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