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AppGameKit Studio Chat / AGKRepo Guide

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Zaxxan
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2024 09:05 Edited at: 26th Oct 2024 10:31
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How many of you would be interested in building your own Windows version of AppGameKit Studio if I were to produce a guide? Obviously it would take a lot of effort on my part to create the guide and I would only want to do it if there is real demand for it and ideally from people who want to add to the repo.

I know it can be daunting delving into C++, C and Android Studio and AGKStudio is huge project supporting multiple platforms which makes it even complicated.

If we can get more users involved with building the Repo and helping to address issues and maybe even adding new features then the future of AppGameKit may be more certain.

We can then share ideas and help each other to make AppGameKit better, we can learn from each other on how the AppGameKit Repo works. I've learnt a lot in the last 7 months but I've only just touched the surface.

Update: Draft copy of the AppGameKit Repo Guide is now available. Requires Windows 10 64-bit or later
Update: Added notes on how to update the change log, API, Google Billing etc

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hendron
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2024 13:33
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+1 from me. I've been considering delving into the repo at some point, so I'd be interested.
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MucMac
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2024 17:00
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+1 from me, too. I am specially interested in the compiling the mac version, since i develop my games on a macbook.
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2024 17:36
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I would have thought the mac process would be similar to the windows version so if you can master that then the mac version may be doable
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Virtual Nomad
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2024 17:37 Edited at: 22nd Sep 2024 17:39
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+1 here, Zax. and as noob friendly as possible, please
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2024 17:41
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I'll add all necessary links for the software and add screen shots where appropriate.

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agkcoder
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2024 17:54
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+1

Would be awesome!
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2024 18:31
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If you want to build the Repo you need to have a drive 'D' as the Repo is setup to use this drive, in theory it should work on any drive but when I tried it it failed and as I had a drive 'D' I didn't investigate any further, probably due to a fixed path in the build process.
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TheWanted
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2024 18:49 Edited at: 22nd Sep 2024 18:50
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Macro vars are very handy in visual studio. That way no hard coding of paths is necessary
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Virtual Nomad
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2024 18:56
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FWIW, i'm most interested in the steps required to add a command to agk, followed by fixing existing ones.

can you share more of the idea posed here? would it be more of an expansion of the steps @ the repo or something else?
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2024 20:06 Edited at: 22nd Sep 2024 20:08
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The command side is not easy as any command added has to work on all platforms unless it's a platform specific command. I've only experimented with the commands so far. Don't expect to build the Repo and just add a command. Once users can build the repo they may then try to understand how it all works. If someone with as much knowledge about AppGameKit as you have VN can build the Repo you have a far better chance of fixing command issues or adding new commands than I do.

That's why I think this guide could be useful, if various users that are using windows, mac etc and have knowledge of AppGameKit, Android, ios etc can then work together then the understanding of the Repo will be greater.

The first step is to build the Repo which is what I hope the guide will do.
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blink0k
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2024 20:51
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+1 from me
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Virtual Nomad
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Posted: 22nd Sep 2024 21:13 Edited at: 23rd Sep 2024 05:39
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Quote: "The first step is to build the Repo"

absolutely. and thanks for the offer to open the door wider for us.
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GemGames
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Posted: 29th Sep 2024 01:39
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Zaxxan wrote: "If we can get more users involved with building the Repo and helping to address issues and maybe even adding new features then the future of AppGameKit may be more certain."


That sounds really good. When you mention issues, do you mean issues with the existing AppGameKit Studio IDE, or issues with the runtime AppGameKit functions themselves?

What types of new features were you considering? Do you mean new editing features for the IDE, or more like new AppGameKit commands and enhancing existing commands? Or possibly both?

I am not a professional programmer or anything like that, but I am potentially interested in this, assuming that I can be of help. Sounds intriguing!
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Zappo
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Posted: 29th Sep 2024 01:52
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This certainly sounds great to me. My only problem is that I cannot guarantee that I will have much spare time to help out with it - but would love to if I can.

