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What is the dev flow on BGA platform? (newbee)

Posted: 27 January 2021, 06:56
by shapeshifter999
Hello,

I am currently evaluating if I jump into a personal project with BGA platform or using another one.

I read multiple posts suggesting BGA to share the source code and I support that suggestion as I do believe it take more time to read code than write code. So if there is any user-votes page somewhere, please, inform me, I will glady +1 this idea :D

I also crawl some source code and saw some programmers using unit test and other modulize the game, that was pretty cool!

In the case the developer has not the complete source code on hands, how a developer usually program a game on BGA?

Curiosity 1) Can we run the program locally?

Curiosity 2) If not, what is the feedback loop is? Is it:
a) modifying the js or php file
b) publishing the file through SFTP
c) running a new game and check if the file was working?

Thank you very much for you help!
Very nice platform!

Sebastien

Re: What is the dev flow on BGA platform? (newbee)

Posted: 27 January 2021, 07:42
by Tisaac
1) short answer : no
2) you can modify your files while running a table of your game, so for me it's usually more c) then à) b) reload until I go to sleep :p

Re: What is the dev flow on BGA platform? (newbee)

Posted: 27 January 2021, 09:05
by thoun
Tisaac wrote: 27 January 2021, 07:42 1) short answer : no
2) you can modify your files while running a table of your game, so for me it's usually more c) then à) b) reload until I go to sleep :p
Same ! As the game should be able to resume when player refresh the page, you can refresh the dev to update code (as long as you're not making breaking changes like modifiyng the states).

I also think it's far easier to make a dev when you can read other games code, you can go here https://studio.boardgamearena.com/projects avec give yourself read-only access to games similar to your plan, their source code will appear in your FTP folder.

Re: What is the dev flow on BGA platform? (newbee)

Posted: 27 January 2021, 15:23
by shapeshifter999
Tisaac: you can modify your files while running a table of your game, so for me it's usually more c) then à) b) reload until I go to sleep :p
Thoun: Same !
Hahaha, thank you guys for your fast answer!!

Re: What is the dev flow on BGA platform? (newbee)

Posted: 27 January 2021, 17:17
by BrianLovesMarvel
I'm new too. I'm using Windows with winscp and Vim. I edit files locally, saving locally (with auto-sync to the SFTP server), and then refresh the web page to see the new behavior.

Some changes require a new game to be started. What's really cool about BGA studio is the "Express Start" and "Express Stop". You can easily start up a four-player game, jump between tabs to see each player's view, and if you need to stop and restart it is very quick to do so.

The documentation is a little scattered, and I'm learning some things the hard way. But the forums are responsive, and there are code examples to refer to.

Best wishes, Brian

Re: What is the dev flow on BGA platform? (newbee)

Posted: 10 February 2021, 15:44
by shapeshifter999
The documentation is a little scattered, and I'm learning some things the hard way. But the forums are responsive
Totally agree, love the forum experience! You guys rocks!