Stingary Engine Code Walkthrough #1 Overview

原视频：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgbSYxf9vT4

Code Philosophy

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• Simple(decoupled,linear)
  • C-like C++
• Data Driven
• Do not compromise on performance
  • O(N) mostly

no STL data structure, but STL algorithm is fine.

Data pipeline overview

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Resouces: tress/larch.unit (name.type)

               compile
  [source data] ----> [ compiled data]

• Source data ( JSON, textures,fbx,...)
• Compiled data : Packed binary ( can be platform specific)
• Separate steps: compile & run

• The windows executable is the data compiler (--asset-server)
• Cross-compiles to other platforms
• Data compile is incremental

Data at runtime

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• Managed by resource_manager.h
• Load into memory: load("tree/larch","unit")
• Accessed by systems:get("tree/larch","unit")

• Grouped in packages
  • Becomes bundles

Engine and editor

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• Editor is a HTML5 application (Chromium)
• There is also a C# editor backend (We want to get rid of it)
• The editor viewport is the regular engine

• The engine runs in a window on top of the editor window
• It is moved in sync with the editor windows
• Engine & editor communicates through a web socket ( not a quite good solution)
• Editor reads and writes source data --> triggers compiles & reloads
• We can use the same mechanism to connect to a remote viewport
  • and for example make an Android phone slave after the level editor

Extending the engine

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• Engine can load DLLs to extend its functionality (Navigation,Wwise,...)
• A C based API is used for communicating between the engine and its plugins
• It's based upon query for interfaces
• get_engine_api(DATA_COMPILER_API_ID) -> struct with C function pointers
• plugin_api.h
• Plugins expose APIs that engine can query for
• (Editor has an extension system too)

Game dynamics

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• Can be written as a plugin DLL
• Or scripted with Lua (LuaJIT)
  • Lua API based on top of the C API
• Flow ( visual scripting language)
  • Gets compiled to a "bytecode" ( of sorts)
  • Interpreted at runtime

Build system

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• CMAKE generates project files for the different platforms
• Ruby frontend to CMAKE: make.rb -- engine -p ps4 -c debug
• Once generated , projects can be built in Visual Studio
• Libraries are installed with spm.rb (from S3)
  • spm-packages.sjson

Platforms

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• win32,xb1,android,macosx,ios,ps4,webgl,linux
• make.rb -p PLATFORM
• Defines:WINDOWSPC,XB1,ANDROID,...
• Platform specific data folder
• Secret platforms:xb1,ps4
• Code for these platforms is in subrepositories
• Only the win32 can compile data

Runing on Platforms

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• Usually we run in "file client mode"
• Start a file server locally
  • stingray.exe --asset-server -secret xHG7fHy
• (File server is the same as the data compiler)
• Launch runtime
  • stringray.exe --host 162.0.0.15 --secret xHG7fHy --data-dir C:\data_xb1
• Data is streamed over TCP to the client
• Can also deploy data locally (less common)

Runtime

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• application.cpp
• Load setting.ini for project
• Init all systems (threading,files,resources,...)
• Lua callback init()
• Update loop
  • Update timers
  • TCP/IP connection ( console server)
  • System windows
  • Input
  • Lua update()
    • Calls update on game worlds
  • render() ( Rendering happens on render thread)
  • Other various system updates
• Lua callback shutdown()