I definitely think it would be better if we worked on fixing a few things first before adding new commands but I suppose there is no reason why both can't happen.
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 29th Sep 2024 17:02 Edited at: 29th Sep 2024 23:23
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I think the best approach is to complete the initial draft of the guide and get a couple of forum members to work through it to see if they can complete the build so that I can iron out any issues that are encountered. Once we are confident that the guide can be successfully used to build the Repo it can then be released to other forum members and when they have successfully built the Repo I'm hoping they will then be interested in finding out how AppGameKit Studio works. I have started the Guide and once I have completed it my plan is to work through it on another of my PC's that hasn't been used to build the Repo, If I don't find any issues I will release it as a draft version, if anyone is interested in the initial test then please let me know and I will PM a link to the guide. I hoping to have something ready in the next 2 or 3 weeks.
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PSY
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Posted: 29th Sep 2024 18:34
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Sounds great. I'm always down for some testing....


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SFSW
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Posted: 29th Sep 2024 22:32
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Count me in to help as I have time. I'll likely focus on the Windows side of things, but will try to help as I'm available.
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GemGames
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Posted: 30th Sep 2024 21:06
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Zaxxan wrote: "I think the best approach is to complete the initial draft of the guide and get a couple of forum members to work through it to see if they can complete the build so that I can iron out any issues that are encountered."


I'd be interested thanks, as long as the process of completing a build isn't a major undertaking (which I don't believe it would be) due to my limited time availability. I appreciate you doing all this and making the guide!

I usually run off of a Windows 7 machine, but if that is an issue then I could try instead from a Windows 10 machine instead.
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Dark_ITheI _Angel
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Posted: 1st Oct 2024 10:17
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To who can answer it, probably zaxxan.
If TGC decide to make another app,something that i dont believe but not totally impossible. Wouldnt it be a waste of time? Just like it would be if it were for DBPro nowdays?
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 1st Oct 2024 12:45 Edited at: 2nd Oct 2024 16:19
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I have completed the draft copy of the Guide and emailed a link to PSY and SFSW for now. Once I have sorted any initial issues out I will share the link on the forum.
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GemGames
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2024 16:52
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Zaxxan wrote: "I have completed the draft copy of the Guide and emailed a link to PSY and SFSW for now. Once I have sorted any initial issues out I will share the link with others."


Sounds really good, thanks!
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2024 17:48 Edited at: 2nd Oct 2024 19:12
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@Dark_ITheI _Angel I've no idea what TGC's plans are for the future, at this current time they are working on GGM. I do think that AppGameKit still has a future and will continue to work with Windows and possibly Android, not so sure about Mac and ios though as I have no experience of those systems.

From a Android API point of view the last update supports API 35 and for once AppGameKit users don't need to panic about Google Play requirements for a while, I hope!
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Dark_ITheI _Angel
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Posted: 2nd Oct 2024 21:29
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@Zaxxan,

That was the promised from TGC,to keep AGKS compatible with the relevant ones,windows and android wich as far as they sell AGKS,they should. I just ask myself,how far should the community get involved in its Development when judging by TGC'S record,they do come up after some years with a new Application and by lee bamber own words, for GGMax they have a limit where they want it to go(after that its finish and they go to the next one,afaiu it has always been like that.)

Just thinking out loud,not trying to stop your humble attempts,guess TGC is the one who could really know how much sense it makes developing it past compatibility
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2024 09:17 Edited at: 3rd Oct 2024 09:20
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I'm not sure what your point is, are you saying we shouldn't be making any changes and hope that TGC do?

As far as I'm aware no one is working on AppGameKit anymore, Paul has left and Mike doesn't have any input either. Lee maintains the Repo and releases a new Steam update when there has been changes to the Repo.

The majority of the changes in the last 8 months have been made by myself which is why I am trying to encourage other AppGameKit users to get involved otherwise AppGameKit will probably go the same way as DBPro went.

Regarding future TGC applications only TGC know the answer to that. I somehow think that if any new application is released it would be AI based as that seems to be the current trend, personally AI doing the programming for me would take away the fun.
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GOTO HelloWorld!
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2024 12:33
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GREAT IDEA!

I really hope this repo will be pinned on the discussion on Steam for easy access or better, is integrated into the help tab in the software.

I only use tier 1 scripting though, so 'helping' is probably out of my league.

