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Haxe Summit 2017 Haxe Tutorial

Workshop info: Haxe Tutorial

This is an agar.io clone to demonstrate the capability of Haxe in building cross platform games, where codes are shared among multiple game platforms (web, mac, windows, android & ios), as well as between game client and game server for multiplayer games.

Demo: https://kevinresol.github.io/hkoscon2017-haxe-game/ (single player mode)

Preparation

Participants should have programming experience with at least one programming language. Proficiency with JavaScript, Java, or C# is ideal, but experience with other languages such as C/C++, Python, or Ruby is also sufficient. Participants should have some familiarity using the command line. Participants should bring their own laptop computer, with either Windows, Mac, or Linux installed.

Please follow the instruction listed below before the workshop, such that you can progress smoothly.

Install Haxe

Get Haxe from https://haxe.org/download/.

Install Node.js

Get Node.js from https://nodejs.org/, and optionally yarn.

Install Git (used by snowfall)

Get Git and make it available in the command line. i.e. git --version should print something like git version 2.7.4.

Install Haxe Libraries

Note: if it is the first time you are using haxelib, you will have to run haxelib setup first.

• OpenFL. According to the instruction at http://www.openfl.org/learn/docs/getting-started/:

  haxelib install openfl
  haxelib run openfl setup

• haxe-ws

  haxelib install haxe-ws

• hxnodejs

  haxelib install hxnodejs

• hxcpp

  haxelib install hxcpp 3.4.64
  

Install Visual Studio Code

Although in theory you can use any IDE or text editor, we recommend using Visual Studio Code with the Haxe Extension Pack, which offers the best Haxe support at the moment.

Install C++ development tools

(Optional, for building native targets, e.g. mac, windows, linux, ios, android) Depending on your OS, Visual Studio (Windows), XCode (Mac), or gcc (Linux).

Notes

We will introduce Haxe and go through creating a simple multi-player game during the workshop together. The instruction will be given during the workshop. Below are some notes for future reference.

The workshop is divided into 6 sections:

1. Getting started
   • what is Haxe
   • showcases
   • download and install
2. Haxe programming basics
   • VSCode project setup
   • basic building blocks
3. Game building with OpenFL
   • using Haxe libraries and frameworks
   • game architecture
4. Using NodeJS
   • using native libraries (writing externs)
   • NodeJS basics (CLI, NPM)
5. Multiplayer
   • server-client communication
6. Where to go from here
   • Haxe social networks
   • pointers to advanced topics: game engines, hxcpp externs, web development, macros

Each section is 30-minute long, with 10-minute breaks in-between.

quick links

• Haxe Manual: https://haxe.org/manual/introduction.html
• Haxe API docs: https://devdocs.io/ (or http://api.haxe.org/)
• Try Haxe: https://try.haxe.org/
• OpenFL tutorials: http://www.openfl.org/learn/tutorials/
• OpenFL API docs: http://api.openfl.org/
• haxe-ws library: https://lib.haxe.org/p/haxe-ws
• ws npm package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/ws#usage-examples

Shared Code

The World class contains the core game logic. When the game is set to single-player mode, the World is run in the client. In other words, the same piece of Haxe code for the World class is compiled into different platforms (web, mac, windows, android & ios). When the game is in multi-player mode, the World is run on the server. Again, the same piece of Haxe code for the World class is compiled into the server language (nodejs for our choice here).

The Command and Message enums represents the protocol between the client and server in multiplayer mode. The same piece of code is used in both client and server.

Feedback / Questions

Feel free to open issues or contact us directly.

License

To the extent possible under law, Andy Li & Kevin Leung has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to Haxe Summit 2017 Haxe Tutorial. This work is published from: Hong Kong.