NAME

Module::Build::SDL - Module::Build subclass for building SDL apps/games [not stable yet]

SYNOPSIS

When creating a new SDL application/game you can create Build.PL like this:

use Module::Build::SDL;
  
my $builder = Module::Build::SDL->new(
    module_name   => 'Games::Demo',
    dist_version  => '1.00',
    dist_abstract => 'Demo game based on Module::Build::SDL',
    dist_author   => 'coder@cpan.org',
    license       => 'perl',
    requires      => {
        'SDL'     => 0,
    },
    #+ others Module::Build options
)->create_build_script();

Once you have created a SDL application/game via Module::Build::SDL as described above you can use some extra build targets/actions:

• you can create a PAR distribution like:

  $ perl ./Build.PL
  $ ./Build
  $ ./Build par

  There are some extra parameters related to 'par' action you can pass to Module::Build::SDL->new():

  parinput  => 'bin/scriptname.pl'
  paroutput => 'filename.par.exe',
  parlibs   => [ qw/SDL SDL_main SDL_gfx/ ],  #external libraries (.so/.dll) to be included into PAR
  parmods   => [ qw/Module::A Module::B/ ],   #extra modules to be included into PAR

• to run the game from distribution directory you can use:

  $ perl ./Build.PL
  $ ./Build
  $ ./Build run

• TODO: maybe some additional actions: parexe, parmsi, deb, rpm

DESCRIPTION

Module::Build::SDL is a subclass of Module::Build created to make easy some tasks specific to SDL applications - e.g. packaging SDL application/game into PAR archive.

APPLICATION/GAME LAYOUT

Module::Build::SDL expects the following layout in project directory:

#example: game with the main *.pl script + data files + modules (*.pm)
Build.PL
lib/
    Games/
          Demo.pm
bin/
    game-script.pl
data/
    whatever_data_files_you_need.jpg

the most simple game should look like:

#example: simple one-script apllication/game
Build.PL
bin/
   game-script.pl

In short - there are 3 expected subdirectories:

• bin - one or more perl scripts (*.pl) to start the actual application/game

• lib - application/game specific modules (*.pm) organized in dir structure in "usual perl manners"

• data - directory for storing application data (pictures, sounds etc.). This subdirectory is handled as a "ShareDir" (see File::ShareDir for more details)

• As the project is (or could be) composed as a standard perl distribution it also support standard subdirectory 't' (with tests).

RULES TO FOLLOW

When creating a SDL application/game based on Module::Build::SDL it is recommended to follow these rules:

• Use the name for your game from Games::* namespace; it will make the later release to CPAN much easier.

• Put all data files into data subdirectory and access the data subdir only via File::ShareDir (namely by calling distdir() function)

• TODO: maybe add more