Creating Games With the AllegNet Game Library

This article shows you the way of creating simple games with the AllegNet library.

AllegNet is a .net library for creating game using the power of the Allegro 4.2.0 library.

If you want to use the library, you must have the framework 2.0 installed.

Setp 1 : Installing the library

Download the needed library if you don't have it :

http://skorzec.com/allegnet/dl/needed.zip

You have to copy the files inside %windir%\system32 directory. If you already have the msvcr80.dll don't replace it.

Download the lastest version of the library :

http://www.skorzec.com/allegnet/dl/allegnet_0400_binary.zip

Unzip the files.

Setp 2 : Create a new project in visual studio 2005 express or other IDE of your choice.

Open VS 2005 and create a new c# console application.

Add reference to the file AllegNet.dll.

Step3 :Write the code

The following code is commented !!

/*Here you have all necessary using*/
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using AllegNet;
using System.Drawing;

namespace AllagroManaged.Exemples
{
class AllegNet_pal:API //The main class must herit of AllegNet.API class
{
static int Main()
{

//AllegNet has some functions and object to deal with images, blit sound, joystick
//You can use object like PALETTE to play with 256 color image
PALETTE palette = new PALETTE();

//An RGB structure. a palette is an array of 256 RGB structure
RGB temp;

int c;

//You can use Allegro_init function to initialize the library
if (Allegro_init() != 0)

return 1;

//You can use it to install Keyborad functionality
Install_keyboard();

//You can choose your screen resolution with Set_gfx_mode function and GFX_MODES enumerator
if (Set_gfx_mode(GFX_MODES.GFX_DIRECTX_WIN, 320, 240) != 0)
{
if (Set_gfx_mode(GFX_MODES.GFX_DIRECTX_WIN, 640, 480) != 0)
{

Console.WriteLine("Error setting graphics mode");

return 1;

}

/* first set the palette to black to hide what we are doing */

Set_palette(Black_Palette);

/* draw some circles onto the screen */
Acquire_screen();

for (c = 255; c > 0; c--)
Circlefill(Screen, Screen.w / 2, Screen.h / 2, c, c);

//Release the screen

Release_screen();

//You can install the mouse in order to play with the mouse
Install_mouse();

//You can use show_mouse function to show the mouse on the screen
Show_mouse(Screen);

// fill our palette with a gradually altering sequence of colors

for (c = 0; c < 64; c++)
{
RGB tmp = new RGB();
tmp.r = (byte)c;
tmp.g = (byte)0;
tmp.b = (byte)0;
palette.SetRGB(c,tmp);
}

for (c = 64; c < 128; c++)
{
RGB tmp = new RGB();
tmp.r = (byte)(127 - c);
tmp.g = (byte)(c - 64);
tmp.b = (byte)0;
palette.SetRGB(c, tmp);
}

for (c = 128; c < 192; c++)
{
RGB tmp = new RGB();
tmp.r = (byte)0;
tmp.g = (byte)(191 - c);
tmp.b = (byte)(c - 128);
palette.SetRGB(c, tmp);
}

for (c = 192; c < 256; c++)
{
RGB tmp = new RGB();
tmp.r = (byte)0;
tmp.g = (byte)0;
tmp.b = (byte)(255 - c);
palette.SetRGB(c, tmp);
}

//animate the image by rotating the palette
//Keypressed function return 1 when a key is pressed

while (Keypressed()==0)
{
temp = palette[255];
for (c = 255; c > 0; c--)
palette[c] = palette[c - 1];

palette[0] = temp;
Set_palette(palette);
}

return 0;
}
}
}

Step 4 : Running the project

You may have the following result :

Step 5 : Find more information about the library

Go to http://www.skorzec.com for more information about it.

Enjoy