Initialisation & Scene Loading

[Thane5]

We need to add a proper game initialisation system, that loads all the required core components. Ideally, We have a system that allows us to start the game no matter what scene we are in.

[Thane5]

At some point i figured that using scriptable objects as storage for variables such as InputData or ConfigData would be a good idea. What bugs me is that in Editor, SOs retain their runtime values when you exit playmode. This means that everytime we ran a test, our git changelists would be full with random garbage.

There technically is a "Reset()" method on scriptable objects. But for now it seems simpler to just work with static variables.

[Thane5]

The "Systems" Prefab

I created a new prefab called "Systems", which has all the core classes of the game. It is stored in the "/Resources" folder, meaning it can be accessed by simply calling Resources.Load("Systems").

Its most important classes are

• PathManager
• ConfigManager
• InputManager
• UIManager

Those are added as components on Awake:
pathManager = gameObject.AddComponent<PathManager>();

Their variables are static and meant to be globally accessible, for example when you want to get the Redguard directory: Game.pathManager.GetRootFolder()

Bootstrapper

The prefab is instantiated by the Bootstrapper like this

public static class Bootstrapper
{
    [RuntimeInitializeOnLoadMethod(RuntimeInitializeLoadType.BeforeSceneLoad)]
    public static void Execute()
    {
        Object.DontDestroyOnLoad(Object.Instantiate(Resources.Load("Systems")));
    }
}

It gets called automatically before the start of the game, and does not require a reference in the scene. This means that the prefab will be spawned now matter what scene you are using as an entry point.

[Thane5]

Special Scenes

Beeing able to start from any scene is great because it simplifies testing in the editor.

To make this work, i also added a "Setup" screen that pops up anytime when there is no Redguard path configured. This is simply another scene, that gets loaded on top of the current one.

For builds, "Launcher" is meant to be the default scene on top of the scene list. This allows users to go either into the main game, or open the modelviewer.

[Thane5]

I also created a new "Scene Loader" for loading entire gameplay areas. Right now, you have to manually specify the RGM, WLD, and COL, but eventually we should read the WORLD.INI and use its entries in an enum.