SharpInvaders

An open source Space Invaders clone written in C# with the Monogame framework.

Watch a demo video on YouTube.

Rationale

This is a sandbox for me to learn C# and the Monogame (formerly Microsoft XNA) framework.

If you can code Pong, you can code Space Invaders. If you can code Space Invaders, you can code anything.

Running and Building

Dev

• dotnet watch run
• dotnet watch run -p SharpInvaders

Build

• dotnet build

Bundle

• Packaging Games on Monogame.net
  • Mac
    • dotnet publish -c Release -r osx-x64 /p:SingleFilePublish=true /p:PublishReadyToRun=false /p:TieredCompilation=false --self-contained
  • Win
    • dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 /p:PublishReadyToRun=false /p:TieredCompilation=false --self-contained

Setup

Standard installation of .Net Core, Monogame, Extended

• See Monogame.net Getting Started
• See Monogame.Extended Getting Started

IDE Tweaks

Started with Visual Studio but moved back to Visual Studio Code for comfort and less context switching with my day to day. There were some tricky parts to getting this environment set up.

• C# Plugin

  • Note that this uses OmniSharp for code hinting and formatting This can sometimes lag behind and will need to be resarted if things feel wonky. CMD Shift P is your friend here.

• .vscode/launch.json manual configuration

  • Some things had to be updated by hand here to help VSC find the files for running from IDE and breakpoint debugging

      "name": ".NET Core Launch (console)",
      "type": "coreclr",
      "request": "launch",
      "preLaunchTask": "build",
      "program": "${workspaceFolder}/SharpInvaders/bin/Debug/netcoreapp3.1/SharpInvaders.dll",
  

• .vscode/tasks.json manual configuration

  • Some things had to be updated by hand here to help VSC find the files for running from IDE and breakpoint debugging

      "args": [
          "build",
          "${workspaceFolder}/SharpInvaders/SharpInvaders.csproj",
  

Spritesheet Workflow

Using TexturePackerLoader to help keep my old Aseprite and TexturePacker workflow in place.

• See TexturePackerLoader

• This did not seem to work via nuget and I wound up manually creating a TexturePackerLoader/ directory and copying over the requisite files:

      SpriteFrame.cs
      SpriteRenderer.cs
      SpriteSheet.cs
      SpriteSheetLoader.cs
  

• Sample code files were copied to Utils/

      Animation.cs
      AnimationManager.cs
  

• These have been used to create a more robust and specific to my needs AnimatedEntity.cs

• Due to some issues with the SpriteSheetLoader.cs I'm bypassing the default behavior and workflow

  • Once a sheet is exported the .png file can be dropped into the Content directory and added to Content.mgcb manually

    #begin tpSpriteSheet.png
    /importer:TextureImporter
    /processor:TextureProcessor
    /processorParam:ColorKeyColor=255,0,255,255
    /processorParam:ColorKeyEnabled=True
    /processorParam:GenerateMipmaps=False
    /processorParam:PremultiplyAlpha=True
    /processorParam:ResizeToPowerOfTwo=False
    /processorParam:MakeSquare=False
    /processorParam:TextureFormat=Color
    /build:tpSpriteSheet.png
  

  • The .txt file is another thing altogether. I've created a Constants.Assets.SPRITESHEET_DATA and pulled the pertinent lines out as an array. This is what the SpriteSheetLoader ultimately wants from the text file. Will loop back another time make this more dynamic. The end results are something like:

    "EnemyEyes/idle/0;0;35;136;31;32;32;32;0;0",
    "EnemyEyes/idle/1;0;1;1;32;32;32;32;0;0",
    "EnemyEyes/idle/2;0;33;203;30;31;32;32;0;-0.03225806451612903",
  

Using the Generated Spritesheeets

This may not be valid after all of the edits I made, will revisit.

• Single Sprite (not animated)

      tpSpriteRender.Draw(
          tpSpriteSheet.Sprite(
              tpSprites.EnemyEyes_idle1
          ),
          new Vector2(350, 530),
          Color.White
      );