I find it so sad this doesn't get better support, so anything that can help with that is more than WELCOME!





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Zaxxan
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Posted: 3rd Oct 2024 16:52
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I could add the Repo to the help tab if people think it would be useful.
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 4th Oct 2024 17:39
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@PSY, SFSW, I have uploaded v0.4 of the guide with a few corrections.
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 4th Oct 2024 20:59 Edited at: 5th Oct 2024 08:23
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Both PSY And SFSW has successfully built the Repo using the guide and their determination

I've got to add a bit more info to it to make a few things clearer but hopefully it will be available to other users soon.

It's quite s lengthy process to get everything installed and working correctly but this only has to be done once.
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GemGames
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Posted: 4th Oct 2024 21:56
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Zaxxan wrote: "PSY has successfully built the Repo using the guide and their determination

I've got to add a bit more info to it to make a few things clearer but hopefully it will be available to other users soon."


Awesome! Looking forward to this, thank you for all your work!
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agkcoder
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Posted: 5th Oct 2024 02:06
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"I could add the Repo to the help tab if people think it would be useful. "

Not sure about that. Actually if anything I would remove links and auto connecting to servers from the IDE, check for new DLCs etc. not relevant anymore. I think the new direction should be a 100% standalone self sufficient AppGameKit that doesn't want to connect anywhere and includes all dependencies in one package. People who want to check out the source will find it easy. Once the guide is ready a dedicated sticky post could be up with a link to both the source code and the build guide.

Just my 2 cents...
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 5th Oct 2024 08:21 Edited at: 5th Oct 2024 08:24
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If the links stop working they can be easily removed. The link most likely to carry on working would probably be the Repo I would think. Making the guide a sticky and including the link to the repo is a good idea.
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 5th Oct 2024 10:53 Edited at: 5th Oct 2024 10:53
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I've just added a link to the guide in my first post if anyone wants to give it a try,

It probably still needs a bit of tweaking but hopefully it is a good starting point and will enable most users to build the Repo. Any issues please let me know. I'll possibly expand on the guide on how to make changes to the API, Billing etc.

Thanks to PSY and SFSW for testing the guide.
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PSY
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Posted: 5th Oct 2024 15:30
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My pleasure, it was fun and I learned some stuff

Thanks for the Guide and your hard work Zaxxan!


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MucMac
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damn, this is only for windows installations... anyone using MacOS here?
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GemGames
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Posted: 5th Oct 2024 15:41
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Zaxxan wrote: "I've just added a link to the guide in my first post if anyone wants to give it a try,"


I looked at the guide, but there are no system requirements mentioned. Do you know what version(s) of Windows the installation requires or supports? I.e. 10, 11, 7, even XP or Vista? What is the minimum version of Windows (that the software necessary to build AGKS) supports? Thanks.

Possibly could the current system requirements be added to the document / guide for easy reference?
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 5th Oct 2024 15:51
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I would recommend Windows 10 or 11 64bit
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PSY
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Posted: 5th Oct 2024 15:51
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I believe Android Studio requires at least Windows 8, while Github Desktop requires Windows 10 64-bit or later / macOS 10.15 or later


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Zaxxan
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Posted: 5th Oct 2024 15:54 Edited at: 5th Oct 2024 15:59
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The AppGameKit Studio requirements are shown below, so these probably apply to building the Repo as well:-

MINIMUM:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Celeron / Athlon Sempron
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: Open GL 2.0 compatible
Storage: 2 GB available space
Sound Card: N/A

RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 or better
Processor: Intel Core i3 / Athlon FX series or better
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia Geforce 500 series / ATI Radeon HD 6000 series or better
Storage: 2 GB available space
Sound Card: N/A

I'll add something to the guide later
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GemGames
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Posted: 5th Oct 2024 16:45
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Perfect, thanks!!
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SFSW
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Posted: 5th Oct 2024 21:45
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Certainly welcome Zaxxan, glad I could help. I echo Psy's sentiment, thank you very much for your hard work on all this. I can tell it was/is not easy This will hopefully pan out for a brighter future for AGKS and keep things running.
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Virtual Nomad
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Posted: 15th Oct 2024 21:48 Edited at: 15th Oct 2024 21:57
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linked this thread at a new AGK Studio Repo and Resources sticky and dropped the old ones. and, i'm using this for more than "game" Tutorial creators:



thanks for sharing, Zaxxan!
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 16th Oct 2024 03:23 Edited at: 16th Oct 2024 03:27
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I'm currently adding some tips to the guide on how to update the API, Gradle, Billing, Build Date, Change log etc which may help some users. I will upload this when I've verified a few things. Hopefully over time this will become quite a comprehensive guide.

