You can help out the project by just ★ starring this repository from the upper right corner and also pinning it to your profile.
It's very easy to set-up a local server in order to test and contribute to the development version of this game project.
It uses web languages like HTML, CSS, Javascript and Node.js. The game engine used is free open source, Phaser.
Nowadays you can skip setting up a local server and just start developing on the project right away:
If you're not very keen on using a browser based IDE, I highly recommend using Visual Studio Code, for cloning the project and creating patches. VSC is free, open source, cross platform, and has nice git integration and useful extensions.
You can create a clone of the project by using git from the CLI or with the use of a tool like the one recommended above.
git clone https://github.com/FreezingMoon/AncientBeast.gitIn VSC you can press Ctrl + Shift + P, search for Git: Clone and then input just the link in the given field.
First install (or make sure you have) the latest LTS version of Node.js. In case you need to have different versions of it for other projects as well, you should definitely use nvm (Node version manager), which is a tool that makes it easy to manage multiple local Node installations. You can find installation instructions here, and then use it like:
nvm install --lts # This will always install the latest LTS release.
nvm use --lts # Use latest LTS now.
nvm alias default # Make latest LTS your default.LTS stands for Long Term Support, meaning it's a rather stable and hopefully non-problematic version.
In the terminal (Ctrl + ~ in VCS), use the following command in order to easily install all the project dependencies:
npm installThis will read package.json and install all of the gameplay established npm package dependencies.
The npm install command will also update any required dependencies if the package.json file changes. If you have not worked on the project in a while, make sure you update your fork and also run that command again, which will also compile the project, same as the npm run build:dev command.
If you want to customize your local setup, duplicate existing .env.example file as .env, adjust it as you want and that file will become default.
cp .env.example .envIn order to build the development version of the game (also done by npm install), run the following command:
npm run build:devIf you receive errors about the manifest or assets loading, try running npm run assetLister to create a list for the app.
First, be sure to have Docker installed, then build the image with the following command docker build -t yourusername/ancient-beast ..
To run the image, try running docker run -p80:8383 yourusername/ancient-beast. If there's something running on port 80, try next port.
To have the game up and running on your local machine, simply run this command in the terminal:
npm run startThen access it using Chromium or Google Chrome, as support for other browsers is not guaranteed:
localhost:8080
You can usually test our latest (and greatest) master branch without any hassle from our auto-deployed beta app.
A handy tip while testing: you can right click the game tab and mute it by simply clicking the Mute site option.
After you've play-tested the development version of the game, there are 2 main ways you can contribute to the project. For a more comprehensive guide on how to help out the project, you can check out the Make Your Contribution guide.
If you encounter any problems with this version, you can report them to our GitHub Issue tracker.
Very often, it will be very helpful for debugging purposes to fetch game logs when encountering issues. You can use the AB.getLog() function from the browser console window in order to fetch the current match log.
In order to open up Google Chrome browser's console, you can press Ctrl + Shift + J. To replay a match, you'll have to be in the pre-match screen, paste its log in the console and then press the Return key.
The Meta Powers screen can also be useful for achieving the correct game state to test features and reproduce bugs.
To access the Meta Powers screen:
- Run the local development server.
- Start a hotseat (single player) game.
- When the game starts, press the Meta + Alt + P key combination.
- Hovering each power shows a tooltip description.
The main coding language used is Javascript, feel free to create patches and propose them by making a Pull Request. You should look around on the GitHub Issue tracker for open issues, priority being the ones that are assigned to the next milestone and are tagged "Priority", while also lacking the "Brainstorm" tag. You can ping DreadKnight in the Discord server in order to be assigned to something specific, otherwise you can comment on a specific issue in order to receive the green light for it, making sure there's nobody else currently working on the issue or that design hasn't changed and a patch is still required. The game engine we're using is the community edition of Phaser, which is free and open source, and has nice documentation.
In order to patch the game and constantly test it, run it using this command, which will keep track of any file changes:
npm run start:devThen access it using Chromium or Google Chrome, as support for other browsers is not guaranteed:
localhost:8080
Keep in mind that you'll have to refresh the webpage after making changes. Make sure to disable browser caching by using Ctrl + Shift + J, then going to the Network tab and checking Disable cache.
You are free to browse existing issues (for beginner coders there are issues labeled as easy) and comment on the ones that you want to take a swing at in order to make sure the issue is still relevant and that nobody else is working on it. You can also drop by the project's Discord server and mention your skills and that you're interested in helping out; you'll be assigned to a specific issue. When you're done, simply create a Pull Request. Note that you might need to pull in from master repository before doing so. Your patches will get reviewed and tested, if there are issues with them, you'll receive feedback in order to make corrections. Otherwise, your pull request will get approved and merged into the master branch and you'll get credited for it.
Coding is not the only thing required in order to make this project as awesome as possible, see How to Contribute guide.