Now that the installation isn't a complete nightmare, I high encourage you to check out PlayN, it is quite cool... when running!

I will probably be doing a series of tutorials on actually programming with PlayN now that the whole getting it actually running part is licked.


The installer itself it some 500+ lines of Powershell, a language I didn't know until this weekend, so keep that in mind! Wink  For the detailed minded, the script:
- downloads and configured the JDK [optional]
- downloads 7zip for later use ( from GameFromScratch.com )
- downloads and installs ( local ) Git
- downloads and runs the Android SDK
- Git’s PlayN from googlecode
- Downloads and installs Maven
- Runs Maven on the PlayN code
- Downloads and installed the New Game Wizard from GFS.com
- Runs the New Game Wizard [optional]


None of these bloat up your computer though, so simply deleting the install folder gets rid of everything.


Of course, it hasn't been tested a ton, so if you have an issue, let me know! 
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mcc
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« Reply #7 on: November 06, 2011, 09:05:36 AM »

Seraph: Very neat! Is there a chance this could be adapted to non-Windows OSes?
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Serapth
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« Reply #8 on: November 06, 2011, 09:15:30 AM »

Seraph: Very neat! Is there a chance this could be adapted to non-Windows OSes?


Sadly,no.  It is written entirely in Powershell, so would require a complete re-write in a different language to make it work. 
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Serapth
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« Reply #9 on: November 07, 2011, 05:34:17 PM »

Yeah, so in one of those karmic WTF moments, Google added PlayN to Maven Central, which made this whole process ( and all my work ), completely obsolete.  Oh well, at least I got to learn powershell ( which is exceedingly cool ).


For updated instructions, using Netbeans or Eclipse, check here.  I swear it's the last version I'm writing! Wink


The process is vastly improved though, I again recommend checking it out.
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