If anyone has any information that they have which they think my be useful please let me know!

@Janbo, perhaps you could add some information on how to add a new command?
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nachoz12341
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Posted: 21st Oct 2024 02:17
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I love the guide, incredibly useful. I did want to mention the links to the agkbuild files seems to be broken but was easy enough to figure out where it was pointing to. One quick snag, I seem to be failing on step 3 in the agkbuild.exe

```
Running 3: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" AGKWindows.sln /rebuild "Release|x64"
Failed
```

Followed all the steps (other than html5 step as I didn't have those files available) any thoughts what the issue could be?
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 21st Oct 2024 08:47 Edited at: 22nd Oct 2024 09:17
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Hi nachoz12341,

You can build each step individually if you have issues as the 'Failed' message doesn't tell us a lot.

Navigate to the DEV\AGKRepo\AGK folder and double click the AGKWindows.sln file, this would will open up the project solution. At the top of the screen change the solution configuration from Debug x64 to Release x64, then right click on 'Core' in the solution explorer and select rebuild. At the bottom of the screen there are tabs for output and error list. Here you should see why it's failed to build.

Can you confirm which link isn't working? as they all appear to work for me.

There is one link (https://github.com/TheGameCreators/AGKRepo) that you don't click on, you copy and paste it into the github clone url box. After you have cloned the repo you must initialise LFS (Large File System) as described in the guide otherwise step 3 of the build process will fail. If you don't initialise LFS only placeholder files will be downloaded and not the actual files which are much larger.
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nachoz12341
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Posted: 22nd Oct 2024 19:46
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On second try, the links that weren't functioning before are now working. Specifically it was the links to the required build files from the agk repo (AGK_Build-External, AGK_Build-Build, AGK_Build-Shared). Likely was just a me issue. Thank you for the tip, found out the issue was related to changes I was working on for agk studio. Resolved the error and built successfully! I did add the jdk17 to my path but when I got to the android build step it complained that I specifically didn't have JAVA_HOME setup in my environment variables. This is a new OS install so I'd normally have that set but worth calling out. Thanks again for the guide!
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 22nd Oct 2024 23:04 Edited at: 23rd Oct 2024 02:06
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I'm glad you have found the guide useful and have successfully built the repo I also had to add the JAVA_HOME on one of my PC's but on another PC I didn't need to so I'll probably mention it in the guide so people are aware. Thanks for the feedback.
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nachoz12341
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Posted: 23rd Oct 2024 20:35
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I do have a question about community contributions. I see that Janbo's pull request has been open for a few months without any response. What's the likelihood of community contributions getting merged? Is there some kind of process to get changes added?
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Zaxxan
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Posted: 23rd Oct 2024 22:16 Edited at: 23rd Oct 2024 22:40
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That's a good question. I normally email Lee and tell him what I've done and why I've done it and that I've done done a pull request, sometime later I get a reply and then the pull request is accepted if Lee is happy with it. It is a slow process though, if a merge request is accepted then a DEVTEST version is released on Steam and then if that is OK then it is released to all users.

If you did a pull request for something like a major bug fix i.e like the sound bug that affects framerate then I reckon it would be merged very quickly!!!

If you make changes that you think would benefit the community I would create a fork and update that and then users can download the fork, build and test it. That's why I think it's important to get more people building the repo.
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Sh4d0xx
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Posted: 24th Oct 2024 08:08 Edited at: 24th Oct 2024 08:17
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Hi,

What about Tier 1 ? Has support unofficially ended for T1 ? No ready to use version of AppGameKit Studio out at the moment can export to AAB or APK without issues. This is really unfortunate as I don't get straight answers on this subject.

What's going on with T1 ?
.....
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