Hey. So, I made a launcher for BGE games, something like Unity’s launcher. It basically is a standalone executable that will ‘encrypt’ a blend file named bsgame.blend that’s in the same directory as the launcher, leaving a ‘bsgame.data’ file. It will then decrypt the encrypted ‘bgdata’ file and run it with the command-line arguments that you specify (no mipmaps, specific resolution, fullscreen, etc). When you alter a setting and play the game with those settings, they’re saved to a configuration file.
The file has the layout:
autorun
0
showconsole
0
1…
The first argument, autorun, forces the launcher to run the game file as soon as it opens. This is useful if you configured the launcher the way you want, and then just want to load up the configuration and play. The arguments that follow all follow the format of the argument’s name (i.e. showconsole), then the state of the argument (either on, or off), and the availability of the option in the launcher. If an option has a 0 for the availability section under the option’s name, then it will be removed from the launcher (though the option still influences the way the game launches).
You can change the numbers in the config file to change which options appear when you run the launcher. Or, you can alter the blend file and change or add new options. I basically just added the options that are available for command-line arguments. It works pretty well. I believe it may not work for Multitexture games, but I’m not 100% sure about that.
While this should mean that you won’t have to, for example, have a Mac to make a Mac version of your game, since a Mac version of the BlendSling can load your game, it should still be tested.
NOTE: I’ve updated the readme file to tell you a little bit about some of the basics of distribution on Mac that I’ve found.
I kept the textures for the GUI separated, so that you can edit them and customize your launchers, without having to rebuild them for any specific OS.
The current version of BlendSling is in line with Blender 2.66a. If you want newer features than 2.66a will afford you, then you would have to build a new BlendSling standalone executable with the version of Blender (or greater) that has the feature you want. BlendSling is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You may use it, even for commercial works, as long as you attribute me for the program. Simple text is fine.
Download it and test it out! Thanks!
As a side-note, if anyone wants to build BlendSling for other OS’s, that would be appreciated.
BlendSling v0.21b Blender Version 2.66a
Windows Builds Available - 32-bit
Linux Builds Available - 64-bit, 32-bit
Mac OS X Build Available - 64-bit
The latest version is available at the top of the page here.
11/7/12 UPDATE: Linux version posted.
11/19/12 UPDATE: Name changed. Launcher updated with new features (very basic encryption (I guess you can call it that), texture mode switching, and a font color option in the config file). Packaged a readme file with both the build and the blend file.
EDIT: There was a problem with autorunning - fixed it and updated the link.
3/22/13 UPDATE: Updated the builds to run Blender 2.66a’s BlenderPlayer. Also updated the demo file - press left and right to make the cube spin left or right (just to test input). Also added a Mac 64-bit build.
4/7/13 UPDATE: Updated the Windows 32-bit build to be actually Windows 32-bit (it was 64-bit, by mistake). :1