The RPdev Game Development Kit (RP/GDK) is meant to be a collection of useful classes that are handy when writing games (and maybe other applications such as visualization apps). It is written using Qt 4.

Roadmap

0.x

In this phase, the project is under heavy development. There will be no guaranty for neither binary nor code compatibility. Thus, applications using the project in this phase must be recompiled whenever the GDK changes. Concrete tasks in this phase:

  • Requirement analysis
  • Developing the base functionality
  • Towards the end: Code cleanup and adding precautions to preserve binary compatibility

1.x

From version 1.0 on, the project will try to preserve binary (aka ABI) compatiility as much as possible. To provide this:

  • Version 1.0 will be released only when basic requirements have fully been explored and it is unlikely that the interface will change heavily
  • The libraries will use several precautions to preserve ABI compatibility even when slightly changing the interface (e.g. adding new virtual functions)

Repository

The project is hosted at GitLab.

Installation

The project is currently available only as source. Thus, you will have to get a copy of the sources from Gitorious for the time being. Gitorious provides a function to download the source as zipped package, however, in the following instructions we will use git directly. Thus, install the following software and make sure, the commands are accessible via a terminal:

  • QT SDK >= 4.6
  • git

If you have all prerequisites installed, simply use the following commands to build and install the GDK:

git clone https://gitlab.com/rpdev/rpgdk.git
cd rpgdk
qmake INSTALLPREFIX=/where/to/install && make && make install

Use the INSTALLPREFIX option to set where the GDK will be installed. The make install command will create the following subdirectories there:

include/rpgdk
Includes the header files required to use the GDK in your projects
lib
This is where the library files will go

Note: When using qmake, you can also use the LIBSUFFIX option to e.g. install the libraries to lib32 or lib64 directories, depending on your system. Calling qmake would then look like

qmake INSTALLPREFIX=/where/to/install LIBSUFFIX=64

assuming you want to install to lib64.

Using the GDK in your Projects

We’ll assume your are using Qt for development and thus qmake as your build system. To use the GDK, you have to do two things:
First, you’ll need to tell qmake where to find the header files. Do this using the INCLUDES variable, e.g.

qmake INCLUDES+=$INSTALLPREFIX/include/rpgdk

where INSTALLPREFIX is the installation location you chose when building and installing the GDK. Second, you have to link your project against the module libraries the project requires. For example, if you are using the RPGfx module, use the LIB option:

qmake INCLUDES+=$INSTALLPREFIX/includes/rpgdk \
     LIBS+=" -L$INSTALLPREFIX/lib -lRPGfx"

You can also set the INCLUDES and LIBS options inside your project files and use environment variables to control the location of the GDK.