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Developing Plug-ins for iConquer iConquer allows you to create plug-ins for both player personalities and maps. Use your artificial intelligence hacking ability to make the next great player algorithm. Or use your artistic talents to make stunning Aqua-licious game maps. You'll need to have the latest Mac OS X Xcode Tools installed. They're included on a CD along with Mac OS X, and are available for download from the Apple Developer Connection (free registration required). To create player plug-ins, you'll need a basic understanding of developing Cocoa software for Mac OS X in Objective-C. You may wish to refer to the Cocoa documentation. If you're familiar with Java, you may just need to read through the Objective-C tutorial. To create map plug-ins, you'll need a graphics program that can create TIFF images with transparency, such as Adobe Photoshop. iConquer developer mailing lists allow you to exchange information with KavaSoft and other developers. There are separate lists for each kind of plug-in.
You'll want to customize some information about your project. Look at the Info.plist file, review the values that Xcode has inserted for you, and make any necessary changes.
You should also paste the CFBundleName and ICComments values into the English variant of the InfoPlist.strings file. Values in the InfoPlist.strings file override the non-localized values. If you would like to translate your plug-in, click on InfoPlist.strings in the list of files. Choose Project ▶ Get Info, click "Add Localization", and choose a language. Then edit the other localized variants. This is the part where you get creative! Click a plug-in type below for specific instructions.
Copy your plug-in from your project's "build" folder to one of the following locations.
~/Library/Application Support/iConquer/ Be sure not to change the extension of your plug-in, which should be .player or .map. To avoid having to repeatedly copy your plug-in when you make changes, you can create a symbolic link, which is similar to an alias. In the Terminal, type the following, substituting the correct path and name for your plug-in:
cd /Library/Application\ Support/iConquer/ Restart iConquer to discover new plug-ins. Maps will appear in the Map menu, and players will appear in the player popup menus in the New Game dialog. Maps can be reloaded by selecting them again from the Map menu, but you must restart iConquer to reload player code.
Designed, built and tested your plug-in? Let us know so that we can add it to the list of plug-ins that iConquer can discover automatically. When you build your project, an archive called MyPlugin.tar.gz will be created in the build directory. Upload this file to your web server. For example, if you have a Mac.com account you can copy the file to the Sites folder of your iDisk. The URL for the plug-in archive should look something like: http://homepage.mac.com/jstalin/MyPlugin.tar.gz If your plug-in is a map, upload the thumbnail image for your plug-in to your web server, at a URL such as: http://homepage.mac.com/jstalin/MyPlugin.jpg Then email both URLs to us at info@kavasoft.com, and we will add your plug-in to the list that will be displayed when users check for new plug-ins.
After your plug-in has been released, you can link to it with a URL such as: iconquer://getPlugin?identifier=com.mydomain.mymap.medium Clicking on the link will automatically launch iConquer and install the plug-in with the specified CFBundleIdentifier. Here are some examples. If you update your plug-in, simply send us an email with the new version number. We'll update the version of your plug-in in the list. Users with the old version will see that the plug-in has been updated when they check for new plug-ins. |
requires iConquer 2.3
Requirements |
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