[lisp-game-dev] Lisp games on Android!

[Simon Ortiz]

dear Lispers and dear game-devs,

I'm working on a project to make games on Lisp for smartphones.

I'm writing to let you all know of this project. If someone is
interested, please let me know, so we can advance the project faster
and make better code.

The project works using ECL, which has being ported to Android and iOS
thanks to the work of Ram Krishnan and Sylvain Ageneau. Right now, you
can start ECL on these devices, load and execute any Lisp code. As an
example, which is included in the project, you can run a Swank server
on the devices, and connect to it from Slime.

I'm starting from those projects and I'm attempting to make the
connections necessary for making games. My first target is Android.
Right now, Lisp can communicate with OpenGL (but there are some
crashes...), and Java can communicate touch events to Lisp.

The first goal is to be able to draw OpenGL primitives (without
crashing), draw textures, and output sound. The second goal is to
build the same connections for iOS. The third goal, for the remote
future, is to have internet connections. And the fourth goal, for an
even farther future, is to read gyroscopes data and GPS data.

This project is not aiming at making a Lisp game engine. That is left
as an exercise for the developer. But with all the connections there,
making your game/engine should be easier.

Also, since this project is aiming at releasing games through the App
Store, it cannot contain any GPL software. All my work is on the
public domain (as in "yes, you can go, use it, make money, and never
tell me"). ECL is released under the LGPL license, so there should be
no problems if you fulfill your responsibilities.

If you want to check the (still crashing) project go to:

https://github.com/o-simon/ecl-smartphones

If you want to collaborate, please send me an email. I'll give you
write access to the repository.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

--
Simón Ortiz B., M.Sc., Ing. en Computación
Linux Registered User #388735